[FFnut]

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Somewhere, Sometime, Magus's Dream

"..." said Crono.

The gigantic beast loomed ahead. Magus turned to look at it, but it seemed... different, somehow. It was as if it wasn't really... "Crono," Magus whispered hoarsely, "what is that thing? It's not Lavos, is it?"

Lucca spoke up. "It's sort of Lavos... don't you remember? Lavos merged with Schala. They're one and the same now. And it's still ripping everything apart."

Magus shook his head. Impossible. Lavos and Schala merged? How can this be? And now they must defeat Lavos... but he couldn't kill Schala...

Lavos-Schala fired a beam, disintegrating Crono.

Again? thought Magus. He's already been blasted by Lavos, we brought him back, but... He glanced around. None of the other team members were there. He saw the monster's face clearly now; it was, in fact, Schala's. Magus's hand trembled, and he dropped his scythe. The abomination began charging up a second beam.

Magus's hand unconciously dropped into his pocket. His fingers tightened around a small red piece of rock. He took it out and stared at it. ...Dreamstone? From the Mammon Machine? Or maybe... from Palis? Ugh... what is Palis? he wondered. Suddenly it all came flooding back to him. Defeating Lavos at Crono's side... coming to Palis searching for Schala... That's not even part Schala. This is just a dream. He lifted his trembling hand.

The monster was done charging.

Magus screamed "Dark Matter!" The pure dark energy flowed from his fingertips, completely surrounding the monster.

Nothing happened to it.

The beam flew at him.

I'm dead... I'm dead and I can never save Schala. If it was truly a dream I'd have woken up by now. What is this? What's in my mind? Schala... Schala... this thing has twisted her... I can't kill her, but I can't die either... Schala... Schala... "SCHALA!"

The beam seemed to freeze.

Time itself seemed to freeze.

The words "Dark Flare" escaped from Magus's mouth.

A flame composed of compressed darkness appeared beneath the creature.

A force comparable to that of Bahamut's breath (honestly the only analogy I know everyone on an FF board will get) blasted the monster.

The shell split.

The beam vanished.

Magus looked at the foul creature within the shell. Magus shook his head and blinked. Is that...

The sleeper dashed at Magus with incredible speed. Magus knew he was going to die, when suddenly...

Masuto came flying out of nowhere. "Need a little help?" he asked.

Magus nodded. "I dunno if Nichi told you, but that thing is a sleeper demon called Zera-shaal. It's after Belial, though I don't know why. Only people with good intentions can hurt- OOF!" He went tumbling as the sleeper charged him.

Masuto stepped back. "Wow. That thing is fas- OW!" He also flew back a bit.

Zera-shaal let out a horrible screech. It charged for Magus again.

This time Magus knew what to do. He whipped out his scythe... then remembered he dropped it when he was fighting Lavos-Schala. He got slammed again.

Masuto staggered up. "The hell was tha- GRAH!" Another hit.

Magus got up again. He gripped the Dreamstone. He squeezed harder and harder until it cut his palm. The pain stimulated his brain...

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Palis, The Year 699 Ishia, Campsite

Magus sat straight up. His palm was bleeding. He quickly crawled over and shook Masuto awake.

Masuto looked at him groggily. "What the... is it gone?"

Magus nodded. "For now, at least. But it found us, it might be looking for Belial soon." He glanced up at the night sky, remembering the surge of power that went through him when he cast Dark Flare. I'd better remember how to do that one, he thought. Then he began shouting. "Belial! Belial! BELIAL!"