Chapter Two: The Southward Winds

[FFnut]

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Palis, The Year 0 Aikia, Gracia Streets

Magus was the first to recover from the boy's physical display. "Brain... nice to meet you. I'm Magus." He began to gesture at the others. "These are Malice, Titania, Belial, Osirus..." He glanced at Malice and Titania. "And you guys haven't met Glenn either, right?"

Malice shook his head. "I was wondering who this guy was..."

Magus laughed. "He's from my world - and a good friend of mine too. He's a knight, so he may speak a little funny, and he has a tendency to croak..."

"Croak?" asked Titania.

Glenn shot a glance at Magus, who shrugged. "Yeah. Croak. Y'know, like a frog."

Brain spoke up. "So, what the hell is going on here?"

Osirus gave a hearty, yet still evil, laugh. "Calm down, kid. All you need to know right now is that all the demons except me and Belial here are bad guys, and even we're a little wishy-washy. Maybe if you help us out you'll get a wowwipop afterwards."

Brain's response to this was a swift kick to the groin.

All the other males took a step back.

Belial chuckled. "Hey, Osirus, call it a hunch, but I don't think you should be so condescending to the kid."

"Bite me," Osirus managed to gasp while attempting to recover.

The nearby wall collapsed and several more juggernauts wandered in. Magus readied his scythe. He glanced at all the others - everyone was ready to fight with the exception of Osirus, who was still rolling around on the ground in pain.

Let's do it, Glenn! came a mental emanation from the sword that only Glenn could hear.

Yeah! C'mon, Masa, let's show these stupid demons why you don't mess with the wielder of the Masamune! chirped a second.

"Whence thou stareth into the flame," whispered Glenn, "the flame stareth back."

((Sorry to unload a fight scene on whoever's next, but this seems like a nice, ominous end to the post.))

 

[~Hidan~]

Brain looked at the incoming flood of Demons. At first it looked like a small number, until he noticed that the Juggernauts were the only thing he was counting. He noticed that in fact the entire ground that the Juggernauts seemed to have been walking on was actually more demons. Bringing his arm to eye level he powered up his computer. “Sirus how many of the enemy are there in the oncoming wave?”

A few seconds passed. “I count roughly 165 million lesser demons and 120 thousand of the larger ones.”

Brain shook his head. “With my suit at full power how high of a change do we have of winning this?”

“I think you already know this but no chance.” Sirus replied.

Brain took a moment to think about this and looked at the others who were fighting of the three that were already there. “How long till they get here?”

“I’d give them about 20 minutes before they are here.”

Brain didn’t know if he had the right to tell the others that they were doomed if they fought them but he was willing to see what they had to say.

Magus and Glenn finished off one while Belial destroyed another and Malice and Titania managed to kill the other.

They all regrouped and began to think up a strategy, Osirus had managed to pull back his composure and was also helping think. Brain walked over to the rest of the group and motioned that he would like to say something.

“Yes Brain what is it?” Malice said.

“Well after looking over the current situation and seeing as we are the only people left to fight this war, we might want to consider a retreat. If you look off that way you’ll notice that there are in the Millions of demon soldiers coming with tens of thousands of the lager ones to support them. Now might be a good time to think about that.” Brain said calmly as the others all looked over where he had pointed.

Every ones eyes went wide with fear and horror as the realized the shear numbers of Demons heading their way.

“Belial where is Aikia?” Malice asked.

Belial shrugged and tried to sense were she was. “She seems to have disappeared.”

Malice thought about what was about to happen. “It seems we must retreat, with no troops we can’t take on that kind of number.”

 

[Zerlina]

Titania looked at Malice with disbelief.

“Retreat?” she repeated, thinking that it was odd of him to give such an order “…are you sure?”

“What else can we do?” he asked, rhetorically, and shook his head “There’s no one here.”

“But-“

“There’s no one here.”

Titania stared at his face, which looked stern amidst the setting sun. For a moment, the tension gave way to silence, and with conflicting emotion, the two watched each other. In a muted and stationary dance, brown eyes vainly followed and searched through blue, trying to find some kind of explanation for what was happening. When at last it was clear that the answer could not be found, Titania gave up, but in doing so saw the error in her quest- she could find no truth in his eyes because he had not been looking at her. Following his distant gaze, she turned to see the grim and overwhelming figure; Nichi.

From then on, there needed to be no explanation for anyone’s unwillingness to fight that day.

As they stared at the statue, the breeze moved as to eternity, circling and swimming around the group in a kind of consolation. The death had become real, and now the lifeless effigy gazed at them from the city gates.

“Come on.” Malice said “Let’s go…”

Silently, they left, and the sun –falling into its mountainous cradle- gave way to the pale and beautiful moon. As the light receded from Nichi’s face, it took with it the clarity of vision. From a spot on the rampart, a soldier stared downward, and saw beneath him the shadow of the once great commander, guarding the city, which he loved.

Trudging down the Gracian stairs, the soldier made his way to the stone figure, and when he reached his destination, knelt before it, removing his hat.

The night passed on, and slowly but surely, people came and left, each in their own time- much like life, Titania thought, from her spot in the shadows.

When at last it was clear that there would be no more visitors that evening, the mage removed herself from her hiding place.

She made an odd figure- cloaked in robes, which seemed almost illuminated against the starry backdrop. Lighting a solitary lantern, she brought herself before her companion’s statue, and removed from her pocket the book which he had given her.

The gravel crunching beneath her shoes, she sat down near Nichi’s solid feet and opened the manual. Lifting the lantern to read better, she searched for some kind of spell to reverse his doom.

The hours passed on like a thousand eternities, and her eyes grew teary with fatigue. When at last the clock tower struck 4, there came noise from behind her.

“W-who’s there?” Titania questioned, nearly dropping her lantern.

Not waiting for an answer, she turned and saw that there lay only darkness on the streets. Nervously, the girl turned back to her work, when there came another noise. Deciding to abandon her post momentarily, she rose to her feet, and –lantern in hand- followed the direction of the sound.

Suddenly the sky turned to black, and the stars were extinguished like candles. Compulsively, Titania reached for her fans and continued cautiously down the street.

“Come.” A voice whispered with a thousand tones and echoes, and a feeling that made her freeze.

“Show yourself first.” Titania called, and looked around to see only darkness; even the lights from the windows had gone out.

“Come.” It repeated.

Clenching her fans, she advanced forward with a speed that suggested fear.

Suddenly there was loud, horrifying laughter, and the ground gave way beneath her. The cobblestone crumbling under her feet, she fell into a terrible, blackened sea.

Mercilessly, the waves crashed, and rose above her head, swallowing her like ebony snakes. Gasping for air, the mage tried desperately to climb out of the water, only to be washed violently upon a murky shore. All around her there was fire and yet at the same time, rain. Coughing and weak, she turned to look up to the sky, only to receive a terrifying gaze. Screams erupted and split through the air like burning glass. As the tide rose to her waist, she hurried toward salvation, barefoot and desperate.

Laughter echoed through the sky like thunder and finally gave way to lightning. Amidst the flashes of electricity, the mage could almost make out the figure of a beast amidst the sky. Omniscient and giant, she could not run from it, and so she decided to hide.

Fleeing down a familiar street, she made her way down a set of dilapidated stairs and ran into the house which stood there. She was not there for more than a minute when the ceiling above her caved and fell, nearly crushing her. Climbing out from the ruins she ran through the empty streets, trying to open doors, but finding them all locked. The rainwater rose to a climax, and everywhere the flaming remnants of homes fell into it. Desperate and afraid, Titania waded through the flooded streets, until finally a hand took hold of her foot from beneath the water. Screaming and crying she tried to kick it and shake herself free, but found that all she could do was lose the struggle.

“Let me go!” she cried in a raw and broken scream.

“Now how does it feel?” came the voice from the sky, in a language that was beyond words.

“Who are you? What do you want?” she yelled.

“How does it feel to be so suddenly powerless?” It answered, ignoring her question.

Finally, Titania lost the struggle and was pulled under the water by the hand. Instantly, the world grew silent except for the sound of the turbulent water, and she felt as if her chest would collapse from lack of breath.

“Titania!” Came a voice through the murky water “Titania!” it repeated again.

“Help me!” she cried, not caring who it was.

Suddenly, as quickly as it had come on, the water disappeared and she found that she was being shaken.

“Wake up.”

In disbelief, Titania took a good breath of Gracian air and stared at the quiet streets.

“You were having a nightmare…”

She turned to see who had woken her, only to have her gaze caught by the shadow of something fleeing into the darkness. Passing it off as a trick of the light, she turned back to her friend.

“Oh…right. Thanks-" she said, and trailed of, finding that even while concentrating she could not tell who it was that stood before her.

Aggravated, and breath heavy, Zera Shaal watched from behind a wall before retreating into the shadows. There would be no victory for him that night, and he knew it. The best thing to do would be to lay low and avoid attention- Yes, he thought, that would be the most effective way to strike.

"I'm sorry..." said Titania, admitting that she could not see "Who are you?"

 

[FFnut]

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Palis, The Year 0 Aikia, Gracia Streets

The darkness obscured Titania's vision from her. The figure who had woken her began to respond when soft croak came from the nearby shadows. The figure whirled around. "Frog? What're you doing here?"

Titania watched Glenn step into the light. "I wouldst be asking thou the same question, Janus..."

The figure that Titania decided to call "Janus" shook its head. "Look, Glenn, you know you shouldn't call me that."

"And thou shouldst not refer to me as 'Frog.'"

"Janus" sighed. "Alright. I felt the black wind, got it? Something bad was happeneing out here. I have no idea what." The shadowy figure turned back to her. "You're alright, then?"

Titania nodded numbly. "So... who are you?"

"Janus" laughed. "It's me, Magus."

Titania jumped. "Magus?"

A couple of other voices chimed in, only they were inside her head. Hey, wait! You're Janus? Like, the prince Janus?

Wow, big brother, I think he is! And I think he was also that Prophet guy!

"Hush, both of you. You're loud enough for her to hear, too," whispered Glenn.

Titania looked around helplessly and Magus shrugged. "Is it too late to say that you're just dreaming this and none of it's really happening? Oh well. You see, if that pair of shaved rats would have kept their mouths shut, I might've been able to avoid this conversation..."

Titania fainted.

Glenn walked over to her prone form and nudged it with his boot. "Grribbit..."

Magus picked the girl up. "Let's bring her back, Glenn. And you two," he said, directing the following at the sword. "You would do well to keep your mouths shut, especially around other people. I don't really want anyone else to freak out.

Glenn nodded and the two men and the unconscious girl went back to the castle.