FFF Crisis II: Goddess of Death - Page 5

August 18, 2008, 3:49 PM

I solemnly swear to wait patiently for the next chapter which will feature moi. =]

Good job, Faith!

August 18, 2008, 6:55 PM

Here's the next chapter, which features a short cameo from a new character. Enjoy!

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Chapter Four

Forced Alliances

Faith opened her eyes to notice that she was dangling in the air with chains to keep her afloat. She looked somewhat confused to notice that Mercurial, Contra, Hera and Rydia were all, but glancing up at her, mystified in their conquest to unravel the mystery that was surrounding her. She coughed because she forgot to breathe. Now breathing heavily and wondering what the hell she’d done to deserve being up here, she glanced down at Mercurial.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“A lot of things actually,” replied Mercurial, as he crossed his arms and cleared his throat. “Well, you just released Frisk – that’s mainly what happened.” Faith raised an eyebrow. “You remember, right? You found out that we’d been containing her in here for the past year or so, making you believe that she was here all along.” Again, her eyebrows were raised. “We lied to you, Faith. It had been building up for the past couple of weeks a year ago – the pressure, it was the spur of the moment, if you’d like to call it that. Frisk was acting out of line. The child – well, spawn of Satan itself – took advantage of her. We locked Frisk away for health and safety reasons. We were preserving the life of our world.”

And then it hit Faith. Of course! They lied to her. That had been the last thing she had remembered! Tears rolled down her face because the pain of discovering that revelation had been somewhat damaging. It still damaged her relationship with the Red Rose Movement. To even think that the organisation that her dead godmother had created even dared to turn against her … it hurt her so much that it made her so angry. But even as the anger had slowly crept up, Faith remembered losing consciousness. Losing control.

Had it been the losing control part, which caused her to black out and forget what she had been doing? For once, fear struck her. She glanced at the chains that held her up in the air and shivered. It was cold down here in the basement. Well, it wasn’t really the basement, but more like the lower basement. The basement was where the actual official headquarters were located. The lower basement was used for storage and also, prisoners. Was this what it had come down to? Had RRM had to contain Faith and treat her like a prisoner?

“I really appreciate the concern, but to lock me down here in the lower basement? That’s stooping a little low, isn’t it?” she retorted. “And plus, you seem to forget that I’m one of your own employees.” She laughed at this point. “I seem to think that justice is going the other way.”

“You ordered us to release Frisk at the time,” said Contra, who raised her eyebrow the same way that Faith did. “Now would you call that justice when we can’t seem to even identify what’s inside of Frisk herself?” Faith lowered her head in shame. “You really can’t remember, can you?”

“It wasn’t that bad at first,” Faith shook her head, confirming that. “There were a few blanks at first, but then it got worse. I lost track of hours, even days … I couldn’t even quite put my finger on it.” She gulped. “Until now.” Closing her eyes, she telekinetically snapped the chains and floated down to the ground. Hera dived forward with a gun, but Faith raised her hands. “I’m fine! I’m not going to hurt you. I promise! See? Hands raised in the air.” She raised her hands in the air. “I don’t know why these things are happening, but I know what is triggering them.”

Contra nodded at her to continue after getting the go ahead from Mercurial.

“It’s when I get angry. Ever since I arrived here from the other world, I can’t help, but feel being angry all the time. I mean, I was so mad because Patricia died. I wanted to exact revenge on the killer, but I couldn’t since he was on the other side.” She thought about a lot of things. Rene was one of those people that she thought of. For the first time in ages, she wondered what he was doing now, how he’d felt since she’d dived into the portal to save Frisk and if he’d ever moved on from Doomsday. One thing was sure – Faith certainly hadn’t been able to move on from all the angst and pain. Her hand was shaking violently. Before anyone knew it, she extended her fingers and the chains hit the wall. “I … she was the only family that I ever had!”

“Faith, you need to calm down,” said Hera, who approached her, whilst he was still holding the gun in his hand and pointing it at her. He noticed the tears sliding down her cheeks, but it didn’t put him off guard. “The anger is returning and whatever happens there isn’t nice, I can assure you of that.” She looked up at him with remorse in her eyes. “But I know you well enough that whatever you did while you had your blackout or can’t remember anything, I’m sure that you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. You could never do that.”

“But I could,” whispered Faith. “You don’t know what I’m capable of …”

*

“… So you’re an angel then,” murmured Rene.

He and Filden were still sat on the balcony, glancing out at the lonely night sky. Ever since Filden’s confession only several minutes ago, the two had been very quite overall. When Rene spoke, it had been the first time that the silence had been broken.

“I think my mom was one,” whispered Filden. “My dad never really spoke about her at all to me, just except from the fact that she loved me so much and was the most beautiful woman of all time.” At this point, he forced himself to sigh. “I think this might be the reason why he never spoke about her. Maybe he was afraid because he found out what she was in the end … maybe he thought the same would happen to me.” Filden glanced down at his hands. “Heck, maybe that’s why he’s been so keen to avoid me lately.”

“Fil! Your dad’s been quiet because his girlfriend just died of breast cancer,” Rene pointed out. “You need to give him a bit of time, mate. He’ll come around in the end. Besides, how many years has it been since your mom died? It’s been thirteen years for God’s sake! Your dad may not even know that your mom was like you. Your mom may not even be like you at all, maybe it skipped a generation.”

“Or maybe I was adopted. Maybe I’m just the black sheep of the family.”

“Or maybe you’re getting too deeply involved in this.”

Filden just shrugged carelessly. Rene examined his blade, which he’d been given by that ninja, whose name that she’d forgotten, before he vanquished Darkblade. He told his friend about his adventures of the past year and the story behind his frequent disappearances were finally coming into light. But the whole story triggered the untold tale of Doomsday – perhaps one tale that Rene found too hard to tell. He still did so, anyway.

Now finally knowing the truth behind why Faith Crest had never been sighted in this world again and listed down as missing or dead, Filden could only comfort Rene with words full of hope. The tragic tale of Faith jumping through the portal to a parallel universe to save Frisk’s life. Rene tried his best to hide his true feelings, but he was failing poorly so far. Filden and Rene had been like brothers for many years now – which only caused one of those unavoidable heart to heart talks.

“But the thing is that she couldn’t remember who she was, Filden,” Rene said calmly, tears swelling up in his eyes. He didn’t normally cry, but he had been holding his emotions back for a year now. The anniversary of Doomsday was fast approaching – the memories were too hard to bear for him anymore. “And because she couldn’t remember who she was …” He placed his chin on his hand and looked away almost instantly.

“It was the night before she went missing, I know,” nodded Filden. “You were going to tell her how you truly felt, right?” Rene nodded. “That night, you had everything laid out perfectly. A romantic meal on the rooftop of your house … roses you picked out especially … it seemed too good to be true. But then she never showed up. You told me that you were so excited and then you phoned me up to say that she went missing.”

Rene clutched the pendant that he held in his hand, one that had belonged to Faith.

“I remember that you wouldn’t speak for a long time, Renero. Weeks passed by and she still wasn’t found. You went to the police station every day in hope that something would change. But nothing. You clung close to Patricia, hoping that Faith would come back one day. I bet you thought that it was something you did because you were the last one to see her. Out of us all, it had to be you who saw her the last time before she got the amnesia.”

“And now I’m going to try find her!” shouted Rene, rising to his feet and unclenching his hand, revealing the pendant he had been holding in his hand. “Filden! I thought about this for a year now! A year has changed me and shaped me into the man that I’ve always dreamt of becoming. One way or another, I’m going to find my way into that alternate universe and bring Faith back home! For all I know, she’s probably having the worst time of her life right now.”

“But how on earth can you even find your way into a parallel universe?”

“That’s the part I’m still working on, Fil. But I want you to come with me …”

“What? Since when do you need the half angel freak to help you out?”

“Because the half angel freak is going to be useful if things are a bit weird.”

“Weird? I think that word is registrable in my dictionary.”

*

If there was one person who was worried about Rene at the main FFF headquarters right now, then it was Mark. He walked down the hallways in search of his friend, but to no avail. He passed several other people on the way, including Riku, and hurried down to the dungeons. Perhaps Saix would know more about the situation than anyone else would do so. Lately, Aerith had been the one to receive those visions about a dark future. But in the past hour, Mark himself began to suffer these exact same symptoms. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, as he walked down the stairs.

A strange sensation hit his body, as he reached the bottom of the stairs and found himself in the very heart of the dungeons. He hadn’t quite felt like this for a long time. The last time he’d felt like this, he’d been bringing up that curry he had six months ago and felt sick. But as soon as his eyes were cast on Saix, the cold-blooded murderer of Patricia Musso, it seemed that looking into the darkness was the right thing to do after all. Despite the fact that Saix was asleep right now, Mark’s eyes widened by what he saw.

“Mark Johnson,” said Patricia, her ghost standing right in front of him.

“Patricia Musso?” whispered Mark, his face expressing strong disbelief.

“Yes, this is real,” she nodded and walked towards him. “I came here to warn you of the grim reality that’s about to hit the world.”

Mark watched her pace around the room and even walk right through the cage walls. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you supposed to be dead? Eyewitnesses saw that Saix killed you!”

“But that’s just the thing, Mark – I am dead. I was never able to cross over to the light and go to the afterlife.” At this point, Patricia would have shed a tear. But being dead couldn’t give her that. “I have been trapped here on this world, doomed to an eternity of torment, unless death itself can be prevented.” Mark shook his head. “I know I’m speaking in riddles, but this is all I know now. Death is on the horizon. You can only see me right now because of your natural ability to see the dead.”

“What?” he bellowed, his tone of voice a mixture of confusion and disbelief. “I have a natural ability to see the dead? Since when have you known this? I don’t have any abilities, apart from telekinesis with that accident a long time ago. I couldn’t help it when I was exposed to Faith’s energy, her essence was flowing all around me …”

“Mark, it’s time for you to realise that you did not get exposed to Faith’s supernatural energy. You need to understand that you simply absorbed her power. You see, I knew your natural abilities. One was within in the family – to see the dead, whenever and wherever. But the more that power grew, the more another one mutated. Another ability you have is to absorb abilities all around you, which explains why you’re having the same visions that Aerith’s been feeling.” He froze for a moment. He was about to leave until that last part. “You are the only one able to connect two universes together again. Mark, you have to reopen the portal and allow Faith to return!”

“Portal? Me reopening it? Faith is gone forever! Two universes can never be reunited! According to Lord Golbez, it was deemed dangerous in the first place! We tried doing it at first, despite the heavy costs and the risks that we were taking, but we couldn’t. What makes reopening it one year later anymore special than it was after Doomsday? I don’t have that kind of power! Who do you think I am – Peter Petrelli?” The last point was a joke in itself, but perhaps serious at the same time. “I can’t be the one to make things better, Patricia! I don’t possess that kind of power!”

“Then I suppose you’ll have to wait for time to tell,” muttered Patricia, as she slowly faded away.

“Patricia? Patricia! Come back!” cried Mark, but she was already gone. “Damn it!”

“I never thought I’d see you down here,” remarked Saix, who had just woken up.

“Screw you, Saix. Go back to the hell pit where you crawled from.”

“I wouldn’t be like that if I were you. Patricia’s right about you – there’s some untapped potential in there.” Mark just rolled his eyes. “She speaks me as well, won’t leave me alone … I can’t see her, but I know that I feel her. She fills me with the feelings of guilt, emotions that shouldn’t exist within my being. And you know something else? I can feel the other universe and my, oh, my … you wouldn’t believe the things that I’ve felt since coming to this crap hole.” Now he finally caught Mark’s attention. “Frisk is rising, she’s so strong … something is inside of her making her invincible. And oh, the poor Crest girl … the anti-hero, the one who lost all the faith and courage so long ago … my, my … so lost, so broken, so fragile.”

At this point, Mark would have turned away, condemned Saix as crazy and walked away from it. However, now he thought about the things he said. Frisk was so strong? Something was inside that made her unstoppable? And then there was Faith. Why was she being the anti-hero? Lost, broken and fragile? What was he talking about? Saix was known for taunting just about anyone, but he wouldn’t stoop this low and lie. Could he really feel the parallel universe, despite the fact he had been stripped of his powers? Were the pieces of the puzzle beginning to come together? Was Mark the only one with the power to save the world?

*

Frisk floated up into the night sky and then stepped on to the rooftop, glancing down at the Cardiff of the parallel universe. Her hands began to glow an orange colour and then faded. “Excellent,” she murmured. “Death happens soon and when it does, I’ll find you, Saix. We’ll be together again as one happy family.” And with that, she flew off into the sky. “Now all I have to do is figure out why the hell my child won’t emerge from its hiding place …”

She flew off across Cardiff, the wind whipping around her clothes. She’d picked up some clothes to put on as soon as Faith broke her out of the vault. Almost a year had passed since she’d been locked inside that vault – how dare they even rebel against her! She was angry, pissed off that she had been stuck in there. Frisk was claustrophobic and that didn’t help her overcome her fear. But as she had been flying for a mere five minutes, she felt lightning shock her and she went tumbling down to the ground.

Landing on the soft sand of the beach, Frisk rolled to her side and groaned. Now that her pregnancy had developed a lot, it was heavy to carry the child around. At least the child wasn’t dead. They had both been locked in time until now.

I should have seen that coming, she thought angrily, and then rose to her feet slowly to face the woman, who was wearing a long black coat and aiming a machete gun in her face. “What? You did this to me? Who are you?”

The girl glared coldly into Frisk’s eyes. “Cherri,” she hissed, “and it’s my mission to kill you, Frisk Valentine.”

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And the mysteries deepen! Cherri has arrived, but don't worry! The next chapter is going to chronicle what happened in between the space of the first and second story.

August 18, 2008, 7:12 PM

Let me kill her pleeeeeeeeeease

August 18, 2008, 8:27 PM

Nice Chapter Ami.

Heh...Angel Freak XD

And lol...Cherri sounds like a physco O.o

August 18, 2008, 8:51 PM

I quite like this incarnation of Saix; in-the-know about everything.

August 20, 2008, 3:41 PM

If I kill Frisk, what will happen to her baby? Let's just hope it's the same miracle that happened in Kill Bill.

Don't you dare call me physcho, I eez spawnz ov Satanz!

**Battle Royale: Profiles** · August 20, 2008, 3:47 PM

Nice chapter! xD I really like this story. Though, I'm still wondering why I'm still a guy in it. xD

August 29, 2008, 2:16 PM

Here is the next anticipated chapter, peeps!

Chapter Five

The Year of Change

Riku’s face faded away, prompting tears of sadness and sorrow from Faith Crest. She fell to her knees, hoping that it was real – that it was his face that she really had just seen. But in the past day, Faith’s mind had been playing tricks on her. Perhaps her powers were controlling what she wanted to see and hid her from reality? Maybe they were. Maybe they weren’t. One thing was clear, however, and it was the fact that things were about to change. Nothing would ever be the same again. She sat down on the sand and looked out at the ocean in which the tide kept coming in and out.

Faith felt a tear trickle down her face again. But her eyes were slowly beginning to close. She refused to sleep a wink last night because this wasn’t her world. She didn’t belong here. Her counterpart had died here three years ago, so it was strange having to explain the situation to the new Red Rose Movement, the one that Patricia remained as its rightful founder and owner. She had died in the parallel world three years ago – the same time as her counterpart. So when she had arrived here, it came as a huge shock to the current Red Rose Movement to discover that there was a pregnant Frisk – also believed to be dead – as well as an alive Faith and the body of the other Patricia Musso on their doorstep on the beach in Cardiff.

The memory of the previous day still lingered in her mind. Riku had been standing here telling her that this would be the last time they’d ever see each other again. Frisk had been standing on the hill, watching events unfold right before her very eyes. After Frisk had been the only one who was convinced that Faith was telling the truth about her dreams in the past week of being here, she had followed her best friend here. Doomsday was still replaying in Faith’s head over and over again. The moments of herself trying to save Frisk to realising that there was no chance of ever getting back through the portal haunted her very existence. One question rang throughout her mind.

“Who am I?” she suddenly blurted out without meaning to, but did so, anyway. “I don’t even know myself anymore …” She gazed out into the distance, continuing to watch the tide come in and out of the beach, hoping that there was the small glint of hope that Riku had been lying and would come back to rescue her and Frisk from this hell. But nothing happened as usual. The beach in itself had become like a haven to Faith, a resting ground, a place for her to think. Before she knew it, Frisk had joined her. “What do you want, Frisk Valentine? Did you come to admire the view, too?”

“You’re psychic, aren’t you? Read my mind,” Frisk said, trying to tempt her.

“I haven’t been able to use my powers much since I got here. I guess that Patricia –”

“I’m sorry.” Faith stared at her friend, who had become suddenly quiet. She appeared to be in deep mourning as well, she already saw Patricia as a close personal friend. To lose her was like having a knife plunged deep into her heart. The only thing was that Faith decided not to tell her that Saix had impaled his blade into her godmother. The truth was best left out. “The funeral’s tomorrow and we’re going to need you there if we’re ever going to –”

“We?” snarled Faith, as she rose to her feet angrily, scaring Frisk a little and alarming her. “I don’t even