Last chapters reviews made me grin for a very long time. In my defence, Saeth, this first section was already finished before you reviewed! XD Either you’re smart or I’m predictable, but I think I’m allowed the occasional cliché.

Assorted Breaking Benjamin songs, and Bleed it Out by Fort Minor, and Won’t Back Down by Fuel all used this chapter. Joy!

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Chapter Twelve

Gates of Heaven

‘It... hurts…!’ She couldn’t see, pain wringing around her head like sharp wire, cutting into her mind. The scream of fonons in the air was deafening to her, and she wasn’t even as strong a fonist as Jade. She felt snow soaking through her knees, hands holding her head as she felt numb, pain lacing down her neck to cramp every muscle, her arms shaking from the strain.

“Nephry!” Saphir’s voice was so far away, white light surging up from across the Square, casting harsh black shadows across the snow. The effect was blinding her as the dark night was only too obliged to fill the gap once the arte faded. Only the flash and glow of gathering fonons wore through the haze.

‘I’m going to destroy them. I’m going to make right everything they did wrong!’ Again, in her mind she could hear it, a voice speaking to her that was once her own, but which hadn’t been since childhood.

‘He took them all away: away to castles and adventure and riches! He left you alone and cold and forgotten! It’s all his fault!’ Whose fault? Jade’s? The diary… she’d only been a child then; it was only a beginning, not a full tale. A conflict without a resolution… But… there was resolution! She’d wed, she had a name and a position and a life now… Not… like back then…

“Y..You’re wrong!” Speaking didn’t tighten the noose; rising to her feet didn’t strain the muscles. She could hear the screaming voices of another world, a mass of black and violet lines swarming one another as a negative gate was opened somewhere nearby… where had Saphir gone? He wouldn’t have come alone, would he?

Fonic winds chased one another around the shrunken version of herself, bringing the Replica- what else could she be?- up high enough so their eyes were even with one another. She’d always thought Jade’s gaze to be chilling like ice, but it was better than the roaring flames behind the set boring into her now.

“They…” The pain had lessoned, but as a fresh wave of fonons cycled around the two of them, her vision swam and she felt choked by spasms.

‘Peony gave me Keterburg, Saphir gave me friendship… Jade…’

‘NOTHING!!’ The screaming in her skull echoed endlessly, blurring the words into a blaring siren. ‘He gave you nothing!’

“He…”

‘NOTHING!!’ But indifference… What had her brother given her? Except for a reason to look elsewhere for… anything..?

“Fourth platoon, secure the perimeter!” That voice…

“Nephry!” It was useless to look towards Jade’s voice, it was too far across the darkness. But the one just behind her made her freeze, so she couldn’t turn to him either. Instead…

The child was a replica: they both did the same thing. Saphir lunged out from the shadow of Karl III, how fast must he have moved to clear the distance with such a small distraction? It didn’t matter. For a brief moment she thought she saw the flash of a blade in his hands, something small, light, to just slice by and end everything cleanly; make the nightmare end.

Nephry screamed, throwing her arms up over her face. A flash of golden fonic light flooded across the snow, and she heard Saphir slam into the snow at her feet. The swarms of fonons were again the only light when Nephry opened her eyes, but there were shapes moving along the edges of the plaza- soldiers? Where was she? Where was the girl? The Replica?

“S-Saphir?” The cramping and pain had faded again, still their, nausea swamping her senses. She didn’t even fight as an arm snaked around her from behind, pulling her back to lean against someone strong. She didn’t even have to look to know it wasn’t Jade: it wasn’t the sort of hold for Brother and Sister…

He hadn’t fallen on the blade; she could see it clear and free of any stains in the snow in front of him, Saphir’s hand still gripping the handle tightly. Why wouldn’t he get up? He was shaking, she could see it. He gave a shuddering cough, one which wracked his entire body, but the arm around her wouldn’t let her come close to him, she was being made to back up instead.

“Medic!”

“Sh-She just…” Vanished. He’d come flying out of the shadows at her, and with a flash of light she was gone? “Saphir, get up… Saphir!”

He got his arms down under himself, pushing weakly against the snow. She clamped one hand over her mouth as there was something dark streaming past his lips, dribbling down onto the ground. He didn’t look up at her, and she just allowed Peony to drag her back several more steps. He was looking around in the dark, the light of the scattered fonons shining off the sword blade in his hand.

“Jade! Where are you!?” The moment he said it, she saw Saphir tense on the ground before them, a dull throb beginning to ache in her skull.

“Don’t…”

‘Don’t say that name…’ Saphir sounded like he was choking, a shower of golden sparks suddenly flying away from him, dusting off and away like the finest snow, but the quantity was staggering. At it’s height, she couldn’t even see him anymore, it wasn’t until the snow was crushed under him, his body falling again like a dead weight to the ground, that the light faded, the fonons reorganized.

Nephry thought she was going to cry. She’d never imagined anything worse; standing there splattered with a thin film of blood was the Replica. The raging flame behind those eyes was subdued now; glowing like hot coals in a blacksmith’s forge. The contempt in that gaze was so strong she could almost taste it… No, it was the fonons.

“Yulia…!” She couldn’t run, she knew she couldn’t- she could hardly stand and that was with Peony holding her tightly. No, no, no! Violet clouds almost as dark as the night were curling around the Replica’s arm, hand outstretched towards them as Nephry felt her eyes widening. No, no, no!!

“All three…” She murmured cryptically, “I’ll make him pay…!”

The roar was deafening even before the Arte was unleashed. Stone and sewer splitting and lurching violently underfoot; a glyph half the length of the plaza itself scrawling from the base of the statue all the way back to the caster’s booted feet. Nephry couldn’t even hear if she screamed or not, shutting her eyes tightly as she found herself held so close and away from the furious power. Fangs of solid stone tore up through permafrost and tiling- the scream of another negative gate drowned out by the enraged dragon of earth breaking free and scarring the ground.

“Excuse me…” Unflappably calm, chauvinistic and proper, Nephry couldn’t bring herself to loosen her hold on the Emperor as her brother’s voice drifted contemptuously through the snowfall. A shield of stone blocked the replica from view, bronze residues from the casting joining the myriad of colours already sparkling through the air. That Saphir remained on the ground and not skewered over head must have been a testament to Jade’s skill…

“I’m over here…”

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“I do so hate to have others assume my debts… But I should say this; if anyone is owing, I believe you have things in the reverse…”

His patience were worn raw, tugging one white glove down a bit, not even looking towards his sister and her compromising position in the Emperor’s arms. He could remember explicitly warning Peony against something like that, but it would have to wait.

No one was going to know what was going on in his mind. He’d taken everything from the Tower of Rem to the destruction of Eldrant with a façade of calm. One more replica to the list wasn’t going to change things now. He wouldn’t let it.

There was a line of sharp stone running down the centre of the square, cleaving it effectively into two halves. The remnants of the Negative Gate arte still hissing in the air- no one needed to know how near a miss it had been to block the three of them from the strike. His men were kept back, the fonon count so high they would be able to cast on a whim if he motioned for it. Let them think the hairline timing something planned on his part.

“Majesty, take several men with you back to the ship.” Oh, he’d seen what had happened to Dist; the minor heroic not having ended well for him. It answered the question of the distorted fonons back in his office in Grand Chokmah though. Jade was no healer however, only having one as far as he knew amongst the Third Division soldiers. But he doubted even that young Corporal could deal with the Seventh fonons which had torn through Dist’s body.

Jade’s theories didn’t save lives- but getting Dist back to the Olympus might.

A wordless screaming and the resounding crash of fonons joining brought his attention back around. Pride beat out self-preservation, and the snow under his feet melded into water. The sapphire glyph formed too quickly for him to escape with dignity, and he clenched his teeth as biting cold and needles of water surged up at him. He had one arm up to shield his eyes, but before the arte was even settled he reached out and strangled the life out of the last of it.

“That’s enough from you!” His first instinct was fire, but water was so plentiful he couldn’t ignore it. A pendant around his neck from a journey two years gone distorted his vision, made every fon-slot strain its way open, but the glyph chimed together before the miserable cretin could get away.

Liger in Rappig fur, worm festering through an apple; the arte knocked her clear back into the bronze statue of the former Emperor. Spires of blue ice clustered at her feet, razor-edged and biting as deeply into her as the same spell had to him in the capital.

“Kill it… kill it… I failed…” Dist’s voice was far away, the chiming of endless fonons and artes drowning out the weak little words as he was carried off. There were too many lights and sharp, flashing blasts of colour, he couldn’t see anything more than the faded outline of people moving past him, a wide berth given so no stray artes would hit them if sent wide. There were streams of fonons providing cover for them; more colours, more sounds, more chimes and chants filling the air. He hadn’t expected his men to stand idly by any longer than they had too- or if he had, it was foolish to have done so.

“No!!” He shut the voice out- it was too familiar. He let the fonons streak across his vision- the face was too perfect. She could hover from the artes she summoned, but not fly in her own right: the stone wall kept her from seeing the others escape until they were already behind him, and he wasn’t about to let her get past. His arte had missed her, a cage of blazing fire streaming up into the night sky, her small form moving too quickly to have been caught as he’d hoped. A swift end to everything.

Replicas were not their originals, and never would be. But had the words or the actions ever matched the face and the voice… He didn’t want to know how strong he would’ve still been able to hold onto that creed. Instead, he let the light get in his eyes again, a flash of gold at his arm as he used the contamination effect his own way -he’d seen what had happened to Dist.

His jaw was clenched so tightly his teeth ached. No one needed to know he hesitated to bring up the spearhead. There was no way for them to notice he released the fonons just a little bit late.

“Enough!”

The weapon was forced back through his fingers- fonons spitting out like blood, but the lightning which fell kept her from vanishing through him and leaving him on the ground like Dist. Almost too late. Again. Almost too late…

He started to pull his arm back out of reflex; he was used to monsters, not children running at him. Before he could remind himself that it was a monster however, he’d pulled too far to stop, pride forcing him to follow through as he kept the spear solid, turning so as to look down at her without obstruction.

“Are you finished?” He asked harshly, but found himself out of breath. The cloud of yellow and green from the strike swirled like mists around her, the particles of sound rubbing off one another gratingly. She was down on hands and knees; the snow burned away from the heat of the artes, causing a thick fog to hang over the entire square. He suddenly felt very alone- nonsense, but effective…

“I…” Would she bleed red? She’d fallen apart once and slipped through Dist, had tried it again and been torn away by lightning- was there enough of her left? The golden light around her… it…? …!!

“I,” The fonons around her condensed, chorded chains of sound and energy lashing out and away from her, “Who stand in the full light of the heavens…”

She was on her feet again, and he was flying through the air off of his. The whoosh of air past his ears and from his lungs shattered his concentration. Did his spear fall or did it return to him?

“Command Thee,” His back met cold, thin metal, a pained cry fluttering past his lips before he could stop it, “Who opens the gates of hell…” ice and melted snow shocking him as he landed in a heap on the ground, several yards away. He looked up and saw only light- scalding white pouring from every flake of snow, every stray fonon. His eyes stung from the force of it. Lines of pure ivory skating across the tiled ground at her feet, scrawling out farther, farther, farther… They overcame him almost instantly, unpurturbed by the unsmooth surface. Over, under, around, through… He couldn’t feel his right arm- even the fonons there were reacting…!

“Come forth!” No! “Divine lightning!” NO!

He’d never felt himself move so fast. The violet shaft of his spear felt like rough sand even through his gloves; palms sweating so much he feared they would freeze into place. He’d been thrown over a fence- he jumped it. She was too far away- it didn’t matter! He couldn’t see, the sound was deafening, he felt his own clothes burning.

He didn’t care! He didn’t care! He didn’t care! Not here! Not in the city! Use it anywhere else- just not here!!

“THIS ENDS-” Now! It ended right now!

No more!!

Yes, Jade spent an ungodly amount of time just standing around watching his friend(s) being attacked by the maniacal replica. He’s Jade, even I can’t change that.

Short chapters are win. And do they move faster, or is it just me?

The only person who ever escaped a draft unscathed was Peony.

I love this story for all the senseless violence and explosions.