18 - Breaking The Spell

[Shadow Phoenix]

As Bax unleashed his lethal, fury-filled flames, he sincerely hoped that no harm had come to Zack and Lynx. He had to get out of here and make sure that they were all right - and perhaps he would find Prodigi. Bax didn't find it at all strange in this moment of heated crisis that he was still thinking strongly about his friends. In fact, it motivated him and drove him to up the ante and make the flames that much more powerful and deadly. Bax continued gritting his teeth as sweat began to bead on his forehead from the strain he was placing on himself. What he had seen of this opponent told him that there was probably a way he would find to get out of the attack, so Bax was counting on having to play some defense.

Though he enjoyed taking the offense quite a bit. Such was the nature of the Phoeniyan swordsman, to always keep an air of caution so as to not commit too much to the attack while leaving enough force behind it so that it was still effective. But there was always an escape route, even in a sure thing, for one who had some to learn the true ways of the Phoeniyan swordsman. And Bax had been trained by many in this art - his father, his uncle, his brother, his mother, his best friend, Hodia...they had all taught up valuable things. And now they were second nature. Their lessons, their memories, lived on in Bax, keeping him safe and alive. And oftentimes deadly.

The flames began to die down slowly and Bax withdrew his hands. The whirling sandstorm obscured his vision completely and he peered through it. That was one of the nice things that Bax had noticed about Phoeniyan physiology in comparison to human physiology. Bax seemed to have better vision (and hearing for that matter) than the humans did, though he still thought Lynx had an advantage on him in that department, being feline in nature and whatnot. But as such, he would hopefully be able to see through the dust before his opponent could. If his opponent was human…<br>
Suddenly, a black light peered out through the desert sands and Bax took a step back. He had seen almost everything except for a black light so potent and powerful. All of the dust blew away and Bax saw his opponent standing there grasping a large black ball. As the waves of dust blew past Bax, whipping his hair around with a shockwave of powerful gusts of wind, a secondary shockwave of unbelievable force ripped out, the ball being its epicenter. Bax saw the aura coming towards him and barely had time to brace himself before it slammed into him and went right through him. He stumbled backwards and quickly reached up for his swords, yanking them out. They instantly combusted into bright flames, his ki channeling out instinctively and readying them for battle. Bax stared at the black ball in wonder. What in the world was that thing? It wasn’t necessarily emanating a dark aura…just a powerful one. And it was gigantic.

But Bax didn’t have the time for this. He had to get all of this over with – but he wasn’t going to pull all of the stops yet. Bax raised his swords and crossed his arms slowly, watching Dragoon as he held this black ball of…something. Then, with a rapid movement, he swung his arms out in a complete arc, tracing another gigantic flame right towards his opponent, growing consistently in the horizontal direction and rapidly traveling in Dragoon’s direction. Bax wasted no time in following this up and was quick on the back edge of his flames, spinning his swords back behind him and getting a tight grip on them. He brought his undying focused fury in the wake of the flame’s chaos, ready to strike his opponent down with all that was in him.

[prodigi]

The three drifters surrounded the innocent woman on the outskirts of Midgar. They were too distracted by thoughts of what they were going to do with her to notice the great shadow loom overhead. The shadow above was that of Prodigi riding on his beloved Bahamut. Prodigi looked down at the three drifters surrounding the woman and muttered and his breath, “ah, fresh meat.”<br>
With that Bahamut went into a steep dive and landed noiselessly beside the group of drifters. One of the drifters leapt forward and grabbed the woman from behind. She struggled but the drifter simply laughed. The largest drifter, obviously the leader of the group, began to walk toward the two. He licked his lips as he looked the woman up and down. Suddenly he stopped and gasped. The drifter holding the woman frowned, “ya ok there boss?”<br>
The leader replied with a gurgling sound before falling face first into the dirt, revealing the sword that had penetrated his back right between the shoulder blades. The other two drifters looked up from the image of their dead leader to see Prodigi standing half in the shadows leaning against the wall. The drifter without the woman snarled and ran towards Prodigi, but Prodigi sidestepped and tripped the man up. The drifter twisted in the air, flipped upside down, whilst, almost in slow motion, Prodigi drew one of his Desert Eagles and pressed it into the drifter’s mouth.

BLAM

The drifter’s head exploded in a gush of blood. Prodigi turned fluidly and aimed his Desert Eagle squarely between the eyes of the other drifter and pulled the trigger, blowing the drifter’s head off. The woman stood in the centre of the dead drifters quivering. After awhile she looked up at Prodigi and finally managed to say, “thank you… thank you so much… for… for saving me…”

Prodigi holstered his Desert Eagle. “What makes you think I saved you?” he asked stepping towards her, “Did you know… *step*… that the freshest… *step*… juiciest… *step*… blood… *step*… comes from girls… *step*… just… *step*… like… *step*… you?” Suddenly he lunged forward and threw his body against the woman’s, throwing them both to the ground where he rolled on top of her and sat on her chest, pinning her down.

He reached down and lifted her left arm to his mouth, and licked all the way along it before biting deeply into her wrist. The woman screamed out in pain but Prodigi did not worry. Nobody would hear her scream all the way out here. He sat atop her, sucking the very fluid that was keeping her alive and screaming. Suddenly he felt a very strong pain in his temples. “No” he moaned, “Not now.”<br>
He struggled to stay conscious but he was fighting a losing battle. Before he slipped into unconsciousness he felt two pairs of strong hands grab him and throw him off the woman. Just as he lost the fight, he could feel the cold hard steel of the muzzle of a shotgun pressed to his throat, “move and your dead” came the distant voice. Prodigi didn’t care, he couldn’t have moved even if he had wanted to. Slowly reality slipped away and the shadows came from the corners of his brain and inhabited his mind.

Memory 4

Prodigi landed outside the great building before him. It was the Senate headquarters, the central structure to the great city of Zion. He looked at the super structure. I must speak with the Apprentice, he thought.

He stepped forward and walked through the revolving doors and was greeted by two top-of-the-line security guards wearing S.W.A.T. uniforms. Since there was a war the Senate weren’t taking any chances. Although Prodigi couldn’t see the two S.W.A.T. teams in the rooms alongside the main lobby, he could sense them. There was one team stationed behind the door to the right, and one behind the door to the left.

Prodigi began to make for the elevator at the opposite end of the lobby when he was stopped by the guards. “Name, Squadron and Serial Number”, the guards asked.

“Cyrus Jackson, Order of Magi, Serial Number 08-9294-3068,” Prodigi muttered to the guard on the left. The guard on the left raised his eyebrows to the guard on the right. The guard on the right spoke, “I’m sorry sir did you say Cyrus Jackson, Order of Magi?”<br>
“Yes, why?” Prodigi asked, quickly boring of the conversation.

The guards snapped their guns up and aimed squarely at Prodigi’s head. The S.W.A.T. teams in the other rooms tensed, watching their monitors which surveyed the lobby.

“Sir Cyrus Jackson was killed in action as of today, and we have been given direct orders from the top that if anyone comes in posing as him that they will be shot,” the guard paused, “I’m sorry sir.”<br>
The guards began to squeeze their triggers as Prodigi lowered his head and he began to moan. The moaning slowly began to turn into laughter and Prodigi raised his head again, an evil grin on his face. The guards paused. What the hell? they thought.

The reason Prodigi was smiling is because when he had looked down he had noticed the RDX grenades on the guard’s utility belts. Suddenly he reached forward and yanked a grenade from both guards belts and then backhanded them both. Then using his index finger pulled the pins from the grenades but kept his thumb pressed down firmly on the release mechanism as he walked calmly through the lobby. He could smell with his acute sense of smell that the S.W.A.T. teams were getting much closer, in fact they had just reached the doors. Prodigi released his thumbs from the release mechanisms and flipped them backwards towards the two doors behind which two S.W.A.T. teams were about to burst through the doors.

Both S.W.A.T. teams opened their respective doors only to have an RDX grenade fling into the room with them.

BOOM!

The explosion could be heard through the first seventeen floors of the building. Prodigi made his way to the elevator and stepped inside, pressing the button marked “C” for Council room. The doors shut in Prodigi’s face as he stared at the two S.W.A.T. teams moaning on the ground, clutching their stumps of legs.

Prodigi awoke and looked about himself. He was chained to the wall in what appeared to be some kind of cellar.

Where the hell am I? He wondered. He licked his lips. Blood, he thought, The blood from that girl is still fresh… it mustn’t have been long… so I can’t be far from where I was… But how the hell am I going to get out?

[ZaCloud]

After a nice heart-to-heart with the local fauna (and a few flora), Zack strolled out of the park and began to make his way for the edge of the city. Well, an edge, anyway; unlike Zion, Midgar wasn't so caged in as to have few and restricted exits and entrances. This made the chances of meeting Bax at any particular place very slim. But oh well, the chance was there nonetheless, and it wasn't like relaxing had to have a set purpose anyway. He planned to just sit there and daydream, maybe sort the many new thoughts bouncing through his mind lately.

He felt at first relaxed, but then vulnerable without the familiar weight of Fjalar on his back. At least he got fewer out-of-place stares; he now looked more like a typical teenager rather than a warmonger, with his new attire. He wanted to just relax and go with the flow, but somehow he found himself feeling nervous without such protection, as if the world's melody were playing malicious undertones. He found himself expecting people to suddenly surround him and cause unstoppable pain...

Zack ducked into an alleyway for a moment to get away from the crowd. He leaned his back against a brick building wall and closed his eyes. He at least put his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't look too distressed.

What's up with this? he wondered to himself, I should be all carefree an' whatnot. I can handle myself without a sword...

The other answered him, Before we had Fjalar, though, we weren't strong enough. They hurt us. We have every right to be afraid.

That was a bit odd; usually the one who answered him was the positive one. Or was he just answering himself now? But it didn't matter, really, as long as what was spoken was the truth...

***

“Keep your head up, bro. Just keep lookin’ straight ahead.”<br>
Claude did not bother nodding; he knew the speaker was looking ahead as well. Zack was walking on his left, as usual; guarding his off-side, as well as having another reason for it. Regardless of what side, however, Claude knew he had to keep walking with his brother. And had to keep his eyes forward and head high.

But it was so hard like this… With so many people looking on, and saying such terrible things…<br>
“Heh, bein’ ‘drifters’ is s’posed to be dishonorable… So what the hell are we s’posed to call those two?”<br>
“How ‘bout ‘Big Sh*t’ an’ ‘Little Sh*t’?”<br>
“More like ‘@#%$’ an’ ‘B*tch’!”<br>
“Naw, that second word has too much, I dunno, strength to it.”<br>
Many of the voices were adults… That was what made it so much worse, just to walk past a colony of drifters who knew about them. Claude’s face burned with shame. He didn’t want people to hate him… Why did they hate him?

“I hear they won’t even pick up a gun… Izzat true, phlegm-wads?”<br>
Don’t look at them… Don’t get angry… Don’t cry…<br>
“I’ll bet they cry when they hafta finally steal things!”<br>
“Especially that little blonde baby.”<br>
What did we ever do to them? Why do they hate us?

“Their own mama didn’t even want ‘em!”<br>
Claude’s eyebrows lowered and his fists tightened painfully. But he did his best to walk stoically. The sooner they got away from this place, the better. They had just come in hopes of finding things for trade… Though it seemed nobody would even consider that here.

“Didja hear how that little one’s hair got that way? All crooked an’ stuff?”<br>
Claude turned his head in the speaker’s direction, trying his best not to burst in built-up frustration. “I like it this way,” he growled.

Oh no… thought Zack.

“What’s that, pipsqueak?” the middle-aged, scruffy-faced man asked, taking a step forward from his crude hut.

“I LIKE my hair this way,” Claude said defiantly, turning his face forward once more and raising his chin higher than usual, jutting his jaw to look as tough as possible. But that mere response still registered as a cue for many of the drifters to use more than words. They began standing in the boys’ way.

One woman picked up a rock and started tossing it up and down. “Would this slingshot off that big spike in the middle?” she asked with a smirk, “An’ what kinda sound would it make if it hit that short area? Kind of a hollow ‘bong’, eh?”<br>
A boy of around seven, slightly younger and smaller than Claude, taunted, “You guys are a couple babies. But fun to talk about, like havin’ T.V.”<br>
Claude could hardly stand it anymore. For someone younger than him to stand by and insult him along with everyone else…<br>
“WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU GUYS?!” he cried out, looking around with great anger and pain in his bright blue eyes. “We just live different, an’ all you guys are is a buncha bullies! Leave us alone!”<br>
“Why do that?” the woman with the rock asked, twirling it on the tip of her index finger, “We’d miss out on all the entertainment you guys bring. ‘The Wussy Wanna-be’s’ is our favorite show! Along with, ‘The Shameful Strifes’.”<br>
Zack knew they couldn’t just walk away now. He knew that trying to run would rile the crowd into an even worse frenzy. They were too far into this to let them escape without having their demented fun. So, he drew his handy dandy trusty rusty pans and twirled them by the handles like weapons, eyes narrowed and smirking. “Oh yeah?” he said, “Well if I’m such a wuss, then someone take me on in a fair fight, I dare ya! C’mon, who volunteers?”<br>
“You don’t deserve a fair fight,” a young man quipped as he stepped forward, along with three others who were heavily built. “You Strifes oughtta be thankful for these lessons everyone gives you… Your grandparents musta felt so superior back when they were prestigious an’ rich an’ sh*t! Buncha bigshots too good for everyone else. You’re finally the generation who gets to learn what it’s like to be drifters. Congratu-f*ckin-lations!”<br>
Claude was already in a fighting stance, facing some teenagers to the right. “I’m sorry, Zack,” he said in quiet despair despite his narrowed eyes, “This is all my fault, I’m sorry…”

Zack looked down at him and bravely smiled. “Aw, don’t feel bad, I was about to blow my top too. You shouldn’t hafta take this crap, really, so I don’t blame ya. Now let’s take some o’ these goons down with us!” Zack ducked an incoming punch, countering with a sharp pan-blow to the attacker’s head. As that man stumbled back, Zack spin-kicked another in the face, but then got kicked in the back and knocked into another guy, who proceeded to pass-throw him around the crowd like a rag-doll.

That was all Claude got to see as he managed to punch a much taller teen in the nose and make it bleed. As he whirled to punch another attacker, the woman who had the rock threw it, hitting Claude right at the hairline. His vision blurred and his balance failed. The boy stumbled to his knees with a startled cry, then followed a few drops of blood to the dusty ground.

…What did… we do?

Why do they hate us?

…Why?...

***

"...But I thought that was just a dream..." he whispered to the building's shadow in front of him, arms unconsciously wrapped around himself protectively, voice on the edge of breaking.

There was a pause. Then Zack relaxed when the answer came to him. "You're right. That's all it was. But really bad dreams can still affect you. That's why you're afraid. But it'll be alright now; I'm here, and Bax will be."

Zack closed his eyes, head lowering for a bit as he took those words in. Then, feeling a renewed sense of confidence, he pushed off of the wall and took to the sidewalk once more, walking with a small smile edging his lips.

Bad dreams didn’t matter…<br>
Everything was fine.

***

Zack finally felt he had reached a good place to wait; a crumbling stone fountain sat near the city's south-eastern corner, where it used to greet people in elegance and peace before time and violence reduced it to a mere mound of rubble. He sat down on an intact edge, looking over his shoulder for a moment at the moss growing where water was once held. He could hardly imagine water had been used for decoration; to him it had always been a precious element. But that did make its beauty easy to appreciate.

He sighed deeply, the air much fresher here, and cooling as evening approached. A gentle breeze caressed his hair, causing his smile to momentarily grow. This was a nice place to wait for Bax; so quiet compared to the rest of the city…<br>
He blinked. Did I just feel an earthquake?

The shaking had only lasted a moment. It had been very distant and brief. Probably happened far away, or was not intense enough to worry about. Though part of him couldn’t help but worry once more about Bax. And about Prodigi.

Well… he decided, I know Bax should be back soon… there’s too much desert for me to go lookin’ for him… I won’t worry anymore ‘till nighttime if he’s not back by then. But Prodigi…<br>
Zack lowered his head. What if a bounty-hunter or police officer had caught him? He quickly dismissed that thought; surely he would have heard some kind of struggle. Prodigi was no pushover. Maybe he had teleported somewhere far off by accident? That didn’t seem likely either; he seemed to have no trouble using that ability. Then what could have happened?

He probably just wanted to leave. Maybe he had somewhere else to go an’ just didn’t need us. We’re used to that, anyway

“…Yeah… Can’t blame him… Well, he deserves to go his own way. Just as long as he’s happy… then I can be happy too.”<br>
He smiled to prove the point to himself. Then he closed his eyes and leaned back on the diagonal slab of stone behind him. A tiny nap, a little daydream. He preferred daydreams… because those could be as nice as he wanted them to be.

[prodigi]

Prodigi had been kept in this god-forsaken cell for days now. He was severely malnourished, and because of this, he kept slipping in and out of consciousness...

Memory 5

Prodigi stood in the centre of the elevator, his head raised, watching the display numbers slowly grow. Finally the display changed from numbers to the final level, “C” for the council chambers. The elevator came to a halt and a panel to the side opened revealing a voice analyser and keypad. A monotonous voice came over the PA, “Please enter council chambers entrance code”<br>
Prodigi reached forward and pressed several of the numbers on the keypad in sequence.

“Please state your name, position and serial number.”<br>
“Cyrus Jackson, Order of Magi, Serial Number 08-9294-3068” Prodigi spoke looking directly at the surveillance camera in the corner.

“Voice analysation complete. Please enter Commander Cy-” the monotonous voice suddenly cut out and was replaced by a voice of authority. “Hello Cyrus” the voice said. Prodigi cocked his head, he recognised that voice.

“… Good evening Senator Smith,” Prodigi said. Senator Smith was the head of the Senate council and had been in that position of power for many years now. The head position seemed to run in his bloodline as his father, and his father before him had held the position.

“Yes… good evening to you too…” the Senator said dully, “… Let’s get down to business. We know what happened to you Cyrus. We know of what powers you now have, and we know that you are too dangerous to just let you go. So… we have to take matters into our own hands.” As the Senator spoke a beep echoed throughout the small elevator and Prodigi raised his head to see quite a pack of Semtex strapped to the ceiling with a timer of 5 seconds slowly counting down.

“I’m sorry Cyrus” the Senator spoke, his voice devoid of sympathy.

“No…” Prodigi said, slowly lowering his gaze to the surveillance camera, “… I am sorry.”<br>
Prodigi eyes flashed a violent shade of red.

********************

A thirty-man squad stood positioned outside the elevator in case the intruder tried to flee the booby-trapped elevator. In the centre of the surrounding soldiers stood the Senator. Suddenly an ungodly BOOM could be heard from outside the elevator doors and a mighty dent was made in the reinforced doors. The Senator smirked and turned his back on the elevator and made his way to the large oak doors that led into the council chambers. Suddenly there was a sickening screech of stretching metal. Slowly, the Senator turned around to face the elevators.

Two small hands covered in red feathers were slowly spreading the reinforced elevator doors apart. As the gap slowly widened Prodigi’s head appeared in it with an ex-pression on his face that would striker into even the bravest mans heart. The Senator’s eyes widened and he turned his back on Prodigi and walked through the chamber doors, the mighty oaks closing behind him.

Prodigi let out an ungodly roar as he slammed the two elevator doors into the frames of the elevator. The thirty soldiers within the room all raised their guns as one and fired. Prodigi saw the bullets come at him in slow motion and he smiled. This would be too easy. He disappeared in a burst of feathers instantaneously and the bullets whizzed through the now unoccupied space.

The leader of the thirty-man team stepped forward and looked at the feathers on the ground. Suddenly he heard a short burst of gunfire from behind him and a scream, which was cut short. He, along with the other twenty-eight of his men spun around guns up to find one of their men slumped against the wall, his chest a mess of third degree burns and a look of absolute horror on his face. Suddenly he heard a short gasp from his left and he spun to find Prodigi holding one of his men from behind.

The leader grimaced. Better one of us than all of us. He squeezed the trigger. Quick as a flash Prodigi swung behind the soldier and let him take the full brunt of the attack. Blood splashed all over Prodigi’s face. Suddenly the gunfire ceased and he dropped the now dead soldier. He raised his eyes and faced the leader. A single drop of blood ran down his cheek and touched his lips. The taste sent him insane. He’d never felt anything so good. Suddenly he leapt upon the dead soldier lying on the ground and began devouring his neck.

The leader took a step back in horror. Finally he managed to give the order for his men to shoot. What followed next was absolute mayhem. Prodigi disappeared and reappeared all over the room, devouring each man’s blood individually.

*******************

Inside the council chambers the council sat huddled, opposite the great oak doors. There were no monitors in the chambers so the council could only guess what was happening on the other side of those mighty doors. Suddenly the gunfire ceased. The council members turned to the Senator and he offered them a weak smile, “You see?” he asked, “I told you we would be alright.”<br>
He reached up onto the desk above him and picked up a walkie-talkie. “Cobra One, do you copy?” he spoke into the walkie-talkie.

Suddenly an insane cackle of laughter echoed around the room. The Senator looked down at the council members below him and found that they were all looking at him with an absolute look of horror on their faces. Suddenly he realised. They weren’t looking at him. They were looking past him!

He began to turn slowly when suddenly a was hit from behind by a huge weight and he slammed to the ground amongst the council members. Prodigi stood upon the table in front of the council members his hair covering his whole face, except his mouth. Except his blood covered mouth. “Where is the Apprentice?” he asked.

The Senator stepped forward, “he is being taken care of as we speak, just as you shall be.”<br>
“Oh really,” Prodigi said raising his head so that his hair fell back revealing his face, “by who?”<br>
Prodigi jumped off of the desk and approached the Senator. The Senator was about 5 foot 9 inches and Prodigi was a full foot shorter than him. That didn’t stop Prodigi striking terror within the Senators heart. Suddenly Prodigi snapped his hand forward and brought it around the Senator’s neck. Prodigi forcefully turned the Senators head sideways, exposing his neck. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Prodigi opened his mouth,, exposing his new fangs, and moved in for the kill.

Suddenly Prodigi’s memory was interrupted.

Bax!

Bax… it’s me… Sephiroth X.

Prodigi felt emotions from a separate location to the source of the “voice”. The other being was started, surprised, then Prodigi felt him ease.

I respect you a lot Bax… as a fighter and as a person… that’s why I felt I should tell you this before I go through with it.

Prodigi felt the other being become confused.

Bax, I’m going to fight The Senate… I’m going to storm Zion’s gates.

Prodigi felt the other being become perplexed, and then frightened.

I know you must think this is suicide Bax… and it most likely is… but this has to be done… I must correct something, a mistake I made long ago… I thought I would just tell you this before I go, out of respect.

Prodigi felt the other being surge with heroism.

Bax… for your own safety don’t come here… do not come after me! I don’t want you to become endangered because of me. Tell Zack I’m fine, and that I’m sorry about hurting him in the desert… Goodbye Bax.

Prodigi knew the message was not directed at him but he still felt it meant something to him. He searched his memories and just before he lost consciousness again, slipping back into sleep, his mind fell upon a single letter.

X.

[CursedDragoon]

Dragoon jumped straight up in the air 30 feet, dodging the fire. He then held the orb up above his head. It expanded, and formed a large ball around Dragoon. The orb floated in mid-air for about a second before a enormous burst of power erupted from it. Lightning crackled around the ball as it fell, then stopped a few inches from the ground, and about 30 feet from Bax. Suddenly, 2 wings folded out from the ball. Then 2 more wings, the same size as the first pair, came out as well. The wings retracted slightly, the opened to their full length. A wave of power flared out in all directions. Pieces of earth raised from the ground as the power of the ball increased every second. A great roar was heard, then the ball exploded. The raised earth around the ball was vaporized. Black flames shot out toward Bax. When the dust settled, Dragoon stood there, donning an armor that very few humans have seen, and lived to tell about it. It was all black, covering all parts of his body, up to his head. Around his forehead, there was a armored "bandanna" with 8 small black gems embedded in it. On his chest, a large orb, much like the one he was holding earlier, was implanted in the armor. 4 large wings protruded from his back. They were flapping at a slow pace, keeping Dragoon hovering about 6 inches from the ground. In his left hand, he held a bigger, armored version of his original sword. The blade was longer, and had a design etched into the blade. He hovered there for a few seconds, then spoke to Bax. However, his voice sounded different, it sounded more snake-like. "Bax, its time for you to perish."
Dragoon then flapped his wings, and flew at Bax, his sword pointed right at the Phoeniyan. When the sword was just a few inches from Bax's heart, Dragoons eyes, widened. He quickly pulled the sword down, and dipped his shoulder, hitting Bax in the chest. Dragoon then stopped, dropped his sword and grabbed his head. This time, in his normal voice. "What the hell happened? Where am I? Why am I trans..."
He was cut off by himself. "I was just having some fun with your little friend here."
Dragoon looked at Bax, still on the ground from the shoulder. "I didn't come here to hurt him. The last thing I remember is walking into the desert."
" I know, but I was bored, so I took over and had some fun. But you had to stop it. Now I want to finish this."
Dragoons eyes tuned black, as he walked toward Bax. After a few steps, they returned to normal. "No, I won't let you kill him."
The eyes went back to black. "You don't have a choice in the matter. I control you now."
Dragoon took another 2 steps, then he stopped and fell to his knees, eyes reverting back to normal. "No. This is my body, and you can't just take over when you want to! Now get out of my head!"
Black fire ignited around Dragoon. It's intensity increased dramatically. The armor disintegrated, leaving the normal cloaked Dragoon. The particles of the armor collected and formed a dragon-like ghost that flew around Dragoon. It stopped in front of him and spoke. "I'll let you off this time, but remember, you can never get rid of me. I am a part of you. And for as long as you live, I will be inside of you."
The dragon then flew into Dragoon's chest, right into his heart. Dragoon yelled as the dragon entered his body, then collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

[Shadow Phoenix]

The last thing that Bax remembered before his entire world went black and he slipped into unconsciousness was Dragoon flying at him as if to impale him. Bax had lifted his swords to deflect the sword, swinging them down to clear the sword and perhaps knock Dragoon off balance in his flight. But his blades never touched Dragoon's steel, merely passing directly over them as Dragoon lowered it and barreled directly into Bax's now unguarded chest. Dragoon's sudden dramatic, exponential increase in power was riveting, and the force of the impact sent Bax flying backwards, his neck snapping in the process and causing his vision to turn black.

Bax recounted those last few moments of conflict as his eyes flickered open and he sat up with a jolted start. He looked around furiously and quickly tried to find his swords. They had drifted from his hands as he flew back and he instinctively felt he would need them. He quickly found them and whirled upwards, his eyes fixating on Dragoon's...fallen form. Bax blinked a few times. He didn't remember hitting Dragoon. Surely, the impact had not also done damage to the man. And where was the strange armor he had done? He just seemed to lie there as if in a deep sleep and partaking in a nightmare. His face was twisted into an expression of...something that Bax could not quite discern. Parts of anguish, fear, rebellion, and a myriad of other feelings were discreetly visible, though Bax was unable to comprehend them all.

Slowly, Bax's eyes narrowed once more and his grip tightened around the deadly blades in his hands. This man had implied that he had done harm to Zack and Lynx, and perhaps Prodigi as well. That was simply unacceptable. Bax didn't even care that this strange assailant had tried to kill him nearly as much as he cared about his friends and allies. Bax slowly stalked towards Dragoon, his eyes passionately blazing with rage. His subconscious was screaming sensibility to him and he shook, unbeknownst to him at that moment. His conscious thought was overwhelmed with inklings of revenge for the perverse crimes this man had committed. Bax wanted vengeance, wanted to take justice into his own capable hands, so he believed. The man had obviously committed atrocities that could not go unchecked for any longer.

As Bax neared Dragoon's body, his body shook even more as his subconscious thoughts boiled inside of him, eager to burst into the limelight to stop him from doing something completely uncharacteristic of him. Bax's face twisted with anger and he raised his swords over Dragoon, ready to strike. Then, as if a switch were flicked in the back of Bax's minds, a burst of realization exploded with mental light to cast out the grim shadows controlling his thoughts and actions. His face changed to show forlornment and he looked up at his swords and down at Dragoon.

What was he doing? He didn't want to kill this man. He hadn't proven that he had anything to deserve such a fate yet...his was not vengeance. Bax dropped his swords and clutched his head, tears brimming to his lids and trickling down his face. The only times Bax had ever killed for the most part were in the days of war - he detested the dirty deed more than most things. So why had he been so eager to end Dragoon's life. Bax reached out to his swords and quickly sheathed them, shakily lifting his body and taking off towards Midgar in a frenzy. What was wrong with him?

[ZaCloud]

Zack hummed his favorite folk song, his feet swinging back and forth with the beat since they were not touching the ground. He still sat on the edge of the old well, eyes idly scanning the horizon for a chance sight of his hopefully returning comrade. For a while, here and there, other things caught his eye and drew his attention, like a grasshopper who had landed on a stone to his right. It studied the form before it, swaying so its compound eyes could get a better picture. Zack smiled and kept humming; it was like the insect was dancing.

Then it hopped off, and Zack watched its journey… until in the distance he saw something else. He squinted, then gave an open-mouthed smile. That was definitely Bax, approaching at a fairly fast pace. What’re the odds?! he thought to himself joyfully, directing a quick thankful thought to a higher power that he had been guided to this particular spot. He then decided to let Bax be as pleasantly surprised as he had been, so he hopped down and hid behind a rock slab, planning to jump out when Bax arrived.

However, as the Phoenian drew near, Zack could hear his footfalls. They seemed uneven but rushing, tired and dragging but headlong. He knew enough about such a pace to know that negative emotions could drive it. He peeked slightly to be certain. Sure enough, Bax was in the tired stage of a despairing run, with no real destination or plan to stop. His face clearly showed a haunted, hopeless expression.

Zack’s throat tightened. He had never wanted to see such misery on anyone’s face, let alone one who had become so important to him.

“…Bax?” he said softly, but with enough volume to be heard, peeking out further from behind the slab.

Bax kept going for a few paces, then slowly slowed. By the time he had stopped, his face had gone from despair to blank. He felt he was hearing things, seeing things. For the moment it was all too much so he was frozen in place.

But then Zack stepped out completely, and closed the gap between them cautiously. His expression almost matched what Bax’s had been moments ago, but combined with wide-eyed worry. Zack did not need to know the reason for Bax’s distress, to empathize almost completely with him.

“What’s wrong, Bax?” he asked sadly, “What happened?”<br>
Bax began to tremble at the sudden additional shock as it finally sank in. More shock, yet relief, hitting him hard and at the same time. Still within him raged the fear and regret of what he had almost done… Still did the angry battle he had fought make itself remembered in his tired body… But Zack was alive. He was alive!

The unbridled relief, driven in tandem with the sense of horror he had been suffering, drove Bax to quickly close the last steps of distance and embrace the boy. Sobs racked his strong frame and tears flowed from his eyes. His mouth could not even find English as he repeated several times in Phoenian, “You’re alive…”

Zack tensed at first, freezing up, finding his instincts expecting pain to come from contact. But just as quickly, he relaxed, feeling instead a sort of familiarity in such a gesture, even a sense of relief in himself. Both from Bax’s tone, and the feeling that he had needed this gesture for a long time now, without realizing it. Then, his logic took back over, and he hugged Bax in return, wishing to comfort his friend’s overwhelming misery.

“It’s ok, buddy,” Zack consoled, “It’ll be ok. I’m right here, Bax.”

[The Waffle King]

Pyramid Head saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He had reached the edge of the city earlier than expected. He got to the edge of the run-off pipe and looked down, a meter or so below was a fairly deep but still small pond formed by all the run-off water in the past. He hopped down into it, creating a loud splash as well as a tall spray of water due to his unusually heavy body. PH simply sank to the bottom and started to walk up the slope of the small body of water, taking his time for breatheing was not a concern. He quitely broke the surface of the water and stepped up onto the edge of the desert, he shook his head to rid himself of the clinging water. But then he caught a glimps of something, and felt a familiar force. He looked to his right and saw two people, he looked harder to try and identify them. He almost jumped with suprise, it was that Bax person and some other unidentified person no more than 50 feet away. But he was busy, it would have to wait. Pyramid Head walked off into the empty desert, a stripe of sunlight gleaming off his head.

[ForeverZeroUltima]

Lynx took slow steps and reached the edge of the roof. He looked straight ahead and saw that the sun was still barely hanging above the horizon. He growled. Why couldn't night come already?!
He unsummoned his scythe and jumped down. Instead of landing on the windowsill (which was still wide open), he plunged straight down. He could feel the breeze whoosh past his clothes and fur as he fell. He closed his eyes in the process and waited.

"1....2.....3...4..."

His eyes snapped open and he somersaulted and landed on all fours, as usual. He looked around. Nothing unusual...so he walked into the dark alley. He looked around, actually feeling the slightest bit nervous. Why was he, out of all beings, feeling nervous in this alley?
He shook his head. He must've been thinking too hard. Even a shadowmaster such as him needed rest sometimes...
But then again, he had fought no one in this world yet! The slit-like pupils in the middle of his glowing eyes narrowed, as he suddenly became angry at himself. He was not supposed to be a calm, quiet, pacified being! He was exactly what others portrayed him as; a cold, soulless, blood-thirsty monster.
His thoughts faded away as he passed by the man he had killed earlier. He suddenly stopped. The man was alright from the legs and lower. But from the waist and up...
He, of course, had no feelings whatsoever for this victim...and yet he had a strange feeling deep in his gut. What was this feeling? It certainly wasn't happiness. He cared not for anything so that couldn't be it. Was it malice? No; he feels that almost all the time. No...this feeling couldn't be...guilt for kiilling the man?
He grabbed his head with his claw-like hands. No! It can't be guilt! He didn't care if he had killed the man! He didn't give a damn about anyone or anything in this cursed world! Why then...
He paused as the answer came to him. Zack...Zack had said something back in the hotel that kept prying into his mind...

"Life's something that can't be taken lightly, cuz it can't be brought back once it's gone. That's why we don't have the right to judge who's worthy of living or dying, except in defense of our own lives... Or of those we care about."

Lynx's eyes widened and his arms dropped limp to his sides as he remembered those words. A simple kid got to me? How can this be?
Then he knew; he was an assassin. He only understood murder and the dark arts. Zack, on the other hand, knew mostly everything about the opposite; celebrating life and the living. Lynx understood none of that.
Lynx eyed the corpse over again. He paused, was about to say something, then stopped and moved on.
Zack had gotten to him. Lynx didn't consider Zack a "friend" just yet, but the little advice Zack gave him caused a large impact in his thoughts.
"I hope Zack's not screwing around," he muttered as he hurriedly walked. He reached the end of the alley and stepped out into the dim light. "Or Bax, either. It's going to be quite busy for them soon..."
Though he was lost in his thousands of thoughts, one thing stayed on top: his plan to find the Element. Yes; he would carry it out...soon. He knew Zack and Bax didn't have the Element...but he would include them in it, to cover up the fact that he was the one who started it.

Yes...everything was about to change. For the better or for the worse...that was uncertain.

[Shadow Phoenix]

“Dal’ku curpadesk,” was all that Bax could manage to squeeze out of his throat through the tears as he embraced his friend. Zack was alive! Bax had begun to give hope as he stumbled fretfully into the city of Midgar, his awkward steps carrying him where they would as Zack had once advised him. But Zack was alive! All else was overshadowed by this monumental discovery and Bax fixated on it as the only rational thing in his crazy world right then and there.
“Dal’ku curpadesk, Zack!” Tears flowed freely from Bax’s eyes and relegated themselves to the ground around Zack’s feet. Bax knelt there on his knees as he squeezed Zack with all of the might he could muster, shaking as he did so. It was an extremely humbling scene to say the least, and Zack could feel the intense emotions emanating from the alien king as he tried to comfort and console him.
“It’s OK, buddy…it’ll be okay. I’m right here, Bax.”<br>Bax pulled away from the embrace for a moment and looked into Zack’s eyes with his vision blurry and cheeks red. “You are alive! I thought…I thought…” Bax still could not find the words to express how he had thought Dragoon’s words had been founded on truth and that Bax’s only friends here on this planet trillions of miles from home might have been dead. It was overwhelming to have even had such painful thoughts, and now Bax felt that he had little reason to think of these awful things any more. His mind even wandered from the fact that he had almost killed another sentient being without proof as judge, jury and executioner. This was his reality – his friend was all right, and that was all that mattered.

After several painstakingly long minutes in which the cycle was repeated several times, Zack finally posed one of his original questions again.
“What happened?”<br>Bax took a deep breath, shuddered lightly, and stood up, towering over Zack’s slight frame once again. He looked back towards where he had come and slowly allowed the past events to sink in once more. A flood would be too overwhelming, but he couldn’t dam up the situations either, lest the flood waters build up too much and burst through the walls of his mind to destroy him from the inside out. He would just let the events slowly wash over him so that there would be no nervous breakdown of any magnitude.
“What happened,” Bax repeated, his voice trailing off lower as he stared at the now setting sun. A lot had happened. He had been able to talk to Keldira and come to understand her a little better. He had found out that Sephiroth X could have possibly been alive. He had been so excited to tell Zack that their silver-haired friend was somewhere out there in the desert right up until he had his run in with the strange and powerful Dragoon. Their deadly battle raged the desert around them until something happened and the battle ended abruptly. And Bax had…almost lost control of himself for that short, but absolutely terrifying, moment. It was not something that he wanted to relive, where overwhelming feelings of vengeance ate away at him and made him want more and more to destroy the cause of such a bloodthirsty feeling, be it himself or another person. It wasn’t like Bax to have personal vendettas of any kind, any grudges that could possibly interfere with the workings of his daily life. It scared him, truth be told, that his personality could have the potential to deviate so strongly.

“Many things happened, Zack,” Bax said simply, almost wistfully. He breathed deeply once again, his lungs filling up with the strange air of the city that was so much more hydrated than the air of the desert (Bax wasn’t sure which environment’s atmosphere he preferred more as neither were too pleasant as compared to back home). He closed his eyes and lowered his head, his hair crackling lightly. Where should he start?
“Like what?” Zack inquired, curious but cautious at the same time.
“Sephiroth X is alive.”<br>Zack’s eyes lit up and he smiled, "That's great! Well, I kinda figured he'd be tough enough to last, anyway. But still, I'm glad to hear that."
“Keldira saw him…I spoke with her for long time. About many things…I understand Element and Senate better now…she is wise.”<br>
Bax seemed to be drifting off into his own thoughts, but he made sure that he kept part of his focus on Zack.
“Soo…why did you think I was dead?”<br>Bax shuddered for a moment. Zack saw this and contemplated taking a step towards him, but stayed back to await an answer.
“Man attacked me. He mention you and Lynx…I not know what to make of it. I…not want to talk about too much.”<br>Bax shook his head, feeling a slight tinge of pain coarse through as he thought again on what he had done…almost done.
“Okay, no worries.” Zack’s cheery disposition was slowly peeking out again, and that made Bax smile despite everything that was happening.

“Where is Lynx?” Bax finally asked, wanting to move on. He felt awkward standing there, unsure of what to do or where to go, but wanting to do something. He wanted to tell these tales in more detail and perhaps plan a course of action for following Sephiroth and trying to accomplish each of their individual goals.
“Uh, dunno. I left him at the hotel. Wanna go back there?”<br>“Yes,” Bax murmured simply, smiling lightly.
“Okay!” Zack beamed, taking up a decent pace down the streets of Midgar that led to the hotel that they had chosen to stay at. Bax watched him go for a moment, looping his thumbs around in his sash and slouching a little bit with his head turned to the side to watch the frolicking spiky blond-haired kid go. A low buzzing hearkened the coming night and Bax lifted his head as the row of overhead lights slowly flickered on one by one down the street that he was on. It was almost nighttime…how amazing that time had passed by so quickly. And what a day it had been…from the encounter with Pyramid Head to everything that had happened in the desert…it disturbed Bax.
“Are you coming, Bax?” Bax looked down to Zack, who had stopped before turning a corner.
“Yes, I am coming,” Bax nodded and began walking swiftly, the cooling air wafting over his sun-kissed face as he unhooked his thumbs from the sash.

Suddenly, as Bax was about to turn the corner and regain sight of Zack, he heard something that made him freeze in mid-stride.
“Dal ku dinos, Virka sa da Shidakas.” Bax’s eyes widened. He had not expected to hear anyone else speaking to him in his own native tongue, and this whispered phrase was sinister. He whirled around, looking for the origin of the voice before realizing that it was all around him and inside of him. Bax shuddered again and eyed everything around hi wearily. The voice had said “You are mine, Child of the Shadows.” What did that mean, Bax wondered? Shaking his head, Bax rightfully decided not to linger and immediately took off after Zack, murmuring under his breath, “I’m coming.”

[ZaCloud]

Zack paused again to let Bax catch up. He still had a small smile plastered onto his face because he knew that always seemed to help Bax feel better... but his eyes were still full of worry for his friend. He hoped he would be able to do something to help once they were back at the shelter and safety of the hotel room.

Bax caught up soon enough, still appearing shaken and tired. Zack began going once more, fast enough so they could get back before it got too dark, but not wanting to make Bax worry about keeping up when he had enough already on his mind. "I'm pretty sure that if we take this street for a while, it should take us pretty close to the hotel without much problems," he said lightly, glad that he was at least getting to know his way around a bit, but not confident enough to be certain.

There was really nothing to say to that, so Bax just followed, his mind trying to shut out the most recent disturbance, the voice... He had enough to worry about without that. And yet, it nibbled at the corner of his mind.

Zack tried to think of something to say, to help hold Bax's attention so his mind wouldn't have to dwell on whatever bad things had happened to him. But he found himself feeling woefully inadequate. How easy it was for him to spew constant nonsense... and yet, when his friend probably really needed conversation of some sort, he could come up with nothing. What rotten luck.

But he had to say something... Even if it was stupid or mundane. So finally, he glanced at a small general store up ahead that was still open.

"...Do you need anything?"

Bax blinked back into reality. "Hm?"

"I mean, are you thirsty? Can get you somethin' to drink real quick, somethin' to eat... You've been out there a long time." His smile had faded a while back; so focused had he been on thinking of ways to help without screwing up.

[prodigi]

Prodigi came to inside the dungeon yet again. He looked at himself shocked. He had tranced without realising it. It must have been from feeling X's power, he told himself.
Suddenly the door swung open and two men ran in. The first levelled a shotgun to his temple and the second smacked him square in the jaw with the butt of his shotgun. Prodigi passed out.

___________________


"...Do you need anything?"

Bax blinked back into reality. "Hm?"

"I mean, are you thirsty? Can get you somethin' to drink real quick, somethin' to eat... You've been out there a long time."

Bax thought about this for a moment but before he could answer he heard a strange sound coming from around the corner. He snapped his arm out and pressed himself and Zack against the wall, and into the shadows. Two men ran out dragging a bag between them.

"Man, I can't wait to get the 10 Mil bounty on this guy," one of the men said, "no more bounty hunting for us"

Zack looked at the men and began to step out to greet them, realising that they were fellow bounty hunters, when suddenly he spotted a single feather on the butt of the shotgun slung over one of the bounty hunters backs. Zack's eyes widened.

[ZaCloud]

10 million gil… a feather… It’s red but still…<br>
Zack’s heart hammered against his ribs. He had to think of something quick. He highly doubted a dead bird would be worth that much to anyone, and he only knew of one person who had feathers…<br>
He looked at Bax seriously. “I think they’ve got Prodigi!” he whispered, “With the money they said, he’s alive. D’ya think this’ll work?” He hurriedly made up a plan. Bax nodded to it; he couldn’t really think of anything else at the moment. Something had to be done immediately, after all.

***

Zack scampered around and in front of the two men. “Hey!” he said cheerfully, “Did I just hear ya guys got that Prodigi/Kie-roos guy?”<br>
“Cyrus,” the man on the left corrected with a slight growl, “And don’t even think about asking us for any share of the bounty. We got him fair and square.”<br>
Zack held up his hands innocently, waving them a bit. “Oh no, I know that, but I just wanted to warn you two about somethin’! It’s really important!”<br>
“What?” both men asked, their attention focused on the boy.

*BAM!!* Their heads were banged together by Bax, who had snuck up behind them. However, they did not fall over unconscious as had been planned; they cursed and yelled in pained startlement, dropping the bag and readying their guns.

“GAAAAAHHHH!!!!” Zack panicked, swiping the shotgun from the hands of one of the men, and using it to clobber them over the heads once more, this time affectively knocking them out before either could train their sights on Bax.

The boy stood over them, gun still in clubbing position, panting with widened eyes. “Sorryyyyy!” he then whined, putting the gun down, “I didn’t want you guys to get hit twice! Jeeeeeez, that was close!” He bent down a bit and reassured Bax, “Don’t worry, they’re ok.”<br>
Bax had been too careful; so shaken was he still from what he had almost done to Dragoon, that he had impacted the men far too gently to get the job done. He had been afraid he would accidentally kill them. But now he felt guilty for the paranoid risk he had put them both under.

Zack saw this as he looked back up at the Phoenian. “Bax, you did fine, don’t worry about it. The job got done an’ that’s all that matters. Now we gotta get Prodigi out of here.” He knelt and opened the bag. The occupant looked different… but it definitely was Prodigi. He looked terrible; thin and roughed up. But he was indeed still breathing.

Zack’s words brought Bax to focus on that fact instead of his momentary weakness. He knelt and picked up the small, plumed man as he had once before.

“Two friends hurt in one day…” Zack lamented, very worried and saddened.