FFF Crisis - Page 11

June 5, 2008, 5:31 PM

Oooooh what an epic chapter Faith!!

There was definaetly a lump in the old throat when Patricia bought it. I'm SO looking forward to the grand finale. This has been epic!!

June 5, 2008, 7:20 PM

Powerrrrrrrrrrrr.

This would now be the favourite chapter.

June 5, 2008, 7:55 PM

...Wow...fantastic chapter...Faith showed quite a dark side there o.o

Write more soon!

June 7, 2008, 11:40 PM

Wow, just, wow... Even though you told me who was gonna die I just didn't expect it to be so sudden like that. Wow...

Woot! Kara and Lily! I take it that because of the way Rene said their names they're, y'know, dead?

That was preview looks effin amazing. Cannot wait.

June 8, 2008, 4:49 PM

The final chapter. I can say no more, so just get on with reading and I'll await your replies.

__________________

Chapter Eighteen

The Only Way

Azalea floated in the air. She didn’t look human at all neither did she have the human features of emotions. She was made to command her master. In this case, Saix was now her master and his work was being done through Azalea’s power. There was nothing that anyone could do. Maybe. Except for one determined teenage girl, who wasn’t about to give up.

Faith leapt to her feet to face Azalea.

Her eyes were now burning a crimson colour that Saix had pointed out to her earlier on in their fight. There was so much anger coursing through her body right now. But she tried to remain calm because it wouldn’t do anyone any good. The end of the world was here – and she had to think of something before it would come!

“What do you think we should do then?” she said, turning to Riku and asked him.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? We’re dead! We can’t do anything!” he shouted.

“Whatever happened to the Riku that I knew? What happened to him? Did he ever give up when the chips were down? Would he admit defeat when it was around the corner? Would he throw in the towel when his enemies were much more powerful than he was?” She paused for a moment. Riku didn’t reply probably because he was seeing the full extent of her rage through her red eyes. “The answer to those questions are no! Riku wouldn’t give up! He wouldn’t give up when the chips were down! He wouldn’t admit defeat! He would fight his enemies no matter how powerful they were! Don’t you see?” She looked at everyone else. “The world can still be saved and I’ll show you.”

“But, Faith! How are you going to do it? This is Azalea, the guardian of Earth!” said Frisk worriedly. “You heard what Riku said! She won’t obey you!”

Faith paused at that point. But then she spoke again and looked at her best friend.

“The odds are against me, but … I have to try. If I don’t try, then how do we know?” She then looked at the Musso Invention. “She made this for Doomsday especially, but why? Her dying thoughts told me that it was made for me … to shove the soldiers away from our planet? Does it make sense at all?”

“Use it to get the soldiers out of Earth!” exclaimed Rene, who came to her side. He looked at her in the eyes as if he was going to say something, but backed away at that moment. “You … should probably use that machine to get the soldiers out of our planet. I’m sure Patricia said that it was designed specifically herself.” He forced a smile at that point. He was still going through the phase of Patricia being dead. “But she obviously wanted it to be named after her.” Faith looked crestfallen again. “Faith! Why else would she save your life? I know that it’s cruel for her to be taken away from us. I didn’t want her to die! I don’t want anyone to die!” But then he smirked. “Ok, maybe except Saix. But so what? Patricia saved your life, so that you could be able to do what she wanted you to do! She knew Doomsday was coming! She knew that you’d be the one to save the world! Question is, are you up to it?”

Faith thought about Patricia. She was still dead on the ground, lifeless and motionless. Had it really been important that she be saved, so that the world could be saved? Did Patricia really intend on this happening? Could things have been any different? And then from near them, Saix laughed darkly, but coughed in between his laughs.

“There’s nothing you can do …” he hissed. “Azalea has done my work for me. You’ll never see me again because … you’ll all … die!”

She was about to lunge forward and attack him, but Riku stopped her.

“He’s not worth it,” he said. “You can still do this, Faith. We’ve got a matter of minutes left. Come tomorrow, the world will change. The universe is spinning out of control and you’re the only one who can stop it from happening.” He glanced down at the beach in search of his comrades. “Lady Aerith is down there preparing to summon Holy and get rid of any soldiers still on the planet. She’ll take care of the mess that you fail to clean up.”

And then almost instantly, Faith dashed towards the Musso Invention.

It was a beautiful machine, if she thought so herself. It was charged with power coming from the Tower itself. Faith did let her hands touch the machine itself. It was a bit dusty, probably because it hadn’t ever been used before. But what other choice was there? This was their only chance at saving the world …

“If timed correctly,” Riku continued, “then perhaps whilst you’re shoving the soldiers out of Earth, then maybe Holy can give them a direct hit.” He sighed. “But I might be mortally wounded. I was the last time –” Rene stared. “Don’t ask. Ask Mark.”

Faith put her hands in the machine and closed her eyes.

“If Patricia really wanted this, then I suppose this is our best shot,” she said quietly.

“You can’t stop the abyss! It will destroy you all!” shouted Saix.

“Yeah mate, that’s a risk we’re willing to take,” said Rene, as he put his blade to Saix’s throat, “and if I were you, I’d shut up before one of us becomes Azalea’s new master.”

“It’s coming,” said Lady Aerith loudly. “It’s coming!”

“What? Now?” asked Julius, as he rushed to her side and still brandishing his bloodstained blade. He saw that her eyes had turned white and his hopes were confirmed. As if a miracle had come true, he turned to his comrades looking hopeful. “Everyone! Stop fighting! The time has come! Holy is upon us! Lady Aerith is ready!”

“Ready? Now?” asked Mark, as he released a soldier he had a telekinetic hold over her. “Aww, I was about to have some fun with this one …”

Angelus stepped forward. “Then we must do what we were meant to do.”

Koloth, Angelus, Julius, Mitsuki and Mark joined hands with each other. They tied Lady Aerith into the circle and she smiled.

“If I don’t make it through this –” she began.

“Can we save the last speech until you do actually die?” retorted Mitsuki. “Besides, you are NOT going to die, Lady Aerith. You’ve done so well so far and now we’re going to give you the final push.”

“Riku will take care of everything up there,” said Koloth, noticing Lady Aerith’s worried expression. “I know that I necessarily think he is such an absurd abomination at times, but I really think he deserves our gratitude this time around. He’s gone to deeper depths than I could ever imagine to save her.” He saw her smile and rolled his eyes. “Come on then! Let’s do this already!”

And with that, everything around them turned white. It was so white that they couldn’t see anything.

“Holy is here!” cried Riku. “Faith, do it now!”

She nodded. And with that, Faith cried out, as the soldiers on the planet were lifted from the ground into the air to feel the full effect of Holy. All over the planet, everyone was affected by Holy. Everyone couldn’t see for the duration of its summoning. The dark creatures were hurt immensely by it, most notably Riku and Saix. However, Frisk, in the meantime, felt no effect. She could see, but only just about. Then there was Rene hurrying over to Faith … to help her …

Moments later, it was over. Holy had done its job.

Faith looked around to see that the soldiers had well and truly been defeated. She’d have to thank Lady Aerith for the firepower when this was all over. Using the machine was very difficult and weighed on Faith’s mind. But part of the job was already done. There was one more task to take care of.

Azalea.

So this was the guardian of the Earth, where she belonged.

“It’s time to stop this,” she said, walking calmly to the angel with Riku, Rene and Frisk behind her to back her up. “It’s time that this all ended. You’ve seen what I’ve done. You’ve seen what we’ve all done. We’ve all fought so hard to protect this world, but you still follow that monster and his orders? I say that you should stop this now because … this is our world, not his.”

“Your world is still far away, Faith Crest,” said Azalea.

She stared at her. “Far away? What are you talking about?”

“I cannot disobey my master. He is the one I follow.”

Faith walked towards Azalea with a fierce look upon her face.

“You can’t destroy our world! He isn’t even human!” she shouted, pointing at Saix.

“He is the commander of the Summoning Stone,” said Azalea with little emotion on her face and looked at Saix. “Therefore, he is my master. Whatever my master does, then I must do. It is futile to point species. Everything depends on the master of the Summoning Stone.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Even after shoving out the soldiers from Earth, even after Holy had destroyed the army, Faith would see the end of the world. She had to do something! Saix still had the Summoning Stone in his grasp. All she needed to do is get it off him! That wasn’t a hard task, right? Considering he was weak and all, she just needed to grab it.

“I have the Stone now!” she shouted. “Reverse what has been done!”

“I cannot reverse everything,” stated Azalea. “Earth will die and be reborn with my current master ruling it with an iron fist.”

Faith tossed the Summoning Stone on the floor out of anger. She ran to the Musso Invention and closed her eyes, as she placed her hands inside the machine, getting ready to concentrate her energy combining it with the machine.

“I gave you a chance to stop this,” she said to Azalea. “You could’ve stopped this! But because you won’t listen to me, then I’ll save the world myself. I’ll put the worlds back where they belong and this Earth won’t die!” And with that, the machine started and Faith cried out in pain.

“Faith!” shouted Rene, but Riku held her back.

“Her mind is made up!” yelled Riku over the wind and noise. “It’s the only way! We have to leave!”

“I’m not leaving without her! She could be trapped here!”

“I know, but that risk has to be taken! She knows what she’s doing, Rene! She knows!”

“But I need to tell her something before she might get lost!”

“What? What do you need to tell her?”

“That I love her! I can’t lose her and let her be alone not knowing that I love her!”

Riku stared at Rene. Never in a million years he thought that Rene would actually love Faith. Right now, he would’ve said, “Oh really?” and laughed out loud, but this wasn’t the time for laughing, especially when they were faced with an apocalypse. He just nodded his head. He was shocked himself that Faith had an admirer. Well, not that he liked her himself. He only liked her as a friend. God, if she could only remember the times that they’d spent together …

Frisk saw the worlds that were surrounding them coming back together. It was so windy now that she held on to a pole in fear that she would be blown away and end up dead. Saix was still on the ground as if he was pinned or had super glued himself to it. In the meantime, Riku and Rene grabbed handles on the wall as tightly as they could. Everything was spinning out of control now that Faith had taken charge herself.

“It is inevitable to stop everything from happening!” shouted Saix over the noise.

But I still have to try, thought Faith, as she felt the impact of putting the worlds back where they belonged weighing on her mind with each second that she took to do it. She looked towards Frisk, who was struggling to hold on to the pole. And then her eyes were cast towards Riku and Rene, who were awaiting the grand finale. Azalea looked undisturbed and still floated in front of the blue portal that had opened up not long ago. “I said I’d die trying, Saix! So shut your trap and prepare to have your plan blown to smithereens!”

One more world had been put back where it belonged. In a space of minutes, things were going back where they belonged. Azalea had not uttered a single word, not even to Saix, who was demanding to know what was going on. It almost seemed like Azalea was … smiling. Was she smiling because Earth would not end? It was only four minutes to midnight – and Doomsday would end. Maybe the world was saved.

“Still so far to go, but where will you find home?” hinted Azalea.

“Home? What?” stared Faith.

But Azalea said no more. Other tragedies were about to strike.

Frisk’s grip on the pole was loosening at an alarming rate. Saix called out Frisk’s name and told her to hang on, but she didn’t seem to hear him. She immediately glanced at Faith, who had the machine to hold on to. Faith could only move the worlds with the machine, not individual people. That was not it was made for.

“I can’t hold on!” she screamed, almost on the verge of crying.

“Give me a few more minutes!” cried Faith. “Just a few more moments!”

Another world had been put back where it belonged. All that remained was the blue portal behind Azalea. But world was that? Faith didn’t want to know. All she knew was that she had to close everything quickly before something bad happened. But then something bad DID happen.

“She’s losing her grip!” cried Rene. He wanted to help her because she wasn’t far from him, but Riku stopped him. “What are you DOING?”

“Saving your life!” shouted Riku.

“AAAAHHH!”

For a split second, Faith feared the worst. But then she thought that no one had screamed. However, the worst did come.

Frisk lost her grip on the pole and then went flying through the portal behind Azalea.

“FRISK!” cried Saix. He wanted to get up, but was too weak. Azalea had saved him.

There was no turning back for Frisk. Wherever she was didn’t sound too good. With Riku holding Rene back and Saix on the ground unable to move, Faith now realised one more thing. She had a “choice” to make. This choice wouldn’t be easy considering what was in that portal.

“I only got one choice,” she muttered. “And there’s no looking back.”

Not even daring to look at Riku or Rene again, Faith somehow managed to transfer a vast amount of her energy into the machine. She let go of the machine and let her body fly right into the portal against her own will. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. Tears streamed down her face because that had been a hard choice to make.

Because …

… By transferring her energy to the machine, she had finished the job. The portal closed behind her and all was restored. Rene was still screaming, whilst Riku just looked at what happened – he was clearly in shock. Saix had passed out in the meantime since objects had kept hitting him in the face. Azalea had disappeared and the Summoning Stone was now in Riku’s hand.

As soon as the portal had closed, Riku released Rene and allowed him to run to the wall, where the portal had been. He watched the teenager bang on the wall for Faith to come back, for her to return and stop fooling around. Riku knew that she had made a choice, a difficult choice. She had gone into the portal to save Frisk. And he didn’t know what was on the other side. Neither did Rene.

For all they knew, Faith and Frisk could have been trapped in a hell dimension.

“FAITH! FAITH! COME BACK! COME BACK!” yelled Rene loudly, as actual tears flowed down his cheeks and soaked his face. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS! STOP MESSING AROUND! PLEASE COME BACK, FAITH! I NEED YOU TO COME BACK! I LOVE YOU! FAITH CREST, I LOVE YOU! I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU! YOU NEED TO COME BACK! PLEASE … COME BACK!”

Riku sighed sadly, as he fought to suppress his emotions.

“She’s gone, Rene,” he said quietly. “It’s not hell where she’s gone. That portal opened as a result of the worlds coming together … it was no accident it appeared. It was meant to be. You see, Faith had to make a choice. She foresaw that someone would have to make a terrible choice in order to save the world.” He came to Rene’s side. “She knew what she was doing, Rene. She knew that she had to save Frisk. She couldn’t let her be alone in that portal. In that portal, there is a parallel world. It’s the same as ours, but some aspects are different now …” He looked at the destruction and devastation that had been brought.

The Red Rose Movement was done here. At least it was finished here in England. But there was one thing that Riku noticed. Patricia’s body wasn’t here. He could’ve sworn it was here, but then immediately thought that she may have gotten blown through the portal as well. He only hoped that Faith would know. If she did know, then she would give her the proper burial preparations for her. He hoped he would give her a funeral.

“We have to leave,” Riku said to Rene, as he placed his hand on his shoulder, hoping to give some comfort to the distraught teenager. Rene was now part of the FFF team and his responsibility. Rene looked down at the ground blankly. “We have to cover this incident up and see the authorities. We have to make a list of the missing and of the dead.”

He patted Rene on the back and walked away from the Tower taking a dark portal to teleport away. Rene was alone on the Tower and he couldn’t suppress his emotions. He had tried to fight them off, but in the end, decided that it was best that he should just give into his emotions. The truth was that he loved Faith and had been unable to tell her how he felt. It was the end of the road and there was no chance of ever seeing her again.

The first thing that Faith sensed was the fresh air. She sniffed the fresh open air and then opened her eyes to find that she was in a large field of grass. She sat up and it hit her. This was where the portal had led her? But wasn’t that impossible? She was so certain that she was going to hell. Rising to her feet, Faith felt dizzy. It was because she had transferred a lot of energy to the Musso Invention, wasn’t it?

And then a lot of things changed.

“All units! Go, go, go!” came a commanding voice.

Suddenly, Frisk appeared with a radio and smiled down at her best friend.

“Frisk? Is that you?” asked Faith, as she used her hand to block the sun from her face.

“Sure is me,” smiled Frisk.

Several soldiers appeared scanning the area for potential enemies. As soon as that was done with, a stretcher came and two medics lifted Faith on to it. She looked confused, but the look on Frisk’s face was reassuring enough.

“Everything will be explained soon, I promise!” she said, as the ambulance doors closed on her.

Earth. Cardiff, Wales.

This was where Faith’s new life in the new world had begun. Now here she was several weeks later glancing around in sign of someone. Everything had been explained to her like Frisk had promised.

The facts were these.

As soon as Frisk had arrived in the parallel world, there was also an alternate version of the Red Rose Movement, which was almost the same as Patricia’s Red Rose Movement, but was more advanced. They had brought Faith to their special hospital unit to help her recover from saving her version of the world.

Once she had recovered, she was able to discover more about this version of the Red Rose Movement. It was the same, but with a few differences. Patricia had still founded it, although in this world, she had died a few years ago. Instead of being based in England, the association was spread across the world. Instead of being more open in her world, Faith found that this Red Rose Movement was more secret.

And then there was one last thing that was really important.

Frisk just so happened to be part of the upper boss department, which only made Faith feel worried with the whole pregnancy situation.

But all of this had led her back to the beach of Cardiff, where it had all started.

Lately, Faith had been dreaming of a voice. She didn’t know whose voice it was, but it kept on telling her to go to the beach. After getting herself checked out and making sure she wasn’t as insane as Frisk had suspected her to be, she found herself to be on to something and headed down to the beach straight away.

Now she was here in hope that voice would reveal itself.

As she carried on walking, a faint image of Riku appeared.

“Riku?” she whispered, as she came closer to him. “Is that really you?”

“I think so,” shrugged Riku.

“What are you doing here? Wait … why do you look so faint?”

“I look faint? Hang on a minute …”

Something dark wrapped around his body and then his image became more lifelike.

“There we go! That’s the ticket!” he smiled and winked.

But it didn’t seem to help Faith in the slightest. She tried touching him, but her hand went straight through. She stepped back a bit and was trying to keep it together.

“You can’t touch me,” said Riku firmly. “I waited for a couple of weeks to gather my energy and see you. This is the final time that there’s ever going to be contact between us. Who knows? I could be melting a mountain right now to see you.”

“What? Melting a mountain? What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I shouldn’t really be here right now. It’s forbidden for two worlds to be together. That’d only cause chaos. You’re a part of this world now, Faith, and so is Frisk if she’s still around …”

“Yeah, Frisk is still around.” Faith was nodding her head. “We both work for the Red Rose Movement now.” Riku’s eyes widened and he looked impressed. “It’s the same, just got a few things different about it. So yeah, we both work there now fighting whatever is out to get the world.”

Riku smiled.

“But that’s what you’re meant to do, Faith. You’re defending the Earth. You saved billions of lives that day. Everyone won’t know who you are really, but they’ll be indebted to you. Doomsday will be a day that the entire world won’t forget.” But then he scratched that last part. “Forget the world! The universe was saved! You put all the worlds back where they belonged! Isn’t that good enough?”

Tears streamed down her face.

“I … I can’t … nothing … nothing is good enough!” she cried, unable to control herself. “I’ve tried … I really tried here … I want to go back …” She kept putting her hand through him. “I want to … I want to go back! I thought that if … if I saved Frisk, then maybe … maybe I could find a way back …”

“But there is no turning back,” Riku said sadly. “We tried as well. FFF tried to find a loophole around this one. Nothing came up. Not even Saix knew what happened. He said that portal wasn’t supposed to be there, yet Azalea knew it would be there. As for Saix … well … we’ve got him in custody, stripped him of his powers and he’ll be put on trial for everything he’s ever done to everyone.”

“Saix is going to be put on trial?” Faith immediately stopped crying.

“It’s FFF policy. You get someone who turns against us, goes on a mad killing spree, tries destroying the world and even hurts our own elite and then they have to go on trial. It’s the only way to work things around,” explained Riku. “We won’t destroy Saix, though. He’s … invaluable for now. He knows things we don’t. But he doesn’t pose a threat to us in the meantime. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“But I’ll have to worry about everything, Riku,” she said quietly, the tears now falling down her face again. “I could never forget what happened. I can’t forget what happened! Patricia died to save me and I had to bury her here!”

“Oh, is that where she went? Julius and Koloth went searching across the Earth for her, but found no trace of her.” A smile was etched across his face. “At least she got the proper burial that she deserved. She was a fighter right until the end, your godmother was. She had that fighting spirit. I guess that’s where you get most of your attributes from – Patricia must have raised you well.”

However, it didn’t seem to matter to Faith. Patricia was gone and now she had no family at all. Just when she had discovered her, she was cruelly taken away. Frisk was the only one closest to family that she had left.

“She’ll be looking down at you now and feel proud of what you’ve accomplished,” Riku continued to speak. “It’s a cruel fate to die like that. But don’t worry, I’ll ensure that Saix gets every single beating that you want him to have. Think of it this way, you’ll have your work cut out for you.”

When she didn’t say anything, Riku crossed his arms and walked closer to her.

“I don’t have a lot of time left,” he said. “It’s not right for me to be here. By being here, I am probably melting a mountain or destroying something in this world. At this rate, I probably only have a minute left before it’s really goodbye.”

“What? A minute? But can’t you do something?”

“This is how long my power has left. I can’t do anything else. I’m so sorry you couldn’t find a way back. And the team sends their love. Well, they don’t because they don’t know I’m here. But if they could ever see you again, then I know that they would.”

Faith removed her hair in her face. It was starting to get windy around here.

“And it’s been a pleasure to know you, Riku,” she smiled. “It’s been nice to know that I was part of something … interesting.”

“So you call your experience with us interesting then?” he grinned.

“Interesting, yes,” nodded Faith. “God, I can’t even begin to say how it’s been …”

“Then you can’t use words then. But they’ll know how grateful you were.”

“Riku! Please don’t go!”

And then came a moment. Riku remembered that there was one thing important that Rene had to say to Faith on the Tower right before she was trapped here. He had to say it. He had to say it now. He cleared his throat and then looked at her directly in the eyes. Those eyes would be the last things he would see of this world.

“Faith Crest … there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Yes?” she said, waiting for what he had to say.

“He –”

But before they both knew it, he had faded away. Faith fell to her knees and broke down in tears. She would never know what Riku had to say. She would never know what was so important that he had to say to her. If only he had ten more seconds, then maybe she would’ve known …

This was the end of the line.

Faith rose to her feet, wiped away her tears and looked at Frisk, who had been watching afar in the distance. She ran to her and was greeted with a heartfelt hug. Frisk had watched the entire encounter and couldn’t think of anything to say, so instead, she hugged her best friend. But in the meantime, there were more sinister things to happen.

As Faith felt safe with the hug, she was wrong. This wasn’t the end of the line. As a matter of fact, it was just the beginning. Her eyes looked angry. An expression of anger was on her face. Her eyes were burning with that same crimson fire that burned when she saw Patricia die and took out her rage on Saix.

This was far from over.

In fact, it wasn’t even near the end.

This was just the beginning of something dark and sinister coming in the future.

__________________

So there you have it. The end of the story. I'll be putting up a teaser trailer for the next one very soon, so watch out for it.

June 8, 2008, 5:11 PM

Whatta powerful ending...now I want to see the next part desperately T.T

Role on Part 2!

Great Stuff!

June 8, 2008, 5:17 PM

Great stuff Faithy!! Suspense right til the very end! Well done you and roll on part 2!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the whole thing