Original [Story] Fantasy Freedom Fighters Crisis II: Goddess of Death

[Amizon]

FFF Crisis II:
Goddess of Death​

Where there is life, there is also death.​

One year has passed since the events of Doomsday, which saw Faith dive into the parallel world portal in an attempt to save her friend, Frisk. They are both still trapped there unable to return to their own world and have established new lives in the new world. The universe was thought to have been safe from the mysterious Saix and his army, but it seems that a new evil is rising ...

A dark prophecy has been unearthed after thousands of years predicting the rise of a goddess, the Goddess of Death herself. Back in the other world, Riku has been sensing something dark rising. Something similar to Saix, although it could be, ultimately, much worse: death itself. The death of all worlds. The death of every living thing.

Now two worlds will reconnect and come together to battle the new evil on the horizon. A year it may have been since the portal was opened, but some things are not the same. There have been more sinister things happening below the ground ... the Fantasy Freedom Fighters and the Red Rose Movement are about to learn that people do change indeed ...

-------------------------

Chapter One

Realm of the New Era​

BANG.

“Keep steady!”

BANG. BANG, BANG, BANG.

The creature, whatever it was, would not give up. Inside the supposed “haunted” mansion were two young men who appeared to be in their late teens.

The first one was visible enough with his long silver hair gleaming in the moonlight, bore green brilliant eyes and was the taller of the two. In his hand was a purple blade of some kind and was meant for this purpose alone, for this mission. He wore an attire of a black t-shirt, white sleeveless jacket, black long pants and black shoes. He was the leader of the two.

The other one stood slightly smaller than his partner. His dark brown hair was spiked up and his dark blue eyes looked ever so calm. He was holding a brand new blade that was shining brightly on this night. Also, he was wearing a black jumper, grey combat pants, black duster coat and trainers.

Ahead of them was a creature that they had come to stop.

Riku Walker and Rene Herrod were indeed the champions of Earth …

… But at a very heavy price that they wished not to discuss.

“It’s never too late to back off now, you know,” Riku grinned at Rene.

Rene responded by softly laughing quickly. “Riku, you should know me by now. I'm never backing down from a challenge like this. It keeps me in shape. Plus, it always gives me an excuse to get away from Angelus.” He shuddered at this point. “She really freaks me out.”

“Well, that’s what she does to you at first. Angelus Mortis might be freaky as you put it, but she can be helpful in a situation where we need to identify friend from foe. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to read anyone's aura.”

“Eh … I guess you’re right. So when is this darn thing gonna come out? And what the HELL is it?”

Riku chuckled. “To be honest, you might laugh at me if I told you, mate. But aye, I guess it's worth a try.” He turned to face Rene. "It’s a werewolf.”

“WHAT?”

“See? There you go, you’ll say I’m crazy next.”

“No, no! I’ve always wondered whether werewolves existed! I mean ... I thought that they existed for a long time and now that I’m eighteen …”

“Rene, you really believed in werewolves?”

“Yes, I did. I always did. There were always mystical powers out there. Look at FFF! There’s you with your dark vibe going on, Julius who’s hot headed with his element of fire, Angelus with aura reading, Aerith with White Magic, Lord Golbez whose power I have no idea of and Faith –”

But at that point, Rene instantly stopped talking. It wasn’t the fact that the werewolf was banging at the door again in an attempt to rip it off and find them, but it was just the name Faith. Her name. It was her name. That day, that awful day one year ago called Doomsday, he had lost her. Nowadays, Rene preferred to distance himself away from those memories. Now that he had mentioned her name, he lowered his head feeling guilty and dropped his blade.

When the werewolf burst in, however, Rene picked it up straight away.

“Distract it,” Riku instructed, as he put the Way To Dawn away and rummaged through his bag pack for something.

Rene looked at his comrade helplessly, as he did his best to hold the werewolf back. This was the first mission in months he had been allowed to do considering that he wasn't in full control of himself and his anger. The blade did seem to scare the wolf so much that it dived to a corner, where it looked curiously at Rene again.

Wonder if it acts like a dog, he wondered to himself. Does it respond when you say ‘sit’ and ‘stay’? It’d make things a whole lot easier. Then he saw Riku take out a gun. “What are you doing? You can’t kill it!” There was a silver bullet in his view and saw Riku insert it into the pistol. “Riku, didn't you hear me? We’re not supposed to kill werewolves, they’re ordinary people!”

But he was too late.

Riku had shot the bullet and it hit the werewolf almost instantly. It fell back and whimpered quietly. He pocketed the bullet and approached it cautiously with Rene.

“I didn't kill the thing,” explained Riku, looking fed up of his horrified expressions. “It’ll turn back to its human form in a minute.” He took the bullet out of the wolf’s arm and took a closer look noticing blood on it. Not a lot of blood, but enough to see it. “The wolf maybe hurt now, but it’ll survive. In a minute, we’ll see if it’s a guy or a girl.”

“Besides, why the hell are we hunting werewolves?" Rene said, finally putting things together. “Last night, you and Julius go off on one of these little hunts and come back with a guy. Now we’re coming back with this one ... what are you planning, Riku? What’s the reason for all of this?”

“Ohhh, there’s a perfectly good reason for this, Rene. You should never doubt the incredible FFF team.” He glanced at his friend. “We’re going to find a cure for being a werewolf.”

Rene shook his head and sighed.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered to himself.

* * *​

In a parallel world somewhat different to ours was another team that did similar things to the Fantasy Freedom Fighters. The only difference was that they were much more secret and were more advanced in their technology. This realm was beginning to enter a new era, an era that no one would be able to stop. A revolution was on the horizon. This was all due to this other organisation. They were the Red Rose Movement consisting of a few key members.

Mercurial Lamont, Hera Ledro, Rydia Ebla and Contra Fates were four of its members. They wouldn’t exactly classify themselves as “members”, but as “employees”. They worked for the greater good of the British Empire, but would act for the entire world at one point if required. Their boss, only known as Frisk Valentine, was very enigmatic indeed. She was from another world as was her friend. They had both been involved in a near death accident that led them to coming here. No one knew how or why, but they were told to never talk about the incident. Things were better that way.

Despite the fact that the Red Rose Movement protected the British Empire, there were many of their bases spread out across Britain. The main one was in Cardiff. This was where Frisk, Mercurial, Hera, Rydia and Contra were working. There was one particular day that caused a lot of trouble for them. Because in Cardiff, there were far too many supernatural events occurring and they had to work quickly to cover them up.

“I’m getting a report of vampires rampaging through the city!” cried Rydia.

“Vampires? And we only just got rid of the werewolves,” groaned Mercurial, who acted as the team leader. He was second in command after Frisk, who would only visit every once in two days because she had so many things to cope with as of lately. “This isn’t going to go down well with Frisk. She has enough on her plate as usual.”

“Well, why don’t Contra and I go kick some arse?” suggested Hera, who seemed to be fed up of sitting in front of the computer all day and do nothing. “Contra and I make a fab team, Merc, and you know it!”

Mercurial raised an eyebrow. “I know it, all right.” He turned to Rydia. “Rydia, see what research you can come up with vampires. Try getting it to be as recent and as old as you can. Those views are the best we can get it.” He looked at Hera and Contra. “Go check out the local clubs; see if any of these vamps are hosting a party. Now ... where is she?”

“Oh, you mean Faith?” asked Contra, as she was tapping her pencil on the table.

“Yes, that would be correct, Contra,” he rolled her eyes.

“Same situation as Frisk. Keeps getting stressed, work being too much to handle and all. I swear … I’m going to kick her butt first before she gets back here.”

“And how long is she gone for?”

“She said a couple of days, maybe weeks. She said she was really drained.”

“What? Of all the times to call in sick … she should've run it by me really.”

“Oh, Frisk gave her the time off obviously,” pointed out Rydia. “It’s a shame she's not here, she could’ve cut our work in half. She has a brilliant mind, that girl. Such brilliant powers ... shame she doesn’t use them as much lately. I wonder if she’s ill because of using them too much. The last time we were on a mission, Faith kept complaining that her head was hurting more than usual when we kicked that venomous bat’s ass.”

“Fine, fine!” said Mercurial loudly. “Do what you’re meant to do. I’ll see Faith myself and force her into work whether she likes it or not.”

* * *​

But Faith Crest was not at home. She was at the very beach where she had last seen Riku. Well, she had woken up there at least. She couldn’t quite tell, but recently, she had been forgetting what she had been doing and woken up in the weirdest places ever. Not only that, but there was also the state she’d been in. It scared Faith because she’d wake up with scratches and bruises on her body. She could never quite recover from them. Every once in a while, she’d wake up in these places and find herself injured.

Maybe I’m out of my mind, she thought and continued to watch the tide go in and out. She could’ve really needed that ocean to sweep her in there and drown her. But she didn’t even have the strength to use her telekinetic powers. She couldn’t move anything with her mind. Not only that, but there was the fact that she couldn’t fly anymore and the voices in her head from other people’s minds were driving her insane. Why can’t someone take me away from this? I want to go home and most of all ... I need you, Patricia. You were the one to guide me to the right direction.

“Enjoying the dull atmosphere?” asked Mercurial, as he sat down next to her when Faith didn’t reply. “How come you didn’t show up at work today? The whole team’s been missing ya.” But she still didn’t answer and kept her eyes fixed firmly on the moving sea. “I might not be an expert in feelings and all this, neither do I want to, but … you need to get yourself sorted out. Whatever priorities you have, I suggest you get them done with quickly.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me!” shouted Faith, as she looked into her eyes with her own ocean ones that had turned a crimson colour. She rose to her feet and Mercurial floated into the air. There was such anger in the young psychic now. “Don’t you know how to call Frisk? Ask her yourself and stop looking for me!” She released him and walked off angrily. “Leave me alone and don’t think I’m coming back into work!”

Mercurial was able to breathe again. He had been choking and could finally breathe. He rose to her feet and saw Faith fly off into the sky above the clouds, so that no one would see her. She had never seen the teenager act like that before. She thought that she was an adult now and could handle everything around her. Apparently not and it was beginning to affect her in a way he couldn't possibly understand.

She turned on her earpiece.

“Hey, Rydia,” he said, speaking to her from the base. “I found our friend sulking on the beach. The problem appears to be a lot worse than we anticipated.”

“So what now, Mercurial? What do we do?” came Rydia's voice from the earpiece.

A grin crept upon Mercurial’s face. “Well, I think I’ve got a good idea where she’s heading. From her face, she looked kind of … suicidal? Now where in town can you go to get away from everything that’s happened?” There was a pause and Rydia didn’t respond. “Get to work on finding any suspicious individuals hanging around town. I think Faith maybe going to a vampire party if I’m not mistaken …”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Two

Visions of the Dark Future​

Later that night, Mercurial returned to the Red Rose Movement base to find Rydia all alone checking the CCTV cameras and watching the footage around the city. Despite the fact that Mercurial did look beat up, he staggered towards his co-worker and sat down next to her.

“That’s one trip I’m never gonna make again,” he murmured. “I ran into our vampire friends just a short while ago. Thought they were going to turn me … appears as though as I was wrong because it wasn’t my blood that they wanted.” Rydia just nodded, as she carried on typing on the computer. “I got the info that we needed, though. There’s a local vamp party at the Yeti tonight. The catch is … the people organising have no idea that they’re vampires. Too bad that we’re going to have to intervene and kick their sorry asses.”

“Yeah well, we know our code of conduct,” Rydia pointed out. “We don’t kill them unless they threaten anyone. But, Merc, are you sure that we shouldn’t –?”

“No, we can’t!” replied Mercurial too quickly, as he rose to his feet. “I can’t do that until further investigation is launched. Whatever it is that’s inside her, it’s not looking good at all. Even Contra was freaked out … he doesn’t get so scared that easy, too!” He clicked on the CCTV camera that was near the Yeti club. “There we go … some vamps aren’t going to be happy when they find out that they’ve been caught on camera. But of course, they’ll never know it was us …”

Mercurial then sat back, sighing and closing his eyes. He was the leader that kept the Red Rose Movement together because Frisk was out of action at the moment. Barely moments later, Rydia’s alarming voice waked him up out of his silent paradise.

“Merc, we have a problem,” she said. “Guess who just turned up?”

They both watched the footage unfold, as a girl with long black hair tied up and wearing her party clothes turned up looking around suspiciously.

“Faith Crest, I knew that girl would turn up sooner rather than later,” grinned Mercurial. “I guess we better alert Contra and Hera. They’re gonna love taking her in.”

* * *​

“Another werewolf and another analysis,” said Julius Argexis, as he observed Riku and Rene bringing in the werewolf they had knocked out before.

But of course, Julius wasn’t the scientist or researcher that did this kind of thing. He was the knight that just took interest in whatever new things came around. That was what had excited FFF – known as the Fantasy Freedom Fighters – as of lately. They had new headquarters back in Gaia, where they had began their quest for universal protection from whatever threats came around. But ever since Saix had been defeated and Faith jumped into the parallel world portal to save Frisk, things had been quiet. So this led to research. This research led them to the uprising of werewolves that had been rampaging through Earth as of lately.

“You could’ve told me they existed sooner, Julius,” scowled Rene.

“Ha, ha!” laughed Julius softly. “And what – would you deny it? I would have loved to see your shocked face when Riku told you the truth. But I suppose that’s done and dusted now. Speaking of which, we need to review your sword technique tomorrow. I expect that you’ll be up bright and early in the stadium?”

“Like hell I will,” Rene rolled his eyes.

“Rene won’t get up early, he sleeps in,” smiled Riku, as they reached the metal table and placed the werewolf on there. He then turned to Julius. “Has Zeria got any closer to finding a cure?”

“Afraid not, sorry,” sighed Julius. “But she’s working on it for eighteen hours a day! She’s made it her personal project. If only she could take it easy …”

Rene left Riku and Julius to their business in the research centre. He came to the hallways and wandered around for a little while. He had gotten so used to being in this huge rebuilt palace ever since he’d first came here a year ago after the battle he wished not to discuss. That battle had severely crippled the Earth and he had lost the only person he had ever loved …

To this day, Rene hadn’t given up on finding Faith. She was not surely lost forever. She and Frisk were alive, he knew it. But he hated the fact that everyone acted as if they were dead. One person that remained somewhat hopeful was Riku. What Rene didn’t know was that he had used his powers to cross over to that universe and project himself as an image to Faith to say his goodbye.

If he ever knew, it would have surely hurt Rene’s heart.

“Hey, Rene,” smiled Aerith, as she came across him. “Back from your latest mission then, huh?” Rene smiled back and nodded. Ever since the whole Earth crisis, she had decided to drop the “Lady” part from her name because she felt it was now too formal for people to call her it. “So I guess that you know that Lord Golbez has launched an investigation into the werewolves and finding a cure to swindle them down.”

“I was pretty surprised to find out that the thing chasing us was a werewolf,” Rene said, replying to what she had said. “I guess it goes to prove that there are maybe a lot of things in the world that have yet to be seen.”

Aerith pitied Rene, although she hated to for good reasons. In the year that had come after the tragic losses of Faith and Frisk, she had been the first to notice that Rene wasn’t acting like his old usual self. She saw him grow up too quickly and move on from the incident. However, she knew that he hadn’t quite given up on Faith just yet.

“Yes, well, even all of us have to discover those things,” she said sadly. “Anyway, I better get off. The man himself wants to see me for something I don’t quite know. I haven’t even been involved in the werewolf case … what could he want me for?”

“Maybe he wants a good old chat,” Rene shrugged his shoulders. He keeps doing that to me lately. Maybe it’s because he left FFF to do all the work while he had to remain hidden? It’s what being antisocial can do to you after all! As he continued to walk down the hallways, he spotted Angelus. “Uh, hi, um, Angelus! How are you today?”

“Was that Lady Aerith?” asked Angelus politely, as she glanced at where Rene had been talking to her.

“Yes, it was,” he replied nervously. “And, um, I still think she doesn’t want to be called Lady anymore. So why don’t we just –?”

“Hush,” she said, as her eyes began to glow a green colour. “There’s something not right around here. Something that doesn’t belong …” She glanced at Rene. “It’s something unreal, something … I cannot explain it. It is too complex, even for me.”

As Angelus went off, Rene would have normally ignored her. But now he seemed curious. Something that doesn’t belong? It felt weird. He took warning of this and carried on walking. Why did she tell him? He was the youngest and newest member of FFF. Perhaps he was significant enough, anyway? Maybe it was because he had been the one prophesised to defeat Darkblade. Mitsuki had revealed this to him not long after the Earth had been saved.

Rene carried on along the hallways now and then stopped when he had a flash. It was a flash … of Faith’s face. He was overwhelmed by it that he fell to his knees.

“Help me,” she whispered. “Please … someone … help me …”

“Rene?” came Riku’s voice.

“Huh?” Rene turned around and rubbed his head. “Oh, Riku, it’s you.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Maybe because you’ve been stood in the same position for hours?”

“What do you mean? I haven’t been stood here for –” But then Rene glanced at his watch. It had been four hours since he last looked at it. What was going on? “Oh right, sure. I must have lost track of time! Ha, ha! Thanks for waking me up!” He tried to act like there was nothing wrong, but he was hiding his concerns badly. “I’ll see you later, Riku, yeah?”

But Riku stopped him. “You can’t go to bed now. There’s something wrong with Aerith and we need to find out what it is.” Rene gave him a look as if to say that he was listening. “She woke up and hasn’t stopped shaking. Her eyes tell the story itself, but I think you better listen to it before you jump to conclusions like you always do.” And for once, Rene didn’t disagree. “Come on, let’s go to her room.”

* * *​

Contra Fates and Hera Ledro loved the night job. But even if it meant that they’d have to drag their friend out of a club by her hair, then that’s what they were going to do. They walked into the club and saw people dancing on the dance floor, whilst there were people ordering drinks at the bar.

“So where do you think she could be?” asked Contra loudly over the music.

“Could be with the vamps for all we know,” suggested Hera, shrugging. He glanced at the VIP section and his face fell by what he saw. “Well, what do you know? My hunch was right. Turns out our friend is going to party away with our vampire friends tonight.” Contra looked over, as Hera pointed to the VIP section, where Faith had just telekinetically pushed the security guard back and went up the stairs. “Good thing that we have all sorts of ID, isn’t it? I’m glad that Frisk brought them in.”

“Frisk isn’t our concern right now, Hera,” said Contra, eyeing up the guys on the dance floor. But after a “Really?” expression from Hera, she refocused his mind on the task at hand. “Ok, so we’ll go fetched our friend … and burn some vamps if they even try to hurt her.”

“Be careful, you two,” said Rydia on their earpieces. “Vampires are old creatures, of course, but they’re very powerful. One sight of the holy water will cause them to pull back and then you can bring Faith back to the base.”

“Roger that, Rydia!” nodded Hera, as he and Contra approached the VIP section.

“I’m sorry, but only VIPs are allowed in this section,” said the security guard, who was now sporting a black eye.

“We’re here about that girl who just attacked you,” Contra said, stepping forward and acting as the leader. “And don’t deny it because we saw what happened. If you think that’s out of the ordinary, just wait until you’ve seen the things we’ve seen.”

“She went upstairs with the guests hosting the party,” said the security guard quietly. “If I were you, I’d turn back. But if you really think you know what you’re doing –”

“We do,” cut in Hera. “We’ll get her out of here and she won’t cause anymore trouble for you.” He handed over the security guard some money. “This is for being helpful. Don’t think of it as a bribe, but think of it as compensation for what she did. We don’t want anymore accidents.”

He let them through and the two Red Rose Movement agents walked up the stairs.

“That was a bribe,” pointed out Contra. “Just because we get paid so much by our government to protect our country’s lives doesn’t mean that we can just do that!”

“Well, I did it and I feel better,” grinned Hera. “Now come on! We need to pull her out of here and find out what the hell’s going on in her mind.”

* * *​

“You need to calm down, Aerith,” whispered Mitsuki, as she and the others were now gathered around her bed. “Now … what did you see and say it calmly before one of us has a spasm …”

Aerith nodded and cleared her throat. “Ok, I was walking in this dark room because Julius had been hurt and I needed to find him with the whole overprotective sister thing,” she explained slowly, calmly and carefully. “Then the next thing I remember was someone stepping out towards me. She didn’t look friendly, but she seemed so familiar to me … it’s almost as if we knew her, but we don’t anymore.”

Rene listened intently. Someone they knew, but they didn’t anymore? He burst out of the room with Riku following in his wake.

“Where are you going?” asked Riku.

“I have to find a way in,” said Rene, as he went to his room and started pulling out a bag pack. He started to stuff some clothes inside and other necessities. “I can’t sit here anymore and think that these things are mere coincidences.” He looked at Riku. “I’m going to find a way to get into that other world and see what the other Red Rose Movement has to offer. They should know what’s going on; their technology is more advanced than ours.”

“But you’re not going to see them! You don’t really want to see them! You want to see her.”

Rene paused for a moment before speaking again.

“I have to know it’s not her. I have to know she’s still the same person.”

It could have broken Rene’s heart if Riku ever did tell him of the day that he said goodbye to Faith. But he had kept this secret for a year now and the anniversary of Doomsday was fast approaching. Riku left the room in anger and tried to conceal it from the others, as he passed them by in the hallways. He headed deeper and deeper into the headquarters hoping that someone would be able to make sense of what was happening.

Finally, he came to the dungeons. He walked to the one particular holding cell. He curled his fist when he ordered the guard to open the door. Riku walked through into the cell and looked around him. The room was large, bricked and the floor below went down for miles. It was a dark abyss if he should think so himself. But Saix looked up at Riku from the corner of his eye.

“You need my help,” he muttered. Riku nodded. Saix laughed. “I’m not going to help you. Stripping me of my powers was the final straw … why should I help you when we both know that the world will be in danger again? And no, this is nothing to do with Azalea. She is long gone now, sworn to never have a master again since the crystal shattered.” He paused for a moment to cough before speaking again. “And even without my powers, I can see that concern in your eyes. You don’t want the little boy to go and find the girl he loves, do you? You know that it would rip the universe apart and have deadly consequences …”

“I’ll tell you something,” Riku said, breaking his silence. “You’re right for once, but I don’t think you’re in any position to be making threats. You’re powerless, stripped of your powers! There’s nothing you can do to hurt us anymore. You’ve lost everything, Saix, even the woman that once loved you … I really do wonder if she even thinks about you anymore.”

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME!”

Riku smirked darkly. He hurt Saix where it hurt him the most – in the heart.

“Frisk will never love you because she saw the evil demon that you were,” he continued to say. “She’ll never love you because she finally saw sense in the end. At least she’s not alone. At least Faith will always be there by her side.”

* * *​

“There she is now,” whispered Hera to Contra, as they walked up the last set of stairs and noticed Faith sat down with a few vampires talking and drinking away. “On the count of three, you take out the vamps and I’ll –”

“Hera, this isn’t Mission Impossible or James Bond,” Contra gladly pointed out. “We don’t even need to go on the offensive for this mission. All we need to do is stay calm and see if we can talk some sense into her.” But then she stopped speaking when she saw one vampire biting her arm and sucking her blood, which she let him do. “You know what? Forget talking some sense into her! That was Plan A!”

“So what’s Plan B?”

“Plan B is kicking some vampire ass.”

With that, they rushed over to their table. Contra kicked one vampire out of the way that had attempted to stop them. Hera held the holy water in front of another. Whilst the other three vampires rose to their feet, the last one who had been draining Faith’s blood clicked his fingers. They backed away and the lead vampire rose to his feet.

“Who are you and what do you want?” he snarled, hoping to scare them with his fangs.

“First of all, we know you’re vampires and the fangs don’t tend to scare us,” Hera said, as he held up the holy water in his face. “Now if your goons try to attack us again, then I won’t be scared to use this. And I bet you’re scared because you won’t come near me now.” He paused for a moment to check their reactions and then continued to speak. “All right, so I’ve got everyone’s full attention. Brilliant! Secondly, we want our girl back. She belongs with us … naturally, of course and –”

“I don’t know you at all,” said Faith, rising to her feet. She didn’t care much for her arm, which was bleeding from the bite she got. “Now get out of here before I get really mad.”

“You don’t know us?” stared Contra, unable to process this. “Don’t you know who we are? This is Hera Ledro and I’m Contra Fates! We’re your buddies at the Red Rose Movement, damn it!” She didn’t care if he had revealed the organisation. What were the vamps going to do – find it? As if they could, anyway. “Faith, you’re with us! And why are you letting them drink your blood?”

“Her blood is powerful,” said the lead vampire. “I’m Rafael and I’m the leader of this vampire pack.”

“And I’m Mercurial, the current leader of the Red Rose Movement,” said Mercurial, as he walked into the room and had the hugest grin on his face. “Now I’m holding a big gun in my hand, yes.” He showed it off to them, but Faith wasn’t amused in the slightest. “But what if that gun happened to have holy water, hmmm? It actually does, you know? So unhand our girl now or else I’ll be forced to soak you all.”

He’s obviously played around with water soakers in his younger days, thought Hera, which Faith heard.

“I’m telling you all now!” yelled Faith, stepping in front of Rafael. “I don’t know any of you and if you knew me, then you’d know what happens next!” She raised her hands to push them back, but couldn’t. “What?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” asked Mercurial. “When I saw you before, I slipped a collar through your neck. You were so vulnerable back then, Faith! I activated the collar with this little remote control.” He showed it to them all. “This means you can’t use your powers and you’re helpless after all! This is really sad, considering you claim you don’t know us and you’re standing with a bunch of vampires …”

And then without expecting it, she fainted and Contra caught her.

“I got her!” she shouted. “Now soak away, Captain!”

“Nah, not today,” Mercurial said, shaking his head. “Listen to me, Rafael. You come near our girl again and try to take anymore blood from her, then you’re going to get soaked big time.”

As he began to leave with the others, Rafael stopped him by speaking. “For your information, she came to us.” Mercurial, Contra and Hera turned around to stop and stare at him. “That’s right … you never thought that someone like her would turn to us. She was alone and so cold … her blood is satisfying enough. It’s not like any other that I’ve ever tasted.”

They could only stare for a moment before leaving behind what they started.

* * *​

“Is that so?” asked Rydia, as she spoke to Mercurial on the earpiece. “Her blood isn’t like any other type they’ve ever tasted? I suppose that we could look into it if it’s an issue that keeps being brought up. Yes … everything’s fine back here … there’s nothing out of the ordinary happening on the CCTV cameras.” She paused for a moment and looked darkly at the vault in front of her. “She’s doing fine. In fact, it’s almost time for me to do another analysis. I’ll see you later, Merc.”

She disconnected from Mercurial and logged herself off the computer she had been working on. Rydia walked towards the vault that was at the other side of the room, entering a code and then watched the door open. As the door opened, she walked into the vault. Inside the vault was someone who had been imprisoned for a long time now. For a matter of months … there had been an unconscious body trapped in time inside a sleep chamber.

“I have to find out whatever it is inside of you,” whispered Rydia. “I’m the only one that can find out. Whatever creature inhabits your body, I will contain it. I promise you that I’ll do whatever it takes. But most of all … I’m really sorry … Frisk.”

And inside the sleep chamber was an unconscious Frisk connected to a life support machine and her body looked so cold inside. Her body had been frozen in time.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Three

Realisation​

Sat down in the lonely base of the Red Rose Movement proved to be a challenge too difficult for Faith. She couldn’t understand how she was on the beach for one moment and then was at that club the next being taken back here by her own crew. Well, she wouldn’t exactly call them a “crew” for one, but … well, did it really matter now? Now she felt like the werewolf that they had pulled in for questioning last week. It wasn’t just the whole questioning, but it was also the beating up. Would her own co-workers beat her up? In her mind, Faith thought that escaping would be her best option.

“Wow, this is actually the first time we have a criminal offense for you in this world,” joked Rydia, as she came to join her and Contra, who had been watching her all this time. Faith thought that Contra watching her made it look like she was being checked just in case she’d committed suicide. “Assault, eh? We should be able to handle it and the security guard is sure to drop the charges.”

But Faith didn’t dare say anything. She felt vulnerable right now. She even hated the clock ticking away on the wall. It was almost as if it was close to killing her with each tick that it made. She gulped loudly, which went didn’t go unnoticed by her two companions. Mercurial arrived no sooner, as he crossed his arms and glanced down at her.

“You kept on saying you were doing the best that you could,” he said, sighing sadly. “But I’m afraid to say that you can’t work here anymore if you really think you can just go around and hurt people whenever you feel like it –”

“I DID NOT HURT ANYONE!” yelled Faith, rising to her feet and her eyes turned crimson immediately.

Contra and Rydia did their best to hold her back.

“The penalty for attacking a security guard could be prison, you know,” said Mercurial, as he sat down in his computer chair and spun around, trying to figure out this situation. “But you don’t remember anything? So tell me one thing! What IS the last thing that you can remember, Faith?”

Faith sat down on a chair. She buried her hands in her face, groaned and shook her head. “I really DON’T remember!” she said, then looking at him. “I think it was on the beach with you … and … I blacked out. These things have been happening to me for the past few months now.” She looked horrified. “I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. If I don’t know what I’m doing, then what the hell is going on? I can’t even remember last night!”

She watched as Rydia hurried towards the vault as if something was going on.

“What's up with Rydia?” asked Faith.

“She’s a bit … um, what’s the word?” wondered Mercurial. But before he knew it, Faith had risen to her feet and ran off to the vault. “Hey! Stop! You can’t go in there! I’m ordering you to stop, Faith Crest!”

When Faith ran into the vault, she shoved Rydia to the side and then stopped at what she saw. Frisk was in the sleep chamber frozen in time and she had been oblivious to all of this!

“Faith –” began Mercurial. “It was best that you didn’t know …”

“You LIED to me?” Faith raised her voice. “Don’t say sorry! You’ve had my best friend locked up in that sleep chamber for nearly a year and you didn’t BOTHER to tell me?”

The anger was seen in her eyes and there was nothing that the RRM team could do to hold back what was about to explode. Mercurial stared into her eyes and noticed something she hadn’t seen before. The crimson colour in those eyes was so angry and hungry for violence. It was like an uncontrollable rage that had only just been discovered. He instantly backed away and motioned to the others to do so at the same time.

“There’s the reason why she couldn’t remember,” he whispered quietly, so that only Hera, Contra and Rydia could hear. “Something’s happened to her and we couldn’t be there to stop it. She said that this had been going on for months.” What kind of a monster has she turned into?

* * *​

Ever since Patricia Musso’s death, Rene Herrod had often found himself on the brink of breaking down. Patricia had been like a second mother to him. Now she was gone and he kept on finding himself going to her old house. He had lived her now since she died. There had been no official documentation of her death. Many people had died on Doomsday, but many more went missing. And Patricia just happened to be on the list of the missing, so it was presumed that she was dead. However, it still wasn’t official.

He sat outside in the back garden looking up at the stars and wondered how SHE was. Faith was so many miles away from home, possibly even several universes away. Rene thought she was noble for going in the portal to save Frisk, but never knew in the first place of how the portal would close itself off for good this time. It saddened him that she’d never know of how much he loved her. At least there was someone who could comfort him, who also knew Faith as much as he did.

“I see you like coming here a lot,” Riku observed, as he jumped down from the fence and joined him, sitting on the trimmed grass. “But I suppose Earth is full of surprises that you don’t see in Gaia.” Rene didn’t respond at this point, so Riku continued to speak. “What’s bothering you, Rene? You know as well as I do that there is no way reaching her.”

“I want to reach her because I have to tell her how I feel!” exclaimed Rene angrily, as he rose to his feet. “I keep coming here because … this place, it’s where I feel at home. My mum hasn’t asked what’s been eating me. I haven’t even bothered telling her that I’m part of an organisation that’s quite literally out of this world. Even my friends are starting to think that I’m crazy. But I’m glad some people actually think I’m not.”

Riku stood up next to him as if something in the atmosphere had changed.

“Something is coming,” he murmured.

Rene turned to face him. “What is it?” he asked curiously.

The dark warrior shook his head and sighed. “Death,” he uttered the one single word.

“Someone else is going to die?” Rene’s eyes widened. They had been unable to foresee Patricia’s death, but now there would be another death? The anniversary of Doomsday was fast approaching. He couldn’t let anyone else die. He wanted this supposed death be his burden alone. “That’s only more motivation for me to get into that parallel world that Faith’s trapped in.” He turned to walk to the back door, but then turned back to face Riku. “I’ll find her, Riku, don’t worry about that. I just want you to …” He paused for a moment. If he couldn’t come back, then he wanted to say this right now. “You’ve been like a brother to me in the past year. I want you to know that just in case I find myself trapped there, too.”

“So you’d really try getting there, even when it means you could be trapped as well?” Riku called out to him. It was a question that had been bugging him since Rene had confessed his love for Faith and when he said goodbye to Faith when no one knew he had done so. “If you really love her, Rene, then I think you should do it. Find a way into the other world and tell her how you feel. Maybe bring her back if you could! But if she can’t come back willingly, don’t force it on her. Remember one thing.” He walked to his comrade. “It’s been an entire year since Doomsday. For all we know, she might have moved on from the past.”

* * *​

“Unlock her out of there now,” Faith glared coldly at the Red Rose Movement team, particularly at Mercurial. When no one answered, she walked to the vault herself. When Contra dashed forward to shoot the stun gun at her, she simply clicked her fingers and a telekinetic prison held her and the others back from doing so. “Allowing my powers to fully consume me have had their … side effects, shall I say?” She neared the vault and sighed sadly. “The spawn of the devil himself is inside with the host. I do wonder what kind of power the child will have.”

“Faith, you have to snap out of this now!” pleaded Hera. He wasn’t one for begging or pleading, but right now he seemed quite afraid of what she had turned into. “You can’t ignore us! You can’t free Frisk either! It’s too dangerous!”

“There’s no stopping her now,” admitted Mercurial, who had already admitted defeat. “This must have dated back to several months ago. Think about it, everyone! All these disappearances only started months ago and they’ve become so recent. That’s not Faith Crest anymore.” He turned to face Faith, or whatever was controlling her, and raised his voice. “I demand you tell me who you are!”

But he didn’t get his answer. The vault was unlocking itself up, thanks to Faith and her powers, plus there was nothing that they could do, considering that they were trapped in a telekinetic prison and all. The vault, as shiny and powerful as it appeared to be, was actually breakable. The seal was slowly lifting itself into the air and the pressure of the water was beginning to sink. Faith tossed the vault seal towards where Mercurial was and it hit him straight in the gut, which only caused her to laugh in his defeat.

“I have to give you some credit for taking this much so far,” she said, her voice now becoming apparently darker. “But this is where the line must be drawn, Mercurial. You and your team don’t have to take it anymore because I am officially leaving.” She chuckled. “Or at least Faith is, anyway.”

I can’t let her unleash Frisk! The risks are high, thought Mercurial, as he was freed from the telekinetic prison after being hit by the seal. He was coughing up blood, but managed to muster the strength to reach for the stun gun that Contra had dropped earlier. I have to … stop her! And with that, he grabbed the gun and shot it at her back.

Faith fell at this point, admitting defeat at last. She fell to her knees feeling the electricity shock her entire body, although it was not enough to kill her. She finally collapsed moments later.

“Our problems aren’t over yet,” Rydia pointed out.

She was quite right, considering that the vault was now open. The oxygen mask that had been on Frisk’s face had been thrown into the wall angrily. Mercurial now stood on his feet, still holding the stun gun, and walked towards Frisk, who was slowly emerging from the vault. Rydia was quite right indeed. There was almost no force in the universe that could stop what was about to come. Frisk, her eyes emotionless, stared blankly at her hands and then at the Red Rose Movement team. And judging by the look on her face, things were just about to get ugly …

Several energy balls burst out of her hands unwillingly and each one shot at each member. The first one to fall was Rydia, as she went flying back to one of the glass prisons. The glass smashed and she landed harshly, blacking out in the meantime and her arm began bleeding heavily. The next one up was Contra, who had tried to attack her before she was hit, but was too late. She hit the wall hard and was left sliding down the wall moaning in pain, but still conscious. Hera was taken by surprise as well, as he was hit straight on in the chest and went rolling on to the floor. Mercurial was the final one to fall. He not only got hit by one of the energy balls, but by lightning as well. This lightning spurted out of Frisk’s fingertips and caused him to scream out in pain.

Frisk held her stomach. She was clearly in some kind of pain by using the baby’s power to hurt them. “I don’t understand. I was frozen in time … why did they do this to me?” She walked back to the main area of the base and slammed her fist into the table, not caring how much pain would come afterwards. “I’m their leader! I’m on their side!” Turning around, she glanced at her fallen comrades and a dark smile crept upon her face. “But not anymore. Never again will I trust these fools.” Her eyes turned black, as if some entity – or perhaps even the baby itself – was taking control of her. She walked to where Faith was unconscious on the floor, having been struck by the stun gun by Mercurial earlier. “What I would give to have a little more power … but of course, you’re not even the real Faith Crest, are you?”

And at that point, Faith’s eyes snapped open. But they were still the same crimson colour that they possessed whenever she used her powers. “Ok then, I accept that,” she said, as she jumped to her feet and glanced at the mess that Frisk had created. “But of course, you’re not really Frisk, are you?” She cracked her neck, growling in the process. “The real Frisk that Faith knows would fight off whatever was controlling her. The baby, I assume?”

But even before she got a chance to react, Frisk electrocuted Faith and she was sent flying through several walls.

“It’s time that I got some real fish to fry,” she hissed under her breath and shimmered away from the base.

* * *​

Filden Gurito was one not to be messed with. He sat alone on his rooftop glancing out at the sky. Although he was wearing a long jacket in the warm summer weather, he didn’t really care. He stood up immediately when he saw his longtime friend, Rene Herrod, heading over to his house. Well, it didn’t matter much to him, anyway. Despite the fact that Rene was like a brother to him, he had been really secretive lately. But then again, so had Filden.

“Hey, Fil!” Rene waved, as he climbed up the ladder to the rooftop. “Parents out tonight?”

“Yeah,” Filden nodded and spoke quietly, “because it’s too easy to get rid of them.”

“What? Are you really that down you asked them to leave you alone for the night?”

“No, Rene. Something’s been bothering me too much lately and … no one can help me.”

“Well, maybe I can.” Rene sat next to him and looked up at the sun, which was now setting. “You see, I know I’ve been secretive and all with you, but I have my reasons. And whatever your problem is and you still can’t tell me, then I’ll understand that, too.” He patted Filden’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Filden. You always do turn out to be fine.”

“But I’m not!” protested Filden, who rose to his feet and careful to keep his coat on. “I’m not like most people, Rene! I don’t even know if I’m human at all!”

But Rene just burst out laughing. “Come on! Are you taking Johnny’s comment seriously? He was an idiot in school and he will always be a jerk. You know that better than anyone, especially when you saw how he was cheating on his girlfriend and –” At this point, however, he stopped speaking. It pained him since he kept on thinking about Faith and he’d want to break down at any minute.

“I mean it, Rene, I am NOT normal.” Filden turned to face him. “And you know what? You’ll be the first person that I tell, or rather, show.” He looked extremely nervous and closed his eyes. “What you see may discomfort you, but I hope you can accept it.”

He looks like he is going to throw himself off the building, thought Rene, as he stood up alarmingly.

All was revealed when Filden removed his coat. He wasn’t wearing a jumper or a t-shirt, but the truth was revealed when Rene witnessed what had emerged. White angel wings spread out from Filden’s back and his eyes kept on widening, noticing this.

“Please say something,” Filden said quietly, gulping.

 

[Amizon]

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 mum 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.”

 

[Amizon]

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 know who the hell they are! They claim to have known Patricia, but they also said that she died here three years ago just like I did! Now they’ve had to make up some stories about it to lie to the press, so that the truth doesn’t come out! I don’t know these people, Frisk! You maybe enjoying your time with them, but I certainly am not. They don’t deserve to be at the funeral, I said that I wanted it to be private already.”

“The funeral is private, Faith,” whispered Frisk. “Mercurial and the others are only allowed to attend. We are following your wishes and don’t you even dare think for a moment that you’re the only one in suffering!” She felt disgusted with Faith’s cold glare that she received. “You think that everything’s always about you, Faith! Well, maybe you should start caring for others. You can’t hide yourself from this world forever!” She rose to her feet, walking away, leaving Faith reeling from her best friend’s true feelings.

* * *​

Riku Walker wiped the tear that had slid down his cheek and got back to work with typing away on the supercomputer. It had been exactly twenty-four hours since he’d said his goodbye to Faith and told her that she did brilliant with everything that she had done on Doomsday. The universe’s true sacrifice was losing her. In his opinion, Riku believed that the universe had lost a truly noble warrior that could never be replaceable. He masked his emotions well from his colleagues, who were too busy to notice the effects that Doomsday’s aftermath had on the dark warrior.

Ever since Doomsday, the Fantasy Freedom Fighters – still known as FFF to those who preferred to shorten it down – had been rebuilding their home back in Gaia. They weren’t safe from attack yet. However, thanks to the improved powers of the lady herself, Aerith – who chose to be called by her first name only now, the term “Lady” sounded too formal for her now – and her helpful visions, they had been able to rebuild their home with a lot of efficiency and saved a lot of time worrying about any unexpected attacks.

The day after Doomsday, Lord Golbez reappeared, noting Rene Herrod’s heroic efforts and requested for him to join FFF immediately. This task had been left alone to Riku, who kept on making up excuses of how he was still suffering from the wounds he sustained, and he simply wanted to ignore it. He saw Rene as replacing Faith’s place in the elite. The Fantasy Freedom Fighters would never be the same without Faith Crest in his honest opinion. Her sarcasm, intellect and usefulness could never be replaced.

As soon as he was done inputting information about the elite into the supercomputer – something he had been working on for the past three days – Riku yawned and drank the coffee on the side. “I’ll never get tired of Starbucks, aye,” he murmured under his breath, feeling the warmth in his drink liven his body up a little. He turned off the supercomputer and turned around in his swivel chair to be faced with Julius, who had entered his office. “Ah, Julie. What can I do for you today?”

“I want you to stop tormenting me on the blogs and face me like a man!” exclaimed Julius, who had his hand on his sword, which was in his holster on his black belt. Riku simply yawned and put his feet up on the desk. “And who gave you the right to do that?”

“I did,” he replied, yawning again. “My office, my rules. Simple as that, right? Jul, if you can’t take a simple insult on a blog, then where in this universe are you going to get in your life? Sometimes, violence isn’t the answer.” As he spoke the last sentence, a sudden sadness entered his heart and even Julius sensed it when he noticed Riku’s green eyes look like empty shells.

“I … well, I suppose you are right.” Julius sighed and walked away. “No, you’re definitely right.”

Normally, Riku would love the prospect of his noble friend to admit that he was right. But strangely, he seemed to have resigned to his sadness. When Julius left the room, Riku turned off the supercomputer and remained sat on his swivel chair, thinking about yesterday. What hurt him the most was breaking Faith’s heart. He had shattered her hopes of getting back to the world that she rightfully belonged in. He gulped, listening to Aerith talk to Mark about the wonderful visions that she was having of the future of FFF and how the next generation would surpass their expectations.

“The next generation begins with Rene Herrod then,” he murmured, as he looked out at the window and saw Rene on the training grounds with Lord Golbez, hitting targets with his fireballs. Riku had to admire the kid for his enthusiasm and ruthless attitude to training. “It begins with him, all right.”

Knowing full well that he no longer had any assignments to do, Riku rose to his feet and walked down into the hallways. He took in the silence that had occurred in the past week or so. The headquarters were halfway into being rebuilt, so that meant things were looking up for the FFF elite team. He passed several people, who were just under the rank of elite, and they greeted him individually when he walked past them. Riku silently nodded at them. He wasn’t one for words as of lately. No one knew that he had dared to tempt fate and connected two worlds together just for a very short time …

That was his secret alone. It would remain his secret alone for the rest of his life it was necessary. So when he reached the training grounds several minutes later, he could only watch and admire Rene from afar. This was the next generation of FFF. It began with Rene, right here and right now. He saw Rene duck out of the way when one of his fireballs backfired on him. Riku sighed; it was a shame because the young warrior was having trouble mastering his newest and unlocked power.

“Damn it!” yelled Rene. “What’s the use of having this power if it attacks me?”

“Rene Herrod, it’s fine time that you embraced your destiny and accept your power!” bellowed Lord Golbez, who stood a few metres away, watching him and in his white robes. “If you are ever to become the destined warrior that the prophecy predicted, then you have to endure your training!”

“What I wouldn’t give to shut this guy up and –” began Rene.

“Perhaps my input would be required, Lord Golbez,” said Riku, bowing his head low and approaching when Lord Golbez nodded approvingly.

“Riku Walker, a pleasure to finally see you out of your office,” beamed the overlord. “But have you completed your assignment yet?”

“Indeed, my lord.” Riku nodded his head when it was necessary. “The files have been updated, backed up and are raring to go. There is one record, however, that needs creating.” He looked towards Rene. “Rene Herrod’s record, actually.” Rene looked surprised. “And I suppose now is the right time to say this. But …” Riku sighed, trying to put the words together. Lord Golbez knew what was going to happen next. “Rene Herrod, would you consider to ever join FFF?”

Initially, Rene was going to jump at the chance. But then he saw the pain in Riku’s eyes and turned to Lord Golbez for advice. When the overlord turned away, it was for Rene alone to decide what to do next. “I don’t know what to say, really,” he managed to say. “I couldn’t do it.” He extinguished the fireball he had been holding in his hand, which he’d been waiting to hit a moving target.

“Please reconsider, Rene,” urged Lord Golbez. “FFF needs you.”

“FFF needs Faith Crest!” yelled Rene, turning away from both of them. He glared coldly at Riku, who was taking this badly. “You have to find a loophole! I don’t care if you tell me I’m some destined warrior to save the world. Faith already did that and look where it landed her! She’s in another world, where we can’t reach her and she’s probably so scared all on her own.” Riku was about to intervene at this point, but Rene cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it.” Actual tears were sliding down his cheeks. “Not many things make me cry, hardly anything really. But losing the only girl I’ve ever loved made me lose my entire world.”

“Then why do you still train, Rene?” asked Riku. “FFF needs you, as Lord Golbez already stated.” He put a hand on his shoulder to stop him leaving. “I am still looking into the current situation and I promise you that there has to be a way in that world … I’ll personally look into it.”

“Riku, do not disillusion the boy,” warned Lord Golbez. “You know that finding a way into a parallel world is an almost impossible task, if not impossible in itself. I know you feel pain, young Rene, but finding Faith Crest is not our top priority right now.” He grabbed his staff and walked to the statue of the almighty Darkblade, who had once ruled over FFF as its leader and had turned against them not so long ago. Lord Golbez raised his staff in the statue’s direction and shattered it with a bolt of lightning. “We cannot dwell on the past, the future is where we should be looking now.”

“By destroying Darkblade’s statue?” Rene raised an eyebrow. “Look, I’m not in the best mood right now, so … just give me time to consider it.”

As soon as Rene disappeared into the hallways, Riku was going to go after him.

“Leave him, Riku,” said Lord Golbez, walking to his side. “Let the boy decide what his heart wants to do with his life. When he’s decided, he’ll willingly give you an answer.” Riku couldn’t agree more.

* * *​

“So you’re the legendary Faith Crest that we’ve heard so much about,” said Mercurial, as he observed the file he had been presented with. He nodded at the information that he was viewing as if he was impressed. “Well, this is certainly something, all right.” He tossed the file aside for a moment and then sat up in his seat. “We could need someone like you in the business and besides, our new boss has so much praise for you.” In the corner, Frisk was grinning and trying so hard to stop herself from laughing. “Hey, Frisk! Come on, give your friend some credit here.”

“What? It’s only been a week since we got here and you want me to give her credit?” moaned Frisk. She sighed, crossing her arms and closed her eyes. “Anyway, just give her the job already! I think saving the entire universe counts as the job description. Actually … it’s more than that. It’s something that not everyone does every day.”

“People need my help, it’s just what I do,” Faith shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to take all the credit. She couldn’t help smiling at the same time, however. “It’s who I am. I can’t really explain it, it feels like a calling, a duty maybe?”

“I’m going to like this new recruit, Merc!” Rydia called to Mercurial from her desk, as she was typing away. “She’s smart, cute-looking and psychic – she basically has the whole package. Why should this be an interview, anyway? Frisk is the boss here, she should conduct the process.”

“I second that motion,” Contra raised her hand.

“I third it!” Hera laughed loudly, throwing his head back.

“And I think a real interview is something appropriate,” said Faith, saying the exact opposite of what everyone else thought. She glanced at Frisk and sighed. “I don’t like to get the credit, Frisk. Besides, you’re the one that needs to be looked after now that we have a Saix junior on the way.” Everyone turned in the direction of Frisk, noticing the slight bump she was sporting. Faith was still a little disappointed that she was carrying Saix’s child – and that was another reason to keep herself on her guard. “Anyway, I bet you’re going to need me to take care of that werewolf situation you’ve had for the past three months.”

“How did she know that?” Contra jumped to her feet. “How could she know that?”

Faith laughed loudly, glancing at Contra Fates. “I’m psychic, remember? The whole situation has you alarmed because you think that the whole of Wales is going to turn into werewolves by the time that you finish this interview, right?” Everyone glanced at each other. The only one who wasn’t surprised was Frisk, who simply rolled her eyes at this point. “Well, I guess this interview comes to a conclusion. So give me a head start of where to find our friendly neighbourhood werewolves or do I have to pick it out of your mind?”

* * *​

It didn’t take Rene long to decide what his heart wanted. But first, he wanted to follow what his head told him. Against the wishes of FFF, he walked down to the dungeons underground. Saix was down here – and he’d been too silent for the week he’d been locked up down there. Perhaps he didn’t want to say anything because he was now a powerless and normal human being again. Immortality had been cruel on him because it gave him inhuman features. Now that he was fully human again, his once beautiful features had returned to their former glory.

The man that had been responsible for killing Patricia Musso and Shenorai was now rendered weak and powerless. It satisfied Rene a little, but didn’t get rid of the pain that he felt when it came to losing Faith to the portal that took and imprisoned her in the parallel world. He wished that it was Saix who would have met this terrible fate and that Faith would be with him right now in paradise. Hating Saix made Rene have at least some satisfaction in the world, anyway.

As soon as he saw the guard about to stop him from entering, Rene tossed a fireball into his chest, where his armour was. He didn’t hurt him that much, only enough to knock him out. Some of the prisoners there groaned and moaned when Rene stormed past them. He kicked the last gate that he found.

“Time to rise and shine, git!” he yelled at Saix. When he didn’t move, Rene formed fire in his hand to unlock the lock on the gate and he opened the gate leading to Saix. He punched Saix in the gut, which hurt his hand anyway, and pinned him against the wall. “I told you to wake up, damn it!”

Saix laughed manically when he noticed Rene was standing there. He coughed up human blood and breathed when he could do. “Rene Herrod, so you’re here,” he hissed, still maintaining that inhuman voice that everyone feared. “Excellent, excellent. Come to take your anger out on me then? Tell me one thing, however – how is Faith faring with the loss of her dirty bloodied godmother then?” However, that deserved him another punch in the face. “Is she that bad?”

“SHE’S GONE, YOU BASTARD! BECAUSE OF YOU, I LOST HER AND NOW SHE’S TRAPPED IN A PARALLEL WORLD!” Rene screamed his heart out to Saix. “YOU ONLY CARED ABOUT YOUR EVIL INTENTIONS! BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID, I’LL NEVER SEE FAITH OR FRISK AGAIN! KNOWING WHAT HAPPENED, I WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED IF FAITH HAD TO BURY PATRICIA IN HER WORLD!”

However, Saix froze at this point. The very mention of his lost love felt like an arrow was being sent into his heart. “Frisk? Frisk was taken into the parallel world?” he whispered fearfully, now trying to hold back the tears that he fought so valiantly to hide. His fist clenched into a ball and he punched Rene when he was least expecting it. He grabbed Rene by the hair and brought him down to the ground, prompting a loud growl from his enemy. “Now you listen to me, Herrod. It was Azalea who knew that portal would be there. It’s all coming back to me now … it appears that Lord Golbez cannot hide the truth from me for very long after all.”

“Well, he can keep you powerless for sure!” Rene managed to say. But that only deserved another smack to the ground. “What are you going to get out of this, Saix? First, you try to destroy and recreate the world in your own image … where will it get you in the end? Smacking me to the floor isn’t going to bring Frisk back. Think of it, Saix! Why do this when we both know that there’s a way to get into the other world?”

Saix released Rene and pushed him against the cage walls. He glared coldly at Rene with his light orange eyes. “I’m going to tell you once and once only,” he growled. “There is no way to reach the other world. The chances of that happening are a million to one.”

“But what would happen if that chance actually happens? What then?”

“Well, let’s put it this way, little boy. There’d be another Doomsday.” He chuckled at this point and laughed evilly. “Just to think that another Doomsday could be in sight and I wouldn’t be causing it. It gives me great satisfaction to notice that. For once, I wouldn’t have to do all the work, but still take the credit for it.” Rene held him up against the wall out of retaliation. “You couldn’t and wouldn’t kill me, Rene. Think about it, little boy. Lord Golbez is keeping me alive because I’m invaluable to him and FFF. I know far more than you humans.”

“Humans? Hey, news flash, buddy! You are human!” shouted Rene, turning away from him. Saix was about to escape, but he was trapped within the prison cell when a guard hurried to put yet another lock on it. The guard didn’t take Rene, however, he warned him about rushing in like that. Rene scowled and looked at his enemy, somewhat satisfied that he would rot here and he could do something up above. “How’s it feel to be stripped of the immortality that you found after a decade of looking, eh?”

“I won’t be human for much longer,” growled Saix. “Just wait, I will be out of here soon. In the distant future, Mark will come down here and beg me for his help.” Rene could only give him a yeah-right look right now. “Just because my powers no longer reside in my body doesn’t mean that I can’t make predictions. Mark will come down here in just under a year, give or take a few days. Most likely, it will be taking a few days. I’m about to see him and he’s begging me for help – he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him.”

Rene shook his hand. “You really are crazy.” And with that, he left.

Saix was the next to shake his head and laugh loudly. “What the boy doesn’t realise is that Mark will free me from my prison and then I can find her …” He thought to himself. The truth will slowly reveal itself soon. When months pass by, they will both be overwhelmed by the darkness inside of them. Frisk will be trapped, lost … but as for Crest, well, she’ll be forgetting everything. He glanced at the other prisoners, who begged him to escape. I know this because I saw it before my powers were stripped. Darkness will rise again, but one thing will connect all worlds together. “Death,” he murmured quietly to himself. “The prophecy must fulfil itself or else she can’t die like I always wanted her to.”

* * *​

Faith opened her eyes, not fully realising that she was still on the beach at first. Why did everything lead her back to here? For the past two months, it had been happening over and over. Frisk was sat by her side with a worried look on her face. Forever Frisk had waited and didn’t ever think her friend would wake up. Her bump was showing more now – and it had everyone worried. She extended her hand to Faith, who took it and she stood up on her feet, now glancing at the first thing she saw in her sight – the ocean, the tide swaying in and out of the beach.

And before she knew it, Faith fell down again.

“Don’t help me up, Frisk,” she moaned, as she managed to sit up. It was too much for her to even stand up anymore. “You know something? In the past two months we’ve been here, I’ve chased werewolves, negotiated terms with vampires and even fought a demon or two. I know I’ve done much more than that, but those were the main things.” She looked a little fearful when her eyes met Frisk. “What’s happened to me? I don’t know who I am anymore.”

It was then that Frisk’s true feelings were revealed … again. “You keep disappearing!” she yelled, now on the verge of tears. She tossed the bottle of vodka to Faith and pointed at it. “What are you up to?”

Faith looked at the bottle. It seemed vaguely familiar to her. Wait a minute, had she been drinking for the past two months? Was that why she couldn’t remember anything at all? “I don’t know …” she whispered, taking the bottle in her hand and fought the temptation to drink some now. “I really don’t know …” But her head was telling her to do it. Just to get over the pain and forget everything else itself. So she took the plunge and gulped down the vodka, despite the piercing pain in her throat that she felt. Frisk tried stopping her, but unfortunately, she was stopped when Faith held her hand at her body, rendering her useless and stopping in the air. “You can’t stop me from doing this.” She turned to face Frisk, her eyes now looking extremely red. “I can’t get over it. Patricia is dead, Frisk, and it is all my fault.”

“No one ever blamed you!” argued Frisk. “Did I hear anyone in the headquarters blame you? No! You’re crying out for attention, Faith. I know you’re not an attention seeker at all, but this is killing you inside. No one’s asked how you are! This is why the drinking started, didn’t it?” Faith didn’t look at her from this point. She dropped Frisk to the sand and tossed the bottle aside. “Faith, you know it’s true. Ever since the funeral, you distanced yourself from everyone else and got on with the job at RRM. I mean, everyone else there can see it, but they won’t admit it.”

And then suddenly, Faith burst out laughing. “You see, no one is interested in me anymore,” she glared coldly at her, “because they’re interested in you!” Frisk now looked confused. “I’d run while you can, unless that is, if they get here to take you away. You really don’t understand, do you? RRM see you as a threat and I’m probably never gonna remember this, anyway, so I want to warn you before they capture you.”

Frisk still looked confused.

“Frisk! They see you as a – as a threat! You need to run as far away from here as you can. Only running can help you now …” Moments later, Faith fell into a dark unconsciousness and blacked out.

“I’m a threat?” whispered Frisk, fighting the urge to laugh right now. She’d never known Faith to be drunk before so quickly. Perhaps she’d used her telekinesis to speed up the process and get drunk quickly just to avoid the pain of losing Patricia? This was maybe why she never remembered anything – she was too intoxicated to recall anything. She tells the truth when she’s drunk. She doesn’t always tell the truth when she’s sober. I think I’m going to have to take her advice this time around! But as she was about to run, she saw Mercurial walking towards her. “Merc …”

“Relax, Frisk,” he said, raising his gun. “I just wanna talk to you, that’s all.”

“You don’t wanna talk! You want to take me in as a prisoner!” yelled Frisk, who felt betrayed at this point. “I thought I could trust you all! No! You can’t take me in! I won’t let you!” She tried running, but Mercurial shot her with his stun gun. “Merc … but … why?”

“I’m worried and our tests are showing nothing,” he continued to say, walking towards the stunned Frisk. “Rydia thought the tests would show what we were looking for, but unfortunately, we’ve been unsuccessful so far. More tests are needed and I know that you wouldn’t take too kindly to coming back willingly.” He then noticed Faith, who had passed out. “What’s Faith doing here?” But then he laughed. “Ohhh, I understand clearly now. She came here to warn you. And why is she here again? This must be the seventh time in the past two months that I’ve found here.” He aimed the gun at Frisk. “Now talk to me, spawn of Satan. Do you know what’s going on?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she cried out, scared of what was happening.

“Don’t pull that crap on with us,” said Hera, who had arrived. He was also holding a gun, but not one similar to Mercurial’s. “Faith has been informing us all that she’s been worried about you and we decided that because of the test results that have shown nothing, we needed to take you in by force.” Frisk’s eyes widened. “Did you really think that she was protecting you, spawn?”

“I’m not possessed if that’s what you think!”

“We are not going to be fooled, I’m not that stubborn,” glared Mercurial coldly.

“So what? You round up the whole pack to take me down?”

“We aren’t taking any risks here, Frisk,” said Hera. “And I’m not fooled either. It’s strange how you somehow keep letting Faith have time off from work that I’m starting to think both of you are working together to stop us – something that would disgrace the memory of Patricia Musso!”

“You really think that Patricia’s own goddaughter would rebel against her? She’s been out here drinking because of her death! That’s why she’s been asking for time off! She can’t handle it!” But when no one said anything, Frisk felt herself able to move again. Was Mercurial right when he said that she carried the spawn of the devil in her womb? Did it have powers like Saix had? When she rose to her feet, she found herself fading back to blackness when she felt someone hit her on the back of the head.

“Thanks for that, Contra,” nodded Mercurial.

“So what do we do with them now?” asked Rydia.

“If Frisk’s words are true, then we spare Faith and she probably wouldn’t remember any of this,” he replied, now glancing at Contra. “But we have to lock Frisk away.” Rydia looked shocked by this, but Hera and Contra were taking this well. “Frisk poses a worldwide threat when we don’t even know what kind of child is in her womb, considering the creature that Saix is.”

* * *​

Mark walked through the hallways after discovering that it had been Rene who had broken into the dungeons and given Saix a good beating. Even though he wouldn’t admit to anyone besides Riku, he was actually glad that Rene gave Saix a thrashing. The monster deserved it, especially with the months leading up to his trial. It had to be postponed because they were so busy with rebuilding the place. Well, it was actually delayed up until a year, which only pissed off Riku, Mark and Rene even more. The three were like the Three Musketeers at times when together.

When he met Rene sometime later, he decided that it was up to him to convince him to join FFF.

“I heard what you did to Saix, Renero,” smiled Mark, as he sat down next to him in the living room. “And I couldn’t be more proud of you, kiddo.” Rene argued that he was older, prompting Mark to debate right back in his face. “Yes, you maybe seventeen and I’m fifteen. But you, my friend, have the mentality of seven-year-old.” Rene was about to punch Mark, but he was able to duck it and dived to the floor, getting back to his feet immediately. “Hey, listen. Are you sure you don’t want to join FFF? It’d give you somewhere to have a purpose, you know?”

Rene thought about it. But I don’t want to replace Faith. I can’t replace her! He glanced at Mark, who stared off into the distance, obviously thinking about Faith. “I’ll do it,” he said to his surprise. “I’ll take the place, but only until she comes back. But don’t ever say that she won’t come back because she will. She always does come back in the end, Mark, and you better believe it.”

“You’re still upset, aren’t you? That she doesn’t remember?” Mark guessed. He nodded, confirming his suspicions. “Then if you ever do see her again, Rene, then tell her the truth. Tell her that you kissed her before she disappeared.”

* * *​

Faith hurried through the darkness, having escaped the Red Rose Movement’s clutches. She carried on running, despite the fact that the entire Welsh police were chasing her and sending dogs to do their dirty work. She came to the edge of a cliff and knew what she had to do. Praying to God that they wouldn’t see what would happen next, she took the plunge and jumped. She went flying down like any ordinary human would do so and before she had the chance to crash into the rough oceanic water, she flew off in the opposite direction towards a small cavern in the distance.

After what seemed like an entire lifetime of hiding, Faith rose to her feet and realised that she was standing on sand. She wasn’t at the beach she normally came to anymore. It was funny, considering that after a month here, she hadn’t seen this small cavern before. She dropped her bag pack from her back and took out the torch, switching it on, smiling that she also had extra batteries in case they ran out soon. When she walked into the cavern, her eyes widened. Was this ancient? It appeared that this cavern hadn’t had someone inside for several hundreds of years, as she judged by the walls.

“This is incredible!” she murmured. Patricia, if you could see me, you would be proud of me.

And at that precise moment, something attacked her, which had been lurking in the dark. She could no longer see what was going on. Everything was too foggy for her, she had dropped the torch and the batteries had ran out. Fear and panic swept over her. She couldn’t sense who was there because every time that she did, she’d feel pain – and lots of it. Barely moments later, chains wrapped themselves around her entire body holding her up into the air almost instantly.

“Who’s there?” she screamed. “LET ME GO!” She listened closely to whatever was lurking in the silence and heard nothing, but water. “The sewers?” So she was underground in the sewers. The cavern was linked to the sewers? A perfect hiding place, but whoever or whatever was here didn’t take too kindly to her intrusion. “Whoever you are, they’ll find me. RRM will find one of its members if he or she is missing. That’s how they work! You won’t take me!”

Her eyes widened when she saw the true face of evil that had her trapped here. A dark shadow rose from the ground, the torch now flickering in its direction, so that she could finally see what it was. It went into the wall and then crawled out, lunging for Faith. She screamed when it hit her and started to take over her. She felt herself falling deeper into blackness … it was taking over her. She stopped screaming minutes later when the process was finally complete. Faith opened her new black eyes and looked at the chains that were holding her up in the air.

She growled loudly and snapped the chains effortlessly, coming to the ground and came to a halt. She examined her hands and then looked at the water, where the sewers were. Telekinetically grabbing the torch, she flashed it on to the water and the thing inside of Faith looked at her reflection for the very first time. The shadow caressed Faith’s cheek, embracing the new host that it had taken over. And then for the very first time in centuries, it laughed darkly using Faith’s voice.

“I can finally come for you, Goddess of Death,” she hissed darkly. “I’ll finally get my revenge.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Six

Crossing The Line​

Faith opened her eyes instantly, having remembering what had happened in the past year. She rubbed the back of her head, where Hera had hit her with the baseball bat. These Americans need to learn to use something less harmful, she thought and sat up on her bed. She was still in the Red Rose Movement base underground in Cardiff, where she last remembered being. Now coming around properly, Faith yawned just as Mercurial entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“Good morning,” he smiled and spoke in a pleasant manner that he hadn’t used for a long time. “I see you decided that sleeping through the whole day was convenient enough.” Contra appeared a few moments later carrying a tray of food and some pure orange juice. “Well, I figured that you were hungry, anyway, so Contra offered to be the chef today. You know how delicious her food is.”

“And you know it!” added Contra, smiling warmly at Faith. “If you need anything else, then don’t hesitate to ask. It’s not like our vampire friends are rampaging through the city, are they?” She forced herself to laugh out loud. “Anyway, you know where to find me …” She left, leaving them both with a feeling of eeriness.

But Faith turned away from Mercurial. Tears were streaming down her face. For a year now, she kept disappearing. Now she knew what was going on. Then there were the dreams – of death itself. Was it her? It couldn’t have been her causing all these deaths, right? Was there ever any turning back? As Mercurial was about to tell to her to eat, Faith felt herself losing control again. She collapsed on to the floor out of exhaustion and screamed out in pain. Mercurial pressed the emergency button for assistance. It would only be a matter of time now before Contra, Hera and Rydia would get to there to help him out.

The new and dark Faith rose to her feet. But something deep inside was happening. A prisoner in her own head now that she found out the truth, Faith screamed out in her mind. She was forced to watch through her own eyes, as the darkness inside of her threw Mercurial into the wall, thus, smashing it. Since when did she possess this kind of strength? A feeling of confusion overwhelmed her inside her mind, but the being inside of Faith continued to walk out of the door and back into the main part of the base, where Contra, Hera and Rydia were already standing their ground.

“That’s not Faith anymore, guys! So remember that!” yelled Hera.

“And how would you know that?” Rydia raised an eyebrow.

“Because he happened to have knocked her out before it could cause damage,” answered Contra.

“Inflecto tenus mihi!” she yelled, speaking in a darker tone of voice than Faith could ever do. “Aspicio Angelus of Obscurum!” She was speaking in another language, which none of them could decipher. “Ego must attero Dea of Nex! Si bos sto in mihi via, ego iuguolo vos totus!”

“This is unreal,” whispered Rydia. “She’s speaking in Latin, although I can’t really decipher what the hell it is that she’s even saying.” The others didn’t reply. She saw Mercurial in the distance, his unconscious body slumped against the wall. Out of all of them, Rydia was the one who could speak up to ten languages. “Latin was never my favourite language at all. There’s something about her, she calls herself the Angel of Darkness and wants us to bow down to her.”

“She can think again if I’m bowing down to that thing,” growled Hera, who looked ready to smash Faith’s face in again with the baseball bat. “She calls herself the Angel of Darkness? Well, that’s hardly original, isn’t it? I’ll tell you one thing, however, she couldn’t stop Frisk as Faith before. But what if the Angel of Darkness could? You know something? Does she even have a name?”

“What else did she say?” asked Contra, who was smart enough to dismiss Hera’s smart remarks.

“A goddess or something? I couldn’t make out the other word, perhaps a goddess of light?” suggested Rydia, shrugging her shoulders. “But she said that if we stand in her way, then she’ll kill us all.” She chuckled quietly. “Some way to go out with a bang, isn’t it? After all this time when we chased her nearly a year ago, this is what happens.” She observed Faith’s new appearance, which had turned dark since the Angel of Darkness had emerged. “Darkness is killing her on the inside. We seriously need a darkness expert in here!”

“If you think you can remove the darkness within this child, then you’re quite mistaken,” the Angel of Darkness said, now speaking English, which surprised everyone. However, it didn’t put them off their guard. “Translation? I want you to move out of my way, so that I can finally destroy the Goddess of Death.” The very mention of that name sent chills down their spines for some odd reason. “Humans, mortals such as yourself could never understand people like this girl and I.”

“What do you mean, Faith and you? Faith’s very much human as possible!” yelled Contra.

“She doesn’t know where she came from or why she’s even here on this planet,” she whispered, ignoring Contra’s comment and dismissing it. “But they only have one name for a being such as myself.” She punched the wall, which instantly smashed through and almost hit Mercurial. Hera was about to dash forward to protect his friend, but was stopped by Rydia in the end. “For now, you can call me Vindex.”

“Vindex? What kind of name is that?” spat Hera.

“It means Avenger in Latin,” explained Rydia, unable to take her eyes off the Angel of Darkness. “So you claim to be the Angel of Darkness?” Vindex nodded, unable to take her eyes off Rydia either. It seemed that they shared some common interests at the moment. “But why call yourself Avenger at all? You’re not avenging for anyone, right? You, Angel of Darkness, shouldn’t even exist in this plane. You should be trapped in the realm of darkness, keeping everything in order! Why did you take our friend? Why are you controlling her?”

Vindex laughed loudly, hardly able to control her laughter. “It gives me pleasure and she was the perfect host at the time of her arrival,” she hissed. “But know this, Red Rose Movement. Nex est coming quod vos cannot subsisto is!” They looked confused, even Rydia couldn’t decide what she had said. But Vindex continued to take pleasure in their confusion. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a goddess to destroy.” And with that, her entire body disappeared in dark flames.

* * *​

Frisk slowly rose to her feet, as she glared coldly into the eyes of the newcomer. Cherri had introduced herself, but only by her first name. So how on earth was Frisk able to know her surname at all then? She had been knocked down a few times, but each knock caused her to get back up on to her feet and fight again. Somehow, she sensed Cherri was different than most people who had dared to face her. The spawn of Satan was still inside of her and he or she kept her alive. Come to think of it … she didn’t even know the gender of the baby now, did she?

“Do you realise what you’re doing here?” she shouted at Cherri. “I am way overdue for my child to be born and you’re knocking me around as if I’m a football! Have some respect, will you?”

“Your child is the exact reason why I came here,” Cherri cut her off, glaring coldly at her as well. She aimed the gun at her stomach. “I came here to kill you both because I know if I do, then I’ll remember what the hell I’m doing here and why I’m still alive after almost being blown to pieces.”

At this point, Frisk was quiet. An energy ball appeared in her hand, however, against her will. She threw it in the opposite direction, looking shocked that her child would even dare to attack this woman. Then again, it did have a point – Cherri had attacked her many times. So here they were on the beach, where their stories both took a turn. Frisk had ended up here after the portal from the other world had sucked her inside. All that Cherri could remember was waking up here. Why was it that this beach was so significant?

“Why do you want to kill me? What did I ever do to you?” asked Frisk calmly.

“I don’t know you, but I know I have to kill your child at least and that means killing you as well, Frisk Valentine,” replied Cherri, preparing her gun. “Now … if you’d like to stand there quietly and calmly, we can get this over and done with quickly. You won’t even feel death coming your way because after all, your child is one heck of a monster.”

“You really think I’m going to stand here and let you kill me? Not a chance!” she exclaimed, another energy ball forming in her hand. “Forget not hurting you! You want to kill me? Bring it on, bitch.”

She then tossed the energy ball in Cherri’s direction. Cherri was quicker than she’d anticipated, however. Cherri dived to her right and got back to her feet, now shooting the bullets from the gun in Frisk’s direction. A dark barrier appeared, however, when the child intervened. Frisk had her hand raised against her will. Perhaps Cherri was making some sense, apart from the whole monster thing. Her child was special, but not a monster. That had been the insult that restarted the fight, the whole reason Frisk decided to trigger it off again.

When Frisk destroyed the machete gun with another powerful form of energy ball – more powerful than the ones she’d sent before – Cherri growled. Hand to hand combat was the only to go from here. She cracked her fingers and then ran towards Frisk in such an anger. Frisk herself was also running towards her. Their fight was becoming so heated, it was so close that –

“AAAAHHH!”

Darkness appeared out of nowhere and the two combatants were separated. Whilst Cherri was thrown into the sea, Frisk was blasted into the wall. She held her stomach when she came around only a few moments later and looked up in horror by who she now saw.

“What’s happened to you?” she whispered fearfully. “Who are you?”

“Vestri parvulus must intereo!” yelled Vindex, as she unfolded her new dark wings that had emerged on her back. “Angelus of Obscurum mos iacio suus in oblivio!” Frisk now looked terrified. She continued to hold her stomach and actual tears flowed down her face. Just as Vindex was nearing Frisk and her silver claws were about to slash her stomach, she suddenly stopped and cried out in pain. “Faith! Quis es vos effectus? Is must intereo! SUBSISTO BELLATOR FATUM!”

She fell on her back and went unconscious. Frisk looked curiously at Vindex, whose appearance was now changing. Her dark angel wings sprouted back into her back, her yellow eyes began to change back to ocean blue and her claws were now replaced with fingers. Faith Crest had returned and was now coming back around to consciousness.

“Frisk … F – Frisk!” she stuttered, unable to gather her words together. “I know what’s been happening to me over the past year! I know why I haven’t been able to remember some things. Like before when I released you, for instance. You have to stay away from me, I’m – I’m the Angel of Darkness’s host. She’s trying to kill your child.”

“Well, isn’t that something, huh?” scowled Frisk. “All of a sudden, everyone just happens to want to kill my child! Well, I’m not going to let anyone kill my baby. And you need to seriously stop screwing around, Faith! Something big is happening here and you seem to be the cause of it! Just what happened to us a year ago? I hardly remember anything … you told me to run and –”

“I told you once before to run, now I’m telling you again to run,” Faith ordered, rising to her feet, despite feeling so weak from her transformation. “The Angel of Darkness wants your child dead for some reason. She calls herself Vindex, which means Avenger in Latin. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the monster inside of me is an old Latin being that finally got released when I found it.”

“When you found it? Did you go looking for it, Faith?”

“Now’s not the best time for questions and answers, Frisk. It looks like your friend – or shall I say, nuisance is waking up.” She turned to face Frisk, her friend. “Whatever your child is, Vindex and this assassin woman know more about it than we do. I’ll take care of your friend, you just need to run as far away as possible and remain low for a while.”

“But what about you? You’re in the same position as me! You have to help me!”

Faith turned to face Frisk. So much had happened in such a short space of time. As much as she wanted to join Frisk and run away, she couldn’t. She had her allegiance to the Red Rose Movement to think about – and the Angel of Darkness was slowly beginning to get a full grip on her. She shook her head. “I can’t do that, Frisk. The Red Rose Movement is very suspicious right now! They are monitoring my movements as we speak.” She thought about where she could meet Frisk. “Listen to me, Frisk. There’s a small cavern just below the cliff near where Mercurial captured you. Meet me there, though I don’t know how long I’m going to be exactly …” Faith had raised her fists when Cherri moaned and rose to her feet. Frisk sighed, but knew that she was in no state to fight at all.

“What? You?” Cherri stared. “I knew it! You were in league with that girl all along, weren’t you?” Faith looked confused. “Faith Crest, wasn’t it? You’re the local psychic here, who works for that damn Red Rose Movement. Ohhh, you thought I don’t know about that, did you? Well, I sure do! And you don’t know what I’m truly capable of …”

But instead of rushing forward like anyone would, Faith simply crossed her arms. “You’ve much to tell me, I know that. Why would you want to hurt her child? What did the child ever do to you? It’s not like it’s been born yet.” However, Cherri unleashed her katana and went rushing towards Faith with such a violent temper. “So she has a katana and I have no weapon? A little unfair, I’d have to say, but I was always one for breaking the rules …”

* * *​

For many weeks now, Aerith’s health had been deteriorating. She still suffered from dark visions of the future. The only person who could not bear to see her anymore was Rene. Whilst he was with his best friend Filden to figure out a plan to get to the parallel world, Riku found himself in as much pain as Aerith was. He did his best to mask this pain well. However, there was one day when he almost collapsed in the corridors. A few worried monks passed him and asked if he was fine, but he continued to ignore them and got to his office as soon as he could.

“How could she learn to let go of us?” whimpered Riku, as he finally fell to the floor. Even though she was in the parallel world, he could sense something had changed about Faith. She had turned dark. She had something dark inside of her – and she wasn’t even fighting it. Although he couldn’t see it now, he could sense that she was in a fight with someone else, someone whose intention it was to kill Frisk for some unknown reason. “Faith, you have to fight it … don’t make the same mistake that I made …”

When he had recovered from his sudden premonition he felt, Riku hurried to Aerith’s chamber. He wanted to know if she was suffering from this vision at this precise time. When he did reach there, his suspicions were correct. Aerith was weak and unable to hardly move. She only spoke of what she saw when her mind was trapped in the visions. Lord Golbez was there and stared suspiciously at Riku when he entered – the sweat on his forehead gave it away.

“What happened?” asked Julius, who had been sat by Aerith’s bedside for many days now, unable to leave her side. He was like the older sister that he never had. “And as for your situation update, Riku, she just had the worst one so far. She foretells of someone wanting to kill Faith’s friend, who was known as Frisk if I recall.” He looked up at Riku, who couldn’t hold back his expression of guilt on his face. “Is there something we need to know, Riku?”

“Yes,” Riku choked out, unable to keep the pain going on for much longer. “I … it’s Faith. Something in the parallel world has taken over her body – and she’s not even fighting back.” Mitsuki, curious as she was, rose to her feet and her jaw literally dropped. No one else was in the room. “I’m afraid to say that, no … the Angel of Darkness has taken over her!” Lord Golbez rose to his feet angrily. “Avenger, its name is Avenger. But the creature, as we know, is Latin. So it prefers to call itself Vindex.”

“And what has this got to do with Frisk then?” asked Mitsuki, crossing her arms.

“Frisk …” murmured Aerith, who caught everyone’s attention immediately. “She is carrying such a heavy burden. A child, I see a child, yes … she is pregnant with … no, it can’t be! Saix!” Everyone, even Riku, was shocked. No one had expected this. “It is inside of her … one of them will die. Frisk or Faith, one of them will die.” The vision ended and Aerith burst into tears. “I’m so sorry!”

“You were great as always,” Julius offered her a sympathetic smile. He kissed her forehead and continued to stroke her long light brown hair. Then he looked up at Lord Golbez. “So then, we know that the Angel of Darkness has taken over Faith Crest. We need to know how and why, but we also need to know the same with Frisk.”

“Julius, we already know how the child got inside of Frisk!” exclaimed Mitsuki, rolling her eyes and feeling embarrassed already. “Do we have to explain it to you?”

“I don’t mean that,” he growled and rose to his feet. “We need to know if it really was out of love or if Saix manipulated her to do it, so that he’d have an heir if anything went wrong last year.”

And before they knew it, Aerith had slipped back into her vision state.

“Darkness … death … devastation … coming …”

“There must be another way! We can’t let it rampage within her for much longer!” shouted Lord Golbez, now concerned for Faith’s well being.

“Lord Golbez, I don’t think there is another way,” sighed Mitsuki, who was now close to tears.

Julius nodded. “I disagree that we let the beast rampage her soul, but I do agree that it is the only way to save all existence.”

Riku was now confused. What were they planning?

“What do you mean?” he shouted, making Aerith jump in her bed. “You’re going to stand back and let the Angel of Darkness continue to swallow Faith up?” Lord Golbez nodded. He was about to speak, but Riku continued to speak. “Don’t you realise what would happen to her if you let that continue happen? If she does get swallowed up by the darkness – the Angel of Darkness in particular – then there’s no going back. She’ll die and Vindex will fully take control of her body. Faith’s soul would be lost forever! She would surely crumble and cease to ever exist!” He couldn’t believe they were going through with this.

“It’s my decision to make, Riku,” said Lord Golbez. “She can handle the Angel of Darkness. She’s a strong-willed girl.”

“She’s not a girl anymore, Golbez!” yelled Riku, now daring to challenge the lord’s authority. “Who ever made you the lord of this organisation, anyway? All you’ve done since taking over is nothing! You ran when we needed you! You hid yourself to save your own sorry butt! So what if you reassembled FFF?”

“That’s no way to speak to Lord Golbez!” shouted Julius. “Riku, think about what you say!”

“No, I won’t!” the dark warrior continued expressing his true feelings. “I am leaving FFF because of your decision! And a little FYI to everyone! After you were getting on with your lives, I was the one to go and see Faith to say goodbye.” Julius, Mitsuki and Aerith gasped. Lord Golbez said nothing. “So I’m leaving. You can stuff your job until you change your mind!” And with that, he disappeared into a dark portal.

* * *​

“So let me get this straight,” said Filden, as he and Rene were at the site, where the portal to the parallel world last opened. “We are standing on the roof of a ruined building – and you believe you’ll get into this parallel world right here? Rene, you are so on crack!”

“Do you want me to tell you’re on crack because you’ve shut yourself off from the world since you believed you had angel wings?” Rene raised an eyebrow, as he continued to find the exact spot where the portal had opened and closed. Filden gave up in the end. “All right, it has to be around here. Patricia’s invention is over there –” He pointed at the weathered machine. “So I must be standing where it opened, right?”

Filden shrugged his shoulders. However, a dark portal opened Rene. Filden yelled loudly, mainly out of panic. Moments later, Riku emerged from it and crashed right on to Rene. They both went crashing to the ground, which Filden could only laugh at.

“It’s not funny, Fil!” yelled Rene, as he rose to his feet. He was about to hit the person who crashed into him, but then noticed it was Riku. “Riku? What are you doing here?”

“Defying FFF,” replied Riku, rising to his feet after being helped by Rene. He jumped at the sight of Filden and then turned to face Rene again. “A friend of yours? Why didn’t you tell us that there’s more humans that are starting to evolve?”

“Well, I was going to tell you, but you’re not obviously helping us reach Faith by interrupting us,” scowled Rene. “Filden, this is a buddy of mine from FFF, Riku Walker. Riku, this is Filden Gurito, my angelic friend as you can see.” Filden scowled, but smiled at Riku. Riku did the same. “Now that all the introductions are out of the way, anyone mind helping me out here? I need to reopen the portal.”

“Portal? You’re trying to get in there?” asked Riku, who couldn’t believe that they were attempting this. “Count me in, I have my own personal reasons for doing this.”

* * *​

In the midst of everything, a storm was brewing. Outside on the rooftop of the FFF headquarters, Saix smiled nastily. He looked down at Julius, who was bleeding to death. He looked down at his main rival and crossed his arms.

“I should have killed you a long time ago,” he said darkly.

“You don’t have the strength to do it. You could never do it!” yelled Julius.

“I have the strength, but I’m running out of patience,” assumed Saix, rolling his eyes. “Now you need to tell me all you know and include Lady Aerith’s visions while you’re at it, ok?”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Seven

Reunion, Meeting and Desertion​

Julius lay there on the cold wet ground as a wounded man. He looked up into the eyes of his rival, Saix, who looked down at him with such satisfaction. A battle had been fought long and hard, but unfortunately for Julius, Saix had been the one who emerged triumphant. Now he lay on the floor, defeated and humiliated. As the storm continued, Saix looked up towards the sky and smiled evilly as well as nastily. His bid for freedom had worked. Fooling Angelus had been the step to ensure his survival. Now he wouldn’t have to stand trial, could regain his powers and perhaps be reunited with his love, Frisk Valentine. But Julius Argexis was unwilling to let these things happen.

He rose to his feet slowly after Saix stepped forward to the edge of the cliff, who was embracing the fresh air of Gaia. As Saix continued to say how he would be triumphant in the end, Julius took up his bloodstained blade and pointed it at his opponent. In reaction, Saix raised an eyebrow when he turned to face him. Remarking how pathetic he looked and was a weak excuse for a warrior, Saix was unable to defend himself when Julius’ true anger emerged. Julius slashed Saix’s chest, which only caused him to fall.

“Powerless and defenceless, where will you go now, vile monster?” hissed Julius, as he began to circle Saix, who was clutching his bleeding chest wound. “Your immortality keeps you alive, but you can still suffer from the wounds that I give to you. That only means one thing.” He pointed the edge of the blade to his neck. “I can finally get my revenge, Saix. You killed Shenorai and for that, I must do what I have to do … for her sake.”

“Dead Shenorai maybe, but have you even considered what she was thinking at the time when I killed her?” Saix remarked, unable to contain the laughter that had taken over. “Shenorai, oh, your precious Shenorai! You still haven’t moved on, have you? You’re unable to get back on to your feet and face life like a man!” In retaliation, Julius kicked Saix in the side. “Ha, ha … but you allow your anger to consume you, boy. Until you deal with your lover’s death, then you will never grow up and be the man that you thought you were destined to be.”

“I don’t have time for this,” growled Julius, as he kicked Saix again in the side. As Saix slipped into a slow and painful unconsciousness and no longer posed a threat, Julius began to think on about what he had said. “A boy, as he describes me so? He is the child here playing with my mind and thinking that Shenorai’s death has deeply affected me!” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “You, Saix, are the reason why everything is and will always be a mess. As long as you remain alive, there is bound to be crisis wherever you go.” Julius stared at his bloodstained blade. “But are you worthy enough to be killed? Your immortality saves you from dying of wounds, but it cannot save your body from being completely and utterly destroyed. Revenge this might be, but I have moved on from Shenorai’s death. I have had to move on because everyone else has.”

He glanced down at Saix’s unconscious body, deliberating on what to do with him.

“If I had the choice between being a fool or a murderer, then I would be the fool. I would rather be the fool than the murderer. The murderer is haunted, yet the fool is at peace. This day, Saix, I will let you go. You may or may not hear me now, but know this; the day of reckoning is coming again. Another Doomsday will come from this – and you will have to make the ultimate decision. Join us and survive or be cut down if you stand in our way.”

He sat down on the snow that had just fallen down.

“The choice is yours to make.”

* * *​

“You fight like an unearthly creature, yet you do not look like one!” hissed Cherri, as she had dropped her weapons, considering that she was getting nowhere. Faith seemed too quick for her. However, Cherri had already witnessed her almost becoming the Angel of Darkness. “It appears that not only is Frisk Valentine has a dark being inside of her. You have as well, Faith Crest!” She raised her fists. “You’re only another lamb to the slaughter. It’s no use trying to help your friend anymore, she can’t run from me for much longer!”

Faith, who wasn’t really in the mood for much hand to hand combat, shrugged her shoulders. So far, the fight had been too easy for her. Whether it was the fact that she was psychic or had the Angel of Darkness inside of her, she didn’t know. She really didn’t know. Ever since knowing that Vindex had resided in her body, Faith also began to notice a few more abilities had emerged. She discovered that she now possessed superhuman strength, spontaneous regeneration and darkness flowing through her veins. It was quite scary as exciting as it was at the same time. She put it down to the new powers she’d received.

Cherri, who was very annoyed when she was squaring up against these newfound abilities, went to kick Faith. However, she wasn’t surprised when she was blasted back with an even more powerful kick from her opponent. As she went flying back on the scorching sand, Cherri raised her head up again to notice her nose was now bleeding. But it didn’t mean that she’d give up. “You’re much more than the child. Tell me something – who am I exactly facing right now? Faith Crest? Or the Angel of Darkness?”

“Faith Crest,” she replied without hesitation. “I know who I am it’s not the Angel of Darkness. I will never be like that monster. Oh, and for the record –” She punched Cherri in the stomach, sending her flying up into the air and back on the sand again. “– I’m no child and you just got owned.” She punched Cherri again, thus, knocking her out.

Her own personal battle for self-control was beginning. Her own life was on the line here. The Angel of Darkness had chosen her as a host for some mysterious reason – which was what? She came to realise that the anger within her was the reason for her sudden switch to the dark side. As with her emotions, Faith had a great struggle battling for the heroine within. She looked up at the sky and noticed something up there – a shooting star perhaps?

“What is that?” she wondered aloud.

Eventually, the shooting star – if was what it really was – came into light. The shooting star now took the form of Riku, who was floating gracefully down from the heavens. He would’ve collided with the sea, had it not been for Faith, who flew faster than she had done so before, to catch him. She had no trouble bringing him to the shore, thanks to the Angel of Darkness’s powers.

“Riku? Is it really you?” whispered Faith, but noticed he was unconscious. “Riku!” She slapped him in the face. “Don’t you dare die on me now!” She felt his neck – and a pulse. “At least you’re still alive, anyway.” And then suddenly, Riku awoke coughing and nearly pushing Faith out of the way in the process. “Really, is that any way to greet one of your best friends, who’s been trapped on a parallel world for the past year?”

Riku glanced at Faith, a moment that he thought was never possible.

“Faith? Faith!” he laughed, as he wrapped his arms around her. “I really did it! Aye, I’m alive, girl! We did it! But where are Rene and Filden?”

“Did what? What about Rene and Filden?” jumped Faith when she heard the very mentions of their names. She wanted to know about Rene, but where was Filden’s role in all of this? They were friends, of course, but since regaining her memories, she remembered clouded memories of them in childhood – right before Rene ever met them. “And where does Filden fit in all of this? I thought –”

“Yes, Faith, you thought,” Riku said darkly. He rose to his feet and stepped away from her. “You have the source of darkness inside of you, have you not?” She nodded, confirming his suspicions. “Lassie, how the HELL have you managed that?”

“It possessed me,” explained Faith. “It made me do things that I didn’t want to do and made me forget what I did, until now.” She looked at Riku. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, Riku. I hurt people, but I never killed them. The Angel of Darkness can only hurt people, it can’t kill them because like it’s I’m now a part of it, it’s a part of me. It feels the goodness inside of me and I feel the badness inside of it as an after effect!”

“Ok then,” he nodded his head, sensing some kind of truth behind it all. “However! I could help you, Faith. Since I’m aligned to the darkness anyway, I could help you contain the Angel of Darkness for a little while until we can fully learn the extent of the damage that it’s caused to you as an individual. For now, however, we’re going to have to find Rene Skylar and Filden Gurito.”

“I thought Herrod was Rene’s surname?”

“It was his mother’s maiden name. He only recently discovered that she married prior to his birth.”

* * *​

Rene opened his eyes and instantly remembered what happened. The portal had opened after combining the presence of his soul, Riku’s dark powers and Filden’s heavenly angel wings. They were allowed access into the other world, but had been separated in the process. The floor where he was lay upon was very cold – was he underground? He sat up, rubbed his eyes and focused his vision to discover where he was. His eyes widened when he realised the answer to that question.

He was in the Red Rose Movement’s underground base in Cardiff. Rene rose to his feet happily.

“I did it! I found the other world! I can tell Faith how I feel!” he jumped for joy.

However, everything changed when he noticed Mercurial, Hera, Contra and Rydia stood there, aiming their guns at him. He gulped; he’d never been at gunpoint before …

Mercurial was the first to speak, seeing as how he was the team leader. “You won’t be telling anyone how you feel until you identify yourself,” he said.

Rene gulped again. “Oh, does that mean I can’t tell you how it feels to be at gunpoint then?”

“He’s got a point, Merc,” Hera said, lowering his gun. “Contra could always detect anything suspicious.” He turned to the team leader as did all of them.

But Mercurial seemed like he was having none of it. “He seems suspicious as it is! So how do you know Faith Crest then? She’s with us now.”

Rene grinned, trying his hardest not to laugh. So they didn’t know the story of Faith Crest? This was going to be good. “Ohhh, it’s a long story,” he noted, crossing his arms and no longer feeling threatened, even if Mercurial had his gun pointed at him still. “I’ll tell you, that is, if you’ve got time.”

“We don’t have time right now!” shouted Rydia, as she was now on her computer checking the CCTV cameras. “It’s night time now and you know what that means, party people – we’re getting a visit from our vampiric friends.” Rene looked confused, so she explained it to him. “Vampires, we had some trouble a few nights ago. Faith ran into them, but she forgot what happened as soon as we went to assist her.”

“Wow, I have a story to tell and apparently, so do you,” said Rene. “Listen, I’d love to sit here all day and swap stories, but I need your help. I know this might sound strange when I say this, but has anyone seen an angel falling from the sky? A human with angel wings? Sound familiar?”

* * *​

Filden opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. As soon as he sat up, he felt that the ground on which he had been lying upon was hard. He felt his back to find that his angel wings were gone! “That can’t be right!” he whispered fearfully. What should have been his greatest hope had now become his greatest fear. He rose to his feet and looked around. He was now on a deserted island and his angel wings suddenly taking a quick escape hadn’t exactly helped either. “What can I do?”

He rose to his feet and noticed the sea in front of him. Rene and Riku were surely ok, right? Whatever this island was, it didn’t look too good. It freaked him out just by looking at the jungle behind him. Filden felt scared for the first time in his life. He walked towards the sea and pretended that he was stretching his angel wings. Maybe they had gone back inside his skin? He didn’t know what the mystery was, but he knew one thing – or perhaps a few – he had to find Rene and Riku as well as meet Faith again.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eight

The Tearful Reunion​

There were certainly a lot of things that Faith had yet to learn about Rene Skylar. She seemed to have forgotten that Cherri was still hanging around, now getting up to recover from the attack that her nemesis gave her. Riku gave her a dark glance as if to say, “What have you been doing this time?” However, Faith shook her head and then shrugged her shoulders helplessly. She rose to her feet again – stronger than ever – with the Angel of Darkness’s power gleaming warmly in her eyes.

Riku seemed not to approve of her taking advantage of the dark entity’s extreme power.

“The more you use its power, the more it will control you,” he assumed.

“I’ll take that chance,” Faith said sarcastically, as she went to face Cherri once again. “I may have forgotten blanks in my life for the past year, but I need to save the world again.” She glanced around her surroundings once more only to realise that Frisk was still long gone. “Besides, Saix’s lover is carrying his baby.” Riku felt his jaw drop. “Yes, she’s pregnant. It’s old news by now. But let’s not get into this, shall we?” Next, she looked at the now conscious Cherri, who was begging for more action. And I thought that my problems with her ended there.

“I’m not … I … come back here!” cried Cherri, unable to keep her balance.

“Not even worth the time or fight,” commented Riku, grinning cheekily. “Come on, we need to find Rene and Filden before someone or something gets them.” He turned to his side and waved his hand. A dark portal appeared thereafter. Even at this point, he was surprised that Faith hadn’t jumped at the sight of it. “Well, well, well. Guess that some things have changed, eh?”

“Some things never change I’ll have you know,” said the host of the Angel of Darkness. They stepped through, only to emerge in the middle of London. “Wait, why did you bring me here?” Riku didn’t reply instantly, however. The more that she looked around, the more that she was beginning to understand why they were here. “I remember now. The anniversary of Doomsday is almost here. This was where we were fighting for our lives … but of course, it never happened here.”

“It must be strange being in a parallel world when you were beginning to remember bits and pieces of your life back in our world.” Riku watched sadly, as his best friend was observing the scenery. He couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult it had been for her and Frisk when they ended up here. “You were right about one thing, though. The world needs saving again, but I think on a much bigger scale. Saix isn’t even getting his villainous appearance, considering that he’s still locked up from the last time we spoke.”

Faith was certainly satisfied that Saix was trapped in her own world. Why hadn’t they destroyed him by now? She recalled Riku mentioning that he was invaluable, but for what use? Was it his knowledge that made him useful? His powers were gone now. He had been stripped of them. Who else could act as a villain instead? There seemed to be no one eviller than Saix himself.

“Maybe I’m the villain,” she whispered under her breath. “Or maybe I’m just being the anti-hero.”

She continued to walk around, trying to make sense of saving the world again. There was someone or something on the horizon that wanted to destroy it. If it wasn’t Saix, who could it be? Her attention was quickly diverted to that of Frisk. The child had been long overdue to be born. They didn’t even know if it was a boy or girl, especially since she had been locked away for the past year underground in the Red Rose Movement’s headquarters. That one thing had pissed Faith off about the very thing Patricia had created, blessing her late godmother’s soul in the meantime as well. It would always still pain her whenever she was brought into any form of conversation.

“Somehow, we’re still alive after the amount of darkness we’ve been through,” Riku was saying, which she was only half-listening to, “and it’s a lot that you’ve sustained. You might be even more powerful than me. Who knows? The Angel of Darkness is one powerful being.” He couldn’t help, but stare in fascination at his best friend. However, he quickly looked away when he saw her eyes had turned black.

“I’m fine,” Faith said, attempting to reassure him. “I’m just … a little … dazed. It’s a lot to take in on one day.”

“But on to more important matters, I really don’t think you’re the villain,” he pressed on with the impeding matter. “I think you’re confused, or maybe someone’s playing a game of chess –”

“– And we’re the pawns.”

“Good theory, but we’ll need to get going.” Faith glanced at Riku; she was confused by the quietness in the tone of his voice. “My power is only limited in this world. I’ve never been here, apart from the time when I said – well, thought we were going to say goodbye for the last time.” It appeared that the very memory still haunted Riku, judging by the blank expression stretched across his face. “I’m not originally from this world, so it’s hard for my abilities to get adjusted here. On the other hand, you’ve been here for … what? A year now! That’s amazing how you can still use your powers and not get affected.”

Faith forced herself to look away again.

“You must have had a lot of time to do some thinking while you were trapped here.”

“That’s right,” she nodded. She looked at him again, teary-eyed. “And every day hurt more than I could ever imagine.” He looked like he was going to cut her off, but she simply waggled her finger and his mouth was automatically shut. “No, you don’t get to speak this time. I’m the one that gets to do the speaking. Back home … when we were fighting for our lives a year ago … there were so many things that I didn’t know. Because Saix killed me, I lost all memory of who I was. Rene questioned your motives, so now I am. What are you hiding from me?” With that, she released her telekinetic grip of Riku’s mouth.

“Thank you, lassie,” he said, as he was finally able to breathe through his mouth again. “Don’t you ever do that again or else I’m going to get nasty with you.” He paused for a moment, considering what he had to say. Faith was trying to get a read of his mind, but it was a closed book that she could not reopen. She was confused once more, but he simply shook his head. “I’ve learned to close my mind to you, Faith. You could have easily discovered the truth yourself a year ago, but you chose to wait until now. The truth is something you could never handle – it’s far too dangerous!”

“Is it about me?”

“Yes, it’s about you and if you ever knew the truth, your life would be in so much danger.”

“Look around you, Riku! My life has been in danger since day one!”

“Day one? Faithy, your life with FFF started four years ago when you were fourteen years old!”

“And look at me – I’m eighteen! Eighteen years old, Riku! I’m old enough to make my own decisions now! You’re only a year younger than me, Riku. Who gave you the right to keep secrets from me? Was it Lord Golbez? No, wait …” She lifted him up into the air, her dark eyes gleaming with blackness. “It was Darkblade, wasn’t it? There were so many things that the high and almighty lord of darkness didn’t want to tell me, wasn’t there?”

“It wasn’t Darkblade! And Lord Golbez knows nothing of the issue!”

“Then who else knows? What is this big secret, Riku? What’s so important?”

“The things I’ve seen … the things I’ve done … you can’t do this, Faith …”

“If I have to, then I’ll use the Angel of Darkness’s power to tap into your mind.”

“This is insanity, Faith!” yelled Riku, feeling helpless. He could only move his eyes and speak through his mouth. “You’re holding your own friend hostage to get personal gain! You’re abusing your powers! Think about what you were meant to do with your abilities! Don’t be doing this! It’s the Angel of Darkness! She’s doing this to you!” He could see that the Angel of Darkness was emerging indeed and could see that its power was overwhelming. As far as he knew, it spoke in Latin. “Hey! Angel of Darkness! Ausculto!”

The Angel of Darkness, now having taken over Faith’s helpless body, turned in the direction of Riku. She released the telekinetic grip she had on him and he fell to the ground. “I’m listening,” she hissed darkly. “I don’t need to use Latin to speak to you, Riku Walker. I should be humbled that I stand in your presence.”

“Don’t even try manipulating me, aye?” Riku groaned, rising to his feet. “You’re not humbled. You only seized the chance to do so because Faith had a weak moment.” He sprang back up to his feet and revealed the Way To Dawn, which sparkled in his hand. “I’m not completely dark, so you have no control over me. The only way you can control me is through her telekinetic abilities, but of course, you don’t know them as well as Faith does.”

As the Angel of Darkness sent a dark blast towards him, Riku had to dive to his right to avoid it.

“Crafty cow,” he muttered under his breath.

* * *​

“Contra may as well detect something suspicious about this individual, but it’s not going to stop me from taking action!” yelled Mercurial, despite the protests that he received from his team. He was the leader, so he wasn’t going to take any objections.

Holding up his gun and aiming it directly at Rene, he shot at the teenager. It was a split second decision that Rene Skylar himself decided to take action. He shot out fire from the palm of his hand and because of the power he added to it, the flames were able to burn the metal bullet to nothing, but dust. Impressed with the power, the parallel Red Rose Movement clapped their hands – much to Mercurial’s annoyance and dismay. Instead of shooting another round as they all expected him to do so, Mercurial put his gun away instead.

“You’re smart, kid,” he forced a grin on his face. “I’ll give you that.”

“I was trained by the best,” smirked Rene. “So are you going to tell me where Faith is or not?”

“Unfortunately, she escaped our clutches several hours ago,” Hera sighed sadly, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. He noted the vacant yet depressed expression on the teenager’s face. “Ever since then, we’ve been trying to track her movements. But it seems that she’s found some kind of way to escape us.” Hera turned to face Rydia. “Any updates in our progress?”

“There was a disturbance on the beach where she normally goes,” replied Rydia, looking intently at the computer screen to which everyone turned their attention towards. Rene noticed she was a little tense. He couldn’t help, but feel that she was a more talkative version of Angelus, the in-the-know kind of person. “I can’t get close because there’s hardly any CCTV cameras around there …”

“Go as far in as you can,” said Contra quickly.

As Rydia started typing around on the keyboard, Rene decided to take in his surroundings. How he’d ended up in the parallel RRM’s headquarters was a mystery to him. Perhaps it was his instincts taking over? On the other hand, he was perhaps thinking of protecting Faith for Patricia when they’d gone through the portal and tumbled into the pit of the unknown.

But what about Riku and Filden?

Where had they landed?

He couldn’t worry about Riku because he dealt with this kind of stuff all the time; he had been for the past couple of years. But Filden was new to all of this; he’d been left in the dark since Rene discovered that Faith had powers four years ago up until now. He had handled the secrets well, considering that he was the mistrustful type. Yet Filden couldn’t deal well with his sense of direction – and being in a parallel world didn’t work well either.

“There’s someone pretty battered up there,” observed Rene, unable to suppress his worry. He saw that the team was being awfully quiet at this point. “Is there something about Faith that you’re not telling me about?” He slammed his fist on the slab when he didn’t get a reply as soon as he expected. “TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON NOW!”

Mercurial grabbed Rene by the throat in that instant.

“Merc! No!” pleaded Contra, grabbing her hair out of fear.

Ignoring his colleague’s cry, Mercurial threw Rene across the room and watched him slide across the floor. Contra and the others cowered in the corner. They knew what Mercurial’s anger and opposition to his leadership could do to him. But Rene, ever the man to take any form of attack, wiped the blood that was trickling down his lip and growled loudly when Mercurial walked towards him. Without warning, he sprang to his feet and a fireball appeared in his right hand.

Once more, the leader of the Red Rose Movement took out his gun and looked eager to finish what he had just started. Mercurial was really starting to piss Rene off. He didn’t like egotistic bastards that dared to challenge him and his power. He threw the fireball towards him. But Mercurial was able to take a jump to the left as if it was nothing. It only took the intervention of Rydia to calm things down.

“Stop!” she cried. She wasn’t pleading, she was was ordering them. But when Mercurial raised his gun, Rydia walked towards him and slapped him in the face. “Mercurial, don’t you ever learn? Guns and violence don’t solve anything – it’s the last resort. And you!” She pointed towards Rene. “What was your name? We didn’t catch it.”

“Rene Skylar,” said Rene almost awkwardly.

“Rene Skylar?” gasped Contra, observing the young man closely. She covered her mouth, clearly in shock. It was everyone’s turn to stare at her instead. “Faith told me stories about you – is it really true that you vanquished Darkblade and fulfilled your destiny?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘vanquished’ is the right word, but yeah,” he nodded abruptly. Finally, it was a chance to show off to them all … especially that persistent Mercurial. “I got rid of him. Fulfilled my destiny, etcetera.”

“Do you still have the original blade?”

“What? The one that Kai gave me? No, it got destroyed in one of my many missions for FFF. Wait a minute, has Faith told you all about me?”

It would have been nice to be seen as a legend here – just to brag to Mercurial, again. And speaking of Mercurial, he wasn’t looking too happy about this being discussed. He actually looked … very calm, or so to speak. To hear that Rene Skylar was in the building almost made him feel respectful that the legend had made his presence known in the room, if not in this world. Being in a parallel world right now violated the rules of the time-space continuum. However, it wasn’t like rules weren’t made to be broken. And then again, Faith was here.

“Faith has changed since the last time you saw her,” Mercurial finally spoke up and admitted defeat, thus, leading to him answering Rene’s previous question. “She disappeared for a while many months ago and when we found her, she wasn’t quite the same again. We just found out today that a entity known as the Angel of Darkness has taken over her very being.”

Rene’s face fell.

“It explains why she can’t remember certain things. It also explains about the vampires, why she wanted to have them suck her blood. As far as I know, her blood is something different – much more different than human blood, they said. But what I don’t seem to understand is why the Angel of Darkness wants to use Faith as a vessel. There’s something that monster is planning, but what?”

Then there was another question.

“Is Frisk here? She’s Faith’s friend –” Rene began to say.

“Oh, you mean the mother carrying the spawn of the devil?” remarked Hera. “Join the queue to shoot the kid, Rene. We were unsure what to think when our boss was carrying an unnatural child. We conducted tests on her, but couldn’t get any results back. The tests suggested that it was demonic, however. Part human, part demon … Faith, being herself as usual, tried to defend Frisk. It was also the day that she became the Angel of Darkness. We had to … contain Frisk. The child could have very well taken control of her at any point, too.”

Rene scratched his head and sighed quietly.

“I really have missed a lot,” he whispered to himself. He walked to the computer and noticed that the figure on the beach was stirring. “It’s a woman! She’s alive.”

Rydia was the first to run to the computer. She zoomed in, only to be appalled by the face that she saw. “It’s Cherri, Merc,” she said in an alarming voice. “By the looks of it, she made an attempt on Frisk and the child’s lives again. Ouch, she got banged up bad. She must have heard Frisk was free and seized her chance.”

“I’m going to take a guess that our favourite heroine swooped in to rescue our boss,” assumed Mercurial, now putting his gun away in its respectful holster. He walked to the coat hangers and put on his long black leather duster on. “Observe the markings on the sand. I know I’ve only known Faith for a year, but I’ve caught on to her telekinetic markings pretty well.” Hera raised an eyebrow. “You know as well as I do, Hera, that I was only keen to know what was going on. The topic of psychics was interesting at the time …”

“But I need to know something,” Rene cut in. “Is she good or evil? I have to know.”

“I’m no psychic, but I can confirm that she’s gone rogue for now,” answered Contra, looking sadly into his eyes. “So if Cherri’s really back, then we’re going to have to go together to take her out. If that damn assassin even dares to take Frisk’s life, then she’s going to be the one that goes into my experimental coffin.”

Rene looked at Mercurial, now feeling comfortable around him. “Is she always scary?”

“Only when she’s in one of her moods,” he nodded. “C’mon, Skylar. I’m going to need you to help us if you’re really the legend that Contra Fates speaks of.”

* * *​

The snow continued to fall down on Gaia, as a clash continued just outside the FFF headquarters. Saix and Julius fought as hard as they could, but it was Julius who had the advantage. He channelled his rage through his blade. Saix had kept the claymore with him – just in case a situation like this would arise. It was undecided who was the predator and prey. At the moment, the two combatants were too even and that made the fight uncertain for an actual outcome. No one inside the headquarters or even in the towns, villages or cities had even been alerted or even witnessed this as of yet.

“I’m stronger than you!” yelled Julius, his eyes full of outrage.

“Then defeat me!” hissed Saix, his orange eyes glowing with hunger.

Saix swung the claymore towards Julius’ neck. But the almighty king was able to block the attack with his blade, clashing with the claymore itself. The two angry, but different opponents then carried on with their battle. There was no point to it whatsoever – other than the fact that Julius had desired to avenge Shenorai’s death for so long now. Saix merely thought that this was for his entertainment only. There were many different reasons that this fight could have been initiated, but no one knew it more than Aerith herself.

She was the sole witness to see the battle commencing from her personal chamber. Sweat dripped down her forehead, as she wished quietly that Julius would emerge as the victor. He was like the brother that she never had. To lose him would be a step too far. It made her feel sick to think that Saix – the killer of Shenorai, Patricia and many others – had escaped from his prison down below the headquarters.

How had he escaped?

A mysterious force had been unleashed, that was what mattered the most. A dark force broke him free and so Julius was the first to chase after him. Saix had sneaked off after he was free and ended up creeping around the headquarters. Julius, ever the guardian that fought for what he believed in, had sprung into action and intended on getting justice this time. That had been what initiated the fight. The possible futures that Aerith had seen in her dreams prompted her to watch this battle.

She prayed with all her heart that the right future would come into fruition.

And then unexpectedly, Angelus and Mark burst out of the headquarters. As Angelus predicted that the auras in the air were of bad energy, Mark used his telekinesis to throw Saix down when he was least expecting it. Julius, thankful for his companions’ help, walked to Saix’s crouched body and put his blade to the monster’s neck.

“Draw your last breath, vile demon!” hissed Julius. “For you, it ends here and tonight.”

However, Saix was laughing manically. “Oh, you really think that this ends here and now?” he retorted, not making a move. He didn’t even dare to sit up – Julius’ blade was still at the tip of his neck. “This isn’t going to end for a very long time, Julius. The truth hurts all too much, but you wouldn’t dare slaughter your own brother, would you?”

Julius looked angrily at Saix.

“You are no brother of mine!” he yelled. “You may have been raised to think that, but we do not share the same blood. Until the day you discovered your heritage and who you truly were, things were simple. But now you are a cold-blooded murderer, a murderer that cares little for anyone other than yourself!”

“Then why is it that I want to find Frisk as much as you all want to see Faith again?” shouted Saix, his true feelings revealed – a triumph rarely achieved. Ever since discovering who he really was, he had distanced himself away from Julius and his adopted family. “There’s not just the matter of our ancestry to consider, Julius. Imagine how Crest would feel if she were to ever know the truth herself?”

“It’s not right,” Angelus spoke up. “The truth is too hard for her to handle.”

Mark put a telekinetic grip upon Saix, lifting him up into the air. Since his powers had been taken from him, Saix was unable to do anything. Angelus put a hand on Julius’ shoulder, as she came to his side. Julius himself lowered his blade and put it away after realising it was foolish to become the murderer. He wanted to remain as the coward, who could not kill his adopted brother. However, he strived to be that fool.

Aerith could not have seen this future.

She didn’t see Angelus and Mark rushing to Julius’ defence.

But there was still one possibility that could have occurred.

As her eyes turned white once more, there was a future that could either stay together or break apart.

* * *​

“Cherri’s gone at the moment,” Mercurial said, sighing and shaking his head.

He was on the beach where the assassin had once been alongside Contra, Rydia, Hera and Rene. It was a memorable place, considering many dramatic things had happened here. The investigation into Cherri’s disappearance was intense indeed. It only annoyed Rene because he had no idea where Riku or Filden was. The one person he longed to see was Faith. There were many questions buzzing in his head.

What did she look like now?

Had she changed whatsoever?

Was her spirit broken because of what happened?

Tears could have rolled down his cheeks right now because of whom he saw. As the rest of the team froze when she came into the picture at the other side, Rene stopped and stared. He dropped the bag that he had been carrying on his bag and took a few steps forwards. Was it really her? What was he feeling right now? Was it joy? Was it relief? Was it love? Whatever this feeling was, nothing could have possibly spoilt it now.

Faith couldn’t believe her eyes. Rene was here! In the parallel world! Nothing could have been better. She had escaped Riku, only to be here and see her one of her best, closest friends on this very beach. Her knees felt weak. She wanted to collapse right here and now, wanting him to catch her as she fell. But her knees did not give way. Instead of tears sliding down her cheeks as she expected, she ran towards him. She was the first to run, the first one wanting to wrap her arms around the other person.

Rene knew it! It really was her! She was running to him! He had to run to her! As the Red Rose Movement watched on, Rene made his sprint towards her. The sick feeling he had running through his guts had faded away by now. Nothing could have spoilt this moment. There was nothing better than THIS! She was so beautiful right there; so radiant … he just had to tell her how he felt, what had been burning deep in his very soul for the past year!

It would have been a happily ever after story, but there was no story without a conflict.

The reunion was cut short, however, when Faith knew that familiar sensation of being hurt slipped into her veins. Rene screamed out, but she could not hear him. Cherri stood there, valiant as ever, holding the samurai sword that had been plunged into her right shoulder. Mercurial and the others charged towards the assassin, refusing to let her get away with this. The young psychic was oblivious to everything; she was plunging towards the ground. Rene dived towards the ground, almost there. He caught her in his arms.

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you!” he told her. “Look at me, Faith! Look at me! It’s ME!”

“Rene …” she whispered delightfully, but unable to hold back the pain that coursed through her entire body. She wished that seeing him again could numb that pain. But it wasn’t. “I can’t believe it! It’s r-really you, I –” She could not say anymore because the pain was striking her too quickly, she was slipping away.

“You’re not leaving me this time, Faith Crest!” yelled Rene as loud as he could. “I’ve lost you twice before and I’m not going to let you go a third time!” Faith looked like she wasn’t reacting, but he continued to talk to her nonetheless. “The first time, you died. You were brought back, though! And I’m so grateful I got to see you again. And then – then you sacrificed everything just to make sure that Frisk wouldn’t be alone. I’ve never known anyone braver than you. You mean so much to everyone, but – but you … you don’t understand what you meant and still mean to me.”

“I – I feel so c-cold!” whimpered Faith, fighting so hard to stay with him. It was hard to remain in consciousness. The wound was becoming infected now. Mercurial and the others were not there. They were detaining Cherri, who was making a bid to escape. “I’m so, so sorry, Rene. I – I don’t think that I can – I can – I can – I can –” She kept on repeating herself, being unable to say anymore words.

“You can’t leave me! I said to you that we were going to do many things together!”

“What?” Her voice was confused, but dry at the same time.

“Of course. You don’t remember, do you? I told you that we were going to do many things together before we die. But we can’t do these things if you die now, can we?”

“I’m s-sorry, I can’t –”

Her head slid to the right and her pulse was all, but gone. Rene gasped. He could no longer feel the life inside of her. Crying out to the heavens, his anger got the better of him. He hurled a fireball into the sky out of frustration and continued to moan her name at the same time. From a distance, there was someone watching what was happening. Frisk shook her head. She couldn’t believe that Cherri would stoop this low! This was pathetic! Her eyes flickered orange, the exact same colour as Saix’s. Faith was dead … and everything needed to be reversed. This could only start with the death of that accursed assassin.

“She dies,” she whispered in a most demonic voice.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Nine

Heroes and Villains​

Darkness descended upon the beach and Rene Skylar had to admit that this was truly the end for Faith Crest, the only girl in the history of his life that he had ever loved. He refused to let go of her motionless body because he wanted to hold her like she was his own. It deeply upset him to think that she died without remembering who she was – and even what they had prior to her first death. The Red Rose Movement team watched on silently. Mercurial was still detaining Cherri all the while. When she kept saying, “The bitch is dead!” he had to knock her out and resist the temptation to kick the crap out the assassin’s unconscious body.

There was no emotion seen in Rene’s eyes. He continued to hold the girl of his dreams and shed many tears that were seen streaming down his face. He’d lost everything he’d fought for. He had fought so valiantly and hard to get to the parallel world – it was all for Faith. Everything he did … it was all for her. But now he couldn’t believe what had just happened. The life inside of her had been taken away just like that.

“Please, Rene,” Rydia was the first to speak up, who was usually only speaking when technical terms had to be used. The team were surprised by her sudden approach, but kept it in the back of their minds. She kneeled down to Rene and saw that his clothes were covered in Faith’s blood. “She’s gone. There’s nothing more we could do.”

But he could not speak. Rene tried to find the words, but they were scrambled up.

“There’s no point fixing something that’s already broken,” she whispered regretfully, turning her head to face Mercurial, who seemed to be taking it just as hard as Rene was. After all, as the leader of the RRM, he’d seen Faith through their training scheme and worked on missions together. With an important addition to their team snatched away by a sworn enemy, the responsibility and consequences fell upon him.

“We can’t stay here long,” he finally spoke up to Rene and his team. Mercurial brushed a strand of his hair away from his face and was trying the best he could to stop his emotions bursting out of control. “We have to move her.”

“No!” Contra suddenly yelled, pushing Mercurial to the ground.

“Contra, what are you doing?” asked Hera alarmingly.

“He talks about her like she’s just a body!” Contra shouted loudly. “She’s more than just a body, Merc! She was our friend. No … she still is our friend.” She turned around to walk to Rene and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “This has to be wrong, it’s got to be a glitch! Faith can’t be dead! She’d see her coming from a mile away!”

“Who? Cherri?” growled Mercurial, who had to ever fight the temptation once more.

“We can deal with Cherri later!” Hera said, looking furiously at their leader. “Right now, we need to get back to our headquarters and –”

However, a great darkness ascended from Faith’s dead body and blasted all of them backwards. On the other hand, Rene was only pushed back a few meters and was able to hold on to the sand, as a whirlwind erupted around the darkness. With the wind calming down slightly, he managed to stand back on his feet again. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Rene Skylar was about to get the shock of his life.

The Angel of Darkness was back and as bad as ever …

“Rene,” she said, bearing a wicked smile that Faith would normally wear. “It’s so nice to see you. At last, we finally meet, although I have to admit that this is the perfect vessel for me to see you in …”

“The Angel of Darkness!” hissed Rene, finally speaking since he’d lost Faith.

“If you want the girl back, then there’s no chance,” the Angel of Darkness glared coldly, now removing that same wicked smile. “Her spirit has moved on and probably drifted to the afterlife. It’s ironic, isn’t it? The girl couldn’t survive with me inside, wanting to swallow her up. And now … I’m the one that’s in control.”

Rene ignited his hands with flames – a new trick he’d learned from Julius.

“Very crafty. I suppose that you learned that from your FFF buddies, huh? As you can quite see, there’s no halo on my head because I’m the devil itself. I’m what you get, Rene Skylar, the one and only Angel of Darkness. Now am I going to have to cut you out of the way or what?” This time, her hands flickered with dark energy balls and it appeared Rene was just going to be the first one on the target practice. He was astounded to see that the Angel herself had inherited Faith’s personality.

However, he was now afraid. The dark energy balls were so terrifying that Rene had to take a step back and reevaluate the current situation. The Red Rose Movement team was down … and he was alone … with a bad arse Angel of Darkness. The odds weren’t looking in his favour. So instead, Rene took a step back, but didn’t let his flaming hands go out.

“Give her back!” he yelled. “Give her back to me! Take me instead!”

The Angel of Darkness laughed hysterically. “I’ll never give her back to you. You made her feel lost, cold and alone … now it’s time that you got what’s been coming!”

“I know, I know!” Rene tried to reason with the legendary entity. “But we have to stand together! We might be dead tomorrow!” He paused, wondering why the hell he’d just said that. He would never stand with the Angel of Darkness – and why would they be dead soon?

His choice of words had surprised the Angel of Darkness, too.

“You astound me, Skylar! To think you could make up such prophecies …”

“I wasn’t making them up! I –” Well, he didn’t know exactly how he’d done it.

Eager enough to stop wasting anymore time, the Angel of Darkness thrust Rene back towards where the others were and then disappeared just like that. Rene sat up and saw the other RRM members stirring, as they came back round to consciousness and demanding to know what had just happened. But Rene didn’t want to share anything right now. He just wanted to grieve for the fact that the girl he loved was dead.

* * *​

“Is there something you wish to discuss with me, Mark?” asked Lord Golbez, astounded that the young man would want to come into his chambers and strike up an important conversation.

Mark resisted the awful temptation to glance around Lord Golbez’s private chambers and looked at the lord of FFF directly in the eyes. “Yes, there is, actually. I … I think that I may have … all right then … I think I have an ability … or abilities.”

Lord Golbez watched him with much interest. He was surprised to hear this sudden revelation, but did not let him upset or disturb him. Instead, he simply nodded in acknowledgement. “And what powers do you possess?”

“I can see the dead,” he replied quickly. “I only found out because I … I saw the ghost of Patricia Musso. She told me that I’ve always been able to see the dead. I mean … I only knew her because she was Faith’s godmother … but I never spoke to her as much as Faith and Rene did. She said that was my natural gift, but then another power took form.” Lord Golbez nodded as if he was waiting to hear what it was. “I can absorb other people’s abilities, like empathic mimicry, I think. Patricia explained that I never was exposed to Faith’s energy when she and Riku performed the ritual that sealed Darkblade away a few years ago. She said that I merely absorbed Faith’s telekinesis.”

As if on cue, Aerith emerged from the dark corner.

“This is what I saw,” she said, alarming Mark that she was there and had been listening to their talk. “Part of the dreams were linked to you, Mark. Patricia’s ghost was guiding you in the right direction. She said that you were the only person that could open the portal between the two worlds without any risks. But then again, that’s already been done … and there’s still the damage to come.”

“How do you know this?” asked Mark curiously. How could the two worlds be connected again? Not unless …

“It must be Riku and Rene,” suggested Lord Golbez, causing them both to turn to him again. “They’ve defied FFF in pursuit of their personal ambitions. Regardless, those ambitions must be deemed as … admirable. They are not selfish. They wish to be reunited with Faith Crest and Frisk Valentine. That is all they want.”

Mark felt sweat dripping down his forehead and wiped it away. “I think that I’ve been experiencing what Aerith’s been going through, too.” This caused much concern from Aerith herself. “I might have … I might have absorbed her powers … it probably explains why I’ve been dreaming of the same things she’s seen. I saw that Saix was going to fight Julius, so I hurried to help the others. Lord Golbez, I’m absorbing power too quickly. What can I do?”

* * *​

Filden Gurito was paralysed by fear. He didn’t have his angel wings anymore, so what was he? Was he rendered human forever? There was something about this island that spelt T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Putting aside the sarcastic thought he could spell the damn word, Filden looked at the jungle behind him for the hundredth time since arriving here. Maybe the answers were in there? Rene had mentioned that he didn’t know what the parallel Earth would be like, but it appeared to be the same as their Earth, anyway.

And then suddenly, a tall figure emerged from the jungle and bumped into Filden.

“Watch where you’re going,” muttered Filden, clearly annoyed that these things were happening to him. However, he’d failed to notice the situation at first and was delighted to see that he had company. “Hey, wait a minute! You’re here, aren’t you? I’m not alone after all.”

“I’ve been alone here for the past three months,” the guy growled. He appeared to be in his late teens, possibly eighteen or nineteen years old. “I thought that pretending to be a toilet would’ve been fun, but no! They cast me off here to suffer for the rest of my goddamn life!” Ignoring Filden’s what-the-hell expression, the guy stared at him curiously. “Say, were you thrown out here as well for doing something?”

For a moment, Filden had to restrain himself from saying something. He couldn’t exactly say he was from another world now, could he? No, he had to take this situation calmly and carefully. However, the more time that elapsed between the guy speaking and the response he was waiting for, the more that Filden couldn’t stop feeling so nervous.

“Um, I don’t know what’s going on,” he lied. “I just woke up here, that’s all. I don’t even know why I’m here either!” The amnesia act was beginning to fool the guy, considering how he was interested in his story. “I woke up not long ago and things didn’t seem right. What is this place?”

“Doomsday Island.”

Filden flinched at the name. Doomsday Island? Why was it called that? And why was it that the word Doomsday was contained in it, too? Was there some connection between these two worlds that he had yet to discover? He supposed that anything was possible ever since Rene told him all about his time at FFF, his abilities and the quest to find Faith in this world. Filden felt it had been too long since he’d last seen Faith. It had been almost two years, actually …

“And what’s Doomsday Island supposed to be for?”

“Why, it’s for punishing those who step out of line,” the guy replied with sincere honesty before he looked around the atmosphere as if he was a crazy guy. “There’re creatures here. I’ve been trying to fend them off for three months, but they’re getting closer to the beach. They’re known to display supernatural or magical powers. I might have seen it, but only through colourful flashes.” He looked at Filden again. “It was called Doomsday Island because this was where all supernatural beings would be sent when they were condemned. They’d die here – without their powers.” However, he laughed out loud. “But that’s just a myth, right? Because there’s no such thing as supernatural powers with these beings, right?”

Filden had put everything together. So he was stuck on an island that negated the use of his wings. But how could he escape? This guy looked perverted enough. He didn’t know whether to trust him, but he had no one else to turn to right now.

“What’s your name?” he asked, now intrigued about this new world.

“Addle.”

* * *​

With Faith dead and Cherri now in RRM’s custody, there was little that Frisk could do. She walked along the area where Faith had died and bowed her head gravely, remembering how they’d spent their first few months here together and fighting the good old fight. A great sadness overwhelmed Frisk, as she examined the blood still on the floor. The Angel of Darkness had taken over Faith’s body, whilst her soul was lost forever. A few tears managed to slip away, but she tried so hard to hold back the rest.

“Thought I’d never see you again, lassie,” came a familiar voice.

Frisk turned around, noticing Riku stood there with his arms crossed against his chest. It had been too long since she’d last seen him. However, when he looked at her, his green eyes widened and he ran a hand through his long silver hair. He looked unable to take in her new big appearance. He laughed as if he couldn’t believe it. Frisk looked insulted, but didn’t react. She knew that all this reacting had been causing distress to the baby – plus being very overdue wasn’t doing any good for her either.

“Saix junior on the way, aye?” Riku said solemnly.

“How would you know if it’s Saix’s?” Frisk said, her first words to him.

“I wouldn’t like to make you look like a whore by sleeping around, but let’s face it, Frisk Valentine. The only being you truly loved was Saix,” he spat out, his words cold and cruel while angry. “What were you thinking, Frisk? Why did you sleep with him? What was running through your head? More importantly, why the hell haven’t you given birth yet? Shouldn’t you have already done so?”

“I was thinking that I didn’t know I was in love with a crazed psychotic gorgeous guy, who so happened wanted to recreate the world I lived in,” she replied, now answering his questions in order. “I slept with him because I was drunk, ok? And before you say anything, it wasn’t a one night stand. I genuinely fell in love with him! Do you really want to know what I was thinking? Ok then … let’s give it a try. ‘Gorgeous guy, brooding, needs cheering up. Jackpot!’” Riku cringed at her thoughts. “I haven’t given birth because if you must know, the parallel RRM had me in a sleep chamber for almost a year. They thought I was a threat … and I thought they were on my side, that I was on their side. And I’m massive, so what? I want to give birth! I want a goddamn drink!”

Riku chuckled at the last sentence. “It must’ve been a joy … to wake up and find that almost a year passed. But the parallel RRM turned on you? I know all about them because I saw Faith before I –”

“I saw, I listened, I watched,” Frisk cut in, surprising him. “Faith had dreams of you calling out to her, so she came to the beach, but only after we made sure she wasn’t being paranoid. She threatened to shut down my mind if I ever said that to her again. You must’ve seen the girl, Riku, she wasn’t lying, she –” But tears were beginning to overwhelm her again. Just speaking about Faith made her angry and sad at the same time. It wasn’t doing wonders for the baby, as an energy ball appeared in Frisk’s hand and launched itself near the spot where Faith’s blood was.

“Faith was here, wasn’t she?” guessed Riku, swearing under his breath when he saw the blood. He bent down to the pool of blood and closed his eyes, now finding himself holding back tears. “Damn it … the Angel of Darkness has completely taken over her body … I encountered the legendary being before she came here. It should be locked away in the dark realm, but it broke free somehow. Why did it break free?”

“Because it’s my fault.”

Frisk knew it was indeed her entire fault. If she hadn’t gone on the run with Faith, then maybe they wouldn’t be in this situation right now. The Angel of Darkness wouldn’t have consumed her – and she’d still be alive. But as her thoughts of that matter came to an end, she noticed how Riku’s sad expression suddenly became confused.

“What is it?” she questioned.

Riku rose to his feet. Something serious had happened here.

“Faith died here,” he stated the obvious. “But it wasn’t a natural death. Her soul left the body, but it disappeared instantly. Normally, when someone dies tragically like Faith did, they don’t move on so quickly. Their spirit should appear … too bad that I can’t feel it.” He took another look at the blood. “We should clean this mess up. We wouldn’t want anyone to get their hands on this.”

“Why?” Frisk asked. She was getting even more confused.

“This blood? Yeah, it has healing properties, lassie,” he told her. “It’s been proven before, but …” He stared intently at Frisk as if he knew something, but wasn’t willing to share it. He quickly looked away from her. “But it also gives the person their own abilities. You see, Faith didn’t get her powers by accident. She was born with them.”

“And that’s important because?”

“It’s significant because Faith could give her blood to the entire world and they’d all have supernatural powers. Faith is what we’d like to call a superhuman at FFF. She’s human, but enhanced, possibly an evolved form. She doesn’t even know it. She knew all of this before she got the mild form of amnesia. There’re still things now that she doesn’t know, even without the amnesia.”

Frisk was in awe. Her best friend so happened to be superhuman! All these years, she just thought Faith was ordinary. Then she found out she was extraordinary when in fact she possessed these powers. But to even consider the fact that she could just give out abilities with her blood was overwhelming. She glanced at Riku again, who was trying to figure everything out like it was a jigsaw puzzle.

“But her soul faded away so quickly!” he said loudly, startling her. “That’s not possible. It couldn’t have done. Unless …” He clicked his fingers. “It wasn’t her soul! A part of her is still inside her own body because the Angel of Darkness couldn’t use her abilities. So where is the other part? It couldn’t have possibly gone to the afterlife! Frisk! Faith is still alive! It wasn’t her soul! It was her mind! Her mind inadvertently astral projected itself out of the body when she felt death taking her! I can’t sense it in this world … and it’s not because my powers are slowly coming together … no, she’s back in our world! Her mind astral projected itself out because it was in danger! Oh, I am so good! I’m fantastic! All she needs now is a body to hop into … damn, I hope she’s still got the amnesia or Julius is in a lot of trouble. No, wait! Why would she be in a man’s body? Ugh! Disgusting. The only woman from FFF that Faith would have a feud with is Mitsuki because of that incident when –”

“AAAAHHH!”

Riku stopped blabbing on with himself and noticed Frisk crying out in agony, as she held her hands to her big stomach. She rolled on to her side in her suffering. He couldn’t believe this. Of all the darn times he had to come to the parallel Earth, Frisk Valentine was about to give birth to her child? It was an outrage! It was pathetic! It was anything else he could think of.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, even though he knew.

“My – My waters … they just broke …” gasped Frisk, as she struggled to breathe.

Why am I always the one that has to deal with these situations? “Just relax,” Riku said in a reassuring voice. “I can take you through a dark portal and – and we can get you to the parallel RRM’s headquarters if you want! We can’t possibly go to a normal hospital … not with the devil child on its way …”

“I HEARD THAT!”

“But it is the devil child!”

“I DON’T CARE! IT’S NOT!”

“If it’s with Saix, you’re bound to get a devil child …”

“I STILL DON’T CARE! APOLOGISE NOW!”

“What?”

“I SAID APOLOGISE NOW!”

An energy ball hit Riku on the arm, causing him to get a scorch mark. It didn’t hurt so much. It needed a lot more to get him down. He could see that Frisk was deadly serious about him apologising, but wondered whether it was her or the baby that was sending these energy balls.

“All right!” growled Riku. “I’m sorry, Frisk. Sorry to you, too, devil child …”

Another energy ball was hurled in his direction.

* * *​

The first thing that she felt was the cold, freezing floor. Faith opened her eyes and breathed, unable to believe that she was still alive. She rose to her feet, nursing her head – which was bleeding at the back – and looked around at where she was. It was a cold and dark place, one that she recognised as a dungeon. She felt like she’d been here before, but only in her dreams that very slowly revealed clues and hints to her forbidden past. Faith instantly noticed that there were hardly any prisoners.

So if there’s a dungeon with only a few prisoners, then why am I here? Did someone send me here? Ugh, this is so annoying when someone plays mind games with me, she thought to herself. I thought I’d be having a headache because of their thoughts, but nope, it’s the actual head hurting itself. Why can’t I hear thoughts, anyway? I need to get some clues as to why I’m down here …

“You came then.”

Faith froze in fear of that very voice. That voice had been the cause for everything being the way it was. She turned to face the very evil himself. Saix seemed satisfied to see her down here, but it amused her to see that he was behind bars. It was ironic, considering he’d tried to kill her numerous times a year ago. She smiled, feeling pleased to see what she’d always wanted to happen. Saix looked confused, but smiled back as if he was planning something dastardly.

“What are you waiting for?” he hissed.

“You want me to finish you off then?” asked Faith, taken aback by what he said.

“Finish me off? What are you talking about?” growled Saix. He was becoming more impatient by the minute. “I thought that you were here to set me free, as we both agreed if the time would come. Thanks to Faith’s vision, it came true – I was to be trapped here, whilst the world was in danger again.”

Why was he talking to her as if she was someone else?

However, something occurred to Faith. When she spoke, it didn’t sound like herself. She turned away from Saix, noticing that there was a mirror on the wall nearby. Once she reached it, Faith held back the temptation to scream. This wasn’t her body! Instead, she was looking at a taller woman than herself with jet-black hair and bluish-purple eyes. It was a sickening sight to see that she wasn’t herself.

“I order you to look at me, Jasmine!” hissed Saix again.

Faith realised that the body she currently inhabited was that of a demon named Jasmine. She turned to face Saix again, this time not to give off anything away. He’d been looking at her suspiciously at the moment – and she knew that this was the chance to gain the upper hand on him. Riku once told her that he was powerless and had no active abilities, except for his immortality. She wondered if this Jasmine had abilities of her own …

Saix seemed pleased how she’d looked at him. “Now get me out of here.”

“With pleasure,” she fake smiled at him, but feeling disgusted that she had no choice at the moment. She had to act like Jasmine to make sure that he wouldn’t know it was her. Faith walked to the prison bars and found herself ripping them open just by touching them. So there was one ability already – super strength. Oh, how she’d love to throw Saix around as revenge for all the times he’d tried to kill her. “So what’s the plan then … my lord?” Faith had been hesitating to calling Saix that, but it worked for him since he accepted that term of address.

“We destroy FFF for their crimes against me,” Saix darkly beamed away, “and then we take their abilities. All you need to do is negate them when we reach the surface. Once that is done, we can destroy them all. I’ll give you the pleasure of killing them all if you wish, Jasmine, but only after I absorb all their abilities.” He walked out of the prison and came close to Faith, so that he was inches away from her face. “You were always my favourite, Jasmine. Did I ever tell you that?”

“No,” Faith shook her head convincingly. She didn’t do it too quickly or slowly. “No, I never knew that.” This is making me sick to my – well, HER – stomach. She watched Saix walk towards the stairs and looked down at what she – rather, Jasmine – was wearing: black leather. Why did she have to look like one of those demon assassins from a TV show? I have to think of a plan before Saix really DOES kill all of FFF. I’m hoping Riku can find Rene and the others soon to warn them … what were I thinking? I’m way in over my head. Jasmine might have more abilities than Saix is letting on to. Super strength, power negation …

She quickly followed Saix up the stairs, Jasmine’s heart racing faster than ever. Perhaps it was because she was excited to see the rest of FFF again … or maybe that she was nervous about this plan Saix had. Whatever or however she was feeling, Faith had to come up with a plan and fast. Plus, thinking things through had never been her thing. Without the use of her mental abilities for a while, she’d have to think this through.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Ten

Blood Ties​

Of all the messy situations she’d been in, including suffering from a mild form of amnesia and having to save the world once before, Faith never thought that she’d end up in the body of one of Saix’s loyal demons. She dared not to try and act out of the character of Jasmine since he was eyeing her very closely. It sickened her to think that all this time that Saix may have loved someone else other than Frisk. Her mind flashed back to those endless days at the parallel Red Rose Movement underground headquarters when Frisk wouldn’t stop thinking about what could have been – and Faith herself being the one to comfort her when she was down.

After thinking about those memories, she vaguely remembered what the Fantasy Freedom Fighters headquarters looked like. Was the amnesia finally starting to wear off? Or was it Jasmine’s memories emerging? Whatever the case, Faith wanted to fight the amnesia so badly. It wouldn’t stop bothering her with every breath that she took. She had this eerie feeling that the truth was hidden in her memories. If only she could unlock those memories, then maybe she’d discover a whole lot more …

As they came up to the surface, Faith could see Mitsuki in the distance heading their way. She didn’t know if she could see them yet, but she swore violently under her breath, wondering how the heck this was going to look. If she remembered correctly from what everyone else told her, Mitsuki was merely a healer. She was a decent fighter, but her profession was just like Aerith’s – healing. Saix turned to look at Faith and nodded as if he was signalling her to do something. Faith didn’t know what that was, but she was about to make the right decision.

“Saix …” Mitsuki said, stopping dead in her tracks.

I am so sorry for this, thought Faith sadly, as she walked right up to her and took one punch to knock her right out. The super strength was addictive, but she didn’t want to get too caught up in these new powers she had. Saix looked approvingly at her before moving on. When he walked around the corner, Faith bent down to Mitsuki’s unconscious body. “I don’t remember much about my time here, but … I hope you can forgive me, Mits. I really hope you do.”

With that said, she rose to her feet and caught up with Saix, who was now faced with Julius.

“Hello, brother,” Saix sneered.

“That’s adoptive brother to you,” growled Julius. He was already holding his blade firmly in his right hand, whilst his free hand had already ignited in flames. He looked towards Faith and then shook his head. “Is she another one of your lackeys, Saix? I didn’t know you had such great taste in women.”

“Unlike you, I don’t go for half breeds.”

Faith didn’t have the use of her mental abilities already, but she could sense the anger emanating from Julius’ entire body. She knew that he was about to charge forwards, but stopped when the flames were put out. He looked shocked to see this had happened, but Saix was now looking triumphantly at her. Faith realised the power negation had been put into effect, probably because of the fear of danger she felt in her – rather, Jasmine’s – body. However, Julius still held the blade and pointed it in their direction.

“Regardless of your little tricks, missy, I’ll cut you down!” he yelled.

“You know what to do, Jazz,” Saix whispered seductively in her ear.

What did she have to do? Faith was still sickened that Saix was seeing her in this way with something telling her mentally that this was wrong! She had no clue what she was to do – until she caught a glimpse of the sword hung up on the wall. She used her strength to rip it out and held it firmly in her hands. Julius was taken aback by her mighty strength, but tried not to let this show in his facial expressions. He unexpectedly charged forward with such courage and speed that Faith only just about recognised that he was a talented swordsman himself.

Saix stepped back, allowing the two to engage in the battle. Their blades clashed. Whilst Julius was yelling for her to die, Faith felt she didn’t need much strength to contend with him. Perhaps the strength was making her able to withstand his attacks. He was fighting valiantly, she knew that, but it almost seemed as if she was bored with what was going on. Saix looked like he wanted the fight to continue on, but Faith knew she had to implement a plan soon enough before he realised this wasn’t really Jasmine on the inside.

So she clashed with Julius for the eighteenth time before knocking his blade out of his hand. Julius fell to the floor and Faith held her blade to his neck. She looked back at Saix before speaking to him.

“Take us to Lord Golbez,” she said in the best evil voice she could produce.

* * *​

Filden knew that there had to be some way of getting off Doomsday Island. He imagined that Rene would be looking for him with the supposed “parallel Red Rose Movement” he insisted were real. So if Patricia Musso had managed to create this organisation, then it may have been clear that there was one in this world, too. He’d never ever thought that Patricia was a born soldier, one that would fight for Faith, one that would fight to save the world. Her death had been the only one of Doomsday. Even now, he was still stunned that she wasn’t alive anymore.

He looked towards Addle, who seemed to be talking to himself, and groaned under his breath. Why did he have to be stuck on an island with a complete lunatic? Why was it he, who had to suffer the consequences? Filden was partly an angel, so he had reason to believe that there were other supernatural beings out there. And whilst Addle may have not believed it, Filden knew he had to do something to get them both off the island. He didn’t want to be stuck here for the next twenty years or so …

“Addle,” he finally spoke after about an hour’s silence between them. Addle looked up at Filden as if he’d been waiting for him to speak. “Haven’t you ever tried to get off the island somehow?”

“I tried building a raft once, but the weather destroyed it,” he merely shrugged.

“And you’re not even bothered you’re stuck on this island? Why didn’t you do another one?” Filden was starting to get the impression that Addle wasn’t all to be cracked up, as he appeared to be. He noticed that Addle was acting quite strangely all of a sudden. He had his back to Filden, almost as if he was laughing and ridiculing him. “Addle? What are you doing?”

“Death’s going to take us all away, you know?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“She will rise above us all and we will bow down to her enormous power.”

“Addle … are you ok? You don’t sound too –”

“God, if you ever shut up for one minute!” yelled Addle unexpectedly. The power in his voice was striking. “You don’t know what’s really going on here, do you? I came to Doomsday Island for a reason, for a purpose … I wasn’t thrown out here for pretending to be a toilet, Filden Gurito.” Filden was wide-eyed as soon as he said his name. “I know who you are and you weren’t thrown out here by accident either. I even know what you are … such a beautiful creature … a shame that you’re put to some real use.”

“How do you know who I am?” demanded Filden, determined to figure out who Addle really was. He had this funny feeling that everything was being concealed.

“She speaks to me,” Addle laughed softly, but not nicely either. “The Goddess of Death is coming, Gurito. She’s coming any minute now to destroy everything. It’s been prophesised for several centuries that she would come! She would come to reclaim life and leave all that is dead on the planet. She cannot harm the dead, but she can still hurt the living. But considering that all the dead people are, well, dead, there’s no one that can stop her, is there? This is the evil you’ve been searching long and hard for, Filden. It’s the evil that only Faith Crest can stop.”

“Faith …” whispered Filden to himself. “… She’s died before.”

“Precisely and you can’t tell her that,” the little villain now said, rising to his feet and circling him. “I can’t let you leave Doomsday Island, Gurito! She can’t know that she’s the only one that can stop the Goddess of Death. The Goddess herself can only come forward through being born of an ordinary human being induced with power and a superhuman born of power. Who would’ve thought that the odds of that are Frisk Valentine and the notorious Saix?”

“Frisk and Saix …” Filden was saying, piecing everything together. “Wait a minute! It wasn’t just Faith who got amnesia. Saix arrived on our planet and Faith took him in, not knowing the truth about his origins. He met Frisk soon after, but … Rene told me that she didn’t know who he was when they met again that night when they slept together … did Faith wipe out her memory or something? And you say that ‘an ordinary human being induced with power and a superhuman born of power’ … are you trying to tell me that Frisk has abilities of her own?”

“Precisely what I’m saying, Gurito,” smirked Addle. “I’m surprised how smart you are. If it had been Skylar that ended up here, his small brain wouldn’t have been able to take the overload. Luckily, you figured it out. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to kill you now.”

Filden drew a breath and sighed sadly. So he knew the truth. But he had no angel wings or anything. He had nothing to use here, but neither did Addle. So how were things going to work out then? Would they both struggle to fight each other for hours or days, perhaps? Who would emerge victorious? If only there was a simpler way to settle this once and for all … however, it seemed as though that was possible, too.

Addle growled, as he felt something shock him from behind. Rene stood there with a triumphant smile on his face, as he held the shock gun in his hand, spinning it around single-handedly. Filden was happy to see his friend again so much that he felt relieved. However, he glanced around to see that the parallel Red Rose Movement team – Mercurial, Contra, Hera and Rydia – had arrived as well.

“So much for him,” remarked Mercurial, but glanced darkly at Rene. “I could’ve handled him more appropriately if you’d let me.”

“Didn’t you hear him?” growled Rene. “He was going to kill Filden! He can’t kill my buddy Fil here!”

“I guess that’s the way to talk about it,” shrugged Filden, now rising back on to his feet and shaking Rene’s hand when prompted. “I’m glad to see ya, Renero. This the parallel RRM team you told me about?”

“Yep, I found ’em, all right,” Rene nodded, sneaking in a cheeky grin in the meantime. “Quick introductions – this is Mercurial Lamont the leader, Contra Fates the wannabe secret agent, Hera Ledro the wannabe secret agent number two and Rydia Ebla the technical whiz. Everyone, this is Filden Gurito. He’s an angel.”

“Then where are the wings?” asked Rydia curiously.

“We’re on Doomsday Island, remember?” reminded Hera. “Powers are negated.”

“Including appearances,” added Contra. “Mr Gurito, we’re escorting you back to Cardiff, where we require your help on handling the Angel of Darkness.”

“The Angel of Darkness?” stared Filden. “I’ve got some information you might want to know. Info about something called … the Goddess of Death … and how Faith is the only person that can defeat her.”

Rene looked sadly away from Filden, unable to tell him the truth.

* * *​

Riku was unsure of what to do next. Frisk was breathing slowly, she was trying so hard not to panic … but what else could he do now? Darn, he’d come here at the wrong time. Whilst he was grateful Faith’s mind was alive and well, even though her body had been possessed fully by the Angel of Darkness, he had other matters to attend to. Frisk was well overdue with her baby and it was now time for her to pop it out. Riku didn’t want to be the one that had to deliver it. He was only seventeen years old for heaven’s sake! He’d be traumatised for life. It didn’t help with the fact that the devil child – though Frisk hated that name – was tossing energy balls whenever he or she felt like it.

“Do you actually know the gender?” he asked curiously.

“I … I … girl …” Frisk said through the pain.

“A girl! Isn’t that good? You can spoil her whenever ye want!” Riku said, as he was trying to calm her down from the soreness she was feeling right now. “Have you thought of a name as well? Because … a girl can’t have a name and be alive now, can she?” Holy crap, I’m going to see the head come out, aren’t I? Someone help me! “Frisk, I’m here. I’m here! I’m not going anywhere!” He grasped her hand. As if I’d be able to go anywhere! It’d be Frisk throwing the energy balls next. “Do you have any requests?”

“Requests?” she panted.

“Aye! Requests! Specific ones? You can’t give birth here on the beach, Frisk! Do you want me to move you somewhere more comfortable?”

“I CAN’T MOVE, DAMN IT! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT I WANT?”

That was the one thing that Riku didn’t want – a violent request. It would’ve harmed the baby, which was on its way out. He thought of what to do. She couldn’t move, but he could teleport them somewhere safer. A dark portal was out of the question, anyway. He grabbed her hand again and cooed her. “You’ll be fine,” he whispered. “I can take you someplace safe, but I won’t move you physically in the meantime. Do you want me to take you to the underground headquarters of your Red Rose Movement?”

It was strange hearing the words ‘your Red Rose Movement’ to Frisk because she wasn’t the one that started it. However, knowing that Faith had probably told him this a year ago at the beach when they were saying goodbye, it didn’t come as a surprise. She nodded slowly, resisting the urge to scream and deafen his ears. It was a very big temptation, but she wanted someone who could actually listen to her bitch about the birth later. She was afraid, scared of what was going to happen. She clutched Riku’s hand tighter.

“Please … take me … there …” she whispered, almost on the verge of crying.

“Can someone help us?” he asked soothingly.

Frisk nodded her head when prompted. She knew full well that there were people there, who had been prepared for the birth since the day she announced to them that she was pregnant with an unearthly child. Riku smiled, hoping it would soothe her very soul and closed his eyes, making sure he was grasping her hand firmly, so that she would not be left behind. Frisk also closed her eyes because she was in so much pain. When she opened them again, however, she noticed how quickly the teleportation process had taken since she was lying on a comfortable bed in the underground parallel Red Rose Movement headquarters. But the pain didn’t stop …

Almost as if on cue, Rene, Filden, Mercurial, Contra, Hera and Rydia burst through the doors. They saw Riku and Frisk there at the hospital wing and hurried down there, with Rene and Filden glued to the spot. They saw the pain that their friend was in and were paralysed with fear. Whilst Mercurial hurried down there to help Frisk and be another source of comfort, the others were preparing for the birth. Rydia started attaching wires to her stomach and various parts of her body, monitoring them on the computer. Contra and Hera quickly changed into their surgeon clothes, ready for the birth to happen.

“Told you that they weren’t just secret agents,” Mercurial remarked to Rene’s ridiculous assumption before. “They’re both the best surgeons in Wales, maybe even this world. We’re ahead of your world in terms of advanced technology and such, so we can help Frisk. If she were at your world now, then maybe there’d be a chance she could’ve died. But we can save her here and now.”

“When you said Frisk was pregnant, I never thought I’d be seeing this …” Filden said quietly to Rene.

“This is wrong,” Rene was saying, going over to the other side of the room with his friend following in his wake. “This is definitely wrong! Frisk should’ve given birth months ago. She was three months gone when we found out, so the child should be alive right now. But why? Why is she only giving birth now?”

“You know, you had so much praise for the Red Rose Movement of our world,” Filden shrugged. “What if it wasn’t the same here? What if they’re not the Red Rose Movement you quite imagined?”

Rene shrugged his shoulders as well. He didn’t want to think of them like that. He’d already come to slightly respect the team, even through Faith’s sudden death. So he instantly changed the topic. “Fil, you were saying something about the Goddess of Death. What were you talking about? And why is Faith the only one that could stop her from destroying the world?”

“‘The Goddess of Death is coming, Gurito. She’s coming any minute now to destroy everything. It’s been prophesised for several centuries that she would come! She would come to reclaim life and leave all that is dead on the planet. She cannot harm the dead, but she can still hurt the living.’”

Filden remembered Addle’s words very well.

“But there’s still more to come. ‘It’s the evil that only Faith Crest can stop.’ Now this is because Faith’s technically meant to be dead now, but she’s defied death once before like you told me! ‘The Goddess herself can only come forward through being born of an ordinary human being induced with power and a superhuman born of power.’ I know that this is too much of a coincidence, but Addle said that the Goddess was going to be coming to Earth any minute now … and Frisk is giving birth to a child. What if the child is the Goddess of Death? Saix is the ‘superhuman born of power’ because he came to our world just before you came to Marwick all those years ago. The ‘ordinary human being induced with power’ is Frisk. Now I know that you’re going to deny this and say no, but –”

“You’re on to something,” Rene said, now distracted from Frisk’s birth to this hidden prophesy. He turned to face him. “Actually, that’s something else I was meant to tell you. Frisk really is an ordinary human, but was induced with power a few years ago because she contracted a virus that would’ve wiped out the entire world. I didn’t tell you this because Faith didn’t want you to know. Besides, you were always the one to deny the supernatural until you –”

“Became an angel, I know. Continue, Rene.”

“Exactly! Frisk developed her own powers because Faith figured out that the cure to the virus was in her own blood. She gave Frisk a blood transfusion – and that’s why she still has that scar on the back of her right hand to this day. She slashed her own hand open to give Frisk blood. That cured the virus, but … she developed powers. Things were fine for a while – it was Faith, Frisk and I working together to resolve the problems that were going on in Marwick. But it came to a point when Faith knew that Saix was going from bad to evil – and she couldn’t risk us knowing all of this. So she tried to protect us. She wiped Frisk’s memory of knowing her own powers, knowing mine and Faith’s powers … this was, so that Saix wouldn’t be able to torture her for the knowledge. I, on the other hand, managed to run away. Faith couldn’t find me because I knew that the truth was too important to forget.”

“What is the truth, Rene? What is this truth? Was this why you were so secretive? And did your abilities have any impact on that temper you had after what happened down at that underground facility we were taken to a few years ago?”

Rene nodded abruptly. “Yeah,” he said. “I developed fiery powers of my own, but I soon realised Faith was the key to controlling that temper.”

“Hey, you burned down the orphanage and almost destroyed our school, remember?” Filden beamed away. “At least you’ve got your powers in check now. Did you not use them for a while or something?”

“It’s a really long story, but I think we’ve got more important things to focus on right now,” Rene replied, gesturing to Frisk, who was crying out louder than ever. “Damn, I forgot how hormonal that woman can become …” He took a pause to reflect upon everything he’d said to Filden. It felt like getting some weight of the burden off his shoulders. All these years, he’d never mentioned these things to his friend because he was being sworn to secrecy. However, he knew that the truth would come spilling out one day. Perhaps when this was all over, he’d be able to write it all down somewhere. However, as the birth of Frisk’s child neared, Rene knew that something had to be done. He looked towards Filden gravely. “But we’ve still got a mission here, Fil. I know you’re going to hate me for saying this, but … we have to kill Frisk’s kid.”

Filden stood there, frozen to the spot. He knew it himself that if Frisk’s child turned out to be the Goddess of Death, then it was game over for them all. So instead of protesting like he wanted to, he nodded solemnly and turned to face where Frisk was ready to give birth. They would wait until the child was born and then kill it. Frisk couldn’t have possibly been the one to die because this was a one night stand in which she never wanted to have a child. Filden didn’t want to tear the child away from its mother, but knew that this was the only way to save the world. And with Faith out of the picture for now, it seemed as though they needed to do what was tight.

“Faith’s dead, Fil,” Rene said gravely when Filden took a step forward.

“What?” whispered Filden, clearly in shock and not being able to register this fact. “What do you mean that she’s dead?”

“You got told about the Angel of Darkness by Contra,” he continued to say, “and it was using Faith as a host to exist. Call me dumb, but I think it’s a similar process for the Goddess of Death. I don’t want to kill the child, but if you’re right about what Addle said, then this is the only chance for the Goddess herself to exist.”

He went back to the topic about Faith, which brought a tear trickling down his cheek.

“Somehow, the Angel of Darkness used Faith as a way to deliver her evil ways. I was told she forgot certain times of the day and it got worse the more it went on. The team only recently found out that the Angel of Darkness was using Faith as a host. I found her on the beach, but … there was an assassin sent out to kill Frisk and her child … she’s called Cherri. She’s locked up in the holding cells here right now. She stabbed Faith when she was running towards me. She didn’t see Cherri, she fell to the ground and I … I was there when she died.”

Filden watched Rene intently, knowing full well about his feelings for Faith.

“Damn it, Fil! She still didn’t remember who I really was! I’ve been trying to hold off from saying this for nearly two whole years now! I wish she could remember the thing that we had. I lied to you. I lied about going on a first date with her that night she disappeared and was killed! We were in a secret relationship before it happened.”

Astounded by this sudden revelation, Filden didn’t know what to think. He spread out his angel wings, possibly because he wanted to throttle his friend right now. Instead of that, he simply grabbed Rene by the scuff of his neck.

“Is this what you hoped for all this time, Rene?” shouted Filden. “You wanted to get back with her? Were you hoping the amnesia process would just speed up? You’re out of your league, Rene! She’s much more complicated than she might seem to appear to be. There are things she doesn’t know, things that she wants to know and things she must know. If she doesn’t remember who she is, how can she ever look forward to the future? You might say she’s dead, but what if she’s not? We don’t know the full extent of her powers. And besides, what about her body?”

“Her body … the Angel of Darkness has it now,” stated Rene, defeated.

“Then what about her mind?”

“Her mind? Her soul is gone for God’s sake!”

“Do you mind?” interrupted Riku, who had come over after hearing their bitter argument. “Rene, Filden, this isn’t the way we’re supposed to be acting right now! Frisk is over there having her first child! You should be supporting her, not arguing amongst yourselves! And FYI, Faith is alive. Her mind astral projected itself out of her body once the Angel of Darkness took over.” With that said, he walked away and returned to supporting Frisk by holding her hand.

Rene looked amazingly at Filden, who stood there triumphantly.

“Told ya you underestimated her, Renero.”

* * *​

As if he was a rag doll, Julius was tossed into Lord Golbez’s private chambers and hit the cabinet, causing the glass to smash and scatter across his semiconscious body. Lord Golbez rose to his feet immediately, as did Aerith and Mark. Saix entered the room, followed by Faith, who wiped the dust and dirt off her hands. Whilst Saix was looking triumphantly at the more senior members of FFF, Faith glanced around the chambers since she’d never been in here before.

“Saix!” hissed Mark, looking like he was going to charge forward.

Faith immediately stood forward and raised her hand, negating him using his telekinetic abilities. Saix nodded approvingly at her and then walked up to Lord Golbez, now free to do what he pleased.

“I assume that you’ve been trying to save the world, no?”

“I fail to understand what you’re trying to say, Saix,” Lord Golbez merely said.

“So you don’t know that the world is going to be dead then?” Saix continued to say.

“Who is she then?” Aerith spat, looking angrily at Faith. “Another one of your demons working for you?”

“This is Jasmine,” he smiled evilly, as he returned to Faith’s side. His fingers swept through her skin, sending chills down her spine. “She’s the most powerful demon at my disposal. We both knew what was going to happen should it have happened. She arrived at the right time, knowing that we would destroy FFF and claim back what is mine.”

“What is yours?” growled Mark. “So this Jasmine doesn’t get anything?”

Faith dared not to speak for Jasmine herself. She may have been in her skin right now, but had no idea how to act like her. She didn’t know how to act in front of the most senior FFF members right now. Darn, if only she could tell them the truth. However, an idea came to her. She was the only one who could use her abilities right now. Aerith and Mark couldn’t do anything because she negated their powers. Saix was powerless, anyway, plus Lord Golbez and the whole power issue were unknown, too. What was there to lose? It would have seemed too easy to initiate her plan, but she had to hold herself back since Angelus had arrived in the room.

“Go and stand with your FFF buddies like a good girl, Angelus,” sneered Saix. When Angelus looked suspiciously at Faith because she couldn’t use her aura reading, Saix continued to laugh at them all. “My Jasmine here can stop you using your abilities. It’s a shame that she can’t do it permanently either. After all, it doesn’t matter because I’m claiming all of your abilities.”

Mark looked worriedly at Aerith and Lord Golbez. Julius was beginning to stir a little, still angered how he was thrown into the room by Faith. It didn’t take long for Koloth to arrive, brandishing his blade when Faith took it off him and snapped it in half. Under the direct order of Saix, Koloth had to admit defeat and join the rest of his comrades. Faith knew she was doing well to impress Saix, but how long would the act go on for?

“Hmm, these powers will do me greatly,” Saix was saying. “Pyrokinesis, aura reading, healing … I will have them all. Even if my own powers were stripped, I will reclaim them, too. I will reclaim everything that was taken from me. Today will mark the day that FFF is destroyed.”

“Isn’t there still any good in you?” pleaded Aerith, who stepped forwards to Saix, despite being warned not to by the others. “Please, Saix! You have to listen to me. The darkness may have corrupted you, but it’s not too late to come back to the light. Riku managed to do it, he –”

“I WON’T LISTEN TO THIS!” yelled Saix, making them all jump. “You’ve done well to conceal the truth from Crest, Lord Golbez. You of all people didn’t have the guts to tell her, did you? She doesn’t know who closely connected we really are.”

Faith had been itching to knock out Saix from behind, but this whole thing with the truth was beginning to bug her again. It had been hinted at many times last year, so what was the real truth now? Since she was in another person’s body, now would be the best time to uncover it and find out what evil works were really at place here …

“We didn’t tell her because she didn’t know who she was!” argued Mark.

“Mark Johnson, how irresponsible you’ve become,” the real villain carried on speaking, as he now circled him. “I see that discovering your own abilities has made you even weaker. You’re afraid that absorbing all this power will corrupt your mind. It will do should you continue to be the way you are … but I can deliver you from your pain. I can ensure that this pain doesn’t happen again. And perhaps, I could do the same thing to you as you did to Faith Crest.”

Now it was Faith’s turn to stare at Mark. Everyone else did.

“I did it to protect her!” yelled Mark. “The truth is hard to conceal from her!”

“Yes, yes! It’s true! Faith Crest has mastered most of her mental abilities, but how much longer can you hide the truth from her? She and I joined FFF together to make a difference to the world … until I realised that my potential couldn’t be achieved here. She, on the other hand, was cruelly brainwashed into thinking that stopping me would save the world at first. We fought valiantly, but I won in the end. I won and she must always settle for the consolidation prize. You see! Mark here didn’t just absorb her telekinetic abilities … he also has the use of telepathy, one he is terribly afraid of.”

“You absorbed her telepathy, too?” whispered Koloth, horrified.

“That’s right, Mr hotshot general,” remarked Saix. “Mark didn’t know it was his empathic mimicry at work here. He thought he merely absorbed her abilities from being exposed to her energy when she and Riku sealed Darkblade in the ancient stone tablet. But no! This empathy had always existed and transformed into a form of absorbing powers, abilities … empathic mimicry I like to call it. We all call it that. So before Faith could save the world from me and I could deliver the final blow, she forgot everything. Mark was fed up with how Faith could wipe out everyone else’s mind and protect herself … but did he want to protect her? The truth was so hard for her to take that she considered running away! But no! I found her, we fought and she is the only one that can outweigh my power, despite the fact that Riku could match it! Oh, Lord Golbez, your ears are deaf to the truth. Your eyes are blind! Mark was the one who gave Faith Crest amnesia.”

At that moment, Faith could feel every inch of her violently shaking. So Mark was the one that wiped out her memories, gave her amnesia just before she died and was brought back on that yacht boat … but why? Surely, Saix’s twisted words couldn’t be the truth?

“I wanted to give her a chance to get away from the truth,” Mark said quietly. “The truth was hard for her to handle. You didn’t care about it much yourself! You didn’t confront her very much; you only attacked her because you thought she knew it! But you were wrong, Saix. I was the only one that was right. Faith couldn’t handle being connected to you … being the only one that could defeat you … handling the burden of being linked to you was hard enough. I had to let her go back to the start and figure it out on her own! It was the only way that I could relieve this pressure off my shoulders. She confided me at first, told me the truth. I couldn’t believe it, but I wanted to also believe that there was some good in you. If there was good in you, then we could’ve resolved everything. You hadn’t killed anyone, just hurt people …”

“Saix could never handle the truth well,” said Julius, as he rose to his feet. Aerith helped him back up and noticed the blood smeared across the back of his head. “We grew up together … but soon knew that we weren’t biological brothers when we joined FFF. I thought it wouldn’t change a thing. We grew up together, but … then I realised that our father was hiding the truth. We weren’t his biological sons, but I still carried the name of Argexis with me wherever I went. My father left his will to me. He adopted me because my parents had been killed and he wanted a successor. He loved me like his own, but adopted another only ten years ago. Saix is my adoptive brother. I loved him then and I want to love him now, but … he killed Shenorai.”

“And here I was, thinking that the past was to be buried …” growled Saix.

“My father manipulated us both, Saix! He occasionally gave us these pills to make us believe we grew up together to hide the horrifying secret of your origins,” Julius continued to say. “You abandoned the name of Argexis. Even though I despised my father because of what he did, he still treated me like his own. That was why I continued to remain an Argexis and will strive to do so until the end. He may have been evil to you, but he was a good father to me, and I will honour his memory!” He unleashed his blade again, now facing Faith. “And if I have to do that by slaughtering your latest demon, then I shall!”

“Jasmine is more than a match for you, we have proved that already,” smirked Saix.

“But you keep avoiding the truth, Saix,” said Mark, now the one in front of everyone in an attempt to protect them in case Faith made a move. “Why? Is there some part of you that wants to continue to deny it? Nothing will change! You were born on Earth; you are a superhuman born with power, just like Faith. It connects you with her, but there are more than just similarities that keep you closely together!”

“Then what is the truth?” shouted Faith suddenly, surprising everyone. “Tell me.”

“Jasmine, I order to keep quiet!” demanded Saix.

“Tell me the truth,” she said calmly, ignoring Saix. “You can trust me …”

“Just tell her, Mark,” Aerith said, scared of the power in Faith’s voice. “Tell Jasmine what’s going on. If it makes things better, then please do.”

“The truth cannot be sealed for much longer,” assumed Angelus wisely.

“If it makes Saix wake up to the lies he’s been telling, then perhaps she will come to understand what kind of a man he really is,” commented Julius.

Lord Golbez said nothing; the decision had already been made.

“Just tell me now!” yelled Faith, upset and angry that this was all becoming too much of a big deal for everyone, especially herself. “If you don’t tell me now, then I’ll beat it out of you!” She took a step towards Mark, unwilling to hold back her newfound anger.

Mark took a deep breath, taking the safety of his friends into consideration, and took a few steps forwards, so that he was only inches away from Faith’s face. He looked up at her and there was a wisdom seen in his eyes, one that Faith had never quite seen before. He shook his head and sighed sadly, knowing that keeping this secret had been one of the hardest burdens he had suffered through, besides being the one to wipe out Faith’s memory and give her a mild form of amnesia.

“Faith Crest is Saix’s biological cousin.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eleven

The Amnesiac Theory​

Time had stood still, as Faith stood there and stared at her newly discovered cousin. Had he known this all along? Had he known that the girl he had sought out to kill happened to be his biological cousin? It struck her hard, as she felt sick in her stomach now more than ever. Everyone standing around the room didn’t seem too surprised; perhaps they knew of the truth already. Saix glared coldly at Mark, almost as if he was angry for revealing the deadly truth to one of his most trusted assassins. However, the FFF elite seemed happy enough to get the truth out into the open. But how long would it take for them to realise that this was not the real Jasmine?

“Jasmine, we have more reason to crush them!” hissed Saix. “Now stop ignoring my commands and kill them all! Maybe there’ll be something rewarded to you …”

Almost instantly, Faith grabbed Saix by the neck and pinned him against the wall, much to the satisfaction and surprise to everyone else.

“All this time I thought it was going to be really simple,” she said in a threatening voice that was slowly rising up. “I thought that ok, I’ve got amnesia. I’ll remember who I was. I’ll remember everything and move on with my life. But no! You got in the way, you killed me before … who’s to say that you won’t do it again, even if I am part of your family?”

Before Saix could react or say anything, she bashed his head against the wall and he was knocked out cold. Faith dropped his limp body on to the floor, trying to fight the rage that was surging through her. This rage did not belong to her – it was Jasmine’s. Perhaps the demonic assassin herself was just a prisoner in her own body, having to watch this through her own eyes. Faith sunk to her knees, trying to fight off her host’s attempts to regain control of the body.

The others stared in bewilderment. Whilst most of them were afraid that she would attack and make them her next victims, Angelus, on the other hand, was optimistic. She walked forwards towards Faith as if something had changed in the air. She placed her hand gently on Faith’s shoulder and reacted as if she’d seen sense. Immediately, Angelus backed away from her and turned to face the others, Lord Golbez notably.

“That is not the demon assassin Jasmine,” she said emotionlessly. “That is Faith Crest.”

Everyone – Mark in particular – went wide-eyed.

“That’s Faith?” Aerith whispered, as a tear streamed down her face.

“How is this possible?” asked Koloth.

“Her mind became trapped within the body of Jasmine,” explained Angelus. “I don’t know how, but it happened. I can feel her aura fighting for control of the body, she doesn’t want the anger to be hers, but she can’t hold it back either. The truth is damaging her in a way that we could never understand.” She looked towards Mark next. “Mark, you are the only one that can restore her to her former glory.”

“So you were the one who put her in this mess in the first place!” snapped Julius, as he sprang to his feet and pinned Mark to the wall. Faith watched helplessly, whilst still fighting off Jasmine’s attempt for control. Mark didn’t resist the sudden assault; he simply allowed it to happen. “This mess! All of this is because of you! If everyone knew the truth, if Riku could truly understand what was happening –”

“Let him go, Julius,” Lord Golbez spoke for the first time. “Angelus is right.”

“He still deserves to be punished!” Koloth glared coldly at his superior.

“True, but I must inform you that he was under my orders,” Lord Golbez continued to say. This caused everyone to turn to him. “This is confidential, of course, but I shall be informing you all why I instructed him to erase Faith’s mind. That is not the matter we should be discussing. We have to, however, ensure that Faith’s mind does not escape from this body … or else she may not have anywhere to go.”

Once everyone backed away, the almighty lord himself knelt besides Faith and helped her back on to her feet, despite the anger coursing through her veins right now. She was surprised to see how calm and elegant he was … yet she still wanted to know why he was not afraid of her.

“You never truly understood my ability, did you?” he smiled softly.

“What?” Faith stared. “You have an ability, too?”

Lord Golbez continued to smile, whilst eyeing the other FFF elite. “Every member of the FFF elite has his or her power of their own, so that would include me. I have the power to feel and manipulate emotions. You could describe it as a form of empathy, one very much similar to your telepathy when you … feel the thoughts of those around you. Not only can you feel the thoughts, but also the emotions are attached to them. Whilst you can feel them, I can alter them. My ability is a factor towards why I was elected to take over as the leader of FFF from Darkblade. They wanted someone that they could trust, someone that could calm the situation down, someone like me for instance.”

He examined the destruction that had been caused in his private chambers.

“But on the other hand, you seem to have a fine hand of leaving a path of devastation behind ever since your amnesia took over, Faith.”

“I swear, I’ll pay for everything –” began Faith, who felt lighter from the anger being lifted from her heavy heart.

However, she was immediately cut off when Aerith almost sprinted towards her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Angelus nodded approvingly at her, Julius joined in with the hug and Koloth stood side by side with Lord Golbez, watching the beautiful reunion. And it seemed that for now, Faith wanted this. Aerith and Julius, who allowed her to walk towards Mark, released her. For a moment, she felt like slapping him in the face for the pain he’d put her through, the amnesiac state that she was in. However, she threw her arms around him as if she hadn’t seen him for years and it wasn’t even Lord Golbez fiddling around with her emotions either.

“I thought that I was in trouble?” asked Mark confusedly.

On the other hand, this assumption was met with a slap in the face.

“Hey! Oi! What did you do that for?”

“For practically messing up the last two years or so of my life,” replied Faith sternly. Lord Golbez looked warningly at her, but she managed to keep as calm as possible due to his calm presence. She watched Mark caress his cheek and defiantly crossed her arms. “You wiped out my mind, but you were under Lord Golbez’s orders. Why? Why did you do it, Mark? I thought that you were one of my closest friends like Rene and Riku.”

“I still am one of your closest friends,” he replied, walking over to the window and staring out at the dark, stormy night. He turned back to face her, determination finally etched across his face. “I did it for a particular reason, not just because you deserved a fresh break. Faith, there are things about you that even we don’t know. I thought that maybe by wiping your memory … then maybe – then maybe Saix wouldn’t get what he wanted that night.”

“That night?”

“When he killed you,” Julius cut right in, feeling the need to be involved. Everyone turned to face him next. “Before this all started, you and Saix … you had a personal vendetta against him. You wouldn’t tell us why – only that it was family business. You don’t know how good it feels to say that you’re cousins now the truth’s finally out.”

Faith crossed her arms yet again, gazing down at Saix’s unconscious body. She still couldn’t get over the fact that they were family. It almost felt like that infamous scene from the Star Wars movie when Darth Vader told Luke Skywalker that he was his father. However, this was Saix just being her cousin. It was no big deal, right? But the more she thought about it, the more she thought about how much good there could’ve been in Saix – just like Aerith had said. But what if there was evil within Faith herself? If Saix had proved there was evil in him, then it was only a matter of time until her morality and fate was decided.

“There is a way to help you remember,” Angelus suddenly said.

“I was getting on to that!” hissed Mark before turning to Faith again, who now looked intrigued. “Faith, Faith, Faith. Faithy, I can help ya out. Because I was the one that wiped your memory and share your abilities – long story, you’ll know all about it later, anyway – then I’m the one that can restore your memories.” He turned to Lord Golbez for confirmation first before turning back to Faith. “What I’m going to do is slowly give you back your memories.”

“And how can you do that?” Faith wondered out loud, continuing to look down at Saix’s unconscious body. She looked angrily at Mark, whilst under the watchful eye of Lord Golbez. “It’s not simple, you know? Messing with people’s memories is a tricky business, even for telepaths. I … I don’t know the extent of what it could do to me. But how can I remember when my body was taken over by the Angel of Darkness? How do I remember who I was? All I keep getting are these flashes and nothing more.”

“The Angel of Darkness possesses your body?” gasped Aerith.

“That’s a nasty being,” remarked Koloth.

“My body died and my mind somehow astral projected itself into Jasmine’s body next,” explained Faith. “At least I think it did …”

“You astral projected your mind to another universe?” Lord Golbez spoke up, now curious to these new findings. “Amazing, simply amazing … there might yet be hope for you, Crimson.”

“My lord, can we not call her that until she remembers everything?” Mark politely asked.

“That’s my nickname, right?” asked Faith. “Saix called me that when we fought a year ago on the Red Rose Movement tower. He ridiculed me because I couldn’t remember that name … and then the next thing I knew, I was holding this red blade in my hand …”

Mark grabbed Faith by the shoulders. “I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to help you, Faith. What’s going to happen is that I’m returning your memories into your mind now. They won’t reach Jasmine’s mind. And then slowly, but surely, you’ll start to have dreams of your past … from the beginning … until the now in the present. Everything will be remembered – the people, the events … everything.” He placed his hands on both sides of her head and closed his eyes.

“Wait …” Faith said, but slowly found herself drifting into an uneasy unconsciousness. “I … I need to find her … find … Frisk … the baby … Rene …” But before she knew it, she’d fallen into Mark and Julius’ arms, now into the process of rediscovering whom she truly was.

“The baby?” whispered Aerith, quite unable to believe the words her friend spoke. She turned to Angelus. “What did she mean by the baby?”

Angelus looked up at her, almost as if she was fearful of those words.

“Frisk Valentine is giving birth to Saix’s child right now.”

* * *​

“We shouldn’t be here right now.”

“We don’t even exist on this world.”

“And how does that help us, Rene?”

“I don’t know, Fil! Why do you leave the figuring out part to me?”

“Uh-uh! You’re not gonna get away with it this time, Renero Skylar!”

Rene and Filden found themselves in yet another heated debate, whilst Frisk’s screams of labour deafened their ears. It didn’t stop them from arguing whatsoever and Riku had to constantly remind them that there was a child on the way into their world. Mercurial was grasping Frisk’s hand as a source of support; Rydia was monitoring both Frisk and the baby’s health on the screen, whilst Contra and Hera were working awfully hard to ensure that the baby would be delivered correctly.

“C’mon, can’t we settle this later, lads?” groaned Riku when he dragged the two of them over to Frisk’s bed for the fifteenth time in ten minutes. “Frisk isn’t doing so good right now and what she needs is your support, aye!”

“Be quiet, you buffoon,” growled Rene.

“Calling me a joker now? Why, I’d love to see The Dark Knight this summer and go to the premiere as the Joker himself, but unfortunately, we got Frisk screaming her head off and a superhuman child on the way.”

“A superhuman child?” said Filden.

However, those two words just gave Rene a reason to think about the past – to the time before all the chaos, death, devastation and destruction had started. He thought back to three years previously when he’d been given a very good explanation of how to define the supernatural beings and what differences they had from each other. Faith had been the one, who had informed him of this.

“It’s all simple, really. There are two beings that are above human level – they’re called superhumans and evohumans. Now the evohumans are ordinary human beings that are induced with power. Basically, they’re injected with power that’s not rightfully theirs. It can be forceful or voluntarily. Most of the time, they’ve been known to have their abilities forcefully for some purpose. It still makes me wonder why you have your powers, Rene. You got them by accident, remember?”

That was right. There had been an incident down at an underground government facility only known as Blackstone Industries in which he and several others had been kidnapped. They’d been taken to Blackstone and kept prisoner there. When a big explosion occurred, which somehow involved Faith rescuing them; there had been harmful chemicals in the air that had infused Rene with supernatural abilities of his own. These had come to manifest as pyrokinesis and invisibility, but had been forced to withhold his pyrokinetic powers until the right time came to control them – which was now. Rene Skylar was an evohuman, as Faith liked to put it.

“Now the second term is a little confusing for many. People like me are known as superhumans. The superhuman race was born with the power itself; it’s their birthright, passed down from generation to generation. I don’t know how many generations have had this power, but it’s at least four or five from what I’ve researched. So it means that these powers have been pretty much active from at least the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Their powers can depend on what their parents have … I’m still trying to dig up more about the superhuman race. There aren’t even many out there because the evohumans outweigh the superhumans …”

Faith was a superhuman. Rene knew indeed that Saix had been her cousin along, but had decided to withhold this information from her, too. Frisk was an evohuman, especially since there had been certain circumstances revolving around her ill health a couple of years ago, which forced Faith to make an unthinkable decision and help save the world from being corrupted into darkness. Next, Rene turned towards Filden and began to wonder what on earth he was. Was he evohuman … or superhuman? Whatever the case, a mix of the two breeds was about to emerge from Frisk’s womb.

“PUSH, FRISK! PUSH!” yelled Mercurial on the top of his lungs.

“I AM, YOU DIPSTICK!” screamed Frisk, as she slapped him in the face. It was becoming harder than ever for her to do it. The pain of childbirth was far worse than what she had imagined. She grasped Mercurial’s hand so tightly that she was somehow beginning to break his bones. He cried out and pulled it away, staring at the immense strength that surged through Frisk’s being.

“I can’t take this much longer,” Filden muttered to Rene. “We have to do it.”

“I know,” agreed Rene. “I’d never thought that we’d consider killing a baby …”

“But it has to be done,” the angel nodded. “The world can’t be dead.”

“And it can’t be in darkness either,” the pyrokinetic said, thinking of Faith’s body now being inhabited by the Angel of Darkness. He had his hand on his blade, which was in its holster around the belt of his jeans. “Fil, I can handle this if you want. If you don’t want blood on your hands –”

“Don’t be a hero, Rene,” spat Filden. “I was the one that found out all these things from Addle Usagi. I put it all together … I can’t let you handle the burden alone.”

“Plus we’d be doing a favour to Faith.”

“Exactly. Rene, you’re the best mate I’ve ever had. You know that?”

“Why are you talking like it’s the end of the world?”

“Because Frisk keeps on screaming and I don’t think I’ll have a sense of hearing by the end of the labour.”

“True. I think I’ve missed having that hormonal psychotic bitch in our lives …”

“I HEARD THAT!” shrieked Frisk on the other side of the room, as sweat continuously poured down her forehead. The birth was taking a lot out of her, much more than what a normal birth would have done to an ordinary woman. But Frisk wasn’t quite as ordinary as everyone thought – and neither was her child. Mercurial grabbed her hand again, whilst looking warningly at her. “I promise … I won’t …”

“I believe you,” he whispered, kissing her forehead and stroked the back of her hand.

“I see the head!” announced Contra, as she and Hera were continuing to deliver the baby as safely as possible. “Frisky, you’re doing very well!”

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME FRISKY!” she roared.

“I think I’m going to take bets over who gets attacked first,” smirked Rene, as he and Filden continued to stand side by side, almost getting ready to prepare their assault on the seemingly dangerous child that would become part of their lives soon enough. His hand was still feeling the handle of his blade.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s definitely going to be Merc,” remarked Filden. He eyed Riku closely, who was perhaps acting like some sort of guardian to Frisk since he looked determined that she get through the labour and her child survived. “We have to be careful, Rene. Check out Riku.”

Rene took heed of Filden’s words and nodded his head. “I know what you mean.”

“You’re doing so well, Frisk!” Hera said loudly. “Just a little bit further!”

“So what’s the plan then?” whispered Filden.

“C’mon, lassie! You’re gonna be a mum in a few seconds!” Riku laughed softly.

“You take Riku, I’ll deal with the others,” murmured Rene.

“I’m going to be a … mum?” panted Frisk.

“Angel wings are better than nothing, I suppose,” Filden shrugged.

“Mum at twenty years old, who’d have thought it?” smiled Mercurial.

“They think I’m a legend, so let’s see how they deal with me!” nodded Rene.

At that moment, everything changed at the spur of the moment. Whilst Rene rushed forwards with his blade unleashed, Riku immediately noticed his comrade’s desire to kill the child. He grabbed the Soul Eater, but was now faced with Filden’s enormously large angel wings that fought back every attempt to break through – even the darkness. Mercurial took out his gun in a split second with his free hand when Rene was heading over to Frisk. Contra was holding the child, whilst Hera tore off his surgeon clothes to raise his fists in defiance of the assault.

Rene knew that the Goddess of Death would be inside the child and that he would have to destroy that seemingly harmless child, even though it would be on his conscience. However, something stopped him, as he fell to his knees as soon as he locked his eyes on the baby girl. The baby girl was not crying, although it appeared that she had a high sense of awareness to notice that there were people surrounding her in this new world. Rene dropped his blade, unable to believe what he was about to do and felt awestruck at the sight of Frisk’s child.

“Kill me,” he said pleadingly to Mercurial, who still had his gun aimed at him. “You might as well kill me because I’m not worthy of standing in her presence!”

“I’d kill you now, but … I can’t,” Mercurial said, shocked at what was happening to all of them. All of the anger, all of the pain, everything … it just seemed to drift away.

Filden, too, looked at the child and lowered his angel wings, allowing Riku to defend the child. What was happening? He felt unworthy as well like Rene to be standing in the baby’s presence. When they looked at her, she was truly a goddess to them. He knelt down where Rene was and they all looked at the child.

“She’s the Angel of Life,” he whispered in wonder.

“Why did you want to kill her?” snarled Riku, now pointing the Soul Eater at the two young men knelt before the baby girl. “What was running through your minds?”

“Frisk …” Rene whispered, rising to his feet and ignoring him. “Your daughter, she’s so beautiful.” He looked at Contra, who was cradling her affectionately. “Can I hold her, please? Let me give her to Frisk. She deserves to meet her daughter.” Despite being overprotective at first, she did eventually comply with Rene’s request and allowed Rene to hold the small baby girl in his arms, which he gave to Frisk barely seconds later. “Frisk, meet your daughter. Isn’t she wonderful?”

Although she was tired and drained of her energy, Frisk managed to form a wide smile on her face. She stroked her beautiful girl’s hair and felt a tear trickle down her face. “She … she really is the Angel … the Angel of … Life …” were the first words she said. Frisk looked up at Mercurial. “She’s called Eve. I want to call her Eve.”

Everyone just stood there in awe, as they watched Frisk take on her responsibilities as a new mother.

* * *​

“You have your secrets and I have mine,” said Faith, as she sat in her room that had been kept especially for her. Aerith was sat at the end of the bed, whilst the young psychic – still stuck in Jasmine’s body – was under the covers and had them wrapped around her waist, staring into the distance. She couldn’t bear to look at Aerith in the eye because it was awfully awkward and uncomfortable to face her friend in another body. She was talking about Frisk’s pregnancy and what had happened at the parallel Red Rose Movement, which continued to pain her while she was discussing it. “But to even think that you were hiding the truth about me and Saix –”

“It wasn’t our decision to make, Faith, you have to understand that,” she said softly, wanting to look her in the eye, even though she wasn’t comfortable in the skin she was in at the moment. “Lord Golbez didn’t want us to frighten you, so that you’d fall into his arms. Think about it! Saix could’ve seized the opportunity with you unable to remember who you were and then we’d be facing you. There’s no one here who could amount up to your power except for Mark.”

“How on earth is Mark coming into every equation?” groaned Faith.

Aerith shrugged her shoulders. “I’m only basing this off the nightmares I’ve been having lately. They’re not like your precognitive dreams whatsoever, but … they’re terrifyingly true. I only get these flashes and then they start coming true within a few days. I knew that Mark was going to help you restore your memories, although I couldn’t quite understand why Jasmine was there. But … it was you all along.”

She rose to her feet as soon as Julius entered the room.

“What?” he asked confusedly when Aerith sent him a playful glare.

“We could’ve been doing something girly!” Aerith mocked him.

“Like what?”

“Well, Faith could’ve been getting changed into something more comfortable!”

“Really? From where I’m standing, I thought she hated that body.”

“She does, but … she can’t stay in leather all day, can she?”

“Can I speak for myself?” Faith raised her hand, gaining both of their attention spans. “Thanks, um … look, do you both mind if you leave me for a while or maybe for the rest of the night? Mark did say that I should start sleeping and remembering straight away.” She looked sympathetically at both of them, particularly at Julius, who looked like he’d been itching to strike up a conversation with her for a few hours now. However, he nodded approvingly and wrapped an arm around Aerith’s shoulder when she rejoined him at the door. With the door closed, Faith could finally relax and think to herself.

What was going to happen in the future?

Would she ever remember who she was?

There were still too many questions to answer for, even when she was back in her original universe. Her body was still possessed by the Angel of Darkness, Rene was probably grieving over her sudden temporary death, Frisk had given birth to her unearthly baby girl and the parallel Red Rose Movement’s time was probably coming to an end at this rate. Then there was FFF, who she had reunited with, and Saix, who was doomed either way it went …

Faith closed her eyes, concentrating hard to fall into a deep sleep. It proved easier than she thought, as she slowly found herself fading into the familiar rush of soft unconsciousness coming quicker than she anticipated. Whilst her body rested, it appeared that Jasmine’s subconscious wouldn’t be emerging anytime soon. To ensure that the process would be a smooth one, Mark had been able to tap into Jasmine’s mind and keep her below the surface for now. He suggested that Faith’s mind be transferred into one of them, but she had immediately rejected this idea, claiming that it was mad to keep someone a prisoner against their own will. Whilst this was the case with Jasmine, Faith had reminded herself that it was a simple accident out of her control. It had just happened, but it proved beneficial in the end.

With her subconscious dreaming of what had already occurred, the window suddenly open and the glass smashed to the floor. This did not distract Faith, however, as she was trapped within the dreams of her own past. Saix jumped through the window and glanced down at his younger cousin. Never had he witnessed such an awkward sight! He took a quick look around the room and took a seat next to Faith. He almost felt sorry for his cousin, considering she couldn’t truly remember who she was. If he’d been like that, would she have cared about him, too? These feelings of remorse were beginning to crawl under his very skin. Why should he care about her? He’d only wanted her dead because she was the only one that could defeat him when he was at his best. He had been holding back against Riku, he had been holding back against all of them! No one had yet seen his true potential.

Saix rose to his feet and the urge to kill Faith dawned upon him yet again. He had accidentally murdered Patricia, so what was stopping him? Perhaps he could put her out of her misery. On the other hand, Faith’s body was still alive somehow – and Jasmine was her most valued servant. So perhaps this was a bad decision to make. But then again, Faith had caused him so much trouble these past four years or so. Yes, it had only been four years since their lives came to an unexpected collision. The details about their meeting were very clear – he’d stumbled across Earth, having been raised on Gaia, and she was there at the right time. But despite that, there had been many things that Faith Crest had chosen to conceal from Saix, something he had to uncover.

Killing her wouldn’t have been the ideal thing to do, no.

For now, he would have to hold himself back. He would have to see if his little cousin remembered the facts and such. Only then would he be able to truly start his conquest of hate and vengeance against her. It would be fantastic when he’d regain his TRUE and ORIGINAL powers. The darkness had only been a substitute until something went wrong. When he’d fought Faith that night, he came to fight her because she had managed to snatch his powers away until he could “see the light at the end of the dark tunnel” – or according to Faith herself, anyway.

There was no light at the end of the dark tunnel!

She had violated his reasons for pursuing Darkblade’s powers in the first place. It was this that provoked him for going against FFF in the first place. When it was revealed that Saix could use darkness as well as Riku, there had been some hesitation to tackle the problem. But no, his heroic cousin had taken it upon herself to try and sort out the problem itself! This was why he hated her. He hated Faith Crest because she tried to tackle every problem that came everyone’s way. Saix’s orange eyes scanned the area once more, hoping that his cousin would awake soon. If she remembered everything, then they could finally sort out their feud …

“I’ll free you, Jasmine,” he whispered in his demon assassin’s ears. “I’ll make sure you will be rewarded for your patience.” He lifted his head up again and then found himself smirking. “Well, I knew that you’d be here. Am I right, Mark?”

Saix turned around to notice that Mark was standing in the doorway, unable to hold his anger back anymore. The strain of absorbing people’s abilities was taking a physical, mental and emotional turn on the empath. His eyes were red, the same crimson colour that had been seen in Faith’s eyes when she had to push herself beyond her usual limits. Saix started laughing when he saw that the power was taking a huge toll on the young man.

“It’s finally happening, isn’t it? The hero is becoming the anti-hero, the villain!” he spoke loudly now, taunting Mark. “All of that power … I’d use it to destroy everything in existence. You could do it, you know … everything could be yours, Mark. Your mind isn’t right, though.”

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!” yelled Mark, accidentally causing the wall to telekinetically crack. Saix didn’t seem alerted whatsoever. It was almost as if he was expecting this to happen. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HUMANITY, SAIX AND YOU’RE HUMAN YOURSELF! YOU DON’T KNOW ME! I WON’T HURT ANYONE! I WON’T! I WON’T!”

But the former villain was circling the uncontrollable rage that had hit the room.

“I can see now why Lord Golbez thought that there was potential within you two years ago,” he stated. “He didn’t know it then, but you’d become one of the most powerful one of our kind. You’re not evohuman … no, an evohuman couldn’t be able to handle all of that power … only a superhuman would. Evohumans are corrupted by their power and … well, which was all in Patricia Musso’s research. But she’s dead now, isn’t she? She’s dead and the only one who had knowledge of the superhumans and evohumans was Faith. Do you really think that restoring her memories will save you, Mark?”

“I can try,” he whispered quietly, falling down to one knee.

“But you will fail,” said Saix as if he knew what was going to happen. “I could stop you if I wanted to, but only with my original powers. Of course, FFF isn’t going to use me to stop you, are they? You know that I’d plan one devious plan of my own. Then again … I’ve got the right to know a certain truth revolving around me, no?”

He walked towards Mark, who couldn’t look at him properly in the eye.

“When were you going to tell me that Frisk was pregnant with my child?” he asked demandingly, almost sounding as if there was some spark of humanity inside of him. It had been bottled up for so long and now the humanity had to be unleashed when there was so much negativity in the air. Saix now looked at Faith and shook his head. “They said that monsters could never have children … they said that they weren’t capable of feeling anything …” He glanced back at Mark. “What do you say now? I’m a monster, aren’t I? And now I’m a father, I … I have a baby girl.”

“You won’t see her,” murmured Mark.

“I WILL see her!” hissed Saix. “She’s my daughter! I have a right to see my own baby girl! And to even think that Faith kept this secret from everyone when she first arrived here … it appears we all have secrets. Don’t we, Mark?” He laughed like a maniac and continued to shake his head. “But it doesn’t matter anymore. The stage is set for a fantastic play – the villain rises from being a hero, the anti-hero must become a heroine again and the pieces come together …”

Out of plain anger, Saix was hurled telekinetically into the wall, where he remained floating and pinned to it. Mark had finally crossed the line. Despite the power overwhelming his entire being, he decided that Saix had pushed him too far this time. He tossed Saix out of the window and then looked at Faith one last time. He knelt down beside her bed and caressed her cheek, where he could feel her remembering back through the childhood memories. Rising to his feet, Mark kissed Faith’s forehead and found he was slowly losing control.

“That was the last good thing I was able to,” he said quietly to her. “I’m sorry, Faith. I really am. I’m going to do something I’m going to regret … and the next time that we meet, we … we won’t be friends anymore. I can’t control this power anymore. There’s a darkness inside of me that I didn’t know existed … I hope you can forgive me one day … but you’re going to have to stop me. You and Riku, everyone … I’m so sorry.” His eyes continued to flicker that same crimson colour. “Saix is going to get it now.”

He ran towards the window and threw himself out, now falling deeper into darkness.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Twelve

Into The Face of Death​

Despite everyone arguing amongst him or herself on who was to hold her baby girl next, Frisk Valentine had to admit that the feeling of being a mother was good. Plus she didn’t want to let go of Eve because she was so mesmerised with how full of life she appeared to be. Tears of happiness flowed down her face. All of the pain, all of the trials she’d endured to get here … finally, this was the result. Had this small, innocent little child been inside her womb for well over a year? It was difficult to explain with the energy balls Frisk had somehow sent off. Perhaps there was another darker force at work here, one that was not her child.

There was still sweat dripping down her forehead and she had to admit that the tiredness was beginning to settle in after a full hour of cradling her baby girl. She looked approvingly at Mercurial before handing Eve over to him. Mercurial nodded and felt overwhelmed that he’d been selected next to hold the special child. Rene and Filden almost immediately began arguing who Frisk would choose later on. Even Riku telling them that it was just a child didn’t seem to ease the tension whatsoever.

“Just a child?” gasped Rene.

“Riku, I haven’t known you long and all, but … you don’t seem to specialise well in this section, do you?” Filden taunted him, trying not to sound too cocky. “How can you turn around and say that Eve is an ordinary baby? Don’t you see the beautiful sparkling light?”

When Riku turned to glance at Eve, he did indeed see that light emanating from her. He smiled weakly, fighting hard to hold back the laughter that was stirring inside of him. He wanted to laugh at when Frisk was in labour and how hilarious she had been, even if he was a target for energy balls. It felt strange mentioning the energy balls now ever since Eve was truly seen as a beautiful goddess in his eyes. To even think that her life could have been snuffed away emotionally drained him …

On to the topic of Rene and Filden’s foolish attempt at Eve’s life, why had they even done it in the first place? It mystified Riku, considering he liked to be in the know about everything all the time. Although that role was handed over to Saix, he was intrigued by Rene and Filden’s intentions. There had to be some reason behind the sudden rush to kill the newborn.

Filden pulled Rene to one side. “I must have had it wrong.”

“Our assumptions were just assumptions after all,” he agreed, suspicious.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Everything is. Faith, the Angel of Darkness, Frisk, Saix …” his voice trailed off.

“Try not to let it get to you,” said Filden, cleverly masking his panic. “Now that we’ve got one problem out of the way, we have to concentrate on the others. First of all, what are we going to do about this whole Goddess of Death thing? Maybe Addle was wrong, maybe –”

“People don’t just say things like that,” interjected Rene. “‘She cannot harm the dead, but she can still hurt the living.’ So let me get this straight. Dead people can’t be hurt obviously, yet those alive can be? Is it because the dead are, well, dead? And the living hasn’t seen death yet? What does it all mean, Fil? What else did Addle say now?”

“‘It’s the evil that only Faith Crest can stop.’ You said Faith’s died before, right?” Filden tried to keep his voice even, to avoid getting sidetracked by Eve’s amazing grace. She was unusually beautiful. “‘She will rise above us all and we will bow down to her enormous power.’” Once again, he glanced at Eve. “But how could something so flawless be so dangerous?”

Rene let out a stifled laugh. “A baby taking over the world? Doubtful,” he remarked.

“Do you mind keeping your voices down?” Contra called from the other side of the room, catching their attention at once. “Frisk and Eve need their sleeping time now.”

* * *​

It was happening from a different angle.

Faith glanced around the area that she now stood in, instantly recognising it as an old home of hers. She felt overwhelmed by the memory; it almost felt as if it was real. The bedroom walls were off-white, the floor carpeted in industrial auburn and highly fluorescent in the wake of her arrival. She took comfort in the benign tone after the gloom of Mark’s ghoulish confessions.

Alas, she remembered now.

Her hand ran through the silky scarlet and orange bed covers. She sat down and smelt the essence of strawberries, something vaguely familiar to her. Faith took comfort in the memory that she was revisiting – whatever it appeared to be, anyway. She heard the door close downstairs and sprang to her feet, wondering if her present self would take part in this past memory. Rushing down to the ground, Faith froze when the one person she expected to see did not appear.

Instead, there was a Spanish middle-aged man standing in Patricia’s place. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and smiled weakly at the spotlessness of the living room. Faith took in his physical features – black curly hair, intelligent brown eyes, a strong jaw line, a naturally tanned skin colour and a muscular build. Her assumption of him being someone random in her past life was about to be quashed completely.

“Anyone home?” he called out, walking right past Faith and into the kitchen.

“I’m here …” murmured Faith, as she followed the Spanish man. She shook her head when he didn’t see her and sat down at the counter, tapping away on his phone. “So you don’t see me. Brilliant. Fantastic. But who are you?”

“Dad!” came an awfully familiar voice.

Both of them turned around to see a fourteen-year-old girl with long straight brown hair, ocean blue eyes, pallid skin and a slender figure. She appeared at the top of the stairs, awfully happy to see that the man – whoever he was – was back. However, Faith slowly recognised the girl as her past self, as she could immediately recognise they shared the same mannerisms, appearance and such. However, if this was her past self, then the man was …

“You’re my dad.” Faith didn’t sound too enthusiastic; it was merely a statement or an assumption. She didn’t have the full story yet, though. She watched the fourteen-year-old Faith Crest hugged her alleged father, experiencing the same feeling of love as her past self did. And as the memory unfolded, Faith found that she was going through the details. “Dad … Dad … Daddy …” A few tears streamed down her face, as she witnessed them both having a conversation. “I remember now. I remember my childhood, everything until this moment! Mum … Dad … Rafael … I never grew up with Patricia. But then again, it was just my assumption.”

She placed a hand on her chin, almost as if she was about to wonder out loud. Her father’s name was Pablo, her mother’s was Jennifer and she had an older brother named Rafael. They were all of the Crest family. However, there were still many pieces of the puzzle to unravel and put together.

“Then why was I living in Manchester? Patricia rescued me when Riku and Saix were fighting, but … this is Marwick. Marwick … I almost forgot about my hometown. This is all too confusing. Maybe Mark’s gotten this wrong. Maybe I can’t … maybe I shouldn’t be remembering too much too quickly –”

“Dad?” Past Faith inadvertently cut Faith off from her rambling. She was now looking sadly at Pablo, whose interest was perked by his daughter’s very expression. “What would you do if you had this big secret that you couldn’t tell anyone because it’d change the way everyone saw you?”

“A secret …” murmured Faith. “What is my secret?”

“Faithy, it’s hard to keep such secrets from people, even from the world,” Pablo said. Faith could tell that by the tone of his voice, he truly was wise with his words. “We keep secrets, mainly to protect the ones we love. Your mother and I didn’t tell you that you were adopted until the right time, which was several months ago. We always knew that the differences between you and Rafael would be noticed while you were both growing up.”

For a moment, she considered that she knew the secret. However, as soon as the words ‘adopted’, ‘right time’ and ‘several months ago’ were mentioned, her worst fears were confirmed. She, Faith Crest, was adopted. It wasn’t the fear of being adopted that frightened her. No, it was the fear of never finding her birthparents. Ever since waking up in Patricia’s home when Saix beat her down, she had this sudden strange desire to find her real parents. However, the memory had made this journey even more difficult.

And that didn’t serve any good for Faith – both past and present.

* * *​

Faith awoke with a start, sitting upright and breathing hard as well as fast. She felt sweat dripping down her forehead. Was this a side effect of revisiting the past? Whatever the case, she knew that there was something far worse when she noticed Aerith and Mitsuki stood at the window, where it was punched through and the glass lay scattered across the floor, completely shattered. Faith looked down at her marble-skinned fingers, cruelly reminded of the grim reality that had taken over from the dreaming.

It was morning, as the sun gleamed through the open window and the air whipped around the room, causing the covers to sway ever so slightly. Faith threw off the covers immediately and sprang on to her feet to join Aerith and Mitsuki.

“You’re late from waking up,” Aerith observed.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Eleven o’clock in the morning,” scowled Mitsuki.

“She’s upset about you knocking her out cold,” Aerith offered a sympathetic smile.

“Ok, ok! I’m sorry!” Faith raised her hands in the air. “But if I didn’t go along with Saix’s plans, what else was I supposed to do? For all I knew, he could’ve had an electronic tag that could’ve electrocuted me …”

Mitsuki didn’t look satisfied, however. She turned away and walked out of the room, leaving both Faith and Aerith in a very uncomfortable position.

“So what happened?” asked Faith.

“It was Mark and Saix,” Aerith whispered fearfully. “I had a nightmare that this was going to happen … I dreamt that Saix would kill you in your sleep, but it changed. These nightmares that I have, they’re based on the decisions people make. The future changed as soon as Mark made the choice to come to your room. He saw Saix and acted on his natural instincts. But that wasn’t all. Something was clearly wrong with Mark, it was almost as if – as if … he wasn’t himself.”

Faith grabbed Aerith by the shoulders, aware of the mighty strength that she currently possessed. “I won’t let anything happen to Mark, I promise. I might not be in my skin or have my own abilities right now, but I’m going to fix all of this. I have to.”

Aerith nodded when prompted. “And we’re going to do it as a team this time.” Faith closely followed her when they started walking down the chilly corridors of the headquarters. “You’re not going to end up in a parallel universe this time, Faithy. It’s not always down to you to be a hero. Look … I know you can’t remember everything about yourself and all, but –”

“I do remember up until I was fourteen years old,” she pointed out. “It’s almost like watching a movie or something. Anyway, I was just up to the part when I was getting advice from my dad about my abilities. I didn’t tell him about them, though. I just kinda hinted at it, really. But then I woke up.”

“So you remember your childhood,” Aerith was saying, as she placed a hand under her chin as if she was thinking thoughtfully, “and you were fourteen the last time you were dreaming. Wow, that’s a lot to take in. Are you definitely sure that you can handle this?”

Faith crossed her arms when they stopped at Lord Golbez’s private chambers. “I’ve had to fight Saix and spring right back from getting killed. It won’t be a breeze, but I’m sure that I can handle this one. It’s still strange knowing about three quarters of my life, but I guess that the last slice on the cake is the most important, right?”

“More important than you’ll ever know,” she agreed unpleasantly.

Aerith’s tone of voice had suspicions tingling in Faith’s mind, but she decided to let them slide for now. They walked into Lord Golbez’s chambers after knocking. Lord Golbez himself was astonished to see such recognition in Faith’s – or rather, Jasmine’s – eyes. He, for one, did not believe that Mark’s amnesiac plan would work at all.

“Faith Crest, Aerith Gainsborough,” he nodded in their direction and rose from his seat, joining them near the doors. “Although you’ve heard the news about Mark’s sudden disappearance, I’m rest assured that he’ll be fine with the vast amount of power at his disposal –”

“Lord Golbez, that power could destroy him!” Aerith protested.

“That may be true, but I trust him,” Lord Golbez said, despite being disappointed at her sudden outburst. “On the other hand, Angelus and Julius have recently discovered that a portal to the parallel universe has opened up on the Red Rose Movement ruins.”

“The tower?” Faith assumed.

“Precisely, Faith. This could be a coincidence because today is the anniversary of Doomsday. We lost so much on that day, but most of that can be rebuilt. What I’m about to ask you is very dangerous and unprofessional, however, two of our members have broken over a thousand rules already. This mission is why I’ve assembled you all here.”

Faith glanced around, noticing that she and Aerith weren’t the only ones present. Stood around the chambers were Angelus Mortis, Julius Argexis, Mitsuki Naoki and Koloth Serlo. It had been a long time since Faith had been able to see all of them together in the same room. It was even longer since the original FFF stood together as the strong alliance it once was. Lord Golbez presided over them, pleased that they were ready for this important mission.

“As I was saying, Angelus and Julius discovered the portal to the parallel universe,” he continued to say, having gained their full attention. “It is located on the Red Rose Movement ruins in the exact same spot where you disappeared, Faith.” Everyone briefly glanced at her at different times to intentionally let her know that they shared the pain she once felt a year ago. “We’ve approximated that the portal will be open for another month.”

A month? Was that all the time that was left to communicate with that universe, a month to see the parallel Red Rose Movement again, a month to make up the biggest decision in her life so far? Faith felt torn apart between her loyalties to FFF and to RRM. She was originally from FFF, but joined RRM to respect Patricia’s wishes. And with the past returning sooner than she expected, it would be a matter of time until that decision would have to be made. Faith pressed her hand against the glass of the window. Looking out of it was a good distraction, but not one that the others failed to notice.

“Considering the dangerous situation that Faith’s body is in, then we need to send the entire FFF elite up against the Angel of Darkness.”

“You’ve got no chance!” cried Faith suddenly, a burst of energy appearing.

“Faith, remember to breathe,” Aerith whispered.

“Aerith! This isn’t the anger taking over! This is reality! You have no chance against the Angel of Darkness, Lord Golbez! She made me forget what I was doing when she took over me! What makes you think that FFF can take her on? Not only that, but she has my body! My body, everyone! She has my abilities! I can’t risk you destroying the only vessel I can return to!”

“We won’t destroy the vessel,” Julius said, approaching her and stroking her shoulder comfortingly. “We can’t destroy your body, anyway … even if we wanted to.”

“Yeah, because what would Julie do without his prank victim?” teased Mitsuki.

“Prank victim?” Faith was appalled.

“Julie?” growled Julius. It was his turn to be angry. “What have I said?”

“You’ll remember in due time,” Aerith smiled at Faith.

“It was Koloth’s fault,” murmured Mitsuki.

Lord Golbez put his hand on to his forehead, almost as if this was child’s play and he felt like the babysitter. “And here I was, thinking that this could have been resolved many months ago …”

“Lighten up, LG!” Mitsuki laughed softly. “A little bit of fun is what everyone needs right now. I’d bet ten gil that Riku and Rene are probably having a name-calling competition right now.”

“Ten gil says that they are not,” Angelus smirked, the one of many to come.

Amidst the entire chaotic and childish atmosphere, Aerith was the only one to notice that something was amiss.

“Where’s Faith?” she gasped.

* * *​

Saix opened his orange eyes, fighting back the humanity that had emerged in the wake of Faith emerging in Jasmine’s body. The brotherly feelings he once had for his cousin were creeping back towards the surface, but he wasn’t about to let himself be consumed by them. After all, there were a few priorities on his mind right now.

One was to reclaim his original powers that were in an unknown location.

The second was to gain some invaluable information from Faith.

And the final one was to see his daughter.

All of these priorities linked to his intentions and plans for the future. However, perhaps world domination or destruction wasn’t there anymore. Ever since learning that Frisk had been pregnant with his child and only recently gave birth to her, there was a small part of humanity taking over his entire existence. It was this same part of humanity that coexisted with his murderous side when he’d slept with Frisk. There had been so many things he wanted to say to her before the portal was closed …

Like how for instance, they’d known each other prior to Faith becoming amnesiac.

It wasn’t only Mark dabbling and interfering with the memories of individual people.

He believed Faith Crest thought of herself as a goddess herself. He’d heard rumours of a Goddess of Death arising above everyone else and transforming the world in her vision. Death. That was her vision. Death would become visible in the living world, whereas the dead would become alive. Everything would be reversed. Saix had to admit that the plans were highly different to his own – in which he wanted to recreate the world in his own vision.

In that vision, Frisk would remain loyally by his side. They’d be together forever. He would have ensured that. Faith would be dead, as would FFF, too. He closed his eyes again, still remembering that important new outlook on the world he once dreamed of. When he opened his eyes again, he knew who was standing behind him.

“So nice of you to join me, Faith,” he said, turning around to her. “Or should I call you Jasmine instead to avoid the formalities?”

“She loved you, you know? She still does!” exclaimed Faith, rushing towards him and thrusting him up against the wall by grabbing his throat. “I had to be the one to console her every single day and here you are, filling your life up with flirting with this whore, this … this slut!”

“You know what’s coming, Faith,” growled Saix, not intimidated by her sudden assault. “The Goddess of Death … sure that’s not you?”

“Why would it be me?” she snarled angrily.

“You’ve seen the face of death, so the powers that be might just choose you to bring death to the world,” Saix winked, but not before adding, “or even the entire universe.”

Faith released her grip on Saix and walked to the edge of the tower’s rooftop. This was where the battleground had almost witnessed the end of the old world and the revolution leading to a new one. Saix had been the one possessing the crystal that controlled Azalea, the guardian of Earth. Azalea was long gone now, but her words were not forgotten.

“You have much to unravel, Faith Crest.”

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

Home?

What had she meant?

Being back here brought back a lot of memories. Memories that she’d rather forget.

“Forget the past,” Saix spoke calmer than ever. “Move on to the future. I need something for you to do for me.”

“How can I forget the past?” whispered Faith. But before long, she’d raised her voice. “You have no idea what happened to me when I got here! You don’t know the hell I’ve been through!”

“I know,” he growled. “I know you feel hurt, but you need me right now.” He gazed out into the distance, lost in thought. “I’m powerless. I’m nothing without you, Crest. I need you to save Frisk.”

Faith’s anger evaporated as soon as Frisk’s name was dragged into the conversation and it prompted so many unanswered questions in her mind. “Frisk is in danger?”

“Aerith Gainsborough was telling Lord Golbez no more than three days ago,” explained Saix. “Although you might be one for dabbling with minds, it appears that FFF isn’t as honest as you think. You have to understand, Faith, that there are greater forces out there than us. We are both superhumans … surely, you know that term?”

“Vaguely, I’m still trying to remember everything,” Faith glared coldly at him, cruelly reminded that her older cousin was the last one to see Mark. Just thinking about Mark had brought up the amnesiac plan – the one to regain her memories in order to return to her former glory and prepare to fight the greatest evil so far. If she were right, then this evil would be the Goddess of Death. “So no, I can’t forget the past. The past is the key to the future. Without a past, there is no future!”

Those words struck Saix hard in the gut.

“And the sooner you remember what you did, the sooner that you can cause the rift you’ve created between me and Frisk,” he growled loudly. “You’ve done terrible things, Crest.”

“If you’re really my cousin, then you’d start using my first name,” she glared coldly.

“Frisk is in danger because of the Goddess of Death.”

Faith immediately became worried again. “How?”

“Well, Lady Aerith hasn’t always been one for sharing her thoughts and feelings with me, but I do know that she saw a dark presence lingering around her. She was murmuring the Goddess of Death in her sleep.”

“And how would you know what she says in her sleep?”

“Perhaps of the fact that her room is directly four floors above the dungeons? There is a small gap in the wall that echoes down sounds down to my cell. I could easily recognise her voice. I know that she’s headstrong, but she holds too much inside. She called in Lord Golbez to discuss the situation – this was before you came along to ‘rescue’ me.”

“I can’t defeat the Goddess of Death alone. You know that, Saix.”

“Then why isn’t FFF here now, Faith?”

“Because they’re not responsible enough to come here themselves,” she said solemnly, making Saix raise an eyebrow. “This is my war, not theirs. The Angel of Darkness presides in my body in that parallel universe and she won’t give it up so easily either.”

“Why, I must say I’m impressed with you,” Saix crossed his arms, almost as if he were satisfied. “Your body being residence for the Angel of Darkness is simply a feat for someone as purely light as you and –”

“Save the compliments for later,” Faith cut him off, as she was now looking at the portal with much concern in her eyes. “I need to get my body back alone. If I bring FFF along, then she’ll kill them. And if I do get back under my own skin, then it’ll be on my conscience for the rest of my life.” She examined the portal with much more thought. “Is there any way to close it off? Hasn’t anyone seen this yet?”

“This portal is something different,” he said, joining her and observed it. “To the human eye, it is invisible. With the support of a superhuman or evohuman, then perhaps it can be dimly seen. Our kind can clearly see it. Evohumans don’t see it the same way as we do. They see a bright white light. On the other hand, we can see much more …”

“We know what kind of universe it leads to,” whispered Faith, wondering why she never saw it that way before a year ago. “Looking at it now, I know it’s just a parallel one to ours with a few minor changes.”

“A few minor changes?” spat Saix, shaking his head disappointingly at her. “You died at fourteen years old, Patricia died not long after, I never existed, the Red Rose Movement is more advanced than ever, the Fantasy Freedom Fighters was never formed … there is much more there than what it first appears to be. Remember that every decision we make creates another universe. If I hadn’t returned to you for instance, then perhaps you would’ve returned to your family and never associated with FFF again. Maybe you wouldn’t ever have recovered from the amnesia. But look at you now … you’re beginning to remember. Mark is helping you to remember. A shame really, because he’s long gone now.”

Faith grabbed Saix by the shoulders and hoisted him into the air.

“Where is he?” she snarled.

“Through the portal,” he replied instantly, now a little bit intimidated by her.

“Thanks,” Faith smiled pleasantly before dropping him to the ground. She took one look at the portal and deeply breathed in. “One dark entity is linking these two universes together. It’s going to cause a lot of trouble if we carry on with the way things are.” She looked down at Saix, who was rolling around in pain. “I hope I broke your back! You won’t be able to bother me from now on.” She placed her foot on his stomach. “It was you who started all of this and it’ll be who’ll finish it.”

Saix found himself laughing. “Then what are you waiting for? Finish me, imbecile!”

“No,” she whispered, feeling a sudden pain hitting her mind. “No! NO!”

She fell back through the pain and felt herself reliving a very important memory …

* * *​

It was into the evening when Frisk opened her eyes and realised that becoming a mother wasn’t a dream after all. She was in the comfort of her personalised room in the underground RRM headquarters, actually glad that she was waking up from a pleasant dream instead of a horrifying nightmare. Mercurial, as faithful and loyal as ever, was sat at her bedside. He grabbed her hand as soon as her eyes fluttered open.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he whispered, winking.

“How long … was I … out?” she managed to say through the tiredness.

“Exactly? Eighteen hours, thirty-eight minutes and twelve seconds,” answered Mercurial, as he examined his watch. Frisk rolled her eyes. “I can do really good math, what’s wrong with that?”

“N – Nothing …” muttered Frisk, still weak from giving birth.

“Is there anything you want? Something you need?”

“J – Just you here … I guess …”

“Why? Something bothering you? Or did you need your good friend Merc with ya?”

“I – I … gotta warn ya … you’re gonna get a … a bitch slap … later …”

“What? What’d I do now?”

“Year … locked up for a … year … remember?”

“Oh, crap. I kinda forgot that!” exclaimed Mercurial, unable to hold back his worry about that little matter. “Well, I guess locking up your boss has to have consequences, huh? Especially when she’s English, sarcastic twenty-four seven and has a history of making herself look like a drunken idiot at parties … think of one much?”

“It was only her … fifteenth!” sighed Frisk. “I … I wasn’t thinking …”

“You were underage, no?”

“Seventeen, yeah.”

“Why would you drunkenly gatecrash Faith’s fifteenth birthday, anyway?”

“Hey, don’t tell her … yet,” she shook her head worriedly, now regaining some strength to speak some proper sentences. “At least … she’s still … she’s still alive.”

“If it weren’t for Riku, we’d presume she’d be dead,” Mercurial smiled happily. “He’s very strange, that one. And besides, what’s-his-name was right. We do underestimate Faith sometimes.”

“Oh, Filden?”

“You know him?”

“Not very well, no. I know him through Rene … God, I was such an idiot when I was seventeen!” moaned Frisk. “I’m hoping Faith remembers what happens, really. Maybe I can apologise properly this time.”

“What did happen?” Mercurial asked, his curiosity now perked.

“Ugh, Merc! You’re such a drama queen!”

“Hey, I’d be glad to take on that role as long as it didn’t get sexual.”

“Well, in every guy there’s always a girl itching to get out.”

“And in every girl there’s always a guy itching to get out.”

“Why are you having this conversation?” Rene asked, as he snuck into the room and didn’t even alert Contra and Hera, who were sleepily guarding the room. His presence alarmed Mercurial, but Frisk looked satisfied to see him. “Oh no, please don’t tell me you’re drunk.”

“When I’ve just given birth over eighteen hours ago?” Frisk drowsily said.

“I’m not a free agent anymore, Frisk. I haven’t been for the past two or three years.”

“Why? Because you’re too busy lusting over Faith?”

“I’m not lusting over here, Frisky! I’m waiting for the right moment, actually.”

“To sleep with her? And do not call me Frisky!”

“Sleep with her?” spat Rene. He looked like he was going to explode, especially since his hands were ignited with flames. Mercurial rose to his feet, gun in his hands straight away. “Frisk, you’ve been missing all the good parts, haven’t you? Oh, I’ve been going out with Faith for a goddamn long time. In fact, our relationship’s been going on for at least two years! It only got put on hold because she lost her memory!”

The revelation came as a surprise to both Frisk and Mercurial, who were expecting him to be blushing when Faith got dragged into the conversation. Mercurial lowered his gun, wondering how the hell his life had been intertwined with Faith’s before the Doomsday crisis of last year and Frisk felt violently sick. She thought about those times when she’d been very shady. She was making up excuses to be away from everyone … and it had been to spend time with Rene …

So why didn’t she tell anyone?

“If you want to shoot me now, then do it!” Rene yelled at Mercurial. “I know you’ve been wanting to kick my arse for a long time.” His hands were still literally on fire. Despite the fact he’d challenged Mercurial into a fight and allowed him to take the shot, he wasn’t about to give up. This was a fight he wanted ever since he’d been first threatened by the parallel RRM.

“What are you doing?” whispered Frisk, horrified when Mercurial raised his gun again.

“He’s kept these secrets all along from us! From Faith!” he yelled, terrifying Frisk for the very first time and she surrendered to complete silence. “What reason do I have for NOT shooting him?” And with that said, he pulled the trigger …

* * *​

The rain poured down heavily on Faith Crest – still trapped in Jasmine’s body – and she found herself reliving a brief memory with Saix, her biological cousin.

“IMBECILE!” yelled Saix, as he sent lightning spurting at Faith.

Unfortunately, she was unable to avoid it and found herself rolling on the ground, almost at the edge of the rooftop. Faith opened her eyes and saw her cousin quite literally towering over her. Saix grabbed her by the scuff of her neck and punched her in the stomach, causing her unspeakable pain in her ribs. She cried out in pain, but it pleased him to see her enduring it.

“Tell me where my powers are!” he snarled through gritted teeth.

“I … I …” she struggled to speak.

“You are the only person in the entire universe that knows where they are!” Saix tossed Faith on to the ground, taking her pain to his advantage. He watched her fighting hard to cope with the endless pain. Blood was pouring down her nose and there were countless bruises visible on her ribs. “I would kill you right now, but as I keep saying … you’re the only one who sealed away my abilities when I turned over to the darkness. What’s wrong? Can’t bear the thought that I could be more powerful than you, Faith?”

“Shut up … just shut … up …”

“You want to be the most powerful one, but you’re really an imbecile. One day, you’ll probably come to me for my help. You’ll realise the error of your ways and bow down to me. If you do, then perhaps I could spare you the benefit of the doubt with remaining as an elite member of FFF. The elite can never understand that our destinies do not tie with them, Faith. No … you’ve been fighting for me for over a year now and perhaps it’s time to examine your future more closely. You and I, we’re the only superhumans in existence. They are all evohumans, imbeciles! They don’t deserve their power – it was not rightfully given to them!”

“Some of them … some of them never … they never wanted the power.”

“Faith, you can’t make up excuses for everyone, you know that? You and I are the superhuman race. We must ensure that we survive and are not outwitted by the evohuman one. The evohumans, the imbeciles – Golbez, Aerith, Riku, Mark, Julius, Shenorai, Koloth, Angelus, Mitsuki – they are all, but obstacles in our way. Join me and you could still redeem yourself, Faith.”

But Faith wiped the blood streaming down her nose and shook her head.

“I won’t join a murderer!” she spat. “And you’re not my cousin.”

“You can disown me, but it’ll haunt you forever,” Saix smiled nastily. “You might not admit it, but there’s a darkness in you as well, Faith. When it is eventually discovered, you’ll know that I’m right – we can never coexist with humans and evohumans alike.”

* * *​

Faith immediately thrust Saix up the wall again.

“What did I do to agitate you this time?” he growled, annoyed.

“You and your superhuman ideology!” she hissed angrily, punching the wall just inches away from his face, causing a few bricks to fall through to the floor. “You tried to sway me into thinking that we were superior to them all and that we couldn’t live with the others! Why? Why’d you think that I’d listen to you?”

Saix shook his head disappointingly. “I thought you were up to that part by now …”

“Then I guess I’ll have to play catch up,” she muttered before throwing him on the ground again. “I wouldn’t bother getting up … you’re not coming with me. I’ll save Frisk myself.”

“You can’t do this alone, Faith!” yelled Saix, managing to muster the strength to rise to his feet, despite the pain coursing through his back. “I love Frisk, I –”

“If you really loved Frisk, then why do you constantly flirt with Jasmine then?”

“I do it because she’s very loyal to me. She’s my most powerful demon at my disposal. Well, she’s the only one that returned. I thought that if I never saw Frisk again, then why not try to move on with my life? Don’t get me wrong, Faith, I was heartbroken when Frisk was taken away as well as the dark powers inside of me. The weight of the world was placed on my shoulders.”

Faith took one look at the portal and felt tempted to walk through, but she glanced at Saix and felt … remorse. Why did she feel sorry for him? He was her cousin and she’d disowned him, but … why did she have to be so sympathetic? Unfortunately, it was in her nature to see the good in others. She was beginning to understand that from seeing her past memories.

“We’ll go together,” she whispered, defeated.

Saix looked at her in disbelief.

“You want to see your daughter and I … have to protect Frisk.”

“And is that what Patricia wanted you to do?”

However, the voice did not belong to Saix. Faith and her cousin turned around to see that the FFF elite – Aerith Gainsborough, Julius Argexis, Koloth Serlo, Angelus Mortis and Mitsuki Naoki – was stood there. Julius, Koloth and Mitsuki had their blades drawn out, whilst Aerith and Angelus were stood there in shock. Faith turned to face her comrades, unable to believe that they were here already. She felt her fist clench into a ball, ready to strike them if they were going to attack …

“You’re allowing Saix to sway you with his words,” Julius said heatedly. “I grew up with him, Faith, and I’d advise that you don’t listen to him.”

“And you’re not letting me have my say?” Faith glared coldly at everyone. “Saix and I … we can see that universe clearer than you think! We’re superhuman.”

“And what makes us different than you? We’re evohuman!” exclaimed Mitsuki.

“Mits, I thought that you’d be able to understand that going back to that parallel universe is something that I had to do,” Faith continued to speak, “but Saix was here. I realise now that he has to come with me. He needs to see his daughter. Have you ever considered that?”

“He is a murderer!” exclaimed Koloth, raising his voice.

“And that child of Frisk’s is part of my family now!” she yelled over their arguing voices. “Saix and the baby girl … they’re the only family that I have left, the only blood related ones I have left.”

“Blood doesn’t make a family,” Angelus raised her voice this time. “You once told me that, but if you could remember –”

“Shut up! Just … SHUT UP!” shouted Faith, grabbing Saix’s arm tightly. “You can’t follow me through the portal. I’m sorry, but this is something I have to do on my own. I can’t have FFF involved with everything I do anymore.”

“You’re cutting ties with us?” gasped Aerith. She was the one, who was shocked the most. “But you can’t … Rene –”

“Probably thinks I’m dead, thank you very much for reminding me, Aerith. But Saix and I have to go through there. I have to finish this once and for all. Speaking of which, Aerith, you never told Frisk was in danger from the Goddess of Death.”

“I was getting around to that part until you decided to leave.”

“Maybe if FFF weren’t so childish, then –”

She was interrupted by Saix, who had managed to wriggle out of Faith’s grip and hurled himself into the portal. Everyone gasped, but Faith was unimpressed. She glanced at them.

“Look what you’ve done now! I was starting to make him a better person, too,” she said sadly. Aerith was the one, who was being looked at the most by Faith. “You said that he could ‘come back to the light’ before. What did you mean?”

“There isn’t time to explain this now!” yelled Julius over the wind that had just started to cut over the noise. “My adoptive brother is in there and he’ll probably commit some murder in there! Your cousin he may be, Faith, but you have to think of him as a murderer, too! He killed your godmother!” With that said, he ran towards the portal and was sucked inside.

Everyone else began to follow suit … until this left Faith standing near Aerith.

“I know we’ve had our differences, but you have to understand that I’m doing this for Saix’s sake and maybe even Frisk’s,” she said to the healer. “I’ve never told you this before, but … I grew up not knowing who my real parents were. Saix did, too. This child can’t have the same upbringing. I don’t want her to grow up without her mum or dad because we have to separate them from each other.”

Aerith nodded in agreement. “I can understand, but –”

Suddenly, it seemed that everything wasn’t going to go as smoothly as originally thought. Something emerged from the portal, telekinetically pushing both Faith and Aerith back on to the floor. They were moved some metres away, as they noticed this when they sprang back on to their feet. However, what they were facing was probably far worse than the Goddess of Death or anything else right now …

“Faith,” the Angel of Darkness smiled evilly. “I thought you were dead.”

“Well, now you can have your fun!” Faith made an attempt at being brave. She looked worriedly at Aerith, but knew the light inside of her friend could fend off the Angel of Darkness. “Aerith! You have to go through the portal!”

“What? Are you crazy? This is why they went through!”

“And you have to go through, too … to protect Frisk.” Aerith looked like she was about to reject this idea, but Faith was shaking her head. “I won’t take no for an answer, Aerith! Now go through before something else happens!” Although she was hesitant at leaving Faith on her own to face off with the Angel of Darkness, she didn’t want to get caught up in the fight either. She ran to the portal, leaving Faith alone to face off the Angel of Darkness. “Looks like it’s you and me now!”

“Indeed,” she hissed.

Seriously! Not the time to make me look evil, thought Faith, as she noticed the Angel of Darkness’ attempts to pull nasty expressions. Evil’s never suited me, anyway …

“So what will it be? A quick surrender or a painful death?”

Faith shook her head. “Neither.” She smirked. “I can’t help wondering which one is worse. Death or darkness? I know that I’m somehow connected to all of this and even you. But I won’t let you hurt anyone else anymore. You’re the Avenger, the one to take out the Goddess of Death, right? That’s where I first pulled out the name. So no, I’m not going to quickly surrender. I’m not going to die painfully. You’re going down and if I have to go down with you, then I will …”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Thirteen

Explanations and Revelations​

The trigger may have been pulled and the bullet was heading in Rene Skylar’s way, but it did not stop fate from intervening. Faster than the small life-changing bullet itself was something – or rather, someone – supernaturally strong. As Mercurial fired, there was one person who’d entered the room at the right time. This girl, who was strikingly similar to Filden Gurito, watched the room in slow motion. She’d seen this a thousand times, so it made no difference whatsoever. But despite that fact, the bullet was slowly making its way to strike Rene’s chest. She ran quickly, punched the damn pellet into the wall and grabbed Rene’s denim jacket, bringing him into the wall for safety.

Normal time happened for her once again and everyone was shocked by what had happened. Mercurial stared at where the bullet was, which was in the wall, and saw that there was a new person. Rene was astounded how he’d managed to survive, but also that the shock had caused his fiery hands to cool down. Frisk was the most shocked of all, witnessing how that blur had managed to whisk Rene to the other side of the room. Both she and Mercurial stared at the girl, who had been holding Rene’s jacket. Even Rene was shaking his head when he saw her.

“Fifi!” he said angrily rather than surprisingly.

“Really, is that any way to treat your best friend’s big sister?” Fifi smirked.

“You know her?” spat Mercurial.

“Of course I do!” Rene exclaimed.

“And I know her, too,” Frisk gulped hard, still unable to believe she was here. She sat up, remembering she was still weak from childbirth and examined her former friend, whilst shaking her head. “Fifi Gurito, you bitch …”

“Why’s everyone so angry?” Mercurial said to himself.

“You’ve got some nerve showing your face here!” yelled Rene, pushing her off him and rejoined Frisk and Mercurial.

“I know I haven’t been around, but I’m here to make things better, I promise,” she said reassuringly, dropping her smart arse attitude. Mercurial didn’t know whether to raise his gun in support of Rene and Frisk or let things handle themselves. He stood there like a puppet being held back from performing any kind of action. Fifi Gurito stared at Mercurial, noticing his confused expressions. “The less people that know me, the better.”

“You ran away three years ago, so why the hell are you back again?” growled Rene, now inflaming his hands once more. He raised them up, but saw her laughing in his face. “What’s so funny? Thought that you’d never think that –”

“Oh, please,” groaned Fifi. “You really think that I simply ‘ran away’ from home three years ago for no apparent reason? Like I keep saying, I’ve come to make everything better, ok?” Next, she rounded on Frisk. “Say, Frisky, you’re not looking too bad for someone who’s recently given birth. Congratulations. Eve would be proud to have such a drunken figure in her life …”

Frisk went to rise to her feet, but was held back by Mercurial, who quietly advised her to rest. Rene stepped forwards instead, continuing to raise his hands aggressively.

“How did you do that?”

“How’d I do what? You mean … run in out of nowhere, deflect the bullet, save your life and got you to the other side of the room in practically less than seconds? C’mon, Rene, we both know how I did it. I’m superhuman just like my brother. Ta da.”

“Fil is superhuman?” Rene was confused.

“Oh, you thought he was like one of you – an evohuman?” retorted Fifi. “No. Filden and I, we were born the way we were. The only thing was that my problems started three years ago. I guess that between then and now, you must have become an evohuman. How’d it happen by the way?”

“Superhuman? Evohuman?” whispered Frisk. “What the hell? Are you on drugs?”

“Apparently, the doctor thought I was when I told him about my powers,” she rolled her eyes at her. “Never trust a doctor, Frisk. They could stab you right in the back. Quite literally, actually.”

However, Rene wasn’t intimidated by her superiority or advantage over them. “I want you to get the hell outta here before Filden sees you. If he sees you … if you even knew what happened after you left! The guy was torn up! He’s only managed to get over you leaving because he’s had other problems in his life!”

“Because he’s now an angel?”

“How’d you know about that?” Mercurial raised his voice, now getting involved. “And don’t give me any bull either. I want an honest truth or else I’ll –”

“Shoot again?” taunted Fifi. “Please, I can just run circles around you and you’d be too late to stop it from happening.” She crossed her arms defiantly. “Filden’s the reason why I came back. I had to go through my problems alone, I don’t want the same to happen to him.”

“Too late for that, isn’t it?” growled Rene, furious. “He doesn’t need you anymore. I was there for him just like Faith was there for me when I couldn’t control myself.”

“So you burn down your orphanage and almost blew up the school,” Fifi put on a fake laugh and walked around the room as if she was intrigued. “Big whoop. And here I was, thinking that Renero Skylar was this tough guy, who may have actually grown up since the last time I was around. Too bad that I’m wrong … too bad that Eve doesn’t have a real role model to look up to … too bad that Faith got amnesia … too bad for everything, I guess …”

“How’d you know about Faith getting amnesia?” questioned Mercurial, livid.

“And how’d you know about Eve?” Frisk raised her voice this time, determined to be heard.

“Plus, why the heck did you save my life back there?” Rene joined in with the question time. “Is this part of your scheme to worm back into Fil’s life? It ain’t gonna happen here, Fifi.”

However, Filden’s sister took a different approach. She extended the palm of her hand and the fire that had been burning brightly in Rene’s hands transferred to her own hands. She looked at the fire intriguingly, whilst Rene was in complete shock that she had been able to do that. “I can manipulate the fire, but not create or generate it. It’s a shame, really. I mainly came back for Filden’s sake, Rene. You have to believe me.”

“Why should we trust you?” yelled Frisk. “You ran away because you were scared of what you could do, Fifi!”

“And now I’m back, so no harm done,” Fifi raised her hands. “I can run faster than a speeding bullet, I can manipulate the fire … something big is going down and I’m not taking no for an answer. I want in.”

* * *​

The Angel of Darkness grabbed Faith’s throat and forced her body down to the edge of the tower’s rooftop, finally believing that her time had come to get rid of her original host. Faith had fought valiantly hard, using Jasmine’s useful martial arts skills, super strength and power negation. However, the stronger one had turned out to be the Angel of Darkness since she’d mastered Faith’s original abilities and put Jasmine’s powers to shame. Faith choked, as she looked down at how high she was up in the air. It was a very long drop to the ground.

“Being a hundred feet up in the air is terrifying and thrilling, isn’t it?” the Angel of Darkness whispered darkly in her ear.

“Really?” muttered Faith, gasping for air. She was briefly released to breathe and she stared up at her own body, unable to believe that it could have ever done so much evil so far in these past few months. “You know … I thought … Saix was … much scarier than … you are …”

“Saix, your biological cousin, I assume?”

“Yeah, you got that one right.” Faith rose to her feet, rubbing her bruised red neck and coughed ever so slightly. “Some people say that people with amnesia may never remember who they truly were, others think that only selected memories may return. But there are many that say anyone can remember if they put their mind to it.” She felt the blood streaming down her forehead, but ignored the agonising pain.

Suddenly, both of them noticed something was amiss with the portal. Angelus and Koloth entered back into their world. Faith instantly noticed a newfound fierceness within Angelus, whilst seeing the headstrong strength inside of Koloth. The Angel of Darkness was furious and livid that they were interrupted, but this gave Faith a chance to take advantage of the distraction. She punched her in the gut – while praying to God that she hadn’t broken any bones when she’d eventually return to her original body – and turned to her comrades.

“What are you doing here?” she shouted.

“We can’t leave you alone, Crest!” Koloth proclaimed proudly.

“We swore to Lord Golbez that we would not abandon you,” Angelus simply said.

“And I told you to go!” Faith replied fiercely. “I don’t want you to fight my battles!”

“The parallel world is not our fight either,” said Koloth, coming to her side. He looked down at the Angel of Darkness, who had taken the blow to the gut very harshly. “You cannot return to your body without us, Faith. Angelus can help you greatly. But if your mind is wiped out, then it’s game over. Let us take care of this.”

However, she grabbed Koloth’s arm.

“I won’t sacrifice you, Koloth! You can’t do this! I don’t remember you at all!”

“It’s not your choice to make, Faith! If you won’t ever remember who I am at all, then you can always remember me for what I’m about to do.” He struggled out of her tight grip and turned to Angelus. “It’s time.”

“Time for what?” Faith shouted over the wind and rain.

“Time for you to start embracing the reason why your survival is critical,” Angelus said, a weak smile appearing on her face. She walked towards Faith’s body and put her foot down to stop her escaping. “Koloth, do you think you can hold her down for a minute or two?”

Koloth unleashed his sword, now brandishing it. “I think I can.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” yelled Faith again, rushing forward. Angelus raised her hand and she fell to the floor, confusing her aura. “STOP THIS! STOP THIS, ANGELUS! YOU CAN’T DEFEAT HER! YOU’LL DIE!”

“If that is what it takes, then it’s worth the sacrifice,” Angelus smiled sadly. She turned to Koloth, who now held his blade to the Angel of Darkness’ throat. “Hold her down, you’re the best candidate to do this.”

“With pleasure!” exclaimed Koloth. As Angelus walked away to start to perform a ritual, he bent down to the point to where he was just inches away from Faith’s body’s face. “You’ll pay for everything you’ve done. You’ll go back to the dark realm, even if we have to go there with you.” He nodded at Angelus, who was ready to perform the ritual. She began concentrating hard and closed her eyes. “I won’t kill you because she has to return to her rightful body. But your soul … your essence … it will burn for eternity. I assure you of that, pitiful creature.”

“KOLOTH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Faith continued to yell. “NO! SHE’LL KILL YOU! SHE’LL KILL YOU BOTH! LEAVE NOW!” However, she was struck with more confusion in her aura and immediately became speechless. Her mind cried out in pain, hoping that someone would hear. Someone! Please! Stop this madness! Angelus … Koloth … please … don’t do this!

“You’re too late, Crest,” hissed the Angel of Darkness, unable to rise again from the enormous punch she’d been blown before. Her attempts were futile because Koloth wasn’t letting her go so easily. Before Faith knew it, the dark entity itself was speaking telepathically to her. Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo will die. It is inevitable that they came back to save your pathetic soul. They believe that you are destined for much than this. Guess what? They are right. You are destined for something I was meaning to perform all this time. You are the only one that can defeat the Goddess of Death.

Faith felt horrified. The Goddess of Death … but why me?

The Angel of Darkness laughed in the open. Koloth tightened his grip on her, but shoving his foot further into her chest. You have seen death – twice. You linger between the worlds of life and death, but how much longer will it be until you have to make that choice? There will be a choice available to you when defeating the Goddess of Death. It shall not be easy, Crest. Even if I am doomed to the dark realm, the Goddess must not be allowed to roam the earth! Those who have seen death can only see through the mask and see her true identity. Those that have lived will worship her as if she were the true meaning to life itself! I may be telling you this, Faith. But I will not die in vain! My death will be meaningful!

After learning all of this information, Faith felt confused. She had seen the face of death twice, sure, but why did it have to be her all of a sudden? She screamed out silently when the Angel threw Koloth off her and jumped back to her feet. Faith was a prisoner pinned to the ground, unable to watch what was about to happen. Bats appeared at her command, surrounding Koloth and struck him down to the floor. He was unable to combat them since there were dozens of them. Faith felt tears stream down her face, not because she could not cry out in her agony, but of the fact that his last few moments were protecting her. Koloth, however, wasn’t going down easily.

He phased into the floor, sinking into it, almost smirking. Faith was amazed to see how his special ability was to phase through any object or person. However, the Angel of Darkness was marching her way over to Faith, still stuck in Jasmine’s body, and hoping that she could kill the body, so that she would be able to defeat the Goddess of Death herself. Faith closed her eyes, ready to be delivered from life itself.

You linger between the worlds of life and death, but how much longer will it be until you have to make that choice?

You are the only one that can defeat the Goddess of Death.

Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo will die.

Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo will die.

Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo will die.

That line repeated itself over and over in Faith’s head. It was ironic to think that she’d die in someone else’s body. At least the Angel of Darkness would preserve her body for the rest of eternity. Maybe she’d condemn the world to darkness instead of death. Faith believed these two separate entities, the Angel of Darkness and the Goddess of Death, had similar goals – to cast the world into the realm of their profession. In other words, the world was quite literally doomed, anyway. The more she thought about dying, the more she thought about how she’d be able to see Patricia once again …

Patricia.

How was she now?

Was her soul at peace?

And what of her adoptive family, the Crests? Did they even know about how special she really was? Did her mother, Jennifer, often worry where her daughter was? Did her father, Pablo, think that the qualities he’d taught her were being put into actual action? But what of her older brother, Rafael, who couldn’t protect the little sister he loved so much, even when their DNA wasn’t the same? Whatever the case, perhaps her death would put them to rest and stop worrying. All the pain would be gone soon, anyway.

What was the need of even thinking?

I have to think, Faith answered her own mental question. It keeps me going.

Tears continued to stream down her face, as the Angel of Darkness held Koloth’s blade in her hand. She raised it into the air and Faith braced herself.

You linger between the worlds of life and death, but how much longer will it be until you have to make that choice?

The choice was being made. Faith told herself this countless times in the past few moments, wondering why she wasn’t dead yet. She’d limitlessly been about to die and then came back, at least twice now. There could only be one world that she belonged to – and that would be the world of death in the end. Life had no place for her anymore. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain.

Love, life, meaning …

It was all gone.

Faith opened her eyes again upon hearing a quiet crying pain. She looked up to see that Koloth was standing there in her place. His own blade struck him down, the same one the Angel of Darkness was holding. There was blood already streaming down from his mouth. He smiled down at Faith, letting her know that it was fine that his sacrifice was not in vain. The Angel of Darkness pulled the blade out and Koloth fell down to the floor. Her next target would be Angelus, considering she’d let Faith spend her time with Koloth’s final moments of life.

“Look at me!” she shouted, grabbing his limp body. Koloth looked up at her, still smiling. “I’m here … I’m here now, Koloth … I’m here, Kol …”

“Kol?” he whispered happily. “That’s the one thing I wanted you to … to remember.” He closed his eyes, crying a little in pain, but laughed nervously. “I – I … hoped that you’d – you’d … remember my … nickname. The nickname you … gave … me.”

Why was this happening again? On the same day Patricia died, one year later it was happening with Koloth Serlo. He was dying in her arms, just like Patricia had done so. Doomsday was not being eternally grateful for young Faith Crest, as she held the almost-lifeless body of Koloth Serlo in her arms. She stroked his dark hair and never took her eyes off him.

“Of course I remembered, silly,” she murmured to him in an attempt to soothe his soul. “You’re going to stay with me, r-remember? We’re going to remember our time t-together!” Her voice was stuttering by this point, unable to cope with the grief and pain that she felt.

“You will … r-remember s-someday …” he said, his voice fading. He seemed to be losing the fight to stay alive. However, Faith believed he couldn’t have fought any harder than he was already. “Tell them … I was … tell them that I …”

“They’ll be proud of you,” whispered Faith, holding his body close to her. He could feel him slowly slipping away; he was getting colder by the minute. “Koloth! Kol! Stay with me! Stay with me, damn it!” However, she could no longer feel a pulse. She felt him finally slip away – and he was finally dead. Faith felt that awful feeling of guilt. More and more tears slipped down her face. “No … it can’t be … NOOOOO!”

Her entire body was shaking. There was Koloth’s blood on her clothes, but that did not matter now. Vengeance consumed her entire body. Faith laid Koloth’s body down in a comfortable position and turned to face the Angel of Darkness, who was walking slowly towards a calm Angelus, who was sat down as if she was meditating. Faith charged quickly towards her adversary and punched her in the stomach, causing her to skid across the floor with such force.

The Angel of Darkness rose to her feet, laughing darkly and loudly. Faith had never felt so hurt in her life. The last person to die in her arms was Koloth. This had gone for too long. She walked towards her again and felt an energy ball strike her. However, the pain didn’t settle in, as her pain was more directed towards the grief she felt over Koloth’s sudden death. His soul had probably moved on by now. She wouldn’t let his death be in vain. She’d make sure that the Angel of Darkness would suffer, even if she possessed her own body right now.

“That general didn’t deserve to live!” she hissed nastily.

My death will be meaningful!

“I hate you!” screamed Faith, grabbing her by the hair and tossing her to the other side of the rooftop, eventually landing her against the wall and a couple of bricks landed on top of her. Faith had never felt so angry in her life before, perhaps it was Jasmine’s anger as well submerging from the surface. She grabbed the Angel of Darkness, forcing herself to confront Koloth’s killer in the face. “Your death will be meaningless! You WILL die in vain! Koloth WILL be avenged! You’ll go back to the dark realm where you belong and never hurt anyone again!”

Even though her opponent tried to throw an energy ball, she couldn’t. Faith’s newfound strength was streaming into Jasmine’s power negation and preventing the Angel of Darkness from harming anyone. Angelus rose to her feet, her eyes now glowing a golden colour and overwhelmed the two of them. With Faith’s attention diverted, the Angel of Darkness tried to toss an energy ball at Angelus. However, she managed to raise a mental barrier in place, which had been a part of the ritual.

“Release her,” she demanded in a robotic voice.

And then suddenly, the Angel of Darkness’ soul emerged from Faith’s body appearing as a dark aura in the sky. Faith’s soul itself appeared as a crimson aura. It zoomed right back into her original body, leaving Jasmine to wake up from her temporary coma and glare coldly at the host. She clenched her fist, but found herself being possessed by the Angel of Darkness instead. Faith opened her eyes, feeling glad that she was back in her own skin, but now faced an even bigger problem – Jasmine had a new host.

“The hosting will be temporary, Faith!” Angelus called to her. “Her aura will return to the dark realm and all will be well.” A dark portal opened behind her and she smiled. Jasmine – possessed by the Angel of Darkness – ran towards Angelus. Faith couldn’t believe it! It was happening again! “I’m sorry, Faith. It turns out that I must sacrifice myself, too.” The Angel of Darkness, who had been brandishing a knife, struck her in the gut. She released the knife barely seconds later and laughed victoriously.

Overcome with grief yet again, Faith felt the anger once more. She ran towards the Angel of Darkness, who had a firm grip on Angelus’ body. However, it felt like just a year ago. The portal began to suck the two of them right inside, leaving Faith to stop and stare at what was happening. The portal closed moments later and the weather returned to normal. The heavens opened once again and poured down heavily. Faith fell to her knees, unable to believe what had happened in these past twenty minutes.

Koloth had been coldly murdered.

Angelus had been killed and taken into darkness.

But their souls would pass on.

For the guilt placed upon Faith was greater than any grief she’d ever felt.

* * *​

Whilst Mercurial and the rest of the parallel Red Rose Movement team took strong interest in Fifi’s unexpected and sudden arrival, Frisk Valentine watched from a distance. She saw Fifi confronting her little brother, Filden, and didn’t like what she saw. Although some small part of her could see that Fifi had returned purely out of sisterly love for Filden, she just couldn’t believe that she reappeared in their lives after three years! Even though Frisk didn’t know Filden very well, Rene had often spoken of his pain and the shell he’d locked himself in over her sudden departure. Filden had often refused to speak of Fifi, almost acting as if she were dead to him. And despite of everything that Fifi had put her little brother through, Frisk had to admire her courage to come back. However, there was one thing bothering her …

How on earth had she managed to get through to this parallel universe?

Perhaps she saw the portal that Riku, Rene and Filden had travelled through, so joined them when they were completely unaware. Whatever the case, seeing them two reunited made her think about her awkward, but intense relationship with Saix. They hadn’t loved each other for very long, had they? But the relationship must have meant an awful lot to her if Faith had to comfort her every now and again about the tragic events of Doomsday. She had strong feelings for Saix, but still found herself questioning his motives.

For instance, why did he want to kill Faith in the first place?

When Frisk had marched into that nursery and shot her best friend, it was suddenly unexpected. Faith was the one he wanted to kill; yet there were things in the universe she didn’t quite understand at that time. So she had decided to go along with the flow and do anything to protect the man she loved – or Mr Right, as she decided to call him.

She glanced at the cot that Mercurial and Hera had made in their spare time, noticing that her little Eve would be in there someday. At the moment, she was in the incubator next to her bed. Her fingers ran through the glass as soon as she walked over to it and smiled in admiration of her newborn child. She didn’t even regret almost crushing Mercurial’s hand at the birth. He and Riku were the birth partners, whilst Contra and Hera helped deliver, Rydia monitored both their health and Rene and Filden were forced to watch powerlessly.

It wasn’t the ideal birth she would’ve imagined. However, it felt perfect. Well, it would have been perfect if Saix were present. But he was in the other universe now, probably powerless, maybe even dead. What would it matter now? Her answer was questioned in her mind.

Eve needs her daddy.

But was Saix really the father figure that she needed?

Eve still needs her daddy, though, Frisk kept telling herself. I didn’t even know him that well, but I felt like I did. Why? Why did I feel like I knew him when we first met at the pub? However, the topic changed. The pub … oh my God … I CAN BLOODY DRINK AT LAST! HURRAH!

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

Frisk jumped at the sound of his voice. She saw Saix standing there, just metres away from their child. She was astonished to see him there, just to know he was present. If she had to describe him in one word right now, then that word would have had to be humanity. There was plenty of it emanating from him, as his eyes were locked with Eve. She was asleep, but she was perfect to him already. Saix shook his head disbelievingly.

“I thought that Mark was lying at first,” he said calmly, a new voice that Frisk did not recognise. This voice seemed peaceful enough, however, plus he didn’t seem dangerous either. “I thought that he was teasing me, but then again … Mark was never one for lying. Anyone could’ve been a lie detector around him.” He pressed his hand against the glass and sighed happily. “To think that one night can produce something so innocent and sweet, I …” He looked at Frisk, almost emotional. “She’s beautiful … just like you.”

“She, um …” Frisk was lost for words. “She, um … has your … smile?”

In that instant, there was no more to say. Saix pressed his lips against Frisk’s, refusing to let the passion and lust go. He pinned her to the wall, so that she could not escape his gaze. He’d wanted to see her much more ever since the events of Doomsday – and the opening of that same portal had allowed them to be reunited once again. It was the old connection, the spark between them that had ignited. It brought them together once more. Frisk didn’t want to escape Saix’s touch either. She wanted him to physically fight for dominance over the kiss. She desired everything he’d once given her on that special night.

However, there was just one problem.

“What was that for?” he growled when she slapped him.

“Hitting me with a baseball bat!” exclaimed Frisk, standing her ground. They kissed again, but she punched him in the shoulder this time. Saix backed away, feeling even more confused. “You knocked me out cold when Asstec was inside of me. Remember now, Mr hotshot? I’ve been itching to do that for a year!”

“You never told me you were pregnant with my child! Our child, Frisk!”

“I only found out a year ago, you arsehole. And FYI, it’s not been easy!”

“Being pregnant is never easy, Frisk. It’s common knowledge.”

There was silence between them for a few short seconds.

“Hang on, how did you even get in the building?” Frisk raised an eyebrow, breaking it.

“Doesn’t matter, right? I’m here now,” Saix whispered seductively in her ear.

“Eww, I don’t think our daughter would appreciate us being all intimate in front of her. It’s hardly good for a first memory, is it?”

“Babies don’t remember this far back, Frisk. I thought you of all people would know that.”

“I’ve never felt so insulted!” Frisk said, putting on a mocked voice. “And you!” She dug her finger into his chest as if she were an old woman. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Saix! I’m very confused! Very, very, very, very, very confused!”

Saix crossed his arms. “Explaining? What kind of explaining?” he groaned. “If it’s about me being Faith’s cousin, then I can understand that you’re –”

“What? You’re Faith’s cousin?” Frisk felt her mouth drop open.

“Biological, yes,” he growled. “And I, for one, am not proud of it.”

“But wouldn’t that make –?”

“Eve her first cousin once removed? Yes, that would be correct.”

“You’ve still got a lot of explaining to do. Pub?”

“Some role model you are, wanting to swan off to the pub when you’ve recently given birth to our daughter …”

“Hey! Try not having a drink for a year and maybe you’ll understand my pain!”

“Does a double vodka and lemonade sound good to you?”

Frisk smirked. “I suppose.”

* * *​

You are the only one that can defeat the Goddess of Death.

Those who have seen death can only see through the mask and see her true identity.

Those that have lived will worship her as if she were the true meaning to life itself!

Although the battle was over and won, Faith felt like she had lost everything. With Angelus dead and her body possibly forever trapped in the dark realm, she still had one last thing to do before travelling back to the parallel world. Koloth lay on the floor like a rag doll. To commemorate his death, Faith had taken it upon herself to give him a proper burial, a real resting ground, so that he would remain here for good.

Earth may not have been his birthplace – or Faith possibly had it wrong, she blamed the amnesia for everything – and he may have died, but he was a true fighter to the end. Faith descended upon the ground after picking up his body. She had flown down to the floor to bury him. It didn’t take her very long, considering she had to get used to her own abilities again if she was going to stand a chance against the Goddess of Death. The Angel of Darkness’ words forever remained in her memory.

Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo will die.

Their deaths had come to light.

Telekinetically resting Koloth’s body into the ground after finding a cardboard box that had been left in the ruins of the Red Rose Movement ruins, Faith sealed the “coffin” and threw some dust to the ground. She’d only ever been to one funeral as far as she was aware – and she’d done this to Patricia’s coffin. It was emotionally difficult for her, but perhaps the pain here was eased because Koloth had come to accept his death as being inevitable in the end.

“I hope you find peace now,” she whispered, as she knelt down and looked down at where Koloth’s body lay. She bowed her head regretfully, sighing to herself. “They can’t hurt you anymore. No one can, actually. The Angel of Darkness was taken care of, thanks to Angelus. Your death made me stronger for a while because I wanted revenge. Revenge isn’t always the answer though, is it?”

She lifted her head, looking up at the sky. A tear quickly slipped down her face.

You linger between the worlds of life and death, but how much longer will it be until you have to make that choice?

For so long, Faith had considered disappearing and never coming back to start a new life, which would be away from FFF, away from RRM, away from … everything. But because of the amnesia that Mark gave her for some important reason revolving around classified information, she couldn’t run away. Running was never an option for her anymore. It had been before when chased relentlessly by Darkblade after reuniting with Rene. She instantly remembered dying in his arms and imagined how Koloth must have felt.

Faith looked down at the “coffin” again.

“Maybe I might be joining you in the world of death soon, but … I keep defying death, don’t I? I’ve defied death twice. Who’s to say that three is the magic number? Maybe this time, maybe this time … I could die. If the Goddess of Death is going to kill everyone, then she’ll have to go through me first. Your death was never in vain, Koloth. I know that now. You helped stopped a legendary being from doing whatever it was that it was planning! You should be proud of yourself. And they will know. FFF will know your sacrifice and I’ll – I’ll bring them back here. They’ll probably go mad at me for burying you without consulting them, but … they’ll understand in time, I hope. You were important, I know that now. You were the general that kept everyone together, the general that wanted to fight and the general that wanted to keep fighting and believing that we’d win! You believed that justice could be served. Well, guess what? It was served, Kol. One day, I’ll come back here and – and I’ll remember everything. Once I do remember, I – I won’t forget. I promise.”

She looked to the withered grass next to her and saw a lone daisy, struggling to combat the conditions it was suffering from. To free its pain, Faith grabbed hold of this lone daisy and tossed it down into Koloth’s grave.

“I never told you, Koloth, but …” she began to say and then smiled, as more tears streamed down her face. “I think I loved you. I think I loved and respected you. I think that maybe – maybe … you were like an uncle to me.” Faith nodded at her thought. “Yeah … I think you were an uncle to me.” She looked up at the tower, where the portal was continuing to glow brightly. “And now I’m going to save the world, just like you would’ve wanted me to. I’ll make sure that Julius is whipped into shape just like you wanted! And your blade will become his blade. He’ll fight in your honour, we all will.”

Faith grabbed the blade that she stuck into the ground before burying Koloth and closed her eyes. The soil that had built up over the course of her digging was soon dispatched back into the ground. When she opened her eyes again, she nodded abruptly.

“I’ll remember where you are, Kol. Always.”

With that, she looked up at the sky and shot into the sky like a plane, racing to get to the finish line first. She reached the top of the tower and braced herself. The portal wasn’t going to be easy travelling through. The last time that she did this, which happened to be a year ago, it took three whole days to get there. But Faith was ready this time. She wasn’t looking back, although she would cherish both Angelus and Koloth’s memories more now than ever. Their sacrifices had enabled her to go ahead with her quest. Least of all, she had to complete that quest for their sakes.

Taking a deep breath, Faith readied herself. This time, she would fly through the portal and not get sucked into it. Not looking back whatsoever, she sprinted towards it and then flew ever so slightly into the air until she was zooming right through the portal.

* * *​

Julius Argexis and Mitsuki Naoki were baffled.

“Where are we?” Mitsuki wondered out loud, as she had her sword out.

“A parallel universe to our own,” Julius replied. “This could be the exact opposite to our own world. For example, Faith joined FFF at the age of fifteen. In this universe, she may not have joined at all …”

She nodded in agreement and acknowledgement. It was not long until Aerith Gainsborough stumbled through the portal and on to the grass.

“Nice of you to join us, sis,” smirked Julius. “So how does it feel?”

“Nauseous,” admitted Aerith. “That’s the first and last portal I want to go through.”

“You’ll be fine after around seven,” he crossed his arms, examining the mountains ahead of them. “Darkblade and Lord Golbez always sent Angelus, Koloth and I to investigate portals together, considering we were the experts.”

“So where are we?” she asked immediately.

“Trying to figure it out, actually,” answered Mitsuki. “It’s too bad that I never studied a map of Earth while in Gaia. When we get back, I think I may find myself doing that as opposed to activities …”

“Finally, no one trying to encourage me to humiliate everyone in the fencing tournaments,” grinned Julius. “It would make a change, Mits. Then again, activity planning isn’t as half bad as having Saix as your adoptive brother …”

“Imagine having him as your biological cousin like Faith,” Aerith reminded them. She glanced around, feeling somewhat confused. “Where’re Angelus and Koloth?”

Mitsuki shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me! I’m sure they turned back around as soon as I got here. They said they had some master plan or something like that … I don’t remember much of what they said because I felt sick, too.”

Julius shook his head, sighing. “Girls …”

“Hmm,” said Aerith, noticing the landscape on which they were. “I recognise this countryside somehow. Isn’t this … similar to where … Doomsday happened?”

“Doomsday happened on the beach, no?” assumed Julius.

“But I vaguely remember this countryside. The parallel universe is the same, but without the same decisions. So the lands are the same, but –”

“Didn’t Faith say there was a parallel RRM here?” Mitsuki wondered out loud.

“Maybe Frisk and Saix are there,” stated Julius.

“Good idea, Jul.” Aerith nodded in agreement. “We just have to figure out what’s going on. The Goddess of Death is somewhere out there and we need to deal with it sooner rather than later.”

“Aren’t we going to wait for Faith?” asked Mitsuki curiously.

Julius shook his head straight away. “Faith’s a big girl, she can handle herself. We should look for Riku and Rene in the meantime. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re with RRM, too.”

“Nothing surprises you nowadays, does it?” Aerith smiled sadly.

He smiled ever so slightly. “However, I would be surprised if Frisk is willing to take back Saix after all this time.”

* * *​

Saix knew there was something seriously wrong. Even though Frisk had her wish to go to the pub and have a drink as well as have Mercurial playing babysitter for a few hours, he couldn’t help feeling that something was amiss with Eve. His child seemed perfect the first time around, but then he looked at her again and … he saw something else. He saw something that no one else seemed to catch on. It was this fear that kept coming back to haunt him, even as Frisk was discussing their future together.

“I want to go back to my world, even if Merc is my favourite guy to hang around,” she was saying solemnly. “He’s a drama queen at first, but you get to love him after a while. He’s like my older brother, except that he’s not! Isn’t it funny how I’ve managed to survive in this world for a year exactly?”

However, she could tell he was down when he was unresponsive.

“What’s wrong?” asked Frisk, running her hand through his hair and stroked it. “Is it something I’ve said? Don’t you … love me anymore?”

“I love you, of course you know that!” exclaimed Saix, glancing at Frisk, but turned away from her again. He was beginning to fear the worst – and he didn’t want that to happen either. “The future is going to be hard to look forward to, but I don’t want to do it without you. I’ve survived a year because of my love for you, Frisk. I may have been stripped of my abilities, I may have been captured, but I survived for you. One day, I knew we’d always see each other again. And now I’m here. As you are, too.”

“Ok, you’re freaking me out,” she said, turning away from him and drinking her double vodka and lemonade down like she was desperately thirsty.

“Why?”

“Because you always confess your love for me. It’s … strange.”

“How strange is it for me to tell how much I love you?”

“It’s very strange, Saix. I … look, you’re not even human …”

“I am human, Frisk!” he whispered, lifting her chin up with his hand and momentarily distracting Frisk from her drink. “Listen to me. I am as much human as Faith is. I’m just like her. We’re human, but we’re the next stage in evolution. We’re superhuman.”

“And where does that leave us?” she said sadly. “I’m just human to you, Saix. Why would you like someone like me? You could have anyone, anyone in the entire world with your drop dead gorgeous looks and seducing voice! But why me? Why would you go for someone like me? I know that I was the seducing madam that night, but –”

“I knew you before that night,” Saix cut in, grabbing hold of Frisk’s hands. “You see, there’s been a lot of dabbling been going on in our lives, my love. There are powers beyond what we know that can tamper with just about everything in our lives. For instance, you shouldn’t trust Faith. I know you’re her best friend and all, but … for one, you never knew she and Rene had a secret relationship for two years, no?”

Frisk desolately shook her head.

“Well, I did!” he hissed. “I knew all along, but never said I knew. You see, Frisk, there are some things that you have to understand. One of them being how your life hasn’t been as straightforward as you believe it to be! Your life has never been normal for the past three years! She tampered with your memories, Frisk! Faith Crest gave you alternate memories when she knew you’d seen too much!”

“Too much of what?” she whispered confusedly.

“Too much of what she could do!” Saix said almost excitedly. “You were a journalist before all of this started. You had everything riding for you … when you discovered the truth about Faith’s powers some years ago, she didn’t want you blabbing to anyone. Of course, keeping such a secret that your best friend isn’t as ordinary as they may seem is … hard, shall we say? Faith controlled everyone. Whatever happened, if it was ordinary or extraordinary, then she’d manipulate the situation. Her telepathic abilities can wipe out certain memories in an individual’s mind, possibly even alter them to fill in the blanks that he or she feels!”

“You’re saying Faith’s been messing with my mind?” Frisk said disbelievingly.

“Whilst she may say that it was for a good cause, I had to let you know the truth as soon as I saw you that night!” he growled. “We hadn’t seen each for months … but when you came over, you were indifferent at first. It was almost as if – as if … you didn’t know me. I put the pieces of the puzzle together! Faith messed with your mind! She tampered with it! The memories of our friendship were gone like that. I wanted revenge on her, Frisk. That’s partly why I wanted her dead … to get revenge on what she did to me. You were the closest friend I had before – before she turned on me.”

“I don’t know if I should believe you or not, Saix. You – You sent me after Faith and I didn’t know it was her! Saix, I shot her. That wasn’t something I could easily take back, it wasn’t something I could easily apologise for! How do I know if you’re making this up?”

Saix glanced around the pub before looking at his lover again. “Choose not to believe me if you want, Frisk. But Faith is beginning to remember who she was now. Mark, one of the FFFers, has helped her to reclaim what was lost. She remembers her childhood … everything until she was fourteen years old. The final four years are pivotal to the future. Once she remembers, she can confirm this.”

“But … why is she important?”

“Love, she’s the first part of the puzzle, the most important one.”

Frisk stared at him in bewilderment.

“We all have roles to play,” explained Saix. “Our love produced Eve. Faith is superhuman like me, we are both strong enough to rule the universe with an iron fist if we could truly recognise our hidden potential. There are others like us out there, but remain concealed in the shadows. FFF … the parallel RRM … everyone has a role to play, Frisk. It’s not too late to recognise the danger that surrounds you.”

“The danger that surrounds me?” she stared.

“You didn’t see it, did you?” Saix gasped. “The light … it was there at first, but then it was gone. It was replaced with something else!”

“Saix, what are you saying? The light? Something else? What’s going on?”

He rose to his feet and sighed under his breath. “Eve …” Now he turned to face her, shock still expressed on his face. “You’re her mother! Surely, there was something wrong? Did something happen while she was in the womb? Please, Frisk. Try to think and remember what happened!”

Frisk crossed her arms defiantly. “I thought that you wanted to talk?”

“We talked, end of discussion,” he growled, growing impatient with her impudent attitude. “But this is about Eve now! You said Mercurial was playing babysitter with her! Is he safe around her? Are the parallel Red Rose Movement blind to what they cannot see?” He started to walk out of the pub.

“Saix!” called Frisk. “Saix, what’s going on?”

* * *​

“‘She cannot harm the dead, but she can still hurt the living,’” recited Faith, as she had her eyes closed. She opened them again to notice that she was still on the same beach in which she’d seen Riku last year. Even though he was a far distance away, she could read Filden’s mind and ran through what happened during his encounter with Addle on Doomsday Island. Even the name sent shivers down her spine. “What does it mean? ‘She will rise above us all and we will bow down to her enormous power.’ Has she already ascended?”

Immediately, Faith rose to her feet and sighed to herself to then growl.

“‘It’s the evil that only Faith Crest can stop.’” She shook her head in confusion. “So why me again? What do I have that everyone else doesn’t?”

Those who have seen death can only see through the mask and see her true identity.

Those that have lived will worship her as if she were the true meaning to life itself!

“I died twice,” she told herself. “I defied death twice. But how? How did I do it?”

The first had been, presumably, at the hands of Saix when he stabbed her and tossed her body down a hill or mountain or something like that. She’d been revived on a yacht boat after being found in the ocean. She’d taken a while to come back to the idea of life, but the struggle had been worth it in the end.

The second time had just been as brutal, again dying at the hands of another. But it had been more emotional because she actually died in Rene’s arms. Then her mind astral projected itself into the body of Jasmine, one of Saix’s loyal demons. Of course, this led to the secret of her being Saix’s cousin. Whether it was destiny or coincidence, she’d defied death a second time.

It wasn’t the how or why part that it was important. It was just the fact that death seemed to follow Faith Crest wherever she went. It was like a disease that never went away, an ex-boyfriend that constantly stalked her, a salesman refusing to stop offering her the ridiculous deals available to her …

And then suddenly, she remembered Cherri.

Ah, Cherri. She was the assassin to kill Frisk and the child, right?

Her mind had been taken off her would-be killer – or should that have been actual killer, anyway? – that wanted Frisk and her baby dead. Speaking of the child, Faith knew that she would’ve given birth soon. In actual reality, her best friend would’ve been in fifteen months of labour. However, the sleep chamber that she’d been in cut that rate by half. So taking into consideration of three months and … six months, that made her technically nine months pregnant, which was right. She’d been in that sleep chamber for almost a year, anyway. If the Angel of Darkness did something right, then it was busting Frisk out for sure …

“Looks like I’ve got a job to do, whether I like it or not,” she sighed happily, as she flew up into the sky and stayed in the clouds to avoid being seen.

* * *​

“You’re not going to leave again, are you?” Filden stood defiantly, his arms crossed and his angel wings spread out across the room, as he stared furiously at his big sister.

“Of course not,” whispered Fifi, looking concernedly and ashamedly at her little brother. “I don’t want to leave, Fil. I … I didn’t want to go in the first place, but you had to understand that I had to leave to protect you. I’m glad Rene was there for you anyway, but …”

“No one was there for you, though!” he argued. “Why?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, little bro,” she grinned ever so slightly, causing him to stare at her suspiciously. “I had some help before I left home. Besides! I was old enough to make my own decisions! I was seventeen years old!”

“But you threw college away. And who was your help?”

“Our favourite amnesia girl. Faith really pulled through in the end.”

“Wait a sec … you’re saying that Faith Crest was there to support you?”

Fifi nodded. “Yeah,” she replied. “Obviously, I saw what she could do and thought about what could happen if I stuck around. She’d been thinking of leaving since day one, but didn’t because she cared about Pablo, Jennifer and Rafael too much. She didn’t want to run off like that. I was the one that made the mistake of leaving, Fil. Don’t be mad at her, but … she said that she’d support any decision that I made, even if it meant me leaving home.”

Filden looked furious.

“I said don’t be mad with her!” groaned Fifi. “You really think that I was the only one suffering in silence? Faith had to go through so much stuff over the first few months. I only told her about myself two weeks before I left home. She tried helping me to control myself, but I couldn’t. I had to leave until I was ready to come back home, Fil. You have to understand that, please. Faith had no say in whether I stayed or not. And besides …” She smiled a little. “If she’d known about you and not ended up here, then I’m sure she’d have done the same for you. After all, we’re the same species, right?”

“Superhuman, right?” murmured Filden.

“That’s the one,” she nodded before noticing Rene approached her. “Rene, I’m sorry, ok? I shouldn’t have been so abrupt before –”

“It’s ok, I can understand you’re mad at everyone,” Rene raised his hands, mimicking what she’d done before. Fifi shook her head, but crossed her arms to continue to listen to what he said. “And maybe it really was best if you left town, even if you hurt Fil’s feelings. What would have been worse – you going out of control or him feeling hurt about you leaving?”

Fifi was surprised with Rene. “Maybe I was wrong about you. Maybe … you’ve changed. And Frisk … wow! She’s a mother now! I … I never thought that everyone could move on so easily in the past few years.”

“It’s easy, all right,” Filden smiled.

The doors to the headquarters swung open by themselves, revealing Faith, who was newly dressed and ready for some action. Filden was surprised to see her, noticing she’d grown considerably since the last time he’d seen her. However, so had he. Rene smiled in amazement because she really was alive. Fifi looked intriguingly at the girl she’d shared her power troubles with, easily remembering that she had amnesia.

“Faith, where the heck have you been?” snapped Rydia, coming to her side. “Wait!”

She backed away to where Contra and Hera were.

“You are yourself, right?” Contra asked, raising her gun.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” smirked Faith. “The Angel of Darkness is finally gone. There’s nothing wrong, except she left something useful behind.” Hera looked interestingly at her. “Not physically, Hera. I mean … I can read and speak Latin now. Weird, eh? If you need further consultation about my condition, then feel free to examine me later. Right now, I need to see Frisk. Where is she?”

“Out,” replied Hera.

“What do you mean by out?”

“Um, she walked out the door with this blue-haired guy …” said Contra.

Saix, thought Faith. But he’s powerless right now, apart from his healing. So maybe everything isn’t as bad as I thought it was. “Is … is she well?”

“Frisk? She’s at the pub, you know her,” snorted Hera.

“Hera!” exclaimed Rydia. “She means the baby.” She turned to face Faith and smiled confidently. “Yep, Eve is healthy and well. Mercurial’s playing the surrogate father at the moment. I swear … he’s becoming too attached to her these past few hours.”

“The baby, she’s called Eve?” Faith’s face lit up.

“She’s so beautiful!” Contra said, finally revealing her true feelings. “There’s this light that shines from her. I don’t know if everyone can see it, but since you’ve got your superhuman thing going on, then maybe you can confirm it. I thought that –”

However, Faith came to a halt when she saw Rene, Filden and Fifi. She was astonished to see Filden’s mutation when she noticed the angel wings spread across the room. There was something familiar about Fifi, although she instantly recognised the similarities between her and Filden, so she assumed that this was Fifi Gurito. Finally, her eyes rested on Rene Skylar, whose arms she’d died in. She nodded at him, but knew that there were important matters at hand to deal with.

“I … I’ll see you lot later,” she said. “I, um, need to see Merc first.”

“Sure!” smiled Fifi. “I completely understand. Nice to see you after three years, Faithy!”

“We’ll talk later,” nodded Filden.

Rene, however, said nothing. He could tell something was wrong with Faith, something that felt familiar …

Faith walked into the room where Mercurial was cradling Eve. He instantly noticed her and saw the brightness back in her ocean blue eyes.

“Faithy!” he smiled. “It’s … wow! The Angel of Darkness?”

“Gone,” she triumphantly said. “I … had to make a few sacrifices, but … she won’t be bothering us from now on, I promise.”

“Wanna meet RRM’s newest addition then?”

“RRM’s newest addition? Merc, this is Frisk’s baby, not one of us.”

“She is one of us! What do you mean?”

“I meant … not a member of RRM. I meant to say that yeah, she is one of us.”

Mercurial grinned. “Hey, who knows? Baby Eve might be one of us someday!” he proclaimed, continuing to cradle the baby. “Do you wanna hold her? I’m sure you’d love to hold your little cousin first removed, right?”

“I’d like to keep her as my cousin, yeah?” smiled Faith.

It was so hard to keep up this act. As Mercurial willingly agreed to hand over Eve, he left the room and Faith was now alone in the room with the child. There was a great darkness inside this child, darkness not as great as the Angel of Darkness herself, but something much more than that.

“Death,” she whispered fearfully. “You’re the one I have to destroy.”

But how could a small innocent baby be a terrifying Goddess of Death?

“It’s like what Addle said to Filden on Doomsday Island,” Faith shook her head; unable to believe she was about to kill a baby, Frisk’s baby girl. ‘The Goddess herself can only come forward through being born of an ordinary human being induced with power and a superhuman born of power.’ Saix is superhuman, but Frisk might be evohuman. There’s only way to find out.” She placed Eve back in the incubator, but kept open. She shook her head, as she took out the knife from inside her black jacket. “This is the only way I can save the world and move on …”

She raised the knife and was about to stab Eve, however, something else happened.

Faith was frozen to the spot. The knife dropped in her hand and she floated into the air against her will. The next thing she knew, Faith was being dragged towards where Eve was. The baby touched her hand, almost aware of what was going on, and Faith cried out in pain. It was a horrendous, unspeakable pain! It felt like her life was being taken out of her!

And then suddenly, it was all over.

She rose to her feet, wondering if it was all just a dream and if she would remember everything about herself. However, as Faith looked at the same spot where she’d been mentally tormented, Eve was still in the incubator. This time, she was fast asleep, almost as if nothing had happened. What if nothing had happened, though? Had it all been a dream? On the other hand, all wasn’t as it seemed …

Forcing herself to turn around, Faith felt her eyes widen and there were no words to express what – or rather who – she saw in front of her. Stood there was an exact replica of Faith Crest. She seemed too good to be true – her hair was perfectly neat, her eyes showed much more wisdom, she wore darker clothes and there was a newfound strength that terrified the original Faith Crest.

“Who are you?” Faith asked in a trembling voice.

“I’m you,” said the Faith replica, smirking darkly at her origin.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Fourteen

Stolen Identity​

“This can’t be happening!” exclaimed Faith, horrified at the sight of the replica. She took a step back when her adversary smiled nastily. When she stepped backwards, Faith raised her fists, ready for a fight. “I don’t understand … who are you?”

“I already answered this question,” smirked the Faith replica, crossing her arms and sighed satisfyingly. “I’m you, but I forgot to include the necessary details. You see, I am you … only that I’m improved.” Even her voice sounded darker than the original Faith. “I’ve mastered all your abilities, I can take whatever I want, fear does not hold me back … I’m everything you strive to be! Everything that you can never be!” She glanced at her opponent’s confusion, flashing a toothy grin. “It was simple. Be born inside the vessel and steal your DNA to come alive. In that body, I was nothing. Now I can be something!”

Faith felt her eyes turn crimson. “You stole my DNA?”

“A simple touch, that’s all it was. Whilst you correctly guessed that Eve was the Goddess of Death, you also seemed to miss that she was just a pawn in this game of chess after all. Faith Crest, this is all a game of chess after all! Most of these people are pawns, but you’re rising to become a formidable opponent. Unfortunately, you’re not the queen just yet.”

“You’re the Goddess of Death?”

“Wow, it didn’t take you long to call me by my title, did it? What was it that Saix was saying now? ‘The Goddess of Death … sure that’s not you?’ is what he said.”

“How did you know that?” Faith raised her voice.

“Simple,” smirked the Goddess of Death. “I am you. I have your appearance, abilities and … oh, did I forget to mention … your memories?” She telekinetically flung the bed at her, but Faith was able to duck and it went crashing into the wall. “Amazing what a small dose of DNA can do to me, isn’t it? One small dose of DNA was just enough to create myself a body, a body to reside in. There were only two people who could instantly notice the difference about Eve, about when I was inside her. However, it did take Saix a while longer to unravel the mystery.”

Faith rose to her feet slowly, but surely, now on her guard. “Saix?”

“Saix has died before, you know?” she said sarcastically, clearly adopting Faith’s personality. “You never knew? He temporarily died at Darkblade’s hands. It was that death, which enlightened him to the darkness. Darkblade was responsible for everything that was put into action.”

The Goddess of Death was now circling the room, whilst Faith did the same and did not let her guard down.

“Like anything else, it was all part of a cycle – people have their powers emerging, humans become intrigued, Darkblade created FFF, power corrupts Darkblade, Saix dies, Saix was inspired by Darkblade’s actions, you fight him to save the world, you get amnesia, Saix seeks revenge, Frisk gets pregnant, FFF is screwed, the parallel world opens up and all of this happens! Even Mark’s downfall played a part in this.”

“Mark?” whispered Faith.

“He and Saix are fighting to be the king,” the Goddess of Death said, laughing softly at her line. “Whilst Saix is powerless and soon will regain his power, Mark is ascending to be the most powerful superhuman ever seen … possibly more powerful than you.”

Faith laughed mockingly. “And whoever said I was the most powerful superhuman alive again?”

“Prophecies depicted it,” replied her enemy, now unable to control the nasty smile etched across her face. Faith could only see herself before she even spoke, but now she could see someone else. She could see her true enemy for the first time. “For thousands of years, before you were even in existence, prophecies depicted only a pure superhuman could destroy me.”

“And I’m that pure superhuman.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement.

“Which is why taking your form is so useful!” exclaimed the Goddess of Death. “I’m more powerful than ever, Faith Crest. By enabling Eve to live and locking your soul away in this crystal, then I’ll finally be able to fulfil my goals.”

“I won’t let you do this!” shouted Faith, getting heated up when things started floating around the room – a sign of her growing emotions.

“You’ve no choice,” she glared coldly. “Everyone you’ve ever come into contact with! My, my … pray to God that they will survive when I’m done with this accursed world.”

“The living and dead can’t be reversed!” Faith yelled. “You can’t do this! I won’t let you!” She rushed forwards, but the Goddess of Death was quicker. She touched Eve’s head and a purple light went from her into the Goddess of Death. Instantly, she teleported behind Faith and kicked her from behind. The impact of the kick possessed greatly enhanced strength and caused Faith to bang into the wall, causing it to crack. She fell down to the floor, groaning in pain. “Crap …”

“I absorbed Jasmine’s DNA from your hands when I was inside Eve,” the Goddess of Death coldly said. “So you could call me a easygoing version of Mark, except that I’ve got … more ambitious plans.”

Faith still rose to her feet, although she’d just broken her left hand. “I … I still won’t let you … let you do this …” Now my left hand is broken. Holy crap, I’ve finally broken a bone in my body! I’m not as invincible as I thought anymore.

“You’re not invincible! You never were!” yelled the Goddess of Death. “My title may be the Goddess of Death, but I think I’ve finally figured what I’m going to call myself now.” She smirked. “Nexi.”

“Nexi?” retorted Faith. However, she slowly came around to the reason why. “Nex means death in Latin. But … Nexi? You’re out of your mind.”

“We’ll see who is out of their mind once I lock you away in this!” Nexi cried, revealing a purple crystal in her hand. Faith instantly felt powerless and in physical pain. “This crystal … my, my! I created this myself when I was trapped in another realm for thousands of years. One day, I prayed that I would escape and use this against my supposed enemy. I am the Goddess of Death and you … are assumedly the Saviour.”

“The Saviour?”

“Not much of a Saviour when I’m wearing your appearance now, are you?”

“Stop it! I’ll … you’ll … you’re not gonna … you won’t win …”

“This purple crystal, known as the Kedzaer, can render only the Saviour powerless and endure physical and mental pain. As long as this crystal in is in your sight, then only can I truly get my plan to work! The Kedzaer, of course, has its twin – one that can subdue me as well. This is called the Kadzaer, used to restrain me. But the ancient men of this planet created the Kadzaer. They believed that I would come to them one day and knew that the Saviour would use the Kadzaer to hold me down. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been seen for a hundred years …”

Faith was now rolling over in pain because the closer the crystal was, the more it was causing her to be physically and mentally sick. It was almost like when Superman was affected by kryptonite. However, this wasn’t fiction – and this crystal was stopping her from stopping the Goddess of Death herself … or rather simply put, Nexi. So now the Kedzaer was holding her down, plus the Kadzaer – which could be used to repel Nexi – hadn’t been seen for countless centuries.

Why, this was just perfect!

It was exactly how Faith imagined being defeated …

Not.

She couldn’t allow her emotions to take over her decisions this way.

“The Saviour will no longer save the world,” declared Nexi. “I am the Destroyer, destined to cast death upon the entire universe.”

“No …” gasped Faith, managing to stand up. “You … won’t do … this …” She grabbed Nexi’s hand, which held the Kedzaer. “I … can’t let you … do it. You won’t be the … Destroyer … I’d rather … destroy us … both …”

Nexi recoiled in surprise. “Then so be it!” she snarled and flew right at Faith.

They both smashed through the wall and carried on flying upwards through the walls until they were finally in the air and headed upwards in the battle to determine who would rightfully decide the fate of the world.

Mercurial immediately ran into the room as soon as he heard Eve crying. Although Nexi now had her own form to be proud of, the baby still remained. He was aware of the damage that had occurred, but Eve’s safety was now pivotal. He held her in his arms protectively and rocked her.

“It’s all right, baby …” he murmured. “You’re going to be fine …”

Almost immediately, Rene, Filden and Fifi were in the same room.

“What happened?” Fifi demanded.

“Looks like one heck of a fight broke out here,” commented Rene.

Filden looked towards the holes in the walls above them. “I’ll go check it out, see if something’s happened to Faith.” With no hesitation, he spread out his angel wings and took off into the air within seconds. He was out of the headquarters and back on the surface.

“I have to admit, he’s pretty cool with those wings,” remarked Fifi.

“I demand an explanation as to why the hell we have to keep repairing this place!” came Contra’s annoyed voice in the other room.

* * *​

Frisk Valentine didn’t understand what was bothering the love of her life. He was concerned for his daughter, sure, but why the hell would he want to leave now when she’d already reassured him that Mercurial, Eve’s faithful guardian, would look after her? She chased him down the street in Cardiff like a banshee. Although there were people giving Saix awkward looks for the way he appeared and what he was wearing, he did not care. He did not care in the slightest because he knew that he was already above these mere humans.

“What is it with you?” groaned Frisk, as she finally caught up to Saix minutes later and followed him on the way back to the parallel Red Rose Movement headquarters. “I don’t like it when you’re like this … will you just STOP for a minute?” She grabbed his shoulders and he immediately obeyed, giving Frisk some form of power over him. “Thank you. Now what is your problem?”

“Eve might be in danger,” explained Saix, shoving past her. “I can’t begin to define what kind of danger, but I believe it will involve my cousin at one point.”

“Faith?” she said in a confused voice. “Ok, I know you two being cousins is still a little weird for me to get into my head right now, but why the hell do you want to get her involved with everything again? She’s my best friend, Saix, and you’re NOT going to kill her. Besides, Eve is part of her family now. Besides, why the hell did you want to murder her in the first place? Are you still as insane as you were a year ago?”

“You ask too many questions.” Saix didn’t even look at her while saying this.

“You hide too many answers.” Her pace was getting quicker by this point.

“And so does she,” he retorted. “I told you once already, Frisk. Faith didn’t want you seeing too much, although when that already happened to you, I … I couldn’t believe you were almost like us both. To be an evohuman is a responsibility that you … well, let’s say that you abused your gifts at first.”

“So what? You said that I used to shoplift the big shops like Marks & Spencer’s and River Island, but so what? Does that really matter anymore? Saix … LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!” Frisk exploded when he refused to look at her. This gained almost half the street’s attention. As soon as he stopped walking, so did she. Saix looked at her, not afraid of her newfound strength, but was intrigued to hear what she had to say. “When she gets her memories back, then she can give mine back to me. I’ll deal with my crap, thank you very much!”

However, Saix had other ideas. “Or I could help you with your abilities.”

“Abilities, schmibilities. What am I? Super fast? Dangerous? Please …” But when she noticed the curved smile on her lover’s face, Frisk had every right to be worried. “Don’t tell me that I’m –”

“Able to run at incredible speeds, faster than a bullet, faster than almost anything,” he finished her sentence. “You could try it now … if you wanted. Run to the headquarters now. Time yourself if you like.”

Frisk crossed her arms in defiance and stuck out her tongue. However, the more she thought about it, the more she thought that Saix was right. Although Faith hadn’t remembered anything at first, she had been almost completely dishonest with Frisk. On the other hand, Frisk was slowly gaining Saix’s trust again because he was being almost completely open with her. If he said she could run faster than a bullet and then surely he wasn’t lying, right?

“If Solstice could see me now, she’d think I was drunk,” she muttered under her breath and sighed nervously before she did the inevitable.

* * *​

Riku Walker had taken it upon himself to get away for sometime. With the birth of Eve and Saix’s impending return, he felt useless. Although he’d wanted to apprehend Saix and take him back to the prison he belonged in, he didn’t want to hurt Frisk’s feelings either. So instead, he found himself on the very beach, where he’d said goodbye to Faith a long time ago. This beach had been the subject of his many nightmares that reoccurred for several months last year.

His right hand was clutching the Way To Dawn tightly, almost as if he would be heading off into battle soon or his duty would call him to that same fight. Being Frisk’s birth partner had been an overwhelming experience. Fortunately, Saix didn’t see him when he’d snuck into the headquarters. Thankfully, Riku had decided to teleport out through a dark portal and end up here again.

This beach felt so significant … but why?

What was the reason for its existence? What purpose did it serve?

And then immediately, he felt it.

Riku dropped the Way To Dawn and fell to his knees, overwhelmed by grief itself.

“Koloth … Angelus …” he whimpered quietly. “No … you … idiots … why?” He rose to his feet again, but felt violently sick. “Angelus, you stupid, stupid girl. That ritual was dangerous! Why did you and Koloth go back to save her? She could handle herself … now you’re trapped in the dark realm, one I can never dwell. And Koloth, you died … like a hero. Why? How could you allow them to die, Faith? They sacrificed themselves to get you back, but … why?”

“Riku?”

At the sound of his name, he turned around to face his comrades. Aerith Gainsborough, Mitsuki Naoki and Julius Argexis had once again joined him in the light of recent events. They’d just heard everything he’d said. Julius was horrified to hear the loss of the one man who was like a brother to him – Koloth Serlo. He fell to his knees this time, comforted by Mitsuki, who was unable to register Angelus was no longer with them. On the other hand, Aerith suppressed her feelings. Instead, she walked to Riku – whose name she’d called – and stopped when she was just a few metres apart from him.

“Angelus knew her time would come one day,” she whispered.

“But Koloth made the biggest sacrifice of them all,” Riku said, fighting to keep steady control of the tone of his voice. It was shaky, but nervous. “He didn’t know what would happen. Angelus … she – she knew the ritual would end up killing her along with the Angel of Darkness, but … it came as a shock to Koloth. He fought he would fight until the end. His soul … it won’t be at rest.”

“She’ll have put his body to rest, though,” Aerith kindly pointed out. “We’ll have to find her and see where she buried him, so that we can remember him properly.”

“I – I suppose you’re right.”

The two elite turned to Julius, who was unable to contain himself. There were tears streaming down his face, but he did not cry out loudly. These were silent tears, tears for Koloth Serlo, the man who trained him, the man who he had looked up to as an older brother figure. Mitsuki looked worriedly at Riku, whom she knew hadn’t coped with this well either. As Aerith went to comfort Julius next, Mitsuki found herself standing side by side with Riku. The two were unable to do pretty much anything, apart from watch Julius in his eternal pain.

“Angelus got revenge,” muttered Mitsuki. “She managed to seal her away.”

“But we lost her, too,” Riku said. “We’ve lost two important people from our team.”

“What happened to Rene?” asked Aerith, raising her voice, almost as if she was afraid something had happened to him as well.

“Rene’s fine and so is his angel-winged friend Filden,” he manage to produce a weak smile, despite the overwhelming losses. “I’ve met the parallel Red Rose Movement team. And … Frisk has had her child. She’s called Eve … she’s the most beautiful baby in the world, normal as can be. Wanna come meet her?”

* * *​

The reparations had begun. Since Mercurial had been so adamant to look after Eve until Frisk returned, it was down to Rene, Fifi, Contra, Hera and Rydia to take care of the repairs. Whilst Hera was the man for the job to hammer things back, he enlisted Rene’s help to produce the fire to keep them together. However, Fifi would occasionally help out since her manipulation of the fire was on a completely different level than what Rene’s was. The repairing process had taken quite a few hours, but they were able to get everything back to where it was.

“Thank God … for that …” panted Rene, as he lay back on one of the many sofas scattered around the headquarters. He noticed how Fifi wasn’t tired. “Hey! How come you got to do the least of the work?”

“Unfit, Rene, unfit,” she taunted.

“Unfit? I’ll give you UN –” he began to say, but failed to light a single flame on his finger. He looked shocked, but Fifi continued to laugh at him. “What? Are you doing this, Fifi? You think it’s funny?”

“Like I said before, you’re unfit,” Fifi pulled a serious face. “What’s wrong? Going to wait for my little brother to come back and tell me off? Please, he couldn’t tell me off if he wanted.”

At that moment, the doors swung open, revealing Filden. He’d returned from his scout in the sky for Faith. Judging by the overwhelming concerned expression on his face, it was safe to assume that he hadn’t found anything. Mercurial came into the room, holding Eve securely in his arms, as soon as he heard the doors open.

“Anything?” his voice boomed across the room.

“Wish I could say I found her, but I didn’t,” he shrugged regretfully. He came to sit down next to Rene as soon as he’d put straps on his back to contain the wings and a jumper on his upper body. “There was nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. Things just looked … normal.”

“Trust me, there’s no such thing as ‘normal’ when you’re in the supernatural capital of the world,” remarked Rydia, who was investigating the vampires they’d recently encountered before on the computer. “Vampires … werewolves … superhumans. It’s all part of the job that we have to endure.”

“You’re awfully smart for a blonde,” remarked Rene.

“I resent that!” Fifi and Filden said together.

“So do I,” agreed Rydia.

“There will be no blonde bashing in my presence, ya hear me?” snapped Mercurial. “You never know … Eve could be a pretty blonde one day and the guys won’t wanna mock her intelligence when she’s into dating, right? So zip it, Renero Skylar.”

“You’re not going to bust a cap in my arse!” he called back to him.

Mercurial merely raised a hand, as he walked back into Frisk’s room.

Rene shook his head annoyingly. “No, he won’t … he wouldn’t dare try it …”

“You’re pushing him, Rene,” Filden pointed out. “Not even a few days in the parallel world and you’re already making enemies.”

As the joking went on, no one seemed to notice that she had returned. Faith glanced around the room, noticing Rene and Filden chatting away on the sofa, Rydia at the computer researching their vampire friends, Contra and Hera discussing a work project that they’d been working on for the past three months, whilst Mercurial was too busy playing the role of overprotective uncle by looking after Eve.

“No one going to welcome me home then?” she asked.

However, as soon as her voice was heard throughout the headquarters, there was a significant change in the atmosphere. Rene and Filden rose to their feet immediately, Rydia was off the computer, Contra and Hera were by her side and Mercurial, still holding Eve, came back into the main room.

“Well, you could’ve told me beforehand,” remarked Filden. “After your little shenanigan, we thought you weren’t coming back, maybe because you were in trouble.”

“What happened, Faith?” asked Hera curiously.

“Honestly?” said Faith. “I was attacked by the Goddess of Death, claiming herself to be the Destroyer that would wipe out the entire universe with the power of death or something like that, I suppose. I fought her and then … and then I … I remembered everything about myself.” She looked towards Rene in particular. “I remembered my childhood, the past four years, what Rene and I had –”

“Let’s not get into specifics here, baby present!” Mercurial raised his voice.

“That’s fantastic, Faith,” smiled Fifi, causing her to gain her attention. “Remember me now then?”

“Fifi,” Faith smiled brightly, but then her expression turned into a dark smirk. She approached her and slapped her in the face, much to everyone’s surprise. “That’s for leaving Filden in a complete mess.” Then again, she surprisingly hugged her. “Oh my God! It’s been so long! It’s been so long since we – since we finally talked. I hated you for leaving, but you came back. That’s all that matters, right?”

Fifi shrugged, eventually paving the way for her to see Filden.

“So, um, I heard you tried rescuing me, right?”

“Sure I did,” he nodded. “It feels weird seeing you again … it’s been over eighteen months, Faithy. I wondered when we’d see each other again.”

“And look at you!” Faith said, putting her hands on her hips. “Angel now?”

“I’d be your saving grace, but you already captured Rene,” shrugged Filden. He noticed everyone was still staring in awe. “All right, let the girl have some space, gee! No, not you, Rene! You stay.”

Whilst everyone went back to his or her business, Faith was finally left alone with Rene. They stared at each other for a while until Rene finally approached her nervously and touched her cheek. She shivered at his touch, but was embracing it quicker than he anticipated. In turn, Faith put her hand on his shoulder, relishing the thought that everything was remembered.

“Is it really you?” Rene whispered, half excitedly and half curiously.

“It’s really me,” Faith whispered back, a tear streaming down her face. “It’s really me, Rene. I’m back, I remember now … I remember us.” She held his hand and squeezed it tightly to reassure him. “And we have a lot to talk about.”

“We do?” he sounded confused.

“Of course we do,” she nodded, now resting her head on his chest. “Gee, I can’t really remember the last time I did this … but I do now. It was just before I had to deal with Saix and died. It was a nice feeling, knowing I’d die, but … remembering how warm you felt.” Faith now looked up at him. “I think we should go into another room, probably somewhere private.”

“Why’d you say that?”

“Because everyone’s staring at us.”

Rene looked around the room, noticing that Filden was peeping out from the newspaper he was holding, Rydia looking occasionally from the computer; Contra and Hera were hopelessly staring, whilst Mercurial gave them a little wave. Rene groaned and stared at the girl he’d been hoping to be reunited with for over a year.

“It’s just to talk, right?” he asked.

“What’s the matter? Scared?” she whispered in his ear.

“No! Of course not!” protested Rene. “I’m just … interested to hear what you’ve got to say, that’s all.”

* * *​

Saix glanced at his watch. She was supposed to be here by now, right? So why hadn’t Frisk turned up? The instructions were simple – super speed to the headquarters and wait for him there. Surely, he hadn’t been too slow for her, right? Otherwise, she’d have come straight back and taken him there with her. It was nearing the evening by now and he couldn’t enter inside without her. Frisk was the mother. Saix was the father. They wanted to go inside together as a couple, a couple that would not be broken down easily by anyone opposed to their union.

Suddenly, a fireball appeared out of nowhere and hit him squarely in the chest. It burned his cloak, but Saix was still able to get up merely seconds later, as his self-healing power was kicking in. He was astounded to see where the fireball had emerged from, considering his adoptive brother would have been the last person he’d see here. Frisk had to come soon, right? His healing power alone wouldn’t be enough to withstand the might of the FFF elite, who had all, but gathered near him.

“Aerith, Mitsuki, Riku and Julius,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “Going to kill me now that you know the truth?”

“I would say yes, but I’d be lying,” growled Julius, who grabbed Saix by the collar and thrust him up against the wall. “I don’t care whether you’re a father or not, I’d love to send you packing to hell where the demons can swallow your soul whole and make you suffer for eternity!”

“Now, Julius,” Mitsuki said.

“Remember what we said,” Aerith stepped forward to rest her hand on Julius’ shoulder. “We all still feel terrible for what has occurred over the past year or so. But we cannot afford to lose control of our emotions. We can’t let them get the better of us!”

Riku, however, preferred Julius’ approach. “Ok, Saix, we’re gonna make this easy enough for ye. You are the father of Eve Valentine, no? Unlike you, we never want to take lives away, unless it has to be the final option. We wanted to destroy you at first, we’ll admit, but we couldn’t do it. You were invaluable to us and you still are now. We wouldn’t want to tear you away from your newborn child or Frisk for that matter. What we need you to do is behave.”

“Behave?” spat Saix. “You’ve got it all wrong, haven’t you? You know nothing of what’s going to happen, do you? The almighty FFF is powerless!”

“What’s going to happen?” murmured Aerith.

“Death, destruction! Everything!” he growled. “The Goddess of Death.”

“That rumour has been quashed!” yelled Riku. “So if you want to remain alive, I suggest you look at your daughter again, Saix. I know what you’re thinking. Even though the power of darkness has been released from your soul, I can smell it like an awful stench! The darkness has corrupted you as it did to Faith! You’re being blinded to the light that your daughter really is! A man once said that monsters could never bear children. He was wrong – your daughter isn’t a monster, although you might be yourself! Take another look at her, Saix. Take another look at her.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Fifteen

Mark’s Apocalypse​

Lord Golbez sat in his private chambers, pondering to himself. How did it come to this? His elite was divided amongst themselves. The news that Angelus Mortis and Koloth Serlo had died to enable Faith to get back to her rightful body and embark on her quest to defeat the Goddess of Death was noble indeed, but now it seemed the stakes had been raised from one year ago. Alongside them, Shenorai Eterna was also dead. It frustrated and upset him to no end that his team was being dwindled down to small, inadequate numbers. He rose to his feet and looked out the window, noticing that everyone was getting on with his or her business. It had been a day since he’d sent his remaining elite to deal with the impending threat. However, even though Riku had contacted him that the Goddess of Death was dealt with and that they’d found that Saix was the doting father they least expected him to be, Lord Golbez couldn’t help feeling that everything wasn’t right.

Turning away from the window, he felt so much calmness in the air. Why was everyone so serene again? Was it just taken by Faith’s word that the Goddess of Death was finally defeated? He didn’t want to doubt her word alone, but something didn’t feel right. He had this feeling that evil was still lurking around the corner. Whether this was down to his increasing insecurities or tingling suspicion that the world would always need saving at one point, Lord Golbez couldn’t ignore his initial thoughts. He walked out of his private chambers and hurried down the hallways, something rare he would do. The lower members of FFF glanced in awe. He never dwelled down the hallways spontaneously! For them, it would always be a true honour to be in his presence because he was hardly seen nowadays in their headquarters.

“Argor!” his voice boomed when he reached one of the many living rooms.

Argor, a strong yet wise advisor, rose to his feet immediately at the sound of his name. “Yes, my lord?” he said, his curiosity peaking.

“I want you to gather everyone in the city together,” Lord Golbez instructed. “I have many things I must say to them.”

“I have no objection, Lord Golbez, but may I ask what is the occasion?”

“There is no occasion. I believe we are on the verge of a war.”

“War, my lord?”

“One greater than the Fantasy War, Argor. Please, if you could assemble everyone in the city to gather at my balcony outside my private chambers. This is of the greatest importance.”

“Certainly, my lord. When do you require them to be there?”

“Three hours, Argor,” replied Lord Golbez. “Give them three hours to get there. I do not want any man, woman or child lingering on the streets by the stroke of noon.”

* * *​

Rene Skylar was deeply upset. He’d taken it upon himself to sneak on to one of the rooftops to gaze upon the beauty of Cardiff. When Faith wanted to talk to him only a day ago, she wanted nothing between them for a while – at least until she could get used to remembering everything. However, she had given him a heartfelt hug, one that only signalled that not all was lost. But it didn’t hold back the pain of loving her. Loving Faith had been hard for him to do these past couple of days, considering he was about to give up on her, anyway.

So it had done him some good to get some time away from everyone after all.

It was in the middle of the afternoon when he smiled lovingly at the sun. He tossed off his jacket and lay back on it, taking in the sun rays and hoped to get a tan. Besides, this was a parallel world – only the decisions were altered here. Getting a tan in this weather would do him some good. Perhaps it would make Faith want to come back to him quicker. His feelings of lust and love were overwhelming him. Filden had told him to be patient, but he was too impatient at the moment.

He wanted to re-ignite what they had.

What they had was special and secret.

Well, it wasn’t secret anymore because he’d opened his big mouth …

“Thought we’d find you here,” smiled Mercurial, as he, Contra, Hera and Rydia joined him on the rooftop. He sat down next to Rene and closed his eyes. “Ah! Beautiful sunshine, isn’t it?”

“And here I was, thinking you wouldn’t leave Eve alone for a minute,” remarked Rene.

“That’s what we thought, too,” giggled Contra, as she took the next available space next to Rene. “But of course, Frisk was being really stingy and Eve is her child. Saix wanted them to be alone together as a family, of course, too.”

“Saix doesn’t look too bad,” shrugged Hera. “He’s really loving being a daddy.”

“Hey, don’t forget all the terrible things he’s done,” Rydia smartly pointed out. She thought that Rene would start making blonde jokes again, but he nodded approvingly instead. “He killed Faith the first time around, plus he almost recreated the entire universe. Imagine that! At least Azalea won’t be used again now that the source that controls her is destroyed.”

Rene remembered that easily. It was he, who’d burned the damn thing. It had been the first time since he’d used his pyrokinetic abilities and only provoked Riku into helping him to tame them carefully, too. Speaking of FFF, he thought about the losses of Angelus and Koloth. Now he hadn’t been close to Angelus because he’d been freaked out by her aura reading at times, but he’d come to think of her as an older sister eventually. Koloth had been the hardest loss to sustain within FFF – he and Julius had been Rene’s mentor. It felt like losing an uncle when it came to Koloth. He had taught Rene so much about mortal combat and such.

“And the Goddess of Death got her ass kicked!” Mercurial raised his voice, wanting to be heard. “Go, Faith!”

“You really expect to take her word for it?” groaned Hera. “Remember that we fought the werewolves and she blatantly lied that she got rid of the last one? The cycle started all over again and we had to clean up her mess!”

“Werewolves, eh?” Rene said, being reminded of his first official mission. “Huh, that’s weird. I remember taking down some werewolves sometime ago with Riku when we were looking for a cure. Wonder if Zeria got to find anything after all …”

“A cure for werewolves? We couldn’t even find it,” Rydia stated, “and we’re ahead of your world in advanced technology, too! If there were such a thing, then I’d be the first to find it. The government would’ve gotten us to research it more thoroughly, too.”

“Oh yeah, I forget we work for the government!” laughed Contra. “Oh, wait! Or is that the government works for us? They seem to need us more than we need them!”

“You sure there’re no supernatural events going on right now?” Rene raised an eyebrow.

“I’d know,” Mercurial said, waving his radio proudly in his hand. “The computer is monitoring the entire city, plus the government would alert us immediately if there were incidents in other parts of the country. England, Scotland, Ireland … we could get called to any of them in a moment, really.”

“I seem to recall an incident in Scotland, where there was a wannabe witch trying to practice actual witchcraft,” Hera was saying. “Was a waste of time … the damn woman just wanted to find out if we were real! Luckily, Faith wiped her memory clean with no recollection of the incident. So at least our organisation was protected.”

Rene tapped his fingers impatiently on the ground. “Does Faith do that … a lot?”

“Wipe out memories, you mean?” asked Rydia. “No, unless it’s the final option. She only mastered the memory wiping soon after joining us. Poor girl was in a right state when she joined us … she really loves you, Rene, you know?”

“She talked about me?”

“Every single day until around the time the Angel of Darkness took over her body and started wiping out chunks of her memory from the day she got in there. It almost seemed like you weren’t important anymore … probably because she had other matters on her mind. Heck, she almost killed us when she found about us putting Frisk on a lockdown in the freezer!” Rene stared suspiciously at her. “It was Merc’s orders, ok? Besides, I have no choice in the matter –”

“Only because the government had a warrant for your arrest in America,” Mercurial quickly pointed out. “You hacked into the military plans because you were so adamant against wars …”

“It was an accident!” protested Rydia. “I didn’t do it, I stumbled across them on accident. I was set up!”

As Mercurial and Rydia continued to argue with Contra and Hera watching in the wings, Rene decided to ignore them. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his jacket and walked to the edge of the rooftop. He placed his hands on the wall and looked out at everyone getting on with their business. Just why was he cursed to be one of the special ones?

All Rene ever wanted was to be a normal person with a girlfriend, maybe a good few friends to have a laugh with and so on. Maybe one day, he would’ve wanted to marry that girlfriend after proposing romantically to her and possibly settle down with a family. He glanced at the parallel RRM team. Could they ever have what he wanted? Their lives were hectic all the time. Was it possible they could ever escape their jobs?

“Don’t let her fool you!”

The voice came out of nowhere. Rene glanced around to see whoever was speaking to him, but there was no one there. The others didn’t appear to notice what was going on, as they didn’t seem to hear the voice. He crossed his arms defiantly.

“That’s it, I’m through with disembodied voices,” he muttered under his breath.

“You can’t … I can’t … please …”

But the voice sounded familiar. It sounded like it was in pain.

“What am I supposed to do?” he said.

“The Goddess … stop … her …”

“Is she not dead?”

“You were … fooled …”

The voice faded, even though Rene wanted it to tell him more. However, as soon as it stopped speaking, something unexpected happened. An explosion suddenly occurred some ten miles away on a building. It caused Mercurial, Contra, Hera and Rydia to join Rene’s side in watching in shock. Everyone screamed below the rooftop.

“I know what that was,” whispered Rene, although they could hear him.

“Then tell us!” exclaimed Hera angrily.

Rene glanced at them darkly. “The Goddess of Death.”

“All right …” murmured Rydia, raising her hand. “I vote that this guy is crazy. Anyone else?”

“The Goddess of Death is dead!” yelled Mercurial. “Faith stopped her!”

“No, it’s her! It’s her!” protested Rene. “The Goddess of Death isn’t defeated! I know, I just know it!”

“And where are you getting your crack theories from then?” growled Contra.

“There was a voice,” Rene explained, looking away from then. “There’s someone fooling us … maybe the Goddess of Death faked her death. This voice told me that I need to stop her … but why? What does it all mean?” The others stared at him, but he proclaimed his innocence nonetheless. “I’m not crazy, everyone! I’ve heard this voice before … before I came here. It was back in my world, back in the FFF headquarters.”

“So the Goddess of Death isn’t as dead as we thought, humph?” retorted Mercurial, grabbing his gun and loading it with bullets. “Well, I guess we need to find out what the hell is going on, starting with Faith Crest.”

“What if she doesn’t know the Goddess is alive?” suggested Rydia.

“True, Faith has a tendency to be left in the dark all the time,” Hera said scornfully.

“So we should hunt her ourselves?” Contra was horrified at the thought. “Don’t you remember Addle Usagi saying that only Faith can stop her?”

“Well, Addle always was a crackpot,” muttered Rydia.

“If the voice told me to go after it, then we should take its word,” Rene pointed out quickly, getting his turn to speak. “I’d go it after myself, but it’d be useful to have you all here.”

“Merc, you’re going to have to come whether you like it or not,” said Hera. “Saix can protect Frisk and Eve. Remember, Frisk could always run to Egypt if she wanted. It didn’t stop her the first time when Saix told her to come back to headquarters.”

“Then I should get Filden and Fifi for extra firepower,” suggested Rene.

Rydia crossed her arms. “I’ll go back to HQ and tell them,” she said. “I’m no good in mortal combat, anyway. I’ll keep monitoring you on any available CCTV and we can keep in touch through our earpieces.”

“Good idea,” agreed Mercurial. “All right, team! Let’s get to work!”

“What about FFF?” Rene said next. “They could –”

“All right, let’s bring them all then!” groaned Mercurial. “So how many are going to find the Goddess? There’s going to be me, Rene, Contra, Hera, Aerith, Mitsuki, Riku, Julius, Filden and Fifi … ten people altogether! There’s no way that the Goddess could take us all down!”

“But what about Faith?” Contra asked. “Do we leave her in the dark?”

“She’s had enough for a lifetime,” said Rene. “We’ll let her know when we’ve dealt with her.”

* * *​

Saix had earned himself the seal of approval when it came to his beautiful daughter, Eve. She had likened him to well, even though she was only two days old. He had likened to Riku’s words …

“Ok, Saix, we’re gonna make this easy enough for ye. You are the father of Eve Valentine, no? Unlike you, we never want to take lives away, unless it has to be the final option. We wanted to destroy you at first, we’ll admit, but we couldn’t do it. You were invaluable to us and you still are now. We wouldn’t want to tear you away from your newborn child or Frisk for that matter. What we need you to do is behave.”

“You’re being blinded to the light that your daughter really is! A man once said that monsters could never bear children. He was wrong – your daughter isn’t a monster, although you might be yourself! Take another look at her, Saix. Take another look at her.”

When he had taken another look at his daughter, she really was a beautiful emanating light that lit up the entire world. Never had Saix felt humanity to be a gift more than a curse. He loved being a father … well, except from the whole thing about Frisk demanding that he change her nappies. Regardless of that, he felt like he was going to be an exceptional father. Once upon a time, he had gazed at Frisk lovingly when they were friends many years ago (which she still did not remember) and never imagined that they’d be hear years later with a child of their own.

Ever since learning that he was a father, Saix had plans of his own that definitely included Frisk. She was the one for him, so that only meant he had one proposition for her. He watched her come back into the room with a concerned expression on her face. Nonetheless, he still thought she was as beautiful as she thought he was extraordinarily handsome.

“The Goddess of Death is still alive,” she whispered, horrified.

Saix’s fatherly urges kicked in. “She won’t touch her. She will never touch her.”

“I know that, but … I’m not just scared of her,” Frisk said, staring down at her hands. “I managed to run to the River Nile yesterday. I’m scared I’ll run off the planet and I won’t be able to come back. Saix, I want you to do something for me in case that happens.”

“Nothing is going to happen!” Saix raised his voice. “We won’t live without you!”

“You have to protect Eve with your life if something happens to me,” whispered Frisk worriedly. “I can imagine the Goddess is going to come after me next. Faith is out of the picture because she’s too exhausted. She’s been through too much for a lifetime! I just, well, it’s just … nice that you two made up.”

Saix raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, she was awfully forgiving for me killing her.”

“See? Even family members can forgive each other,” Frisk said, putting her hands on her hips as if she was lecturing him. “Anyway, Rydia just got back here and she’s going to be monitoring them all the way through. So, um, maybe … maybe we should stay in here for a bit.” She closed the door of her room. “Leave Rydia alone, get some time to ourselves at last.”

“Hmm,” he nodded, eyeing every inch of her body. “You’re not looking bad for someone who’s just given birth two days ago.”

“The super speed is shifting most of the weight,” she rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed, as Saix put his daughter back in the incubator. “We’ll be getting a cot for her in the next day or so. Merc has been awfully close to Eve. I’m thinking of making him the godfather.”

“That drama queen?” eyed Saix.

“Of course! He’s done nothing, but be a sweetheart throughout the birth and after.”

“Even when he put you on lockdown for a year?”

“He had no choice, Saix! The Goddess of Death was inside my baby after all!”

“The idiots thought that the Goddess was Eve, but it’s too bad that they didn’t realise that she was just a vessel until she gained her form.”

“Let’s not talk about her now, you clown. We want to talk about us.”

“Us?” Saix raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I wanted to talk to you about us.”

“You did?” asked Frisk excitedly. “What is it? I don’t want to leave you if that’s –”

“No, there’s something important I need to do,” he shook his head. “I know you don’t want to leave. I know that I don’t want to leave you either. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

She stared at him confusedly, as he rose to his feet and walked away to the wall. Saix knew that it was now or never. With a baby girl created because of their love, it was only natural that he wanted to do this. Suddenly, he turned around and walked back to her again. He bent down on one knee and Frisk gasped. He opened the small blue box that contained a dazzling, golden ring with a diamond inside.

“Frisk, ever since we met, there was something between us, a connection! A connection that continued to be there, even when we were in different worlds,” he said, smiling genuinely. “I waited a year, wondering if you would take me back. Then when I realised that I was going to be a father, I just knew it. I knew that this was more than destiny. It was something I never thought … you are my humanity. You’re the only spark of humanity I have left. Before you, my life was a cold, nonhuman existence. My childhood had left me scarred, being adopted by Julius’ father did not help either. I never had a childhood, Frisk, so I … I want to make sure that Eve gets the childhood she deserves. I was driven to such machinations that I even turned against my own blood relative to get something that I could never deserve. My life was empty, but now it’s complete.”

He took a moment to breathe before speaking again.

“I have a wonderful daughter, who’s going to grow up to become so special. Plus, I have the most dazzling woman that I may have despised at first, but came around to love. It was awkward, thinking I could love you. But that idea has been set in my mind for the past year. Every day without you were like the darkness swallowing me whole a thousand times. My days of creating the vision of the world that I yearn for are over. I want to be powerful again because my powers were my birthright. But I don’t want to carry on in my life alone. My real parents are dead and I will never know them, but … only through Faith’s real parents will I ever get closer to the truth. That truth can wait, however, because now I want to ask you something.”

Frisk’s face was streaming with tears by now.

“Will you marry me, Frisky Kelly Valentine?” he asked.

Although he’d just said her full name and that bothering her usually, Frisk did not seem alerted. His speech of his life before and during the time of their relationship was overwhelming her, to say the least. It had rendered her speechless. Normally, she would’ve laughed at everything he said, but now … now everything made sense – the way he acted, the secrets were coming out slowly, but surely. Frisk wanted to know why Saix was the way he was, but knew that would take him time to completely open up about his past. But now would come the inevitable answer.

Or would it?

She was still speechless, unable to produce her answer. Her eyes kept looking at the ring and then at Saix, who was patiently waiting for her to speak. What was going on?

* * *​

“We are in danger! This is bigger than the Fantasy War, my people. This is threatening all of existence as we know it!” Lord Golbez shouted, as he was addressing the large crowd below the balcony he was stood on. “The Goddess of Death was assumedly defeated not one day ago from now. However! It is highly believed that she has returned one way or another. Riku Walker has managed to relay the message to me.”

Argor stood faithfully by Lord Golbez’s side, strong and wilful as ever.

“I ask you all not to panic!” he continued to speak to the crowd. “I want you to be alert. Now … I want you to report anything suspicious to Argor by my side or address something directly to me, Lord Golbez! The Goddess of Death could be anyone! She will strike us down if she can. But we must not fear death! Death is not the answer in this war, my people! We must remain strong!”

The crowd started clapping their hands, enabling Lord Golbez to return to his private chambers. Argor swiftly followed his superior.

“Is there anything you require of me, my lord?”

“No, but thank you, Argor,” Lord Golbez nodded. “I will leave you alone now to your business. I must continue with my plans, thank you.”

Argor nodded willingly and closed the doors to his private chambers, allowing the almighty lord of FFF to be alone and conduct his plans, as he had said. However, it did not take him long to realise that something was amiss. Lord Golbez rose to his feet and glanced around the room suspiciously. In the corner, Mark Johnson emerged from the darkness and looked worse than ever. There were cuts all over his body, including a bloody slash across his forehead, and his eyes kept on changing colour.

“Mark …” he murmured.

However, the desk that Lord Golbez was sat at was telekinetically flung into the wall and destroyed into little pieces. Lord Golbez himself was raised into the air by Mark, who was using telekinesis to do so. His iron gaze was not human whatsoever. He walked towards him, little emotion seen in his eyes.

“The Goddess of Death won’t be the real apocalypse in the universe,” he said. “I will be.” Lord Golbez was released from his telekinetic grip momentarily until he was forced into his chair and strapped down to it by ropes that mysteriously appeared. Mark was now revealed to be wearing a hooded cloak, one that looked strikingly similar to Saix’s. “The heart of the universe is in danger. I can stop the Goddess, but I can’t stop myself.”

“Mark, listen to me …”

“I TOLD YOU THAT THE POWER WAS CONSUMING ME!” screamed Mark, causing the glass cabinets to suddenly shatter. “But here you are now, sitting here to combat the Goddess. Both universes think they have a chance with her … but I’m the only one that does … at least, I’m the only available one that can stop her.”

“What do you mean?”

“And here I was, thinking that the omnipotent Lord Golbez has the answers to everything!” he spat in his face. Lord Golbez shivered in fear. “I was wrong. You! You are a disgrace to humanity, to the evohumans and even superhumans … such as myself.” He laughed nastily. “Oh dear … I never thought how good the power tastes. It was such a good thing that you ordered me to wipe out Faith’s mind in the first place. Or was it a good idea? It’s not looking like it’s a good idea now that you’re the one at my mercy!”

“Mark, what happened to you?” asked Lord Golbez calmly.

“The empathic mimicry is going out of control, but there’s nothing I can do about it anymore,” Mark said darkly, walking around the room and circling him. “There’s no limitations on what I could do … I could destroy the universe if I wanted. I could! I could end the suffering of the worlds as we know it.”

“You could destroy … existences themselves?”

“I could do anything, Lord Golbez! It was you who held me back from achieving my true potential. Alas, I’ve almost reached it. No one can stop me. Not you, not the Goddess of Death, not the pathetic FFF elite, the parallel RRM team, Saix, Frisk, Eve or anyone … NO ONE CAN STOP ME NOW!”

“I can save you, Mark. I can still save you from the darkness.”

“Darkness? What darkness? The empathic mimicry? Please, I’m the most powerful being alive! And it feels so good! Once the Goddess of Death is out of my way, then I can start putting my plan into action! So you better hope that she lives for longer than you think, Lord Golbez. And it’s been a while since I’ve had any fun either …”

He extended his finger and made a cutting gesture. Suddenly, there was a huge slash mark on Lord Golbez’s right arm, where blood started pouring out. He cried out in pain, something Mark was enjoying.

“Oh, this is just brilliant!” he laughed. “My personal apocalypse … could you imagine it, Lord Golbez? Now if you’ll excuse me … I have someone to see.”

* * *​

Faith opened her eyes, growling.

“Mark!” she snarled.

She telekinetically flung him into the wall and walked up to him with her eyes turning a crimson colour. Mark laughed nastily, although he wasn’t pleased at being thrust up against the wall. Faith came up to the wall, almost inches away from his face. However, her smile became curved and wicked.

“You know, don’t you?” she whispered in his ear.

“Show me,” Mark whispered back in his normal calm voice.

And then unexpectedly, Faith’s lips pressed on to his. Mark was caught up in the loneliness and consumption of his powers that he gave into the kiss. He allowed her to be dominant and take over. He hadn’t been touched for a long time. Even though now he knew the horrifying truth, it didn’t feel too bad to be kissed by her. However, it was she who released herself from his grip. But Mark wanted more of the kiss and thrust her down on to the ground, unable to contain himself.

“You’re addictive,” he said, almost breathless.

“And you know the truth,” she hissed darkly.

“I didn’t think that you would be so good either … you’re better than her.”

“Because you’re feeling apocalyptic emotions, Mark. You should know that.”

Mark stepped on to his feet again and helped her back on to his feet. Faith flung her hair back again and smiled lustfully at Mark. However, he looked away from her, feeling guilty.

“I can’t do this, you know?” he said, horrified. “I can’t destroy the world, it’s the power. The power wants me to destroy it!”

“And the power will consume you if you let it rampage within your soul!” shouted Faith, causing him to stare at her. “You know the truth just as well as I do. One kiss, that’s all it takes. One kiss, Mark! She’s not here right now because I have a purpose to fulfil, a goal I have to achieve. But if you get in my way, which I know you will, then you’ll only get killed.”

“You’ll die instead!” Mark yelled, his power taking over again.

“Trust me, I’ve died before, remember?” she taunted him. “It’s what I am.”

Around the corner, Filden Gurito had to contain himself from attacking both Faith and Mark. He felt his hand clench into a fist, one that would strike them both down. His angel wings spread out now, as he rose to his feet. The angel could easily see through her poker face. He did not understand why he had a tingling suspicion at first, that she was not his friend. But now he knew. He knew the truth.

“It’s Nexi,” he told himself.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Sixteen

Influence of the Goddess​

Nexi can’t be allowed to get away with this! She can’t, thought Filden, as he flew across the dark skies of Cardiff. Ever since discovering the truth that Nexi was posing as Faith, a horrible guilt in his gut. But if she’s not defeated, then where’s Faith? She can’t be dead … or else there’d be evidence to prove it, right? I have to find her.

He continued to soar across the sky, looking down to see that everyone was still on their quest to “defeat the Goddess of Death”, or as Mercurial had assumed, anyway. Their journey would be meaningless now that he knew the truth. It was horrible to think that they’d been fooled for a whole day, but for how much longer? He couldn’t let it carry on, but he’d have to decide what he was going to do first. It didn’t take Filden long to abandon the mission and return to the parallel Red Rose Movement headquarters. Maybe there’d be some clues to Faith’s sudden disappearance.

“Back so soon, Fil?” asked Rydia politely, as he walked through the doors.

“The sky isn’t the limit tonight,” replied Filden, quickly brushing off her attention and ran into Faith’s room in the HQ.

As soon as he was inside, he shut the door and locked it behind him. Sighing and feeling relieved, Filden chucked his coat aside and grabbed the straps out of the pocket to hold his wings down from bursting out all of a sudden. The fact that Nexi was living out Faith’s life didn’t seem right to him – and it was something he would prevent from happening. He started scanning the room in an attempt to find out what was going on here …

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first.

Everything was kept as it was, even before Nexi had assumed Faith’s life. The bed covers were sprawled across the mattress, there were clothes spread out on the floor, there was a gun on top of the chest of drawers and the TV had been left on standby. Filden couldn’t understand how the hell Nexi had been able to keep things in check; however, he needed to remind himself that his main quest was to ensure that the real Faith was freed from wherever it was she was trapped.

What if Nexi had possessed Faith’s body?

Then again, that wasn’t a possibility. Ever since the loss of Angelus and Koloth, he noticed she wore specific coloured clothes – and whenever people close to Faith were lost, she didn’t turn around and continue to wear anything. The Faith that he knew would grief for many weeks, or possibly months to come, so she’d wear dark clothes for quite sometime. He was a friend from her childhood, so he obviously knew her better than everyone here put together.

“Something’s not right here … but what is it?” Filden loudly exclaimed, frustrated.

However, his answer would become evidently clear quicker than he anticipated when the room became colder than its normal temperature. Filden turned to face the wall that contained many posters and noticed a portal had opened. Many things, including the posters, started to whip around the room due to the violent wind that had erupted. Filden’s straps quickly snapped and his wings were unrestrained, now spread out to prevent him from getting brought into the portal.

The portal soon closed and Filden fell on to his back with a hard thud. Fortunately for him, his wings had softened the fall, so it felt like he had fallen back on to some comfy pillows. When the bright portal had stopped flashing, he opened his eyes and saw that someone was standing above him.

It was a young woman in her early twenties.

“Uncle Fil! Lying down on the job?” she smirked.

“Uncle?” stared Filden, unable to register her words. “Who … are you?”

“Well, it was my twenty-first birthday yesterday,” the girl shrugged her shoulders and dropped the bag pack on to Faith’s bed. “And it would’ve been a huge shock to everyone if I came then. Hopefully, I came at the right point in history. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here right now.” Filden raised an eyebrow, prompting her to stop talking gibberish and start speaking the truth. “I’m from the future. You might know me as Eve Valentine.”

* * *​

Frisk was unable to quite realise what was happening here. She wanted to pinch herself and say that this was just some made up fantasy she was dreaming about. On the other hand, why did she think it wasn’t real? Saix was still bent down on one knee, the little blue box with the ring inside held in both his hands. Eve was resting peacefully in the incubator. Everyone and everything was set in motion. But what would be her answer? She was still shaking her head in disbelief that this was actually happening.

“Love …” Saix said, noticing her expression of shock. “I know it’s surprising.”

“Is this a joke?” were the first words that came out of her mouth. Frisk walked up to her one true lover and instantly slapped him in the face. Before he could speak, however, she had cut him off. “You think that you can come in here, play daddy to Eve, love me up and THEN propose to me? Have you failed to notice that you haven’t asked how I’ve felt about you since we reunited? You think this is all about you! God! I should’ve known before!”

However, he rose to his feet – not closing the blue box yet – and it was his turn to shake his head. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, Frisk. Yes, I came here to be a father to Eve, I longed for you, but I didn’t plan this. I’d been meaning to propose ever since I realised what I’d lost a year ago. We’ve known each other longer than anyone else will like to admit! Even FFF wanted to keep you from me. It wasn’t just them! Practically everyone we knew wanted to keep us apart … well, there was only one exception. This exception, he … he is going to get us out of this mess. He’s going to protect you and Eve.” He closed the box. “If you want, I can wait for your answer after the world doesn’t need saving.”

“Melodramatic much?” Frisk felt herself laughing, prompting him to turn his attention in her direction. “God! You really thought I wouldn’t say yes?” Saix looked hopeful. “And yeah! I’ll marry your arse, Saix! But tell me one thing.” He slid the ring on her finger and kissed it, allowing her to continue. “Saix isn’t your real name, is it?”

He looked up at her and shook his head.

“You’re right. Saix isn’t my real name. You see … there’re a lot of things about me that have shaped the course of my destiny, Frisk. And now I’m starting to understand that if I’m going to be your husband, then I’m going to have to start being completely honest with you. My name isn’t Saix Richardson … it’s … Lucian Argexis.” Frisk froze. “I was originally born on this planet, but my father hailed from Gaia. He travelled to Earth one day and took me in as his own. Henry Argexis was a wise man, who knew what potential was when he saw it.”

“But then … why did you abandon your real name?”

“There’re many reasons. Firstly, my father lied to me – he only adopted me because he knew of my superhuman nature. He saw me as a defence against his opponents, who would surely seize his kingdom … and quite possibly to protect Julius also. You know that Julius is one of the FFFers. Instead of me acting like the big brother to him, we have always been rivals. Our rivalry has continued throughout the years. It is that rivalry that caused Shenorai to sacrifice her life to protect him from me, if you recall the explosion correctly. Even the rest of FFF would lay down their lives to protect Julius from me. He is afraid that I would strike him down easily because I know the ins and outs of his personality – his strengths, weaknesses and so on …”

Saix walked to face Eve.

“My superhuman nature is very dangerous. My father and his brother were amongst the best soldiers in the army when they were called up for special experimentation. The government required that they reported to Blackstone Industries, an organisation set up especially for the special experiments that they would undergo. Vance and Daniel Collins were young, strong and potentially special. What they didn’t know was the fact that they were making the biggest mistake of their lives.”

“Vance Collins …” murmured Frisk, as if she was wondering out loud.

“What about him?” asked Saix.

“That name sounds familiar.”

“He’s my uncle and Faith’s biological father.” He grabbed her hands softly and smiled gently. “This is a good sign. Maybe your memory is coming back. The name is familiar to you because Faith needed your help in tracking him down once and considering you were a journalist …”

“Wait, hold your high horse!” Frisk raised her voice, breaking her hands away and laughed nervously. “You’re saying that I, Frisk Valentine, was a journalist?”

“One of Marwick’s hottest talents around,” nodded Saix. “You worked for the Marwick Inquisitor. Remember Marwick? It’s your hometown, mostly everyone’s hometown! Yours, Faith’s, Filden’s … it was where we met. By the time we met for the very first time, I’d already gone by the name of Saix. I came to Earth by accident. It was just after Henry Argexis died … and Julius argued with me …”

“What happened?” she asked, seemingly taking all of this in well for someone who was trying to remember a certain piece of her life, which was important to Saix.

“If it weren’t for Faith, then … we would’ve never met,” he admitted immediately, looking Frisk in the eyes. “We didn’t know it then, but we were more connected than we originally thought. Not only were we both superhuman … we were cousins. We didn’t find out that part until much later. It was an ordinary day for Earth. Fortunately, Faith was the only to see that I crashed down with the meteor shower …”

* * *​

“Just leave me alone, Rafa!” a fourteen-year-old Faith Crest yelled at her older adoptive brother, Rafael. “I’m fine here on my own. Don’t worry, I’ll come back in my own time.”

“Padre is just worried that you’re not going to come home,” Rafael sighed sadly and put his hands in his jeans pocket, a terrible habit that only happened when he was anxious. “You ran out of the house after you touched his hand! I was watching you. You looked so scared that I – that I … look, I just had to come out here to see if you were ok, Faith.”

Faith glared coldly at her brother. “I told you already. I’m fine. I don’t need babysitting! I’m not your little kid sister anymore, Rafael. Whether you like it or not, I’m growing up probably faster than you!”

Rafael smiled sadly and shook his head, still continuing to sigh. “If that’s the case, then I suppose I’m not needed, right? Well … it’s just that … no, it’s nothing. Doesn’t matter anymore.”

She wanted to him go. Really, she wanted him to go. But when she watched him leave the forest, she called for him to come back. Faith lowered her head, feeling ashamed of how she’d called her older brother as childish when it was her performing that act instead. Raising her head again, she flicked her finger furiously to the right and a branch on the leave-filled ground was telekinetically flung into the tree, almost like an archer shooting an arrow.

What was she fighting for here? Ever since discovering she wasn’t like anyone on the planet, things had changed. Faith couldn’t look her parents in the eye when they told her the truth after her newfound abilities had escalated out of control. The nightmares of the incoming meteor showers had gotten worse, thoughts were threatening her very sanity and her heightened emotions could just make the smallest object float out of the blue. There was no end to the eternal torment that she was going through. Taking it out on Rafael – who had no clue about her superhuman nature – wasn’t the ideal thing to do either, considering they had a strong brother-sister friendship that had never been easy to break apart.

The forest was the only place she could to nowadays to escape the voices in her head.

It was a place of tranquillity that made her feel as if she could be herself. She’d occasionally run away from home after it was too much to take just being around her parents. Well, if she could call them her parents. Pablo and Jennifer Crest weren’t even her REAL parents, anyway! What did it matter what they thought, anyway? Faith couldn’t be telling the truth when she said that she thought she was normal – in fact, she’d always suspected there was something out of the ordinary about her life.

Whether it was about her supernatural powers or the fact that she didn’t look like her parents or Rafael didn’t even matter to her anymore.

She ran a hand through her unnaturally straight and tidy brown hair, her curious ocean blue eyes now gazing up at the sky, which was beaming an unusual red colour. Faith jumped down from the tree she was perched upon and continued to look up. Even though she didn’t have the power to sense more than thoughts and emotions in the air, Faith knew that was something completely amiss with the atmosphere. It was not normal for the sky to change colour within a matter of seconds. If there was something Faith was good at, then it had to be noticing change quickly.

It only took a few more moments to fully realise what was going on.

A yellow beam of light was heading towards the forest. The more it got closer, the more Faith could see that it was red deep inside with a yellow colour appearing all around it. Horror struck her. It was a meteor! This was confirmed by bangs that began to happen all around the forest. Faith noticed how each meteor covered different acres, some that were just tens of metres away from her. But she stood there, frozen to the spot, and quite unable to register that this was happening.

When the final meteor hurtled downwards, it was heading directly towards Faith.

Out of gut reaction, she swung her arm and the meteor was deflected towards the tree that she’d been sat on before, causing it to be destroyed. Faith’s eyes widened, but she fell on to her knees, the effort of saving her own life shown through the energy sapped out of her to do so.

“Oh my God …” she whimpered in pain, unable to keep a steady vision.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Faith rose to her feet and started walking towards the last meteor. However, the more she got closer, the more she saw that there was someone lying on the ground. Faith quickly ran to the survivor, noticing that it was a man, who appeared to look sixteen or seventeen years old. However, his appearance struck her hard since it was not the normal appearance of a human being, if that was what he was.

The newcomer was taller than she was, bore short blue hair, golden eyes, an X-shaped scar on the top of his nose and wearing a black hooded cloak, although the hood was down since she could see his face.

Faith bent down to him, only to notice that his orange eyes fell upon her.

“Where … am … I?” he managed to ask.

“You’re in a forest near Marwick,” she replied softly, soothing his pain by taking off her jacket and putting it under his head to rest on. “My house is just ten minutes away, we can get you there and –”

“What … planet?”

However, Faith laughed. “Planet? Are you for real? Earth! Where else?” she said, but noticed his expression of shock. “Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Earth … this was not … meant to … happen …” he groaned, as he sat up and handed her jacket back. The man was still in genuine shock that he’d landed here of all places. “My brother! Where … is he? We argued, we …”

“You’re in pain!” exclaimed Faith, her attitude turning serious and lecturing. “Let me get you to my place! We can help you there and then we can get you home!”

“I can’t get home,” he shook his head. “It’s too far away … I’m not even from – from this planet.” He was speaking clearer now, although he couldn’t help, but be curious about the girl, who was his personal saviour. “You … it feels like I know you. What’s your name?”

“Well, I don’t know you!” Faith shrugged hopelessly, chuckling. “I’m Faith, Faith Crest. Who are you?”

“My name is Saix,” the man replied, now standing on his feet against her protests not to after talk of hurting himself and possibilities of passing out. He looked up at the sky, noticing it was clear blue again. “Impossible. It’s sealed off.”

“Sealed off? What are you talking about?” she asked, crossing her arms defiantly and shaking her head at the mess that she’d been left with. “You know, I’ve never heard of the name Saix. Sure you haven’t got a surname to go with that?”

“Then what would you suggest, Faith Crest?”

She was taken aback by the usage of her full name.

“Um, well,” stuttered Faith. “What about Richardson? Saix Richardson? Besides, why? What’s your deal here, anyway? Where’re you from? Because people don’t just fall out of the sky, right?”

“Apparently, I did and it was no accident,” Saix said. “My coming here was planned.”

“Ok, you’re starting to annoy me, but you’re also interesting me. So I’ll ask again. WHERE are YOU from?”

“Don’t patronise me, Crest!” growled Saix, although he was smiling because he liked her feisty attitude. “This may break the universal code and all, but I hail from a planet named Gaia. I managed to come to Earth through a meteor shower, something that happened because there was an atmospheric disturbance in space. I was placed within that disturbance by a higher power than myself, but how could they possibly …” But then he stopped speaking. He glanced at Faith, who looked away immediately when he said ‘higher power’. “I saw you, Crest. You were here on my way down, correct? You’re different, aren’t you? You’re different to the other humans.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Saix,” glared Faith coldly. “But good luck with getting home to your planet, lunatic.”

“Lunatic? Come now,” he laughed softly. “If it interests you, then … I suppose it’s safe to say that even I have my own … talents.”

“How would you even know if I’m different to everyone else?” She stood so close to Saix that she was just a few inches away from his face. Faith wasn’t giving him her secret without a good confrontation. “If you have your own talents and think that I’m different, then you’d show me, wouldn’t you?”

In the meantime, her words were swallowed quicker than expected when Saix lifted a finger and lightning spurted out like a bullet, hitting the branch that Faith had telekinetically flung at the tree before. The branch snapped in half, one piece of it falling down to the ground. Faith felt her mouth drop, as she looked back at the supposed unearthly being.

“Believe me now?” he said, smiling smugly. “I saw you move the branch without so much as lifting a finger. You were sat thirty or forty metres away. The effort was hardly necessary. There just might be more to you than what appears to the eye, Faith.”

“I could say the same about you,” she said coldly, not sure what to make of the situation.

“You need me more now than ever, I assume? You’re confused about your powers, no? And on the other hand, I’m stranded on this planet until the gateway to Gaia is reopened,” Saix continued to say. “We need each other. You’re constantly upset about your powers and come here to get away. On my planet, that’s what everyone else does.”

“On your planet? Gaia? There are others like you?”

“Yes, there are … selected ones like me. They’re a weaker form, or so research says. There were rumours that Earth was seemingly ordinary. It appears that Professor Grenache needs to reassess his findings. After all, it’s been a good twenty years since he was last here.” He saw how gob smacked Faith looked since she was unable to register that her encounter with a Gaian was happening. “This is a lot to take in, Faith, and trust me … I’ve been there. I was there not so long ago myself. But I can help you, as you could help me.”

She looked up at him after a few moments of silence.

“What do you need?”

* * *​

Even though she’d been sent into a hell-like dimension that consisted of phantoms and monsters that were unspoken of in reality, Faith still couldn’t suppress the memory process Mark had left her with. She opened her eyes – remembering her first encounter with Saix during the meteor shower of three years ago in her hometown of Marwick – and saw the violent snow outside the shelter she’d worked hard to build. Faith moved the sheet ever so slightly to reveal that the phantoms were still out to get her. She groaned to herself, knowing that this was one fight that would take forever.

In a world where time shifted slower than reality and nothing grew older or younger, it was a wonder how Faith had managed to last as long as she had done so. It had been six entire months since Nexi had overwhelmed her in the sky and sealed her soul inside the Kedzaer. This small purple crystal was in Nexi’s possession and until someone would realise the Goddess of Death had taken over her life, it was only then would Faith’s soul return to reality.

As soon as Faith stepped out of her holy shelter, the phantoms came flying at her.

They brushed past her face, causing her face to be slashed open and bruises to emerge quicker than usual. Faith fell on to her knees, swearing that she’d kill Rene and Frisk especially for not noticing that Nexi wasn’t being … well … her, of course. Without reality, there were no abilities. Faith was essentially powerless here. She ran back into the shelter as soon as she could and the phantoms left immediately. Ever since building this sacred shelter, Faith had learned anything holy and good would repel the phantoms from gaining access and attacking her.

Slowly, but surely, all her senses had been leaving.

Her humanity had been abused.

“God, I could need with some Jaffa Cakes now …” she growled under her breath, rubbing her stomach. Even her need to eat had all, but faded away with being inside an ageless world. The only thing that was left of her humanity was the need to sleep because energy was essential here. But Faith had slept for days at end and was still no closer to facing the phantoms and escaping the hellhole, as she liked to call it. “I bet Nexi’s having so much fun out there right now. She’d be playing the role of best friend! Pfft! One day on Earth is three months in this dimension … crap! Two days? Two days they’ve spent and I’ve been here for six months? This isn’t fair!”

“Life is never fair to you! Is it, Crest?”

The voice did not belong to one of the phantoms. The phantoms didn’t even have a voice. All they did was moan and groan to suck some part of her soul out to take on a form of their own. Faith rose to her feet, her cheek visibly slashed into, and her suspicions were tingled. All this time, she only got herself to talk to. But now suddenly, there was another presence here? Something wasn’t right.

“Who’s there?” she shouted to no one in particular.

“You should know who I am, Faith,” said the voice, now taking on the form of a person right before her eyes. Aztec Triogal’s true appearance was revealed for the first time, as he flicked his hair backwards and crossed his arms, satisfied with himself. “You might know me as Asstec or Fagtec.”

“Aztec Triogal,” she glared coldly.

“Wow! You didn’t even have to remember our confrontations of the past to know that, too!” he faked gasped. “And it seems you’re sitting comfortably in the Kedzaer Dimension, huh? Too bad that Nexi’s probably having fun with your boyfriend right now …”

“Shut up.” Her tone was fierce.

“Insulted much?” laughed Aztec. “Here I was, thinking you’d be glad to see me and have a nice little catch up chat.”

“You always wanted something, Aztec,” assumed Faith. “Why else would you be here? You can roam in whatever worlds you can because you’re a spirit yourself, but now that you’re here, I actually am interested to hear what you’ve got to say. Even if it is to catch up.”

Aztec nodded abruptly. “I came here for business. This is the only place where my true form can be revealed. Well … I never used to be a spirit. You have Mark to thank for that and oh, you’ll find out one day. He put the amnesiac theory to test, right? Give it a few more nights and you’ll remember what happened. As for business …”

“What would bring you here? What do you want?”

“I can get you out of here,” he winked. “But of course, you’ll need to help me, too.”

“I’ll do anything to get out of this hellhole, you know that!” exclaimed Faith.

“Desperate, are we?” Aztec laughed. “Well, if you take this deal that I have to offer you, then you’re gonna have to realise that your days are numbered.”

* * *​

Filden stared at the future Eve.

“You’re from the future?” he asked for the fourth time.

“For crying out loud, Uncle Filden! Yes, I am,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. She flung her brown hair back behind her neck and retied it up into a ponytail. “And it looks like I really did come back at the right point in history. If you must know, then I came back to the past to correct the future … my future, in other words. The future of the entire world!”

“Is the future in deep trouble or something?” guessed Filden.

“You’re a winner in my eyes,” smiled Eve, crossing her arms. “In fact, it was Rene who sent me back here to make things better. He’s hoping that I don’t get killed in the process or else we’re all really in deep trouble. You see … I’m the only one that the Goddess of Death can’t fool.” She paused, registering Filden’s nod. “Wait a minute! Am I at the point before or after you found out the truth?”

“After,” he replied. “Is that important?”

“Of course it’s important, silly! If you want to get into technical terms here, I’m from the year 2029. In my future, the Goddess of Death – you know her as Nexi by this point – managed to pass herself as Faith Crest, my first cousin once removed. The real Faith Crest was forever trapped in the Kedzaer Dimension, never to be seen again. But the entire world would suffer because of Nexi. She rules my future world with an iron fist, I tell you! She doesn’t look older than she does now. What I’m trying to say, Filden, or rather do is … stop her from starting a war.”

Filden looked concerned. “A war? Is she capable of that?”

“She’s capable of much more than that, Filden!” snapped Eve. “She killed everyone that I loved – my parents, the Red Rose Movement, the Fantasy Freedom Fighters, even you – and it left me and Rene together to fight the evil that Faith was destined to take down! But we couldn’t do it in the future. She was far more powerful than we anticipated. So … we … discovered something … it was a woman, who wouldn’t tell us her name. She could send people back in time or reset time itself. Well, the latter died out after Nexi took over the world. Rene said that if he went back in time, then he would mess up the current events. He said to send me back to this exact moment in 2008. He knew that you would be chasing for clues and hints to tip off everyone to the truth!”

“But how did he know that I knew in 2008 when he was in the year 2029?”

“You kept your diaries just after Nexi took over. You hoped that someone would find it someday. As an angel, one that Nexi feared, you had to go into hiding. You wrote your feelings down in your diaries and hid them one day when Nexi finally found you. I … I couldn’t believe it when Rene told me that you were killed.”

“How old were you?”

“I was just fourteen.”

Filden put a hand on his chin. “So I am meant to die in 2022.”

“Seven years before I decided to throw myself here,” nodded Eve. “But I’m here now and the Goddess of Death won’t rule the world. I’m going to help create the rightful future, but I can’t do it without you, Fil. You were like an uncle to me when I was growing up. You were the fun loving type, but caring at the same time! You were everything that I wanted from my parents, who died when I was just a few years old.”

“You grew up without them?” he asked curiously. He’d lived without his mother all his life and it was down to his father, Matthew Gurito, and uncle, Edward Gurito, to raise him and his sister, Fifi. His mother, Angela Gurito, had died when he was too young to remember. He could understand living without one parent, but two? Filden sympathised with her. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be!” she smiled brightly, proudly putting her hands on her hips. “It was you and Rene that took care of me when they were gone, anyway. You split the care between the pair of you since Nexi was always out to get rid of me. I remember we had to travel across planet to planet every three months and assume new identities. It was kind of fun, considering Rene burnt Nexi’s lackeys’ arses each time they came to collect me.”

“But if you’re from the future, aren’t you not supposed to say these things?” Filden crossed his arms, wondering why she was being very open with herself.

“Well, as much as the future that I’m from isn’t ideal, it doesn’t even matter if I tell you everything,” shrugged Eve. “Because I’m here to change the future and nothing is going to stop me. Not Nexi, not even death will get in my way … I have to make the world a better place, Filden. The world can’t be the way it is in my future.”

“Still, why come to me? You could’ve easily gone to your mum and dad.”

“And compromise my mission? Fil, they can’t see me. They’re not supposed to meet me in this timeline. They will one day. I mean … I was born almost forty-eight hours ago! How’s it going to hit my mum if she sees the future me? She’s probably rediscovering her abilities at the moment, too! Oh, and not forgetting to mention that she’s worried about me because it’s red alert since Nexi’s been discovered not to be dead, thanks to the voice that Rene was hearing.”

“Wait a minute! The voice? It wasn’t you, was it?”

“Of course not, silly!” chuckled Eve. “I’m not that powerful, though I could be one day. I’ll tell you how the voices work if you want.” She walked towards Faith’s bed and sat down, getting comfy. “Two people who have a stronger bond than life itself can hear each other if they wanted. But the bond has to be greater than anything! There’s only one person that Rene feels extremely overprotective of. Am I ringing any bells yet?”

“Faith,” whispered Filden. “But how’s that possible? We don’t even know where she is.”

“She’s alive, that’s all I know.” Eve rose to her feet and her eyes scanned the many picture frames on the wall and desk. “Nexi has taken on Faith’s form, so she can settle into the background until she puts her plan into action. She has her appearance, powers, memories … she’s basically Faith Crest in and out, although she’s everything that Faith strives to be.”

“So Nexi’s like an upgraded version?”

“Exactly! And that’s where our plan can go wrong. For now, Filden, I need you to act as normal as possible when you’re around Nexi.”

“Why? What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to take a snoop around this universe and yours to see if I can sense the real Faith Crest somewhere.”

“You can do that? You can just sense people?”

Eve shrugged her shoulders. “You could call it a sort of telepathy, except that I can sense people and not thoughts. Ok … it’s more of an empathy I’ve acquired. But I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than you thought.” However, when she noticed Filden looking away nervously, she felt the need to comfort him by taking him by the hand. “There’s nothing to be worried about, Filden! You’re safe from Nexi. She can’t get inside. She will never get inside.”

“Never get inside?” whispered Filden. “Do you mean that –?”

“She’s coming now! Crap!” Eve muttered angrily. “I can’t be seen here or else she’ll know I’m here in this timeline!” She released his hand. “I’ll be back soon, I promise! Call my name in an hour’s time and make sure you’re alone in this room. I’ll tell you what I’ve found. But if it’s an extreme emergency, then contact me quicker. All you have to do is call my name and I’ll hear you. I’ll be here faster than the speed of light, need it be like that.”

With that, she smiled and closed her eyes, as white orbs surrounded her body and lifted her up into the air. Filden was amazed with Eve’s heavenly powers so far, unable to realise that the daughter of Saix Richardson and Frisk Valentine could be so good. Filden straightened himself up by attaching new straps on his back and entire upper body to restrain his wings and put his jumper back on –

“What are you doing here?”

Filden turned around and displayed a fake smile on his face when Nexi walked into the room. She looked suspicious to see that he was here, but he’d already made up his story.

“Sorry, Faith! Didn’t mean to come in here, promise!” he laughed clumsily. “The door was open and I – and I couldn’t help, but notice all these pictures here. Now that you remember everything, I just wanted to know about your year at the parallel RRM and … wondering what choice you’re going to make.”

Nexi crossed her arms, curiosity in her eyes. “What choice?”

“Well, the portal’s only going to be open for another three weeks or so, right?” Filden said. “The portal leads back to our world, your home world! You’ve wanted to go back there for the past year, right? Rene still tells me all about Doomsday and … how you were so noble in sacrificing everything you had back home to make sure that Frisk wasn’t alone. It’s … it’s very noble, Faith. I never thought of you as selfless.”

Suddenly, she threw her head back and laughed.

“Did I say something out of term?” asked Filden. He wanted to think of her as Faith, but knew deep down that she wasn’t. This was the Goddess of Death, the very being that was meant to bring death to the world. He certainly wasn’t underestimating her here and remained on his guard, even though she was laughing.

“N – No!” giggled Nexi. “It’s just that I … that I never thought you’d call me selfless in your entire life, Filden! It’s … wow, it’s a big step up for you.”

“Becoming an angel is a big step up for me,” he corrected her in a cold tone. He shook his head and walked out of the room. “And here I was, thinking you’d grown up, too.” Eve said that I was safe from her and that she couldn’t get inside. What does she mean by ‘inside’? Whatever it is, that Eve has a strange vocabulary.

* * *​

The search for Nexi, the Goddess of Death, had proved to be useless ever since Rene knew there was something dark and sinister happening elsewhere. A thorough search conducted by FFF and RRM had come up with nothing. Tensions were running high, however, considering the both parties saw the other as their rival. Rene felt like he was caught up between them both since he’d worked for both of them before. He was the ambassador, the liaison between both organisations.

“And what would Faith think?” Julius was raging on with himself. He and Rene were now sat on the beach, gazing out into the distance. The FFF team had blatantly refused to go inside the headquarters of RRM – even if it was Patricia Musso’s creation. “She’s in the same position as you!”

“When did Faith get brought into the equation?” asked Rene.

“Since she originally worked for us and deflected to RRM when she had no choice.”

Rene shook his head. He didn’t know what to think. He was torn between two similar groups, which fought for the same thing, but used different methods. Whilst FFF was considerate about everything, RRM charged in almost immediately with brute force. Using the same methods hadn’t worked for either of them, so it left him in a very awkward situation. The hothead would now have to play the peacemaker instead of the one that jumped to conclusions using the whole shoot-first-ask-questions-later scheme.

“Have they returned back to Gaia?” asked Rene without so much as looking at him.

“Yes, I’m afraid,” sighed Julius sadly, rising to his feet and walking to the water barefoot. “They had no reason to remain here, Rene. The threat was allegedly dealt with, plus now they know Faith is safely back in her own body.”

“And they’ll find their bodies?”

“It’s only going to be Koloth’s grave they’ll find, Angelus is a long shot. Riku will try to dwell into the realm of darkness to seek her body out, but it’s a rare possibility of happening. Usually, dark monsters will have destroyed the body of a being that is trapped within that particular area of the realm. Riku can search for her body, but will usually know straight away as soon as he enters it. He’d be able to sniff out the remnants of her scent.”

Rene lowered his head. So there was practically no chance of finding her body then.

“But I shall remain here for the sake of my niece.”

“Wait, niece? I thought Saix was your adoptive brother?”

“Yes,” nodded Julius. “However, although we only grew up together for a few years, we were led to believe it was much longer than that. Whether or not Saix is sticking to his denial that we were brothers, he will need me there for Eve. He will willingly accept me as her uncle after all.”

Julius felt the wind pick up and wrapped his long coat around his body in an attempt to get warm. The water, however, remained as cool as ever – something he was enjoying. Rene came by his side, unable to convey any kind of emotion. Like his comrade, he was experiencing the loss of Koloth Serlo, too. The master had moved on from this world, now it was down to his apprentices to carry on the work in his memory. Whatever came their way, including the Goddess of Death, Rene Skylar made a promise to himself that he would not give against the overwhelming odds.

He would do this in memory of Koloth.

* * *​

“But Riku, what are we going to do about Mark?” asked Aerith. They were currently in Lord Golbez’s private chambers, which the lord himself was having his wounds being seen to by Mitsuki. “He said ‘my personal apocalypse’ for heaven’s sake! ‘The empathic mimicry is going out of control, but there’s nothing I can do about it anymore.’” She was repeating everything he’d told her. Riku, however, refused to look at any of them in the eye. “Riku! Don’t ignore me!”

“I’m not ignoring ye, lass!” growled Riku, a glint of darkness seen in his eyes. She did not step back, however, like the others had done so. His eyes returned to their normal green colour again before he spoke more calmly. “Look, I know we’ve got a problem in Mark. You think that I want to ignore his apocalyptic attitude? ‘The Goddess of Death won’t be the real apocalypse in the universe. I will be. The heart of the universe is in danger. I can stop the Goddess, but I can’t stop myself.’ We might have Mark creating problems for us, but we also have the Goddess of Death to contend with, too, ye hear me? Two apocalypses colliding are only going to help each other out. We can’t save the world, unless we pull through together as a team!”

“Who made you Troy Bolton all of a sudden?” retorted Mitsuki from the other side of the room, having finished healing Lord Golbez.

“So not the time for references, Mits,” Aerith said sadly.

“But Riku raises a very good point if I say so myself,” said Lord Golbez, rising to his feet with Mitsuki’s help and they both walked to where Riku and Aerith were. “We have to stand together if we’re to face this war – whichever war that may come our way, that is. So we have Mark Johnson and Nexi, the almighty Goddess of Death. But who should be our main target, however? Who is the most dangerous?”

“We don’t know much about Nexi, but we know the ins and outs of Mark,” said Riku.

“Not quite,” disagreed Mitsuki, realising something. “Aerith, didn’t you say that Mark was involved with the Blackstone incident some years ago prior to him joining us?”

“Yes,” nodded Aerith. “But how is that significant, Mits?”

“It leads us to Faith Crest, Aerith,” replied Lord Golbez before she could reply. He crossed his arms and looked around the room, almost as if he was remembering memories of the past. “Three years ago, there were several individuals kidnapped by the organisation known as Blackstone. As we all know, Blackstone is connected directly to Faith Crest. It is the reason for the superhumans and evohumans existing.”

“Well, the main reason,” Riku pointed out. “Some of us chose a different path.”

“Yes, whilst you were misguided by the evils of the dark sorceress Alulae, there was many of whom were given their abilities involuntarily. Although it is destroyed now, that evil corporation empowered the likes of Rene Skylar, Mark Johnson and several others. Faith and Saix were their first lab rats, especially since their mothers were kidnapped in a similar fashion to the incident of three years ago. However, it is safe to conclude that Mark was not simply given powers by Blackstone. His emotional duress activated his long-hidden supernatural powers. On the other hand, he, unlike Faith and Saix, was not able to tame them. Fortunately for him, Faith … helped.”

Aerith now glanced suspiciously at Lord Golbez. “This is all your doing.” It was not a question; it was a statement – a statement that everyone believed to be true. “This is all your fault …”

“And I painfully regretted the decision to have her lock away his abilities now that I know what’s happened!” he yelled suddenly, looking furiously at her. “I never told you that he had powers because I knew how you’d all react! He had no family to look after him because they were killed during his kidnapping and I felt responsible for his wellbeing! Even though Darkblade was in charge back then, I was the one in charge of looking after Mark! That was why I employed Faith to do such a difficult task soon after she joined us, one that would push her beyond the limits. Her true potential would be realised and Mark would be saved. So I – I had her place mental barriers to contain his powers.”

Immediately, Riku was by Lord Golbez’s side and had him pinned down to the floor just by placing a hand on his throat.

“Riku!” gasped Aerith, shocked.

“All of this time … you and her … it was wrong to protect Mark from his powers! If you’d … let him make a decision, then maybe we’d only be facing one apocalypse!” he snarled angrily. Aerith was pleading him to step back, but Riku shook his head quickly. “No! He’s responsible for turning Mark into a raving psychotic! He should’ve gotten killed when Mark got the chance!”

“You don’t mean that, Riku!” Mitsuki shook her head in disbelief.

“I’ve defied many of your orders, now I’m starting to see why my gut instinct told me to be wary of you,” Riku growled, releasing Lord Golbez’s throat. “I can see everything clearly now … you wanted to make sure Mark was a good little boy, no? You wanted to tame everyone here, whilst Darkblade encouraged us all to achieve our true potential. But you saw the ‘true potential’ in Faith though, didn’t ye? You thought of how much of a threat Mark would be! You didn’t want anyone to threaten your toy!”

Aerith’s shock hadn’t completely disappeared, but was now slowly coming around to the revelations that had surfaced. “Come to think of it, it was Lord Golbez who introduced Faith to FFF and was her assigned buddy for a good while …”

“So he had her trust,” assumed Mitsuki. “And she had to repay him for his kindness.”

“Though she didn’t have to whatsoever,” Riku told them both. “But he must’ve pleaded, begged for her to do him one important favour … no wonder Mark was so broody for a while. He looked like he’d lost his family all over again … but of course, he was in denial that there was anything special about him at all.”

“And this must explain why he fled for his life when Saix stormed the headquarters a year ago when Shenorai died!” Aerith snapped her fingers upon her realisation. “He had Faith’s trust, so she would initially go to him – even if she had amnesia.”

“And whatever Saix wants, it’s something to do with Faith,” Mitsuki continued. “I’m sure that Mark said something about Faith knowing some information related to Saix that he wanted to know shortly before he caught her in the act and fought her.”

Riku looked down at Lord Golbez, who appeared to be ashamed of what he’d done.

“Anything to say about yourself before we come to an execution?”

“Her … origins …” Lord Golbez gasped for air, immediately drawing in Riku, Aerith and Mitsuki’s attention. “The origins … she will … remember them … she …”

“Whose origins?” demanded Mitsuki.

“Faith … she …” coughed Lord Golbez, now closing his eyes. “She’s … lost …”

* * *​

Frisk was glad to be alone, even if it was just for a minute or two. All the craziness of the past year had taken its toll on her, so she lay back on her bed and started to slowly dream about the future. She imagined that she and Saix were married, Eve was growing up and she’d have more siblings to come. The fact that her fiancé had crashed down to Earth during a meteor shower was quite amusing, really. He’d always arrive in style. It was just the way he rolled.

“You must be tired,” came a familiar voice.

“Faith?” Frisk said, alerted to her presence immediately. She watched Nexi slither into the room like an unsuspected snake would do so … ready to bite the life out of its victim. “What are you doing here? Thought that you and lover boy would already be making up for lost time.”

“Hmm, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon,” Nexi answered, her fingers sweeping through the wall, as she observed Frisk very carefully. “You’re looking awfully good for a post-pregnant woman.”

“Yeah, and you look fantastic for someone who’s died twice,” she remarked.

Nexi’s eyes glanced in curiosity at Frisk when she mentioned the ‘died twice’ part. She went to sit next to Frisk and wrapped a soothing arm around her shoulder. Frisk felt awkwardly uncomfortable, especially since this was a new side to her friend that she’d never seen before.

“Of course I’ve died twice before and I’ve bounced back each time, right?” Nexi laughed mockingly. “Oh, and it’s three times now by the way. You’ll probably lose count after a while, anyway …”

“Are you ok, Faith? You don’t seem like yourself tonight.”

“The night’s young, so of course I won’t be myself in a while. Who knows? Maybe I’ve not been myself for a good while now …”

Frisk swiftly moved to the desk next to the bed. “Uh, um … I think … I think that I just heard Saix calling me! Maybe – Maybe he wants me to feed Eve or – or something like that! I’ll see you later, yeah?” As she walked towards the door, Nexi was quickly there before she was in the blink of an eye. “What? How did you do that? I thought you weren’t that quick.”

“I can be a whole lot quicker than that,” whispered Nexi seductively in her ear, letting one finger slide down Frisk’s cheek. Frisk pushed her hand away and walked towards the bed, where Nexi was there again … swiftly. “What’s wrong, Frisky? You don’t like to play rough? Where’s your sense of fun? I always thought that you were fun like this … that’s why I had to slip something in your drink.”

Instantly, Frisk felt nauseous. She sat down on the bed against her will, as the drugs inside were now kicking in. She was struggling hard to keep conscious, her eyes unable to take their glance off Nexi.

“What have you … done to … me?”

“I’ve always been curious about life,” replied Nexi, sitting sown next to her on the bed. “I’ve never ever had a life of my own until now. Death has been all I know so far. So you have to wonder … what would it be like … just a simple kiss? Now I’ve kissed a gorgeous guy before and no, it’s not Rene. It was someone who has similar ideas to me … someone who wants to destroy the world … he was very good, but I’m looking for another, someone better than him.”

“Who … who are you?” shivered Frisk.

However, her question had to be halted when Nexi pressed her lips against Frisk’s. The kiss was so exhilarating and lustful that Frisk could not break free of her unusually strong grip. She could not even fight for control, as Nexi had full domination over the moment. Even when she wanted to push her back, Nexi had her hands tied down to the bed. This was something so strong that she could not fight back against it.

Next, Nexi released her lips from Frisk’s and pushed her up against the corner of the room. Every inch of her desired so much from this experience. At the same time, Frisk was terrified of what was happening. The first kiss had been hard and painful, but there was also something deadly about it. Her friend wouldn’t just come in and kiss her forcefully, right? Faith wasn’t even a lesbian! So that only left one alternative, the only alternative since the answer had entered her mind when the physical contact made that answer rush to her head like blood.

She was still scared and horrified that this had to happen. What if Saix walked in?

At least it wasn’t the real Faith Crest kissing her, right?

But then again, she’d have to look at her in the eyes differently when she saw her.

That was, if she ever saw her again …

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Nexi cut off from Frisk, angered that they were interrupted. Filden stepped through the doorway, throwing aside his jumper and groaned in pain until his angel wings broke through the straps that were holding them down. Despite the fact he’d have to pay for more of those, his eyes hadn’t betrayed him since he’d seen Nexi practically force herself upon Frisk. He stepped into the room, determined to make his presence known.

“Let her go, Nexi! Give up the ghost!” he yelled, proclaiming the truth.

However, Nexi sighed and flicked her finger. The door slammed shut behind Filden.

“You know, this was really fun as well …” she said, looking sadly at Frisk before she flicked another finger. Frisk went flying towards the wall, but Filden swooped in on time and caught her in his arms, just about able to prevent any further damage to her tortured soul. “Always were plunging yourself into the deep end, weren’t you, Fil?”

“You’ve got no right to call me that!” hissed Filden angrily. When Nexi stepped forward, he stepped in front of Frisk and raised his wings to protect her. “You’re not coming within two miles of her!”

“Filden … you … you know who … who that … is?” shuddered Frisk.

He nodded when prompted. “Of course I do! That’s Nexi, the Goddess of Death. Whilst Faith was up in the air confronting her, she somehow locked her soul somewhere and assumed Faith’s life. She’s an exact replica of Faith, except she’s an upgraded version – she’s everything Faith strives to be.”

“One strand of DNA and here I am!” said Nexi mockingly. “It was nice to have you as a vessel, Frisk Valentine. That kiss was my … thanks … if you catch my drift.”

“I swear that I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Frisk whispered.

“I know you didn’t,” Filden muttered to her, agreeing before facing Nexi again. “I’ve known the truth ever since I saw you kiss Mark. I was there! I saw you kiss him and how you’re both planning apocalypses of your own. But tell me, Nexi – how long did you think this act was going to carry on for? You’re not going to live Faith’s life! You’re not going to take over the world! I won’t let that future happen!”

Eve’s words were still in his mind.

“There’s nothing to be worried about, Filden! You’re safe from Nexi. She can’t get inside. She will never get inside.”

Nexi glanced at him suspiciously. “There’s something you’re not telling us, Filden Gurito,” she stated. She raised her hand, forming a fist. “If you won’t tell me, then I’ll force it out of you!”

“She will never get inside.”

“She will never get inside.”

The words continued to echo through Filden’s mind, making him realise what she truly meant for the first time. He smiled triumphantly when Nexi looked disappointingly at him.

“You can’t read my mind,” Filden continued to beam away. This is fantastic!

“You’re the only one she or I hasn’t managed to read,” growled Nexi.

“Check your vocabulary,” Filden said. “I’m an angel, heavenly guardian sent down from heaven to protect all those who need me. If so, I’ll protect Frisk from you. I’ll make sure that everyone knows you stole Faith’s DNA to create a form of your own!”

However, Nexi shook her head disapprovingly. “I won’t let you leave this room,” she stated. “You can’t leave this room! The world won’t know of my true appearance. Faith will be forever lost inside the Kedzaer Dimension! I will make her look like the bad one and you will all pay for what you’ve done.”

“That’s the words of an evil raving psychotic bitch, all right,” murmured Frisk.

“I’ll torture you all, even if I have to … experiment again,” she said, looking towards Frisk again.

* * *​

Saix stood outside the parallel Red Rose Movement headquarters at the canal. He whipped his head around, hoping that the one he had chosen to come and get Frisk and Eve would be here soon. Not only was his cousin Faith trapped in a hell-like dimension, but also the Goddess of Death was taking her identity along with everything that the real Faith Crest possessed. If he was going to work quickly and make sure that his fiancé and daughter were safe, then there was only one person who could help him.

He put his hood up and sat down on the bench to avoid anyone noticing his mysterious presence there. The one who would change the tide of the battle would arrive anytime soon. This was no longer about Faith or FFF; this was about saving his only family. He cared not for killing Faith, but for the small spark of humanity that Frisk gave to him each time he thought of her. That humanity hadn’t been felt for such a long time now that she was in his life. He didn’t want to lose it. Because through losing Frisk’s life would he ever lose all of his humanity.

The monster craved to be good now. It craved for a normal life.

Five minutes later, he immediately stood up and walked to the railings near the edge of the canal. The one he’d chosen to embark on this dangerous mission would be returning after so long. He would go in there and face demons of the past, but not under the identity that everyone assumed him to be …

“So you came,” said Saix, lowering his hood and allowing him to see his face.

“I did,” nodded the accomplice, as he was dressed in a red and grey jumper and jeans. His hair was short and brown, but his eyes were dark green. There was a fierce look of determination etched across his face that it seemed Saix had picked the perfect candidate for this life-threatening situation. “And I’m all yours. Reporting for duty, Lord Saix!”

Saix growled. “I should’ve known you’d have taken that approach, Damon Roughley.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Seventeen

The Release​

“Do we have an agreement?”

Aztec Triogal’s voice rang throughout Faith Crest’s mind. Agreeing to this deal not only meant that she’d be freed from the Kedzaer Dimension, but something terrible would happen beyond the horizon. She tearfully glanced at Aztec and nodded her head, only knowing that she didn’t have any other choice than to agree to this. Once he’d sorted out the formal contract and had her sign it, he was off and away from the hell-like dimension. Faith could only sit and wait around to wonder if this was all really worth it in the end …

“I might not be an expert in feelings and all this, neither do I want to, but … you need to get yourself sorted out. Whatever priorities you have, I suggest you get them done with quickly.”

“When I saw you before, I slipped a collar through your neck. You were so vulnerable back then, Faith! I activated the collar with this little remote control.”

“Don’t say sorry! You’ve had my best friend locked up in that sleep chamber for nearly a year and you didn’t BOTHER to tell me?”

“We lied to you, Faith. It had been building up 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.”

“You think that everything’s always about you, Faith! Well, maybe you should start caring for others. You can’t hide yourself from this world forever!”

“I know what’s been happening to me over the past year! I know why I haven’t been able to remember some things. Like before when I released you, for instance. You have to stay away from me, I’m – I’m the Angel of Darkness’s host. She’s trying to kill your child.”

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone, Riku. I hurt people, but I never killed them. The Angel of Darkness can only hurt people, it can’t kill them because like it’s I’m now a part of it; it’s a part of me. It feels the goodness inside of me and I feel the badness inside of it as an after effect!”

“The first time, you died. You were brought back, though! And I’m so grateful I got to see you again. And then – then you sacrificed everything just to make sure that Frisk wouldn’t be alone. I’ve never known anyone braver than you. You mean so much to everyone, but – but you … you don’t understand what you meant and still mean to me.”

“I thought that you were here to set me free, as we both agreed if the time would come. Thanks to Faith’s vision, it came true – I was to be trapped here, whilst the world was in danger again.”

“Then what is the truth? Tell me.”

“But on the other hand, you seem to have a fine hand of leaving a path of devastation behind ever since your amnesia took over, Faith.”

“But if I didn’t go along with Saix’s plans, what else was I supposed to do? For all I knew, he could’ve had an electronic tag that could’ve electrocuted me …”

“Some people say that people with amnesia may never remember who they truly were, others think that only selected memories may return. But there are many that say anyone can remember if they put their mind to it.”

“I … can’t let you … do it. You won’t be the … Destroyer … I’d rather … destroy us … both …”

“The Goddess … stop … her …”

“And it seems you’re sitting comfortably in the Kedzaer Dimension, huh? Too bad that Nexi’s probably having fun with your boyfriend right now …”

The new memories, forever plastered in Faith’s mind, were overwhelming her more than the old, returning ones. Life had never been quite so simple for her. Well, it had been until she was fourteen years old. However, the past three years or so had taken a complete toll on her that maybe it was finally time to give up the fight. Ideally, she’d go out with a bang. But after remembering Rene’s horrified expression when he held her in his arms dying, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Aztec returned soon after, smiling nastily.

“You’re free to go.”

“Just like that?” snapped Faith.

“Coming from the one who agreed to this?” he said, rolling his eyes. “But you have to remember what I said, Crest. One week. One week is all I’m giving you and then it’ll happen. Our deal will come to a conclusion then.”

“I understand what you’re saying!” she painfully cried out. Tears flowed down her cheeks down to the ground. “I don’t care about how they feel about me after this is done! It has to be done, that’s all that matters! I have to be freed to stop Nexi and I’ll take her down. Only then can you get what you want.”

“This may sound nasty, but I’m taking a lot of comfort from your emotional state right now!” Aztec laughed in her face, circling her. “Who would’ve thought it would come to this, Faith Crest? The heavenly Saviour would agree to a deal with the devil? No! Surely not? You intrigue me so.” He came so close to her face that he was inches away. But Faith could not bear to look at him after agreeing to something that would change everything, so she closed her eyes instead. “What would your friends think, hmm? What will they think when it finally happens? What if they ever discover the truth that I had something to do with it? I’ll tell them that you agreed to be released and allowed to carry out your duty as the Saviour to then be revealed as the one who willingly gave everything up for the world to be saved. Will they still look upon you as the Saviour that you were prophesised to be? Well?”

“They’ll understand why I did it –” Faith began to say.

“Will they now? I hardly think so, Faith. You know, you and I … we could’ve been great together! We could’ve taken on the world together! With your mental abilities and my overwhelming influence, we may as well surpassed the survival of humanity and achieved longevity. But of course … there’s a big difference between you and I.”

“I’m good and you’re evil,” she answered.

“Precisely,” Aztec smugly smiled. “Enjoy your freedom while you can, Faith. You’ll never know when it’ll happen …”

“Don’t worry, I’m waiting for it,” growled Faith. “Now get me out of here.”

* * *​

Damon Roughley stormed furiously past Saix and threw his hands on top of the metal railings near the edge of the canal. He was so angry that he could’ve turned into his worst enemy right now – quite literally, actually. Like so many people tied to both him and Saix, Damon possessed several talents that were dangerously harmful and very useful at times. As well as charming anyone to do anything according to his will, Damon could also shape shift into another person and mimic his or her voice, too.

“You’re asking me to face my ex? And Nexi is the Goddess of Death that just so happens to look exactly like her!” snapped Damon when Saix approached him. He felt his fist curl into a ball, but restrained himself from punching him since he was his boss after all. “You can’t be possibly be asking me to go in there, pretend to be someone she snogged and get Frisk and Eve out of there? And you seem to forget that Filden’s in there, too! I can’t leave my old friend with her!”

“If it means so much to you, Damon, then you have permission to get Filden out,” groaned Saix, not bothering to start a war with him.

Unexpectedly, Damon threw his head back and laughed out loud.

“Oh, please! As if I was going to listen to you. If you seem to remember, it’s me with the power and I can easily say no to helping you …” For a moment, there was a moment of weakness. Saix looked pleadingly at Damon, something he didn’t want to do at all. “But I can’t decline the chance to get involved with the action now, can I? Besides, does it really bother you that the Goddess of Death got in there with your fiancée? I guess it’s one nil to Nexi then!”

“Shut up! SHUT UP!” Saix raged on.

But it didn’t stop his employee from getting his fun. He waggled his finger in Saix’s finger and walked towards the RRM headquarters entrance. “Well, this should be fun, no?” Damon snickered. “This’ll be nice. I get to see my ex, apart from the fact that she isn’t my ex and the ancient being only on this plane to reverse life and death. Too bad that my real ex is out of action right now … I hope you’ll be finding her soon?”

“I have no choice,” he growled. “She is the Saviour, the only one destined to defeat the Destroyer.”

“Ugh, too many names to remember!” Damon said jokingly. “Remember what we agreed, Saix. I work for you and I get all the women!”

“Was that supposed to be a joke?”

“Nah, the joking Damon was gone ten seconds ago. It even includes Frisk …”

“YOU CANNOT HAVE FRISK!”

“Aww, so can’t we share?”

“I SAID YOU COULDN’T HAVE HER!”

“Gee … no need to get so touchy, Saix.”

“JUST GET IN THERE AND DO YOUR JOB!”

“Whatever, but I still get all the women.”

* * *​

Riku walked into Faith’s old room in the FFF headquarters, smiling at the early fond memories he had shared with her. Aerith and Mitsuki slowly followed behind him, having chased him halfway down the corridor. When they found him there, Riku was already going through some of her belongings – including her clothes. He smelled them and took in her fading, luxurious scent. This room hadn’t been used in eighteen months – at least not properly, anyway. When Faith woke up from her near-death experience those many months ago, she’d ended up here. It took Riku and Julius to carry her here after Aerith had to fend Saix off with the partial use of Holy.

“She’ll come back soon, she always does,” smiled Mitsuki, as she glanced at the many picture frames on the desk next to the bed. “Faith always cherishes everyone in her life, doesn’t she?”

Aerith smiled sadly. “That’s right,” she agreed. She took one of the frames – one that had a picture of Faith and Riku standing together side by side – and smiled brightly at it. “She thought the world of you, Riku. She still does, you know? Even though the mind can forget what happened in the past, it can never forget its emotions towards other people. You’d do well to remember that.”

“Aye, she probably still sees me as that annoying little brother type!” he laughed softly, sitting down on the five-poster bed. “How can a lassie like that ignore the comforts of a room like this? I’d kill to have a nice bed like this!”

“Well, you’ve broken more rules than everyone else combined,” Julius pointed out, as he surprisingly strutted inside with everyone confused to his sudden reappearance. “And don’t forget that Darkblade had a personal vendetta against you because you had what he always wanted – the power to wield the darkness.”

“Back so soon, Julius? Rene not with you?” asked Aerith.

“No, he’s adamant that the Goddess of Death will be planning something major in the time to come,” he shook his head. “I can’t stop him from working with RRM. When he said that it was Patricia Musso’s creation, even in that universe, I had to back off. It would damage her memory in his point of view.”

“But the portal will be closing very soon, it only will be in a matter of days now,” sighed Mitsuki. Everyone turned to face her confusedly. “Well, after you all left when you’d done with Lord Golbez, he pulled me aside to tell me. That was the real reason why we were there, apart from the fact Mark practically molested him.”

Julius raised an eyebrow. “Mark molested Lord Golbez? Did I miss something?”

“You’ve missed quite a lot,” growled Riku, now the one to be moody.

“Is it me or have they swapped personalities?” Aerith whispered.

“Five gil says they’ll switch back by the end of the day,” grinned Mitsuki.

* * *​

Hostage situations had never quite worked out for Frisk. She’d been held hostage far too many times over the past three years or so, most of them being over the last year. Mercurial sealing her off in the basement of headquarters was a very good example, although she’d forgiven him for doing that and slapped him for it because she happened to be claustrophobic. Now to be held prisoner by someone who looked exactly like Faith, but held a different persona was quite unique, to say the least. But it didn’t stop Frisk from feeling so horrified that Nexi had actually kissed her.

In the meantime, this was a first for Filden being in this sort of situation. He thought that being an angel was complicated, but he’d never seen an ancient being posing as one of his best friends pouncing on Frisk and giving her a smacker in front of his very eyes either! He was still as determined as ever to protect Frisk, who was still stood behind his enormous angel wings, and acting as her heavenly guardian against the evils of Nexi. No matter what, Filden wasn’t about to let her torture them both.

“There’ll be no more experimentations here,” he said calmly, both fists curled into balls and ready to attack should it be necessary.

“Hmm, you’re an interesting subspecies,” Nexi said in response, eyeing him very closely. “Filden Gurito, aged eighteen years, planet of origin is Earth, your species is superhuman and hometown Marwick … you’re very interesting indeed. It appears that you held an advantage over everyone else. Maybe you’re sent from God after all.”

“What is she talking about, Filden?” asked Frisk, her voice shaky and uneven.

“He doesn’t know because he’s never questioned why he is an angel,” the Goddess of Death replied, winking and making Frisk shudder. “Your mother, Angela, was exactly like you. She came to this planet, fell in love with a human and wanted to be rid of her immortality. Yes, that’s right, Filden! She was an angel, just like you. Although the firstborn did not inherit the angel characteristics, she did get the superhuman side. But the second and final child was born and showed signs. The strand of the angel DNA was there. I never foresaw that the Saviour would have an angel by her side.”

“Saviour? Angel? What?” Frisk was even more confused.

“Your mind is protected,” Nexi placed a hand on her chin as if she was pondering the endless possibilities. “No wonder it is protected! The Saviour has her Guardian. Faith is the Saviour, destined to defeat the Destroyer. I am the Destroyer. Therefore, you are the Guardian, Filden Gurito. You are the only one in my way of fulfilling my birthright!”

“Birthright? You used Frisk as a vessel!” he yelled furiously.

“Wait, so … you’re meant to protect Faith?” whispered Frisk, her jaw dropping. What if Filden really was sent down by God to accomplish this goal? What if his birth was planned? If Angela Gurito was really an angel and fell in love with Filden’s father to go on and have two children, then maybe destiny could’ve played a major part in this. However, was there really such a thing as destiny? Perhaps everyone had a part to play in this … well, whatever this was.

Nexi growled under her breath. “Faith is the Saviour, Filden is the Guardian, Frisk is the Vessel, Saix is the Keeper, Rene is the Avenger, Mark is the Judge, Riku is the Warrior, Mercurial is the Ambassador …” She seemed pleased when Filden and Frisk looked more confused than ever. “Even Eve is the Chosen.”

She’s the next generation of our kind, thought Filden, glancing at a worried-looking Frisk, probably concerned for the welfare of her daughter. She’s a superhuman hybrid. But no matter what, I’m not going to let anything happen. So what if Frisk is the Vessel and Saix is the Keeper? I have to live up to my role as the Guardian and do my job, even though Faith’s not around at the moment …

“Your thoughts might be safe from me, but I’ll decode you sooner rather than later!” hissed Nexi angrily. She raised her finger. “Despite that, I can still torture through other means. I’ve been going around collecting DNA samples of the world’s renowned superhumans. Oh, wait … that would be the universe instead. You see, like Mark Johnson, I’ve acquired the ability to mimic other people’s abilities. Only difference is that I don’t go through emotional duress!”

Suddenly, the door was blasted open and hit the wall. Filden shielded Frisk with his wings, which were partially insusceptible to pain. When all went quiet, both of them looked up to see a familiar figure walking into the room with an emotionless look on his face.

“Mark!” spat Filden, anger coursing through his veins. After all that had happened, why had he decided to come here of all places and interrupt a potentially important information-grabbing conversation?

“Out,” he simply said, glaring coldly at them both. “Nexi and I have … private issues that we wish to discuss.”

“What happened to you?” whispered Frisk, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer, anyway.

“We should go now,” Filden urged her. “Eve …”

“Thought that we’d get the place to ourselves,” smirked Mark, as he watched Filden and Frisk swiftly leave the room. He smiled devilishly at Nexi, who was looking intriguingly at him. “Pick off where we last left off, yeah?” He walked towards her, noticing she wasn’t going to resist him for much longer, anyway. “How about it?”

Nexi pressed her lips against Mark’s once again and was caught up in the lust that she felt for him. She started kissing his neck and Mark could only smirk to himself. He shook his head, sighing sadly.

“You know, it’s a shame, really,” he said.

“What’s a shame? That you find me so addictive?” she asked curiously.

“No, course it’s not a shame that you’re like a drug to me. It’s just that, well, something amazing happened between us a few hours ago and I wish … if only you were her, then maybe – then maybe this would’ve felt real.”

The next thing he knew, Mark was watching Nexi raising his head in an attempt to telekinetically push him back. However, he hadn’t moved a single inch at all. Nexi couldn’t explain why she was practically frozen to the spot. She couldn’t move anything, except for her eyes and mouth. Mark smiled triumphantly, crossing his arms and shaking his head as if she’d done something wrong.

“You, of all people, didn’t sense it?” he asked, whistling as if he was impressed. “I’m glad that it worked. Guess you’ve never dealt with such a perverted mind before, have you?”

“What have you done to me?” hissed Nexi. “I – I can’t m-move!”

“Pfft, you’re really dumb after all!” Mark laughed mockingly. He went to go and sit down on the bed, shaking his head. When he walked back to her, he was no longer Mark. Instead, Damon stood there in his place. He had a solemn look about him when he looked Nexi directly in the eyes. “Remember now?”

“Damon?” she whispered, shocked.

“It’s remarkable how you’re exactly like her, except that you think you have these noble goals of your own!” laughed Damon hysterically. “Seriously, how long did you take for me to come into the picture? I’ll explain my reasons for these things happening if you’re really interested. Firstly, I’m a shape shifter. Pretty cool, huh? And the other thing – you’re being mentally charmed by me. But you’re the first one who can actually speak out of free will. When I say I’m quite the charmer, I’m the real deal. It’s unfortunate that the memories you took from Faith didn’t mention my powers and abilities. I never told her.”

He then broke into a wide smile.

“And I want to know where you’ve stashed my ex, so I can surprise her, please,” he added. “To think that she was a superhuman all these years and that being the reason why she broke things off with me … it’s ridiculous. You’re everything that she aspires to be, Nexi. But tell me – why take on her form? Any particular reason why?”

“Because Faith is useful!” spat Nexi furiously.

Damon shrugged, almost agreeing. “True, Faith has her uses. I, of all people, should know that, anyway. But back to the point, Nexi! I’m not letting you go until I get all the answers that I want. You can’t use your abilities once I’m here. Or wait … should I just say all the stolen abilities?” He continued to smile smugly at her. “You thought that Mark kissed you then. He might have done the first time, but sweetheart, unfortunately you had to contend with me for the second one. Eh? Why do you look so serious now? Get it? Why so serious? No? Oh, bummer …”

“You humans astound me,” she said mordantly. “Your world’s about to be terrorised by two apocalypses and yet here you stand before me, thinking that you can use me as your toy …”

However, he looked darkly at her. “Trust me, I’ve got bigger plans than that.”

* * *​

The real Mark Johnson was on top of the RRM tower, where the portal was still open. To the human eye, it was invisible. To the evohuman eye, it was simply a portal. But to a superhuman like him, it showed him what kind of world lay within. He watched, as Rene stumbled out of the portal. He swore loudly and violently how he was going to shoot Mercurial one day. On the other hand, he was faced with bigger problems when he started to see the true darkness of Mark. Rene rose to his feet, one hand ready to take out his blade.

“I know what happened to you, Mark,” he said, “and you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Did you rehearse this speech?” retorted Mark, telekinetically lifting him into the air and then tossing him to the edge of the rooftop. “Of course you did. You had your speech for Faith ready when you’d finally be reunited with her. Unfortunately, things don’t always go your way, do they? Things have never went my way either. It’s just too bad that people always get in the way.”

“Mark, I didn’t do anything to you! So why should I suffer?” exclaimed Rene.

“You’re just the bait that I need, Renero Skylar. After all, it’s like what the Goddess of Death has been saying all this time.” He faced his adversary and started to pace around the tower’s rooftop. “It’s a game of chess. I used to be one of the pawns, but I was originally the king. However, once Saix came into the picture, we were both battling for that position. Saix might be powerful, Faith might be powerful, but we know that I’m more powerful than both of them combined.”

“What do you … want?” coughed Rene, as he regained the strength to kneel down. He couldn’t quite stand up yet, considering the telekinetic attack had taken him by surprise. It was even deadlier than the one Faith possessed.

“What do I want, you ask? The destruction of the universe, the devastation of existence itself!” Mark hissed nastily. “It created me, so that I could rip it into pieces. I will bind the atoms together … everything will be connected … the Goddess of Death won’t be able to achieve her goal. No, the Destroyer will now have the Saviour to contend with because she has been released from the Kedzaer Dimension. The only thing is that I need the Saviour to defeat the Destroyer with the Kadzaer. The Kadzaer can restrain the Destroyer. It can help her finally help me achieve my goals …”

“You are one strange dude, you know that?”

“Strange that I may be, but at least I actually have a purpose!”

“And I don’t? Mark, you don’t need to be telepathic to know what I want.”

“But what you want isn’t achievable without the fight of your life, Rene!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You’re not called the Avenger for nothing. You must take revenge upon the Corrupter. The Corrupter can never be trusted.”

“Who’s the Corrupter? I’m the Avenger? And what’s this about a Saviour and Destroyer? Don’t you think this is a little bit … awkward?”

Damon Roughley is the Corrupter, Mark thought to himself. He has returned after a year, having lost the girl he loved through the events that surrounded her. Rene claimed her, but there was always some part of her that acknowledged Damon in her heart. After all, Faith Crest thought her life was complicated? She better think again and start remembering who she is properly. Careless thinking can get her into trouble after all.

* * *​

Aerith’s eyes snapped open.

“He’s made the decision!” she said, gasping for air.

“What is it?” asked Julius, instantly by her side.

“One way or another, it’s bound to bad,” Mitsuki bowed her head in defeat.

However, she shook her head. “No, maybe it’s a good one. At least I think it is. Mark’s got Rene now and poor, poor Rene … he …” She shook her head once more. “He doesn’t know what Mark’s really capable of! If he does anything to him, if Rene dies …” Her voice was trembling with fear. Aerith was shaking all over, but not even the comfort of brother figure Julius could remove the pain altogether. There was a dark look now expressed upon her face. “Mark is going to kill Rene!”

“He can’t do that!” cried Julius, springing to his feet as if he’d received an electric shock. “I’m not going to lose another brother! No way! I shall not let it happen! I forbid it!”

Mitsuki joined Julius’ side. “And I’m not going to let it happen either!”

Riku, who had been as silent as ever, glanced up at Aerith, who was looking worriedly at him. He rose to his feet from Faith’s bed, the valiant warrior knowing that he would have to deal with Mark alone. He was one of the most powerful of the elite after all. If anyone would have to fight Mark, then it was down to him. Even if it meant killing Mark, then that was what he would have to do. He summoned the Way To Dawn to his hand and glanced at it emotionlessly.

“You’re not serious, are you?” Mitsuki’s mouth dropped.

“He is deadly serious!” raged Julius, brushing past Aerith and grabbed Riku by the shoulder. “You cannot be considering this, Riku! Mark is like a brother to us all. If he dies, if you kill him … then consider our partnership terminated.”

“There’s no other way, Julius!” cried Aerith pleadingly. Julius could not bear to look at her since she was willingly to go along with this, too. Only he and Mitsuki stood in defiance. “Would you rather kill one or let millions die? Riku is our best shot at taking down Mark! And Faith … well, she can’t even pull herself together …”

“Let’s not make this about Faith,” Riku said, growling.

“Yeah, everything’s always about her,” she agreed, nodding. She continued to look painfully at her little brother figure. “Julius, we have no other option! What would you do in Riku’s position? Would you let Mark win? The power has consumed him, but there’s no taking back what’s happened. Time travel is impossible at this rate, plus it would mess up the future! Imagine what would happen.”

“But Faith still held his powers back!” yelled Julius. “If anything, we should turn to her to lock him down again!”

“And that would stop him from becoming a power-hungry tyrant!” Mitsuki agreed.

“But Faith is unwilling to co-operate at this moment in time,” said Riku, crossing his arms as soon as he’d dismissed the Way To Dawn. “Something’s not quite right with the lass right now. It’s almost as if – as if … she’s not herself somehow.” Regardless, he walked towards the doorway, not facing any of them. “You can go and get Faith if you want. Rene can’t die, though, because I’ll be the one to get rid of Mark once and for all.”

And by the looks of things, it seemed like an epic confrontation was on the way.

* * *​

As Damon had made his way outside to escort Frisk and Eve out of the parallel Red Rose Movement headquarters, Nexi was left alone to be released. She was angered that Damon had re-entered the scene, but was surprised that he had done so already. However, there were other pressing issues to concern herself with rather than his grand and funny return. Everyone would now know that it was she who was the Goddess of Death and the real Faith Crest was trapped in the Kedzaer Dimension.

Although her plans had come to an abrupt halt, it also meant that they could commence quicker than she’d hoped. Nexi still wore Faith’s appearance and people would continue to believe that she was the evil one – at least once the world was hers for the taking. No one, not even Rene Skylar or Damon Roughley, would get in her way this time. She walked out of the room and immediately noticed that Rydia had her gun pointed at her.

“Ry?” she whispered, mimicking Faith’s worried voice.

“Shut up and cut the crap!” snarled Rydia angrily. “I know what you are … Nexi!”

“Are you really going to believe the lies that Damon’s fed you?” retorted Nexi, continuing to mimic what Faith would’ve done. She was laughing by now. “Oh, please! He’s my ex! Of course you’re going to believe him. Why else would you?” However, she began to notice that Rydia wasn’t budging or standing down. Sighing to herself, Nexi cracked her fingers. “Fine. So maybe Damon’s right. Maybe I’m not who you think I am, but the world will know her face once I’ve taken over it.”

“And I don’t think that’s going to happen soon enough,” drawled Mercurial, as he, Contra and Hera rounded around the corner with all guns blazing. “Give up the game, Nexi. You’ve been caught out. Too bad that the Guardian was able to decode you.”

“So the Ambassador finally walks in, but he’s not going to negotiate fairly, is he?” she said mockingly. Nexi interlinked both her hands and closed her eyes. “Death will come sooner than you think. Even RRM can’t stop me anymore.”

“Yeah? Well, feel this!” yelled Hera, firing two shots at her.

The first bullet was misfired into the wall.

The second one hit Nexi squarely in the shoulder.

The impact caused her to fall to her knees and recoil in pain. Hera appeared proud of himself, but Contra had her eye on her cousin just in case something would happen to him next. And as she’d correctly predicted, Contra now saw Nexi rise to her feet and telekinetically hoist the bullet out of her shoulder and it zoomed right into Hera’s shoulder next. Contra cried out, whilst Mercurial and Rydia shot their bullets into Nexi next. They carried on shooting until Nexi finally blacked out.

“Hera!” cried Contra painfully. “Hera!”

“We can’t do anything for him now,” whispered Mercurial, as he held her back from going to his body. “Please. Contra.”

“The blow was quick,” Rydia regretfully said. “He was gone quicker than I thought.”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?” Contra continued to scream. She broke free of Mercurial’s grip and was rushing towards Nexi’s seemingly unconscious body. This was the ultimate revenge for her cousin’s downfall. Together, they’d been recruited to the Red Rose Movement. If he went down, then so would she.

“Con, no!” cried Mercurial, but found that Rydia was pulling him back this time.

It happened quicker than anyone expected. Nexi’s eyes flashed open and the bullets bounced off her body to hit Contra in different places. She fell back, but did not die as soon as her cousin had done so. Nexi rose to her feet, healing from the injuries that she had sustained and smiled nastily at Mercurial and Rydia. She would have easily destroyed them as well, but then again, the world would be taken over in a matter of days now.

Her fun was only beginning.

“Enjoy life while you can!” she laughed evilly, as she super sped out of the room.

With Nexi gone, Mercurial fell to his knees. So much had happened in a matter of minutes. The Red Rose Movement’s future seemed very uncertain now that two key players had been taken out of the picture. Whilst Rydia bent down to examine Hera’s dead body, Mercurial took the opportunity to spend Contra’s last few moments with her. He held her body in his arms and smiled sadly at her.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice trembling.

“It’s … it’s ok,” Contra produced the best smile she could do. “I … was I … good?”

“You were fantastic, girl,” stated Mercurial, tears flowing down his face. “Hera will be proud of what you did. Not only did you weaken Nexi the most, but you also got revenge. He’ll be damn proud when you reach him one day.”

“I … I don’t think that … I’m going to …”

“Shut up, Contra!” snapped Mercurial. “You’re gonna make it, girl! Come on! Work with me! Hang on! We can still save your life! Don’t leave now!”

“Merc …” muttered Rydia, as she came to his side.

She put a hand on his shoulder, as he felt more tears flow down his face; Contra’s life was slipping away. Her body was becoming colder.

“It’s too late. She’s dead.”

Mercurial’s fears were confirmed when Contra was staring into space lifelessly. Even Rydia spoke emotionlessly, unable to convey how she felt. She turned away from Mercurial, the leader that she looked up to, the man who always knew what to do. But on the other hand, there was nothing that they could do, was there? Hera Ledro and Contra Fates were both dead, fighting evil together in their final moments.

“What do we do now?” asked Mercurial, never one to ask Rydia a question like this.

In the meantime, she shook her head and soothed his soul by rubbing his shoulder. At a time like this, he would’ve normally pushed the hand away. But he wanted all the comfort that he could get right now. Laying Contra’s body down and closing her eyes, he rose to his feet and looked down at the petite Rydia, who was tearfully glancing upwards at him. They hugged each other, grateful that they were alive, but still knowing that they could next … and the world would eventually fall in less than seven days.

It was a prediction that Mercurial had, one that would never leave his mind.

* * *​

With Frisk and Eve in a safe location with Saix, Damon Roughley had all the time in the world just to look around this new universe. He was still concerned that his ex, Faith Crest, was missing, but he had to concentrate on a new mission – finding Nexi. This wasn’t a mission especially assigned to him by Saix. No, this was one personally close to his heart. He still wanted to know some answers about the past, particularly surrounding his and Faith’s relationship.

For instance …

He wanted to know the ins and outs of why they broke up three years ago. He knew it was something to Faith’s power pains, but she would always seem to hide much more than one simple fact. Because along with that one simple fact was a complex explanation … an explanation that Damon felt that he was worthy of after everything he’d endured since she went missing. Of course, there’d been numerous sightings of her. There’d been reports that she was alive. But the events of Doomsday depicted her as dead since her body had been missing.

Then again, who could trust the government nowadays? After all, they were oblivious to what was really going down on their own soil.

As he trailed through the infamous beach that Faith had supposedly landed on when ending up in this parallel world, Damon immediately came tumbling down to his back. Someone or something had fallen on top of him. When he looked up, he could see Faith there.

“Oh,” he managed to say.

However, when he took a closer look, Damon gasped. His ex was unconscious! Her comatose body slipped to the side and as he took a look at her, he noticed many visible wounds across her body. The most noticeable one was a huge diagonal one going from the left of her forehead to her right cheek. Blood was trickling down. Damon felt a pulse in her neck, but had to act quickly.

She was slowly fading away.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eighteen

A Concealed Vigilante​

Damon hoisted Faith into his arms like a tragic hero that had just lost the girl of his dreams. She was still alive, but had to get medical treatment soon or else her life would truly be lost soon enough. It was getting late at night and there wasn’t anyone around on the streets of Cardiff, which was unusual, considering it was a Friday night as well. He’d already half-expected the Welsh to be out celebrating the end of the week and start of the weekend. On the other hand, it appeared he was wrong. He walked back to the Red Rose Movement headquarters, knowing full well that his ex was fighting for her life here. Besides, he knew that if there was someone who wouldn’t give up so easily, then it was Faith Crest.

But he did not want to appear as himself. No, only Saix had to know that he was back in the meantime. Nexi had lost the trust of everyone, who she had gotten close to with Faith’s disappearing act. She could not even go to Rene now, the only one who held Faith’s heart. Damon felt a pang of jealousy when he thought about his love rival, the guy that had managed to sweep Faith off her feet and into his arms. However, where was the boyfriend now? And how was it that the ex was the one carrying her like the brave soldier he was? It was true. Damon felt like he was marching off to war.

Although he had cheekiness about him, there was a sensitive side about Damon Roughley that few people had seen, including Faith herself. Even if they weren’t dating right now, Damon still felt so overprotective of his ex. He wasn’t going to let her die tonight. He continued to walk forwards towards the headquarters, knowing full well that his shape shifting had to happen NOW. Closing his eyes, he felt the change immediately, as he morphed into the first person he could think of.

Whilst he was waiting at the door, Damon stared at the mirror on the wall. Staring right back at him was the face of Solstice Lowell, a long-time friend of Faith’s. He produced a wicked smile, pleased that he remembered exactly how she looked like and then walked through the doors when they automatically opened. When he walked inside, it was silent. Too quiet, actually … and Damon wasn’t one for quiet scenes either. He found the nearest sofa and placed Faith’s unconscious body on it to then look around.

“Anyone here?” he called out in Solstice’s voice, placing his hands on hips.

Mercurial emerged from his office, suspicious that he heard a voice that did not belong to anyone that he heard recently. He was taken aback to the intruder’s presence, but immediately saw his comrade lying injured on the sofa. He brushed past Damon, ignoring him, and tended to her. Mercurial’s hand was on her shoulder. He picked her up in his arms and almost sprinted to the emergency room. Damon eagerly followed, refusing to take no for an answer. Fortunately for him, Mercurial was too eager to operate on Faith rather than shove Damon out of headquarters.

“What happened?” he demanded. “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend!” replied Damon, raising his hands in the air and protesting his innocence. “I found her on the street. I don’t know what happened, but … I knew she worked here, that’s all.”

Mercurial, however, felt suspicion when hearing his guest’s voice. Before anyone knew it, Rydia had Damon pinned to the ground. “Get him into the interrogation room, Ry!” he ordered. “Put him on lockdown! And hurry! We got more pressing issues here!” However, operating on Faith would be delayed, as Filden had just walked through the door after hearing the commotion. “Filden …”

“What happened?” Filden half-shouted, going pale as soon as he saw the massive amount of blood on Faith’s face and clothing. He was shaking his head, unable to believe what was happening in front of his eyes. “I should’ve been there … I’m her Guardian! I’m the one that’s meant to protect her! I SHOULD’VE STOPPED THEM!”

“I don’t know what happened and that won’t help our situation right now!” yelled Mercurial. “I have to stitch her up … maybe … but I need you to detain our intruder with Rydia … it’s a girl, maybe older than the two of you … she …” However, there were loud bangs coming from outside. “Get out there now!”

Filden didn’t need telling twice, as he literally flew out of the room with his wings spread out and came to an abrupt halt when he saw Rydia pointing the gun at him. Behind him was a smug-looking Mark. Filden continued to keep his wings spread out, not intimidated by what was going on. Mark’s wicked smile turned into a surprised expression, one that was unexpected and unpredictable. Behind the mask, Damon couldn’t believe how intriguing this really was. Filden, his former friend, was an angel?

“Well, this is something I didn’t expect,” Damon rolled his eyes. “The day that Filden Gurito becomes an angel is the day that I want answers about this goddamn place.” He was circling the room, whilst Rydia was keeping a perfect aim at Filden. “Tell me, Fil! When were you going to tell your old buddy that you were an angel, the Guardian of the Saviour?”

“It’s nothing to do with you because you’re the Judge, the second apocalypse!” Filden furiously shouted back. “You’re going to kill me using Rydia, so why not do it? Or are you too afraid to face me, so you’re using her instead? You can’t kill me, anyway.” He smiled proudly at his wings. “You just don’t know what kind of a barrier these wings can produce.”

“Hostile, smart, intriguing and challenging,” Damon raised an eyebrow. “I’m very impressed, Filden. You seemed to have undergone a personality transplant over the last two years or so.”

But Filden still wasn’t intimidated. “You’ve had a chance to kill me, Mark. Rydia can’t kill me because my wings act like a barrier, almost like the mental ones Faith can make. A lot has happened to me since you left for FFF. Rene’s told me your high and mighty adventures with the Gaians. Aren’t humans good enough for you anymore? Do you really think that because you’re superhuman and your abilities are going out of control, you can be an apocalypse? We won’t let this happen to you, Mark! I’m not going to let you destroy everything just to get rid of the pain that you feel. Not a chance. No way. Besides, Nexi’s already told me everything she knows. So why don’t you do us both a favour and join with her? Faith, myself and everyone else will take you both down together.”

Damon continued to ignore the feelings of the appearance he’d taken on. He’d actually charmed Rydia to threaten Filden, but not even this had terrified him. After all, he’d been testing Filden as a way to see how wilful he really was. And now seeing that he’d passed, Damon knew there was no need to linger around here anymore. Taking on the appearance of another was useful, but could get too emotional if he got too attached to one form for so long. He walked towards Rydia, grinning and decided that a little light-hearted fun couldn’t go amiss. He pressed his lips against hers, making her his second victim of the day. He knew Rydia was mentally struggling against his overwhelming will. Damon would have gone further with Rydia, but knew that Filden was in their company. So he released his mental grip of Rydia and pushed her back towards Filden.

“Oh, if you only knew, Filden,” he said, shaking his head before running out of the headquarters.

“Are you all right, Rydia?” asked Filden, taking her by the shoulders and sitting her down on the sofa. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

“No,” she shook her head nervously. “No, he didn’t.” She felt comforted that Filden was here, but also knew something else that anyone else didn’t know. “Listen, Filden. I know something about him. He – He … wasn’t Mark. It wasn’t Mark. When he came in, he was a girl at first. Well, I think it was a girl, I … don’t know. A girl came in with Faith and when Merc told me to deal with her, I saw her change into a guy. The girl turned into Mark and he threatened me.”

“He’s a shape shifter?”

“He or she, yes.”

“I think that it’s a guy. No girl could ever pull off a Mark impression like that and I know him very well. Besides, Mark’s got better things to be doing than screwing around with our minds.” Filden paused for a moment, remembering Faith was in the emergency room. “You should go and help Mercurial, Rydia. I’ll wait here, just in case the shape shifter decides to come back.”

Rydia nodded, only agreeing. After losing Contra Fates and Hera Ledro, they didn’t want Faith Crest to be added to that growing list of casualties. So many people had died since this all broke out …

Shenorai Eterna.

Patricia Musso.

Angelus Mortis.

Koloth Serlo.

Hera Ledro.

Contra Fates.

Why did Filden think he had this awful feeling that list wasn’t complete just yet? Was someone else to be added in the near future? He was beginning to really worry for Rene by now because he hadn’t checked in. Rene was busy looking for the Goddess of Death, but didn’t know that Nexi had been imitating Faith for the past day or so. And with Saix, Frisk and Eve on their way back to their original world, Filden knew there would come a time that he would have to return, too. And then immediately, he thought about the future Eve, remembering that he could call her name should he want to get in contact with her.

“Eve!” he called up at the ceiling. “Eve, where are you? I need to speak to you!”

Within moments, there were white orbs appearing above Filden’s head and they dropped down to the floor, taking on the form of the future Eve Valentine.

“You took your time, Uncle Fil!” she remarked, crossing her arms defiantly and looked like she was mad with him. “Where the hell have you been? I told you to call me in an hour’s time in Faith’s room! But you never called! I was getting so worried, plus I never thought that Nexi would even … ugh, it’s disgusting …”

“You saw Nexi kiss your mum?” asked Filden.

“Bingo! We have a winner,” Eve said dryly. “Of course I did, I was outside the room, you loony! When you didn’t call my name, I had to check up on you … although I had to use my intuition to make sure that Mercurial didn’t catch me. I’d already surveyed the old – well, new in your case – CCTV footage of the team’s movements. I knew where everyone would go, even suspected that Nexi would trap you and my mother in Faith’s room. But something’s changed from the history I knew.”

“What was that?”

“The fact that Nexi kissed my mother changes everything.”

“How does it?”

Eve walked into Faith’s room, closely followed by Filden.

“Today, you did what I thought would happen – you rumbled Nexi’s secret that she wasn’t Faith. Only you could unravel it because you’re Faith’s Guardian. You’re the only one who can know if she’s for real or not. So for instance, if I were to shape shift into Faith now, you’d be able to know if I was really Faith or not.”

“We had a shape shifter in here today. We don’t know who he is, but we know it has to be a … he. He brought Faith in. It looks like she’s been released from the Kedzaer Dimension, but her face has been slashed open. Now Mercurial and Rydia are working to make sure that she’s saved, but it’s not looking good at the moment. So Mercurial starts working on her and this shape shifter, who’s taken on the appearance of Mark, controls Rydia. Rydia told me that the shape shifter took on the form of a girl before, calling herself a long-time friend of Faith’s. He manipulated Rydia into aiming her gun at me.”

“And knowing you, you gave it all the bad arse attitude, right?”

“And you know it!” Filden beamed away.

“Well, I’ve got something to tell you,” Eve said nervously, prompting him to look suspiciously at her. “I … I know who the shape shifter is. And I know you’re going to hate me, but I don’t want you going after him.”

“Why? He put Rydia through mental torture and you expect me to take this lying down?” spat Filden furiously. He couldn’t bear to look at her. “Why is it so important that we forget him?”

“Because Nexi’s our main problem! We deal with her first! And the shape shifter is important not to mess around with because he’s a friend! He’s just a friend, Filden! A friend!”

“A friend? You really call a guy screwing with someone’s head a friend? No thanks, Eve. I’m no friend of his and he’s certainly no friend of mine. If he wanted to help us that badly, then why doesn’t he show himself?”

“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t understand!”

“Understand? UNDERSTAND WHAT?”

“The shape shifter, he – he is the one that leads the rebellion against Nexi in the first place!” shouted Eve. “He helped Rene and I establish it. When Nexi took over and killed my parents, the responsibility for my upbringing was divided between the three of you – you, Rene and the shape shifter. The shape shifter had to keep changing forms because he was afraid. After losing Faith, you all didn’t trust anyone else anymore. But I suggested that we bring the Remnants into it, yet …”

“The Remnants?” Filden asked, a curious tone back in his voice. “Who are the Remnants?”

“I’ve said too much!” Eve gasped, feeling ashamed of herself. “This is so screwed up, Filden! There is a reason why I don’t say so much. There’s a reason for not mentioning the future so much! It can affect the present and maybe then I won’t have a future to return to!” Her words struck Filden. “Ever since the war back in my timeline got heated, Rene convinced me to come back to the past to change things. He couldn’t obviously come back because what would happen then? He’d meet his present counterpart and screw things up! But me, on the other hand, I’m a baby right now. I can’t mess things up with my own present counterpart.”

She paused for a moment, allowing herself time to breathe before pressing on with more important issues.

“But back on to today – Mum was not supposed to kiss Nexi. If anything, something changed within the timeline. Maybe because Faith was coming out of the Kedzaer Dimension, Nexi felt the need to explore life.” A wicked, curved smile appeared on her face, one that grimly reminded Filden of Saix. “Her days on Earth aren’t long now. It’s only a matter of time until the Saviour gets rid of the Destroyer once and for all! And who’d think that I, the Chosen, was a part of it? Filden, we can still save the world now that Faith’s back! We just have to be ready!”

“I’m still not getting the whole time travel thing and timelines stuff,” mumbled Filden.

“Trust me,” Eve put a hand on his shoulder, “when Rene told me about it, I was confused as well. But once you’ve seen as much as I have, well, you’ll be confused by then that you won’t even know what’s real and what’s wrong. Come on, Guardian! You’re going to have to introduce me to Mercurial and Rydia. After all, the infamous Red Rose Movement’s legendary in my timeline as is the Fantasy Freedom Fighters.”

“So you know about Contra and Hera?”

“Yep, I do. I knew that was going to happen today and don’t even try to stay I could’ve stopped it! If I did, then maybe I would’ve been living in an entirely different timeline or I could disappear. There are minor changes that can be major, Uncle Filden. Even though I’m going to meet the Red Rose Movement, which is quite overwhelming, it won’t mean that what I’m doing is morally wrong. I came back to the past to change the future and I’m not leaving until I know my parents will be alive with me. Even if I have to come back a thousand times over and to make sure they’re together, then I will!”

* * *​

“Ugh!”

Rene Skylar fell on to the ground for the fifteenth time. Well, he didn’t know how many times he’d been thrust down with such force because he’d lost count. He coughed up blood from his mouth and tried to breathe. This torture was so horrible and he’d been silently pleading for Faith to come and rescue him. Even though it sounded ridiculous to have a girl save him, it was the only option he could think of right now. Besides, each time he tried to incinerate Mark’s arse, he’d only absorb the fire and make it a hundred times deadlier.

“Given up yet, Skylar?” hissed Mark in a dark voice.

“No, not … yet … ouch …” growled Rene, as he got on to his knees and then on his feet again to face Mark. He already bore a black eye and a deadly cut above the other one. He steadily held his sword, knowing that he had to fight Mark until the end. “I still don’t … understand … what … what happened … to you … Mark?”

“I finally realised my destiny, that’s what!”

“Destiny? You really … believe in that … crap?”

“Crap? It’s not crap, you imbecile!” yelled Mark wrathfully. He grabbed Rene’s sword by the hand and tossed it to the edge of the rooftop. Rene ignited his hands with flames, but Mark did the same, too. “You were destined to defeat Darkblade with the blade that Kai Owens handed to you. He watched over you for many years, knowing that it would be your time soon. He was your godfather and you never knew.”

“Kai … my godfather?” stared Rene.

“It’s really like a soap opera, isn’t it? Faith is revealed to be the cousin of Saix, the man that trained you to defeat Darkblade is really your godfather … my, my, my! How you’ve been blinded to everything, Rene. Kai Owens was an acquaintance of Faith’s godmother, Patricia Musso. You see, they had a thing in the past, but had to put their feelings aside when they knew that dark and difficult times would be approaching very soon. Whilst Patricia watched over Faith when she was growing up, so did Kai with you. They both knew you two were very special. Faith was special because she grew up, not knowing what supernatural abilities she had. Kai foresaw you as a great warrior – the Avenger, they’d call you. Everyone you loved would see that they would have their revenge, even if it would destroy you, Rene Skylar, in the end.”

Although Faith was Saix’s cousin, although Kai was his godfather, although Kai and Patricia foresaw dark and difficult times approaching, although destiny played a crucial part in this, Rene Skylar could not let Mark Johnson’s words put him down. Whatever difficulties Mark was facing with his overpowered abilities, Rene could not let him be destroyed. Mark meant an awful lot to everyone, FFF in particular. He was a valued member, an elite one. But Mark could not hesitate any longer. His plan would be put into action, regardless of whether Rene could stop him or not.

Mark angrily sent the flames in his hand bursting in Rene’s direction to finally kill him. He was the one person standing in between him and the Saviour. Faith was possibly one of the few people that could stop Mark from destroying everything in existence. There would be no heaven, no Earth, no hell. Nothing would exist and all the suffering going on in the universe would be completely wiped out. If Mark had to suffer, then the rest of existence had to do so as well. The fire surrounded Rene and caused him to fall to his knees. Rene did not want to display signs of weakness, but Mark was using them to his advantage.

“KNEEL TO ME, RENE SKYLAR! PLEDGE YOUR LOYALTY TO ME AND I WILL SPARE YOUR LIFE!”

But Rene could not accept that proposal. Any evil proposition did not influence him whatsoever. And even if Mark used his growing amount of powers to sway him into evil, Rene would not let darkness enter his heart. He would not go down the same path as Mark and attempt to destroy everything in existence. His heart was set on taking Mark and the Goddess of Death down. His heart was set on finally hearing Faith say those three beautiful words to him. He would not rest until she said them! He would not rest until all the conflicts in the world at the moment had been resolved. He would not rest until everything went back to the way it used to be.

As he’d confirmed to Nexi earlier, Mark really had no choice in destroying all of existence. His words had probably struck a chord in her, but she was an emotionless monster with deadly intentions that threatened his plans. Mark would not allow the Goddess of Death to reverse the worlds of life and death in order for her to take over the world. No, the world had to perish instead. It had to be destroyed. Everything had to be gotten rid of!

With the fire continuing to overwhelm Rene with its devastating power, he could feel a sudden change. It was not because the heat was much higher than the average temperature of the hottest place in the world. No, it was nothing to do with that. He still felt the heat surrounding him, but did not feel any more pain. Rene felt liberated from the fiery atmosphere, almost at home with it. Before he knew it, his body was now covered in flames. He was screaming out in agony, but not because of the newfound pain. No, this was something else. He knew what was going on. He could instantly feel the sensation of feeling out of control. It was nowhere near as bad as what Mark had conjured up, but the sensation was still there.

Continuing to scream out, Rene seized the opportunity to get an advantage over Mark.

The fire that now surrounded him was pushed back like an enormous telekinetic wave that Faith produced and bounced back on to Mark, resulting in a devastating attack that Rene had no control over. Once the fire had all, but disappeared from his body, Rene fell on to his back and breathed heavily. His powers had just ascended to a completely different level. How was this possible? Maybe it had been waiting for quite sometime now. On the other hand, his fiery attack had not completely stopped Mark from rising up again like a phoenix being reborn from the ashes.

The apocalyptic disaster walked slowly, but surely to where his opponent lay.

“I have to give you credit for your surprise,” he smiled weakly. “I didn’t expect you to be that powerful.” He bent down on his knee to examine Rene thoroughly. “There’s more reason for you to join me now, Rene. The offer still stands. If you join me, you could be great. You will be remembered through the universe as the man, who aided the Judge. The Judge and the Avenger destroying everything together! What do you say to that? I can still kill you like this!”

He made a swiping gesture with his finger and Rene’s cheek suddenly had a gash on it. Rene cried out painfully, but could not move, as Mark’s telekinetic grip was holding him down to the ground. The portal was still gleaming brightly behind them.

“No one is going to come to your rescue now, Skylar!” hissed Mark. “That attack was very shocking for someone so young.”

“You’re … young yourself!” spat Rene.

“True, but I was born with my abilities. They are my birthright!” He rose to his feet and walked to the edge of the rooftop, where Rene’s sword was. He telekinetically brought it to his hand and then floated a few inches into the air, where he flew back to where Rene was. The sword telekinetically came close to Rene’s throat. “I can always give the command, you know? I won’t hesitate in my path of destruction, Rene Skylar. You can join me and have your life spared … for now. But if you don’t, I will ensure your death is slow and painful. I’ve many methods of killing you, but haven’t quite decided what to do yet –”

“Let him go, Mark.”

The voice did not belong to Rene; it belonged to Riku.

The silver-haired and green-eyed warrior of darkness stood there just metres away from Mark and Rene. He was holding the Way To Dawn tightly in his right hand, whilst his left hand was ready to summon an energy ball if necessary. Mark was impressed that Riku had found him, but didn’t feel the need to toy around with Rene anymore. He fell down to the ground once again, kneeling down and released his telekinetic grip on Rene. Rene coughed loudly, still choking a little on blood he was bringing up. He grabbed his sword, but could not stand on his own two feet since the fiery attack had taken its toll on him.

“You won’t use him as a toy anymore!” growled Riku loudly.

“I could always need a new toy,” grinned Mark darkly, his hands ready to unleash the devastating powers he had up his sleeve. He scanned Riku carefully, almost as if he knew what his strengths and weaknesses were. “And you fit the bill perfectly, Riku Walker. There was always one that would stand in my way no matter what I did! And it seems that it’s you. The Warrior has emerged, ready to fight me?”

“Warrior?”

“Apparently, we’ve all got titles now instead of our real names,” remarked Rene. “I’m the Avenger and he’s the Judge. Welcome to the world, Riku.”

“Get out of here while ye can, Rene!” snapped Riku, unable to take anymore of this rubbish. He glanced darkly at his comrade, not yet able to look Mark directly in the eyes. “I have to finish this once and for all. It has to be me, not you, not Faith. Me!”

“But Riku, you can’t just expect to –” Rene began to say.

However, a dark portal appeared behind him, which sucked him in and would take him back to the Fantasy Freedom Fighters headquarters. Riku felt regretful for sending Rene away like that, but knew that it had to be him and Mark to decide the fate of the world. He didn’t want to drag anyone else in this. He knew that it was him alone, who could match up to Mark’s power. When he noticed Mark twitching his neck, it was then when Riku charged forward with the Way To Dawn, crying out when he ran forward.

Mark shook his head disapprovingly. His eyes, now a frighteningly shade of black, displayed little emotion. He did not even have to flick a finger to telekinetically shove Riku down to the ground. The Warrior landed with a thud before he could even come within two inches of Mark. He looked disgustingly at his opponent, but the other threatening would-be apocalypse was not pleased at all. Mark raised his hand and Riku was brought to him. The Way To Dawn was dropped to the floor. Whilst Riku was stuck midway in the air, Mark observed his weapon very closely, curious about its true power.

“The Soul Eater was once yours until Saix was consumed by its power and became its eventual wielder,” he stated. He looked back at Riku, who was now refusing to even take one single glance at his former friend. “But now you have this abomination, this alignment of twilight … you can never be consumed by light or darkness because both reside in your heart. Tell me, Riku – why have you come to kill me?”

“Why should I tell ye when you’ve obviously had a personality transplant?” Riku raged on, powerless to do anything.

Mark crossed his arms and placed his hand underneath his chin as if he was wondering to himself. “Hmm, I don’t know,” he shrugged casually. “What do you think? Oh wait … I almost forgot … you betrayed FFF before! Remember? Not just once, twice or three times … numerous times by my count.” He began to walk around Riku, circling him in the process. “It’s too bad that Faith had to pick up the pieces every time. I feel very sorry for that girl. She’s the Saviour, plagued with the burden of defeating the Destroyer. FFF doesn’t do enough for her; Lord Golbez has never given her enough credit either. My, my … and he even sends you to cut her some slack. It’s about time, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t come here on Lord Golbez’s account! I came here by myself and you know what the others think? Do you really want to know what they think about you now? Julius and Mitsuki don’t want me to kill you. Aerith is the only one, who agrees that you have to be stopped. And maybe I don’t want to kill ye, but ye have to be stopped, aye? Destroying all existence isn’t going to get ye anywhere! We can still help ye, Mark, but only if you want it.”

For the first time, his words made sense. Mark looked tearfully at his former friend and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t bear it, Riku.” Instantly, his nasty persona was in check and was ridiculing him once again. “I don’t want to fight you, Riku, I want to mentally hurt you!” He raised his finger and started ripping every atom out of his body. Riku cried out painfully, unable to take it anymore. Before Mark knew it, he’d destroyed Riku’s existence in a matter of seconds.

The Way To Dawn was still lying on the floor. But when Riku had finally been destroyed, that had disappeared within seconds. Mark felt something wasn’t right. How could it have been this easy? Riku wouldn’t have given in. Something was terribly wrong and it looked like he was about to be proved right.

“Like my trick?”

The real Riku Walker stood before Mark, having emerged from a dark portal and holding the real Way To Dawn. He was wearing a smug smile on his face, almost laughing at Mark’s priceless expression on his face.

“Well, I can tell it was a shock for ye!” Riku raised his voice, spinning the Way To Dawn in one hand. “Aww, come on, Markie boy! You really think that I’d go out without a fight? Guess ye didn’t know me that well, aye?”

“So it was a clone,” Mark said emotionlessly after reading his mind. He was furious and livid that this had happened – that Riku had managed to fool him. But he would not let Riku have a victory for so long. The real fight would begin now. “I can still do the same to you, Riku. The replica was a nice trick, but there can be no more tricks from here. I suppose that your little side project was actually worthwhile.”

“Plus it had a use after all,” the silver-haired teenage winked. “And what’s this about me being the Warrior like Faith being the Saviour, you being the Judge and Rene being the Avenger? Is it really a game of chess, Mark? Because I discussed the same thing with Faith quite sometime ago and we thought we were pawns at first, but looks like I’m wrong now.”

“We’re all in a game of chess, Riku. We’re no longer pawns; we’re all rising to our positions and taking them with the war beginning. The Destroyer might be casting death upon the universe, but I won’t let her do it for long. I’ll destroy all of civilisation, even if I have to kill all of FFF to do it! My pain will be everyone’s pain!”

Riku stood in a fighting stance. “Ye researched the Phoenix way too much …”

“There’s a fine difference, Riku!” sneered Mark. “That was fiction and this is reality. Note the different terms and explanations. But you’re not the type to carry a dictionary around, are you?”

“Rene might have been able to weaken ye somehow, but I’m not gonna take this job sitting down! Like my counterpart said! I’ll take ye down! I don’t wanna kill ye, but if I have to, I have to!”

And with that, Riku charged at Mark, much faster than the replica. He was met with furious fireballs on his way, but managed to dodge them with his ever-growing speed. Mark was pleased that maybe he had a match in Riku, but wanted to rise and become the ultimate superhuman to ever exist before he would wipe out all of existence. Riku came close enough to Mark before slashing his arm. However, that cost him dearly when Mark swung his telekinetic arm and Riku went flying into the air. The dark warrior came tumbling down to the ground and could not move since he’d just broken his back. On the other hand, he was lucky to be alive.

Mark telekinetically raised Riku’s still body into the air and smiled nastily, forcing his opponent to look at him only. Riku’s fists began to bleed severely – Mark was already telekinetically slicing them open, causing him to cry out in pain. With the amount of power Mark possessed, he was determined to make sure Riku would pay for everything he’d done in the past three years or so. FFF had always been suspicious of him ever since he did not appear to possess any special abilities … until now.

“Ready to die?” he taunted.

Riku looked up at him furiously. “Screw ye, mongrel!”

* * *​

Filden placed a reassuring hand on Eve’s cheek and hugged her. Even though she was from the future, he already felt so close to her. Besides, when did he ever get called Uncle Fil? He smiled brightly, as he released her and looked at the operating room in which Mercurial and Rydia were done with saving Faith’s life. He reattached to the straps on his back to hold down his wings and put his jumper back on. Eve held Filden’s hand as a source of comfort. Barely moments later, there was a huge gust of air – and Fifi came out of her speeding mode.

“Hey! I got here as soon as you called! What happened?” she asked. She froze when she saw her brother holding Eve’s hand. “Uh … who’s she?”

“It’s – It’s a very long story!” stuttered Filden.

Fifi put her hands on her hips. “Well, you probably haven’t got time to tell me at the moment now that everyone’s on their way to see how Faith is. Saix and Frisk, were they called? They’re on their way down now with their baby. They’re going to take Faith back to our world and then – and then we can finish this once and for all.”

“Wait, did you just say they’re coming here?” Eve’s face dropped.

“Of course I did!” she groaned. “And who are you again?”

“Fifi, I need you to do something for me and you can’t take no for an answer, all right?” Filden blurted out. “Saix and Frisk … they can’t see my friend here. I need you to take her into the other room and make sure she isn’t seen. Do you understand? If they see her, then everything’s a total screw up! Got it?”

“It’s very important that you do this, Fifi!” exclaimed Eve. She rolled her eyes when Fifi was surprised she knew her name. “If you make sure I’m not seen, I’ll tell you who I am. It was safe to tell Uncle Fil, so I guess it’s all right with you as well, Aunt Fifi.”

“AUNT FIFI?”

“Sis, please! Just do as I say!” pleaded Filden.

Fifi glanced from Eve to Filden, sighing annoyingly. “Fine! If it’s so much to you, then I’ll take this girl – whoever she is – into the other room and make sure that she’s not seen by Saix and Frisk!” Then she looked at Eve. “You better have a good explanation and for the third time, WHO ARE YOU?” And with that, she super sped into Faith’s room.

Glad that was over and done with, the timing was perfect when Frisk super sped into the room moments later with Saix holding her wrist and her holding Eve in two hands. Filden felt awkward when he looked at Saix after everything that had happened over the past three years, but Saix felt the same feeling, too. Frisk raised an eyebrow at the pair and shoved past them to take a glance into the operating room. Faith was still in there, although her face wasn’t visible enough to see if the damage had been repaired at all.

“Is she going to be ok?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Mercurial and Rydia haven’t come out just yet,” replied Filden, looking ineptly away from both of them. It was hard to glance at them because he knew just how much of them he saw in the future Eve Valentine. “I’m hoping she’ll be fine. It was a nasty slash across her face, but nothing Merc and Ry couldn’t handle.”

“Well, they’re the best!” exclaimed Frisk, handing Eve over to Saix, whilst she went closer to the operating room window. She still couldn’t see anything more because the bed was so far away. “They’re the best surgeons ever … I just … well …” There was a sudden sadness on her face, one that hadn’t been for a while. “It’s still hard to believe what happened here.” She noticed that there was no blood to be seen. “What happened, Filden? Were you here?”

“No.”

“Then where were you?”

“Frisk, please. Don’t cause a scene.”

“Why are you saying this? Two of my friends are dead!” snapped Frisk, her voice rising with each second that ticked away. “If I was here, then maybe I could’ve made a difference. I could’ve sped away with everyone here and Nexi … God …”

“I’m glad you’re determined to make sure she suffers for what happened to you,” Saix suddenly spoke up, coming to her side with Eve in his arms. “Even if she has taken on the appearance of my cousin, it won’t change anything.” He looked darkly at Filden. “I know we haven’t seen eye to eye, Filden, but you know as well as I do that there are two apocalypses on their way.”

“Two apocalypses that won’t happen,” Filden said fiercely. “Once Faith gets all patched up, she’ll be ready to go and stop Nexi once and for all.”

“And what if she can’t?”

“Don’t say that. She will.”

“It’s still a possibility, Gurito.”

“And you know what? You have little faith in her, you know?”

There was silence that broke out between the three of them. From a distance, the future Eve was watching from Faith’s room with Fifi stood behind her, who had just been told about the truth about her.

“Don’t,” advised Fifi. “You said it yourself. You can’t see them.”

“They’re so close, yet I feel so far away from them,” sighed Eve, trying her best not to cry. “I’ve never known them, Aunt Fifi. Nexi killed them when I was just six months old. They have to know that I love them.”

“And they’ll know how much you love them!” she exclaimed. “Look, I know you want to save the world and prevent these disasters from happening … I want that as well. That’s why I came back to find Filden, it’s why –”

“‘I have to make amends before the world is doomed,’” Eve cleverly quoted. “I know what happened, Aunt Fifi. I know the ins and outs of the next twenty-one years. In six months, my parents die! I can’t let them die! They’re the main reason why I came back! I wanted to meet them. I wanted to make sure that the Destroyer doesn’t come after them.”

“Wait, the Destroyer?”

“Ugh, I forget how slow you were sometimes …”

“Maybe it’s fine time that you stopped being so hopeless and start believing that miracles can happen!” yelled Filden, glaring coldly at Saix. “Your daughter is one of those miracles. You thought that monsters could never have children … you’re not entirely a monster. Faith is your cousin and she’s not a monster. She’s the only one that can beat Nexi down, but I’m not taking you onboard with this if all you’re going to do is whine and complain that we’ve got no chance! The world needs people like us to save it.”

* * *​

Sat down in an unknown location, Damon watched the drama unfold before his very eyes. He tapped his fingers against the desk, nodding to himself. “Interesting, interesting,” he was saying to himself before sitting up and that wicked, curved smile appeared yet again. “Wow, Filden. I never thought that you’d grow up in the year I’d left you in Marwick for. Looks like I was wrong … sometimes I like it when I’m proved wrong.”

* * *​

Julius shoved past Aerith, as he exited her room. He had his blade in hand and was ready to stop Riku from doing the unthinkable. Mitsuki was right behind him, having her sword by her side as well. Aerith pleaded them not to do anything stupid, but the pair of them was ignoring her. Lord Golbez shook his head, as he was stood by Aerith’s side. He knew that killing Mark would’ve been wrong, but ever since he saw the true monster behind the mask, he had to agree with Aerith and Riku that perhaps this was the only way.

“The future of the world depends on Mark and Nexi’s downfall!” Lord Golbez called out to Julius and Mitsuki. “I’m commanding you to stop right there!”

The pair did stop, however, but not before a few words were exchanged.

“You manipulated the situation the whole time just as Riku discovered,” Julius glared coldly at his superior. “If you hadn’t ordered Faith to protect Mark’s powers, then maybe he could’ve harnessed them and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I’m all for protecting Mark, but you can’t hold back his abilities for long. Just look what happened. This mess is all your fault.”

“I don’t like disobeying orders, but I’m with Jul on this one,” Mitsuki said sadly.

“Would you risk the world to let Mark live?” Aerith asked, horrified that they were still refusing to let Riku get the job done. “This is madness! So what if Lord Golbez betrayed us all and went on to protect Mark’s abilities? Could you imagine what may have happened had he not intervened? Perhaps it could’ve been half of the trouble that we are enduring now! Julius, Mitsuki, please! Reconsider!”

“And I thought you were all for preserving life,” Julius laughed mockingly at her words. “Your actions now may be futile. But I shall not let another one of our team die! I may not be as powerful as Faith, Riku or Mark … but I’m not allowing someone else to die. Angelus and Koloth were the final straw. I’m only just about managing to get over Shenorai’s death. No one else dies tonight. No one.”

Suddenly, a dark portal opened and stopped them from the dispute they were having. Rene emerged from the portal, as he fell on to the floor with a loud thud. Aerith and Julius immediately came to his side.

“For Pete’s sake, he knows how much I hate travelling in those portals!” he whined.

“It was Riku?” asked Julius.

“He’s going to fight Mark all on his own …” Rene gasped for air, as he sat up against the wall. He was still too weak to stand on his two feet. “I managed to weaken him for a while, but … I don’t think Mark has a chance of sparing Riku whatsoever. But I think something happened when – when Mark and I … when our fire collided.”

“Mark has your power now?” Mitsuki stared.

“Mark has an empathic mimicry,” explained Lord Golbez. “And it is why I chose to seal his powers years ago. I had no idea of what I was dealing with. That was why I decided to use Faith and shut off his abilities until he was mature enough to handle them.”

“Oh, that’s right because he’s really mature now, isn’t he?” said Rene mockingly.

“Rene, shut up,” muttered Aerith.

“So you’re saying that Riku’s going to lose?” said Mitsuki, not wanting to face that prospect. But at the same time, she had to do so. “Then that’s even more reason to go and help him!” She walked forwards until she realised that no one was following her. “Come on, everyone! We have to protect Riku! We can’t let Mark destroy him!”

“Fortunately, the side project that Riku was working on for the many months after Doomsday has proved useful,” said Lord Golbez. “He created an exact replica of himself, which has at least half the power he has now. It was to buy some time after all. Perhaps Riku does want us there to help Mark. But in the meantime, he is still too dangerous to be kept alive.”

“And we can’t extract his power, so we have to kill him,” said Aerith sadly.

“We can’t kill Mark!” exclaimed Rene.

“We don’t have any other choice, Rene,” Lord Golbez stated.

“Oh yeah, and who made you God all of a sudden?”

Everyone gasped at what he said, but Lord Golbez took the insult well.

“Who are you to decide who lives and dies? Who are you to say who does have power and doesn’t have power? Just who the hell do you think you are?” Rene went to go stand with Julius and Mitsuki. “You were going to stop Riku from killing him, right?” The two nodded when prompted. “Well, count me in. I don’t think we should kill Mark, regardless of how dangerous he is.”

“You don’t understand, Rene!” protested Aerith, stepping in front of Lord Golbez with an angry look on her face. “If you let Mark live, he will wipe all of existence out! If he gains the right powers and abilities, he could very well do that. You could never understand how it feels to have so much power and lose yourself.”

“AS A MATTER OF FACT, I DO!”

His raised voice startled everyone, Mitsuki in particular.

“You think I don’t understand how it feels to be out of control?” Rene said, looking personally insulted. “Well, why don’t I say this now? After I gained my abilities in an accident three years ago, I was a wreck. It felt great to be invisible, but the fire that I produced couldn’t be invisible. I almost burned my school down by accident. Did I ever forget to mention that I burned down my orphanage and very nearly killed two of my friends in there?”

Aerith stood there silently, unable to look at him.

“So don’t you ever say anything about not understanding to feel like you’re not in control! Don’t stand there and pretend that wasn’t anything because it was, ok? You’ve not had the same upbringing as I have. I lost my parents when I was twelve. My sisters, Kara and Lily, died when I was fourteen. I don’t have many people left in my life anymore … I have you lot, Riku, Mark, Filden, Fifi and Faith left. I’m the last person in my family that’s alive. I never asked to be evohuman, I never asked for these powers. But what I will demand now is that you think twice about killing Mark.”

And as soon as he was done speaking, a pair of hands was heard clapping.

“Impressive speech, Rene. I’m sure that your parents and sisters would be proud.”

Nexi emerged from around the corner, determined to see the end of FFF as she had done so with RRM. Julius immediately noticed the flicker of darkness in her eyes and ignited his spare hand. Mitsuki stood next to Lord Golbez, as did Aerith. Rene ignited his hands with flames. The two men stood in front of their comrades like barriers.

“So you are the final remaining elite of FFF,” Nexi said emotionlessly.

“That’s not Faith,” Julius said. “It’s the Goddess of Death.”

“The Destroyer, I know,” Rene nodded in agreement.

“The Destroyer?” Mitsuki wondered out loud, keeping her sword firmly gripped.

“They give me many names,” smirked Nexi. “I call myself Nexi, legends depict me as the Goddess of Death and prophecies name me as the Destroyer. Now you see me before you … before I kill you all.”

“I only just got one death threat,” groaned Rene. “Please don’t give me another …”

“Really the time for jokes, Rene? You think that?” muttered Aerith angrily.

“Aerith … please,” Lord Golbez whispered in an attempt to silence her.

Nexi observed them all very carefully. Her eyes were finally laid upon Lord Golbez, who was attempting to sink into the background. “Not so fast, Golbez. You’re not going anywhere. You’re not going to leave here and allow your elite to fight for you now, are you?”

“I can’t fight, but I can twist your emotions around if you’re not lucky.”

“Sensing and manipulating emotions? Quite interesting, Golbez. No wait … I should call you Goldfish because you only seem to speak whenever there’s attention diverted in your direction. So I’m only going to say this once … don’t you dare interrupt what I have to say.”

“So this is why you wouldn’t come near me!” shouted Rene suddenly, facing Nexi for the first time. “I get it now. Everyone that comes into close physical contact with you goes through the kiss of death. No wonder Frisk told me she was so shaken up before! She’s determined to keep her heterosexuality, all right –”

“By nature, all superhumans should join me,” Nexi rudely interrupted him. “Evohumans are abominations that don’t deserve their powers because they weren’t their birthright. So the only one who should be standing by my side right now is the one that you call Lady Aerith.”

Julius’ grip on his blade tightened. Aerith stared furiously at Nexi.

“As if I’d ever join you!” she said angrily.

“Superhuman and a feisty temper,” the Goddess of Death commented. “I think I can deal with you, Aerith. I already thought that Rene would accept Mark’s proposal to join him because his potential is on par with that of a superhuman. So rightfully, Rene should also be by my side.” Everyone stared at Rene, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed upon Nexi. “I read your mind, Renero Skylar. I saw the encounter in my mind when the memory was inputted. When the kiss of death is inserted into a being, they see my true face. But if that being happens to be superhuman or evohuman, then I absorb their abilities. Now this may come as a shock, but I suppose you could say that I’m just as powerful as Mark now …”

“She has Mark’s powers, too,” realised Mitsuki.

“The others are so slow, I’m glad someone is keeping up with me!” taunted Nexi.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” growled Julius.

“Ooh, the big bad Julius is coming to get me!” she continued. “Tell me, Julius Argexis. How is Shenorai these days?”

Julius immediately retaliated by hurling a fireball in Nexi’s direction, which she deflected back at him. Rene raised his hand and the fire was inserted back into his hand, something he’d been practicing lately. Nexi was impressed by the rate Rene was growing at; she was really considering him for the available spot on her team.

“I also forgot to mention that the kiss of death could paralyse all those who experience it. Well, everyone who isn’t Mark, anyway. Mark was far too powerful for me to paralyse. He was the first one I kissed … too bad that Frisk has seen all the things that I’m going to do. Now if only we had a psychic who could easily wipe out those images? Oh, wait a moment … she’s trapped in another dimension!”

“You’re sick, you know that?” shouted Rene. “Everyone, just go. I got this.” He said this without looking at them.

“What? Mark nearly killed you! You think we’ll leave you here on your own with someone just as powerful?” Aerith’s tone was disbelieving.

“Yes, I think you will.”

“We’re wasting time,” Julius said, glancing at the others. “We have to go.”

“You want to let him die?” asked Aerith.

“Don’t try that crap on with me, sis!” he snapped. “Grab your crystals. We’re going.”

As the FFF elite used the crystals around their necks to transport themselves from Gaia to Earth, Rene was now left alone with Nexi. He saw the evil look in her eyes and never believed that Faith could be so evil like her. Faith was good by nature. He kept telling himself that, knowing that he couldn’t let her evilness overwhelm his willpower. Rene knew he had to buy the others sometime to get to Mark – and he wouldn’t let Nexi distract them any further.

“You’ve wanted her for so long, so why don’t I pretend to be her for a moment?”

“Shut up, Nexi.”

“Aww, come on. Surely, you think of her when you see me?”

“You stole her DNA, Nexi. You kidnapped her. She’s coming back, just wait.”

“But you wouldn’t mind getting under my skin for a while, would you?”

“Go find yourself some other sucker. I’m not here to make small talk.”

“Then what are you here for?”

Rene shook his head. He needed to be more convincing. He needed to make sure that the others got to Mark in time or else Riku would be dead. So he made sure his blade was tightly in his holster before approaching Nexi. With his hands no longer in flames, Nexi appeared to be more relaxed since she was now walking towards him. They came inches within one another. As sickening as this felt, he allowed her to touch his hand softly and grab it exactly the way she used to do so.

“You do see her when you look at me, don’t you?” she whispered in his ear.

“Yes,” he admitted painfully.

“And you want me to say the three words, knowing it’s not her?”

Rene closed his eyes, unable to take anymore of the pain. “Yes.”

“Sorry, but I’m not a fool for love,” assumed Nexi. “I am everything that Faith aspires to be, so in other words, yes. I am Faith. I’m her, but the more improved and upgraded version. You know that you can’t deny that, Rene. I have her appearance, memories, powers, DNA … I am everything she wants to be and can’t be. She can never be like me, Rene. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes.” He opened his eyes, letting them rest upon Nexi.

“Then what are you waiting for? Faith isn’t going to come back as opposed to what you said before,” stated Nexi, grabbing his other free hand. “Normally, I’d force myself on them. But … I can’t explain what’s happening here …” Her eyes went from being black to the original blue colour that Faith bore. “It feels like I’m Faith, but I’m the better version. I don’t know what’s happening to me, Rene … I … can’t explain it and I don’t … why? Why me?”

“What are you saying?” asked Rene.

“I’m meant to be the Goddess of Death, the Destroyer! I’m Nexi, not her!” she cried out, falling to her knees and allowing tears to flow down her face. “But still, I’d risk everything just to be with you … why? Why am I saying this? I’m not her; I’m not Faith Crest. I’m Nexi! I’m Nexi, damn it!”

“You chose the wrong person to steal DNA from,” he stated. “The DNA is starting to bond with your body. It’s taking over your emotions and directing you towards me.” He helped her back on to her feet. “I see you as Nexi, but you … your feelings are Faith’s. It’s too complicated to explain here, Nexi. You can’t let the feelings overwhelm you! You’re not Faith, you said it yourself.”

“But what if … what if Faith can never be found again? What if she’s stuck in that dimension and the phantoms have already killed her off?”

“The phantoms?”

“Rene, I can’t control myself! I can’t control how I feel anymore,” Nexi looked painfully at him. She gripped his hands tightly. “I don’t know how this just happened. But when I set eyes upon you, my evilness has just gone down like that!” She clicked her fingers at the end of her sentence. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore, except … except you. Even though I couldn’t remember who you were, I knew there was something important about you. I knew that … you were special.”

“Special?”

“To me, to Faith, to both of us …” She placed her hand on his warm, burning cheek. “I can’t help how I feel anymore, Rene. I just can’t hold myself back. My head’s telling me to give you the kiss of death, to show you what I can really do. But my heart – if I even have one – is telling me to let you make the move.”

Rene ran a hand through Nexi’s hair, making her shudder ever so slightly. He stroked it next, making her feel relaxed. He felt like he was in pain too because of his emotions. He had to keep telling himself that this was the Goddess of Death, his opponent. This was wrong. It was wrong. Why wasn’t he burning her corpse by now?

And then without any more hesitation, he pressed his lips on hers. He was the one to kiss Nexi, to feel some kind of emotion in his veins. Nexi was surprised that Rene had made the bold move to kiss her, but allowed him to dominate the kiss because it was what Faith would do. She gave into it and let Rene do whatever he wanted. Nexi was swooped off her feet when Rene picked her up and they continued to kiss passionately, banging into the wall in the process. But this still did not stop them. Rene had wanted to kiss her for so long, still realising that this was Nexi, but with Faith’s out of control feelings. Nexi had been smitten with Rene as soon as he saw him. And for the first time, the kiss of death wasn’t even there. Perhaps it did not work with him? Whatever the case, she loved this as much as he did.

But Damon lurked around the corner, furious that this had happened. Rene had given into a moment of weakness and allowed Nexi to overpower him. He held a blue crystal in his hand, the crystal that had let him come to Gaia – it was Faith’s crystal he took from her when he found her. Now it seemed things would become interesting …

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Nineteen

The Ticking of Time​

“She was amazing, incredible even. I can’t begin to describe how thrilled I am …”

“That you managed to make sure her pretty face wasn’t permanently scarred?”

“Well, yes, there is that. But Filden won’t be feeling so guilty now that it’s done.”

“Honestly, Merc, if I were a priest right now – which I’m not by the way – then I’d have to send you to confession and proclaim your deadly sins. Plus, we don’t want to even begin with what kind of sins you’re hiding from us.”

“You heard the rumours about me hitting on three women in one night? It’s not true!”

“She’ll be the judge of that when she wakes up, shall we? We just know she’s dying to get into your sick, twisted head …”

Even as the small soothing sensation of conscious streamed steadily through her body, Faith Crest didn’t want to wake up just yet. She felt so weak and numb at the same time. She wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up again. To face the rest of the world with a straight face would have been extremely difficult, considering the situation that the entire universe was in and the condition that she was in. Even if she wanted to blurt out the horrifying truth about her deal with Aztec Triogal, she knew that no one would listen. No one would hear her; it would be a muffled scream, dying for help. No, the truth would remain concealed with her for the rest of her … days.

And through her worrying, she almost forgot some major things.

Of course, Frisk’s child was alive. Eve had made it out of the darkness and into the light. The fact that they were connected biologically through Saix did not throw her off course either. The mere thought of her cousin did not enter her mind. If she could, then Faith would have smiled at that moment, knowing that they would all be safe very soon. The stream of consciousness became very strong and blinding lights could not even stop her eyes from fluttering open.

Almost immediately, she felt a warm and familiar touch caressing her hand. Faith turned her head slowly and painfully towards Filden, who was beautiful with his white wings. Even without the wings, he was still a protective angel in her eyes. He was her Guardian, who would refuse to let anyone harm her. This had all been learnt within the Kedzaer Dimension. She was the Saviour, Nexi was the Destroyer … but even as this information was piling into her mind, Faith instantly felt nauseous – and it was not long until Rydia was by her side with a glass of water, pouring it down her throat. Faith was ever so grateful that her friends were all here by her side.

“You gave us quite a scare,” Mercurial said, revealing himself from the dark corner. He walked to the bed and gave Faith a cool smile, flashing his white shining teeth in the meantime and managing to get Filden to make a good impression of someone being sick. “All right, Fil, cool it. Don’t want it to happen to our friend here, do we?”

“Where … where … am I?” croaked Faith.

“Home, where else?” Rydia laughed softly, poking Mercurial in the shoulder as if she was bored. “Listen, we, uh … we needed to break it to you some other way and –”

“Contra and Hera are dead, I know.”

Surprised with her knowledge, Filden clutched her hand tighter than ever. He was fulfilling his role as her Guardian, wanting to never let her die. Without her alive, there was now no meaning for him. He glanced up pleadingly at Mercurial and Rydia, both of whom were shaking their heads.

“Jesus, you two! I think now is the best time or else she won’t be happy.”

“Best time? What?” Faith’s tone was stronger this time.

“I really didn’t want to drag her into this, but she’s our best shot at helping us defeat Nexi and all,” Filden was saying. “All right … here’s the low down.” He whistled towards the door, which was opened barely seconds later. Eve walked inside, beautiful as ever, keeping her eyes firmly fixed upon the recovering Faith. “Faith, this is Eve … from the future.”

“Twenty-one years in the future, actually!” retorted Eve, sticking her tongue out at him and then taking another glance at Faith. “So you’re the famous Faith Crest.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “I’m famous?” She sighed, feeling a little pain when Filden helped her to sit up. “Just how famous are we talking?”

* * *​

After being undermined and underestimated for so many years, Mark Johnson wasn’t about to let his fun of torturing Riku Walker to death get in his way. He had to admit that Riku was stronger than most people; he’d thought everyone was exaggerating his strength and willpower. But of course, Mark was the most powerful one here. His overwhelming supremacy was even affecting the mood of the weather. As Riku was tossed into the wall yet again, he dropped the Way To Dawn and landed on the wall with a loud thud. Mark walked towards his nemesis, trying to destroy his weapon in any way that he could. Pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, cryokinesis, telekinesis … every method he came up with failed to destroy the accursed weapon. He curled his fist into a ball and walked swiftly over to the fallen warrior.

Having undermined and underestimated Mark Johnson for too long, Riku Walker wasn’t having the best time of his life. He was being slowly driven towards death by many different methods. His body had been telekinetically tossed around their surroundings for quite sometime, he’d been electrocuted, frozen, burned severely and physically attacked. But just like Mark, he had the strength and willpower. He had those two remaining factors to keep him alive. If he could, then Riku would give into the darkness for the sake of staying alive. Yet no, that was not him! Ever since the darkness had been consuming him, he made a promise to Faith to never given into it. She had been the one able to suppress that darkness, but he’d learned to combine the power of light and darkness sometimes. Wholly using that darkness would surely corrupt him for good. He may as well have joined Mark in his mad apocalypse …

But of course, there had been far too many sacrifices over the years to let him succumb to temptation and allow the darkness surely take over his heart.

“I won’t let you do this to yourself, Riku!” Faith had once cried out to him when they were younger. “You can’t let the darkness win. What would your family say now if they saw you? They wouldn’t want you to do this … I don’t want you to do this! I haven’t protected you for all this time just to see you fall! Darkness won’t take over your heart, Riku. If you do … then … I’ll – I’ll fight you!”

Her feeble, but courageous attempt to talk through him had actually worked once. Her words were good to remember; even if it was just a memory he shared with the old Faith Crest. He classified the “old Faith Crest” was the one that had the memories, worked for FFF and was very happy. This version he was seeing right now wasn’t one hundred percent Faith Crest, just as the young man stood in front of him wasn’t entirely one hundred percent Mark Johnson. Riku could feel blood pouring down his nose and lip, but had to ignore the pain to stand against Mark. Even if he could just stall for time, then maybe this would be his sacrifice to help FFF, even if he had turned against them in the first place.

Summoning a dark energy ball to his hand was off the cards as well. Riku was physically and mentally injured, so his powers were weakened, too. He refused to look up at Mark, to see the monster he had really become. However, he had to do so soon enough, seeing as how Mark telekinetically forced Riku to look into his dark eyes for the first time in a while. Their fight – if it could be called a fight at all when Mark clearly had the dominance over Riku – had been going on for quite sometime and the two opponents had not quite looked each other in the eye.

“No one can stop me, Riku, not even you!” he shouted.

He kicked Riku in the side, causing him to recoil in burning pain. Mark laughed to see how much fun this really was before crossing his arms and floating ever so slightly in the air.

“Through death, your sacrifice will be meaningless. The entire universe will still fall; even the planets undiscovered will perish because it shall be my will. My will shall succumb everything in existence. This, Riku, is my ultimate victory, one that you can’t stop! I was the one having to be slaved around and treated differently because I was believed not to have a power. But good old Golbez knew, didn’t he? He ordered Faith to protect me. Protect me? Bah, I didn’t need protecting! I had to understand my power, even if it would haunt me in my nightmares and waking days. But he used Faith’s newfound trust to stop me from becoming as powerful as her. He was afraid that Darkblade would take an interest in me. He was afraid that the old fool would do something should he discover something so unnatural about me. My, my … things would’ve changed if I was found out to be the superhuman that I am today.”

Mark laughed out loudly, now stamping down on Riku’s face.

“And you, a filthy evohuman, thought that you could kill me tonight? No one can stop me, Riku!” he continued to say. “The death of the entire universe will be amazing to see. There’ll be no more pain … no more hope … no more dreams … no more nightmares … the universe won’t exist … and we can all die together …”

How could he give up on life so easily? This was the question Riku kept repeating over and over in his mind, but came to no conclusion. One possible answer was the fact that he was unable to control his abilities, but everyone had power trouble, right? He’d experienced it upon his first arrival on Earth. So how was Mark any different? There were no other possible answers. Riku continued to cough up blood. Every blow that was landed on his side caused more of it to brought up out of his system and on to the surface. It pleased Mark to be enjoying seeing his former comrade falling.

“Mark …” Riku pleaded, gasping for air since there was blood smeared across his face. “This … it’s not you … please … it’s not … not you …”

He crossed his arms and shook his head, finally stopping his relentless attack on Riku. There was something strange about his eyes, Riku noticed, as he saw his former friend walk towards the edge of the rooftop and laugh manically. However, he did not let this freedom be used in the wrong way. Riku crawled to the wall, which he sat against. He’d known that Mark wasn’t quite himself, so was there something deeper and darker at work?

“You’re right. It’s not me, really, but it feels like me.”

Turning around to face him, Riku could see an entirely different person stood right in front of him. This was no longer Mark Johnson. His eyes were an entirely different colour, perhaps an ecru one.

“What have you done with Mark?” snarled Riku in an uncivilised manner.

“Mark doesn’t exist anymore, at least not when I’m here,” the newcomer said in a darker voice. “There’s a secret about us superhumans that we’re all forced to keep as a burden. Our human sides are very … emotional. But when our true sides come out, then that’s when our true potential is realised and we could take the world for ourselves. Our superhuman personas are much stronger. We’re not tied down by emotions, our powers are even stronger, we’re physically and mentally stronger and we are unstoppable!”

“Superhuman … personas?”

However, Riku was telekinetically tossed into another wall.

“I am Ecru of Blackstone,” he said formally. “It is time to fulfil my destiny and reunite the superhuman warriors to finally take back what is ours.”

* * *​

Nexi refused to let Rene go, this was all she needed right now.

Ever since she realised that Faith’s emotions were also her own and consumed her entire being, she had no greater desire than to be with Rene. He was the only reason for her existence now, as they were continuing to kiss each other with much passion and lust. She allowed him to carry her across the hall and into the bedroom, where she immediately cut off from him and gasped when she saw where they were. Immediately, she was shaking her head in protest.

“No … you can’t … you can’t!” she cried.

“You said it yourself, Faith’s not coming back,” moaned Rene, as he proceeded to kissing her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist, taking in the sweet scent of strawberries on her body.

There was an inkling of a feeling that Nexi knew Faith would come back. Ever since she’d connected with Rene and hit it off with him, she felt something different in the atmosphere. The small Kedzaer crystal was tucked tightly in her black dress, somewhere private that she’d rather not say. The crystal had felt colder in the past half hour, so it must have been a sign pointing to Faith’s release. Whether this was due to her not watching the crystal closely or an external force suddenly becoming involved, Nexi knew the facts. Faith had escaped – and she would be none too happy when she found her coming on to her boyfriend.

“How can you be so sure?” whispered Nexi, whilst still being seduced by his advances.

“You said it yourself,” assumed Rene, raising his head away from her neck and staring lovingly at her. “The darkness was once there in your eyes. As soon as you saw me, you became her. You became Faith Crest and … nothing else matters now.”

“What if the emotions aren’t enough, Rene? What if I remember my plans?”

“You won’t.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I do.”

Nexi looked sadly away from Rene. When he tried kissing her again, she rose to her feet and sighed. “I think – I think I need some fresh air,” she quickly said, glancing around Faith’s room. This wasn’t right … no; she shouldn’t have been stealing another girl’s – well, technically her – boyfriend and pass herself off as Faith Crest. The human emotion of guilt was overwhelming her, something she wouldn’t have allowed to do before.

She continued towards the gardens. It was too quiet in the headquarters; the rest of the team had gone to save Riku from Mark. Using Faith’s memories, she remembered how her untimely arrival in the headquarters after being attacked by Saix and saved by the heavenly Aerith, who had since dropped the ‘Lady’ part of her name ever since the end of the Fantasy War.

* * *​

Several hours later, Faith began to wander through the headquarters of FFF. To the obvious eye, it wasn’t actually in the human world, but in a world that wasn’t easily accessible. It only had the name of Gaia, where most kingdoms were protected with full force and peace reigned there. She found herself walking through the beautiful gardens of the headquarters. It was so stunning here – and was also the place, where she found Lady Aerith.

“Oh, don’t let me bother you,” she said, noticing she was going to say something after seeing that she was planting flowers and watering the currently growing ones.

“It’s fine,” beamed Lady Aerith. “I like flowers. When we first founded FFF, the headquarters had previously been a war zone. The land looked like it couldn’t be grown again. I was one of the first of the elite members here, so I devoted all my time to help grow beautiful gardens for the headquarters.”

“Ohhh,” nodded Faith, who seemed to be really curious. She was willing to listen to anyone who had history of FFF or anything else relating to her. “It must have been hard trying to get where it is today.”

“It was,” she sighed happily, “but we pulled through in the end. After the war ended in Gaia, there hadn’t been any rain. And then one day … the heavens opened, rained and answered our prayers. It was the best day ever, Faith. If only you remembered –”

“I was here when it happened?” cut in Faith.

Lady Aerith nodded straight away. “You’re one of the elite just like me, Faith. Unlike many people here, I know exactly what happened on that night.” Faith stared at Lady Aerith with her eyes widening. “But I’m trying to piece it all together, so we may have to wait for a little bit of time until we know what really happened.”

* * *​

The very memory caused Nexi to recoil from the gardens. She did not want to let Faith’s entire existence be intertwined with her own. She gasped for air, falling to her knees and disallowed the memories to keep overwhelming her. How could she, the Goddess of Death, let stupid images overpower her mind? It was a disgrace, an embarrassment! Nexi was a legendary being that was meant to be feared, not let fear take over her heart. As she rose to her feet, a familiar face stepped out from the shadows with a dark smirk etched across his face.

“Hello, Nexi,” said Damon.

“Damon?” growled Nexi, knowing full well that his sudden reappearance could have had a serious and damaging impact on her newfound relationship with Rene and the life she so desperately craved. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her tone was hissing and demanding.

He stepped more into the light, more into the gardens that she resented with such hatred and passion. “I saw you with him, Nexi. I’m not blind; I know you’re not the real Faith Crest. She wouldn’t suddenly get back together with Rene without good reason. Besides, she’d be more shocked to see me here in Gaia if anything.” Nexi raised an eyebrow. “I won’t let you take everything she’s worked hard for.” He raised a gun in his right hand, aiming it directly at her.

“You really think that’s going to stop me?” she sneered.

“If you were Faith, then you’d know what to do,” Damon said with little emotion in the tone of his voice before pulling the trigger …

* * *​

“I am NOT wearing a bandage across my face!”

“Aww, come on, Faithy! You’d look adorable.”

“Do you want me to expose your dirty little secrets, Mercurial?”

“I wouldn’t mind. In fact, I’d love to hear about it.”

“Filden, you wouldn’t want to … trust me, I work here and hear too much.”

“Rydia, honestly. I’m a good guy, why else would I work for RRM?”

Eve defiantly had her arms folded across her chest.

Faith was moaning about the possibility of having a bandage across the stitches on her, Mercurial commented about how beautiful she’d look … it was an endless cycle. So Faith had retaliated by using her powers for personal gain, whilst Filden found himself amused by his secrets being exposed, Rydia was fully opposed to this and Mercurial was now protesting his innocence. Surely, if the world were like this in the future, then it would’ve perished …

“HELLO!” she exclaimed loudly, gaining their attention. “Hi there! Did you seem to forget that we have not only one, but two apocalypses threatening the world? Nexi may have remained low for now, but Mark isn’t going to sit around and wait for her to get to the front of the queue, is he?”

“Future girl has a point,” agreed Fifi.

“Well, if we weren’t fussing about me, we’d be heading over to the other universe half an hour ago,” groaned Faith, as she stepped off the bed and sighed to herself. Her face was hurting because of the stitches, but would get Aerith or Mitsuki to heal her wounds as soon as they found them in Gaia. After all, they would take great care of her face … not that Mercurial and Rydia hadn’t done so already. They’d saved her life, so now she was in their debt until she could do the same to them. “I’ll be fine, we just – we just need to get there.”

“The portal closes in a few days,” said Fifi. “Six days, approximately.”

Faith gulped. “Six days?” She didn’t want to think about what would happen in six days.

“Is there something wrong, Faith?” Rydia asked curiously.

“No, but I’ve got a feeling that the six days and portal are connected somehow,” she replied, not quite looking anyone in the eye yet. However, she briefly had a moment glancing at Eve, but was soon babbling on with herself. “When I was in the Kedzaer Dimension, I had many visions – some of them were tricks, but I know that the others were important.”

“Your precognitive powers are in tact again?” Mercurial sounded delighted.

She nodded quickly. “Seems like it. I was powerless in that dimension, but that’s the only power that’s ever stuck by me when the others stop working suddenly. I dreamt that …” Faith closed her eyes, not quite able to remember all of the images she saw. Concentrating hard, her hands were beginning to shake. Filden stepped forward and grabbed them.

“What? It’s my job,” he said to Fifi, who was scowling at him. “We’ve been friends since we were kids, gee …”

“No one ever questioned your role in all of this,” his sister muttered.

“I’m younger than you two and even I’m responsible,” stated Eve.

“We’ll figure this out, but we just need to give Faith time to find the vision,” said Mercurial, who was now suddenly serious as if it was a life or death decision.

“She’s coming …” Faith was saying barely seconds later. “She tried being me, didn’t she? I cried … I cried for weeks … for months … I was trapped and … she … never cared.” They were about to comfort her when she opened her eyes and they turned dark. “We’re connected. I know where she is.”

“Connected?” stared Filden, still holding her hands.

“Like a twin connection,” explained Eve, causing everyone, except Faith, to look at her next. “Nexi is probably being overwhelmed by Faith’s existence now as we speak. A certain event or person may trigger those unwanted feelings. Faith is being overwhelmed by Nexi’s feelings right now.”

“Just how do you know this?” Mercurial demanded playfully. “We could use your sense of awareness on our team.”

Eve shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry, not available. I’m involved in a huge rebellion against Nexi in the future … or at least I was, anyway. Rene Skylar led it and you were there as well, Fifi!”

“What happened to you not saying much about the future?” Filden raised an eyebrow.

“I’m trying to make you into heroes, duh!” giggled Eve. She looked at Faith again, who was now breaking a sweat due to the strain of discovering Nexi’s location. “Ok, so we’ve found Nexi and now all we have to do is beat her, then it’s game over – we can all go home happy and hold our heads high!”

Faith let go of Filden’s hand because she wanted to grab the wall instead. Her eyes returned to their normal blue colour and she broke into a casual laugh. Everyone stared, but she looked too happy to notice. She wiped the tears of happiness away from cheeks before she was able to straighten herself out.

“Wow, that was a lot of fun,” she said to them. “Nexi knows that I’m back, so now there’s no more screwing around and trying to be me. She – oh, crap!” Another burning vision hit her mind, one that she had not seen before. The vision was over within a few moments in reality, but Faith knew it had been longer in her world. She opened her eyes, her feeling of happiness changing to one of anguish and horror. She sank to the floor, burying her face in her hands and knowing what would happen next.

“What is it?” asked Filden softly, kneeling down to her.

“We have to leave. Now!” barked Eve, as she sprinted out of the room.

Mercurial was taken aback by her sudden orders, but didn’t know whether to obey or disobey. Her sudden unwanted admission to power had come unexpectedly, but he couldn’t not listen to a girl from the future either. On the other hand, he did want to question her authority. So what if she was a girl from the future that led a rebellion with a future version of Rene Skylar? Where did that exactly leave them, anyway?

“Listen to her, Mercurial!” shouted Faith out of the blue since she’d just read his racing thoughts. “This universe is about to collapse any minute! Do you really want to be killed? Do you want to end up the same way as Contra and Hera? And yes, I knew you wanted to keep it a secret from me, but I hate people keeping secrets from me by now! We need to get out of this universe and back to mine before the portal closes forever! Nexi is going to destroy the universe just to get to me!” She looked towards Filden and Fifi. “I’m trusting you two to get them there!”

“We have to leave?” gasped Rydia, glancing around the headquarters in a last ditch attempt to remember the fun times they’d had in the past few years here.

“If you want to survive, go now!” warned Eve, refusing to take her eyes off Faith. They were staring fiercely at each other, almost as if they had a hidden agenda.

“But I have to protect you, Faith. I can’t leave you here!” pleaded Filden.

“I’ve defied death twice, who’s to say I won’t defy a third time? Third time lucky,” she grinned. “Fil, you take Mercurial because you can handle his weight. Fifi, take Rydia. Get to the portal and that’s an order. Get there NOW!”

“We still can’t leave you here, Faith!” yelled Mercurial, showing his leadership.

“I can’t be responsible for your deaths as well!” Faith shouted back, unable to look them in the eye anymore. “Eve and I will take care of things here. From now on, you’re going to have to be careful. You’ll have to remain low in my world. Filden and Fifi can take you back to their home for a little while.”

“I’m not objecting to this, Faith, but why us? Why can’t we stay here?” asked Fifi.

Knowing that Fifi was a neutral figure in this situation, Faith couldn’t lie to her. “It has to be me, it has to be us that try stop Nexi. Eve and I … we’ve got things to discuss. We’ll come out of this alive, but you need to protect Mercurial and Rydia for now. She’ll come after them next now that they’re in a vulnerable position with Contra and Hera’s deaths.”

“And I’m a second generation superhuman, so my capabilities surpass yours,” Eve kindly pointed out, earning a playful glare from Filden.

“Not the time for jokes, Filden …” muttered Fifi, quickly scolding him.

“Just get out of here, ok? Go!” Faith suddenly shouted amidst all the funny gestures. “Or do I have to force you through the portal myself?” She raised her hands soon after, but Eve came by her side to lower them.

“They’ll go, Faith, they’ll go,” she reassured, glancing at Filden and Fifi. “What are you waiting for? Do you want her to get mind control-y?”

Fifi, still the only neutral person in the room, grabbed Rydia’s hand and they super sped out of the room within seconds. Filden was left, shaking his head at Faith, whilst Mercurial was rolling his eyes as if he wanted to say that she was putting on the tragic heroine act. After one last look at Faith, Filden spread his wings out and looked to the ceiling, which had opened up when Mercurial used the remote control to do so. They flew off into the sunshine, early afternoon sunshine.

“I thought they’d never leave!” exclaimed Eve, trying to implement some sarcasm into the atmosphere. It wasn’t working, however, since Faith was still staring into space. “Faith Crest. So you’re the legendary Faith Crest. Wow, never thought that you’d be this tall. I expected you to be shorter.”

“What’s your point?” snapped Faith.

“My point? Well, for one I never thought that you’d break out of the Kedzaer Dimension. Something’s telling me that you never told them the full story. But you didn’t, did you? You’ve done something terrible. Do I have to go to the future to find out or will you tell me?”

For the first time, Faith stared into Eve’s eyes for the first time. This was her little cousin from the future here! She couldn’t lie to her family. She placed a hand on her cheek, closing her eyes and allowing the memory of the deal with Aztec to flow into Eve’s mind. A tear trickled down her face when she opened her eyes and backed away in fear that Eve would retaliate furiously. When Eve opened her eyes as well, she felt the tears coming down her face as well. Instead of attacking her, she threw her arms around her older – well, younger in this case – cousin and refused to release the tight grip she had around her waist.

“No wonder you’re a legend,” Eve whispered in Faith’s ear. “You’re so brave.”

* * *​

The crystals had diverted them everywhere, but the FFF elite team had finally managed to track down Riku on the rooftop of RRM. There was no sign of danger anywhere, but Julius and Mitsuki were on their guard while Aerith tended to heal Riku’s wounds and Lord Golbez scanned their surroundings. He could sense something was not entirely right, but also knew that the others were right. Mark could not be killed. However, if he were deemed the dangerous threat he was, then perhaps the inevitable would become evitable.

Aerith was astounded with Riku’s injuries. Mark had beaten him up pretty badly, considering he had been knocked out. It was not only that, though. The wounds were taking a while to heal, much longer, actually. She began to fear that they were too late, perhaps Riku was dying and there’d be no chance to save him. Actual tears streamed down her face and the grim reality of losing to evil was beginning to overwhelm her. She wanted to remain optimistic and hopeful, but those old feelings were starting to slip away. Koloth and Angelus had sacrificed themselves just as Shenorai had done so more than a year ago.

Who was to say that Riku hadn’t done the same?

“We haven’t lost,” whispered Lord Golbez, who came to her side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He could see she had been crying, despite her feeble attempts to conceal her emotional pain. “Either way, Mark couldn’t have gone too far. Mitsuki!” At the sound of her name, Mitsuki brought herself forward. “Please help Aerith. I’m afraid that double the effort will be required here.” As Mitsuki proceeded to assist her friend, Lord Golbez rose to his feet to rejoin Julius, who had been investigating the area. “Do we have any leads?”

“Well, it’s safe to assume that Mark was here,” growled Julius. “Signs of telekinetic attacks. Riku was tossed around the rooftop like a rag doll.”

“And here I was, thinking that you may as well have been laughing.”

“I don’t laugh when one of our elite attacks another in such a disgraceful manner.”

Julius knelt down to the blood on the floor, realising it belonged to Riku. Of course, Mark wouldn’t have his spilt across the ground. He was invincible now, possibly regarded as a god to them all. The young king felt his blood boil, now full of rage that was just waiting to be unleashed. This had gone too far this time. Suddenly, he found himself reflecting on what he’d seen here on the crime scene and on to what was the right decision to make.

“He’s too dangerous to be kept alive. I realise that now. We really have to kill Mark.”

“Are you insane?” spat Mitsuki furiously.

But even now as she looked into the regret seen in Julius’ eyes, she began to understand that this was more than just preserving their enemy’s life – it was now about saving the world whatever the cost had to be. Mitsuki, somewhat distracted from her main duty, thought about the possibilities. If one life had to be sacrificed to save billions, then perhaps she could understand that this had to be done. The next thing she knew, she was the hysterical one in tears.

Julius put his blade back into its holster and hurried to comfort her. He was met by her hugging him and crying into his shoulder. To kill someone deemed dangerous enough to destroy the world was hard enough, but to wipe out a friend would test the team. And it would have appeared that there was already someone willing to take the sacrifice and burden of having Mark’s last moments in his nightmares forever.

“I’m not exactly innocent, but I don’t want Riku to kill his friend either,” Julius muttered quickly. “I’ll be the one to take the plunge.” He looked at Lord Golbez and raised his voice. “I would like to volunteer myself, Lord Golbez.”

“You’re not serious!” hissed Aerith angrily.

“Sis, I’ve never been more serious in my life. If you want to go against it, then go ahead. Only an hour ago you were still all for killing Mark. So why not have myself snuff out his life? I have nothing left to live for … especially since …” But the mere thought of Shenorai threw Julius off course and he sighed frustratingly.

“You are sure?” asked Lord Golbez, willing to let this happen. Julius nodded without looking at him. “Then it shall be the will of God.”

* * *​

“Off to destroy the parallel universe, I see,” growled Damon, as he followed Nexi down the hallways of the FFF headquarters. “Pfft! I knew it. Can’t even get a decent response from you. What was wrong, Nexi? Did it re-ignite your old feelings for me? Oh no, wait a minute … those feelings belong to Faith!”

Nexi suddenly stopped and glared coldly at him, her black eyes reappearing. “You really want the truth? You want to know what she’d say now if she were here when she’s clearly not?” she snapped. “She wouldn’t choose you. She wouldn’t give you the time of day anymore, Damon Roughley. She would choose Rene and speaking for her, I would! I don’t see why she ever loved you in the first place.”

“Don’t walk away from me, damn persistent bitch!”

“I will walk away from you if I want, Damon. What am I doing now? GOING!”

“To destroy another world? You dark creatures are just the same filth all over again!”

“It’s just like you said, Damon … we don’t have feelings.”

“Then why the hell did you even agree to sleep with me in the first place?”

“I only shacked up with you because you seduced me!”

“Oh yeah, there was that …”

“Let me guess, you were trying to stall for time. Just like Riku did with Mark.”

“Riku with Mark? What are you talking about?”

“Go look for your ex-girlfriend, Roughley. I am not the real thing.”

When Damon continued to follow her through the hallways, it was unclear whether Nexi was just angry or intrigued. However, her temper was revealed when she telekinetically flung Damon into the wall. Soon after, she super sped out of the planet and left a dumbfounded Damon nursing his wounds.

“Wow, she likes it rough!” he murmured.

* * *​

It had been several hours since Faith foresaw the end of the parallel world, but she could not stop thinking about the consequences that she would bring to those that loved her very dearly. She stood on top of a large hill somewhere in Africa, which overlooked the beautiful almost-barren countryside. A tear managed to escape the shell she had fought so hard to put up ever since Eve discovered her horrifying secret.

They were both waiting for the end of the world to come. They would see it happen and then either fly into the portal – depending it if it was open – or get back to her own world with Eve’s amazing universe-jumping teleportation. It was amazing to think that the one desire Faith had for so many months was coming true. But it would not last, as many things did not last for her in particularly. Finally, she would be home and be able to embrace her world again before the consequences of her actions would take their toll on her.

Eve stood by Faith’s side, grasping her hand tightly. The two of them had stood here in silence, knowing that Nexi would show at any moment. The end of another day was fast approaching and the ticking of time was more vital than ever here. Whilst Eve would be support, Faith would confront Nexi. It was important that no fight ensued here, but just small talk conversation. A confrontation was simple at this time.

When Nexi finally arrived from the sky and fell down to the floor, she was unharmed. This came to no surprise to Faith and Eve. Since Faith had transferred the vision to Eve’s mind with great difficulty, they both knew the exact details of it. When the Goddess of Death looked up, she saw both of them standing up on the hill and looking down at her.

“You ready for this?” smirked Eve.

“Do I have a choice?” said Faith wryly.

Without further ado, Eve looked at her cousin with that smirk stretched across her face and threw herself off the hill to witness the confrontation. Faith shook her head, wondering who had taught her to use her powers that recklessly and came to the conclusion that responsibility lay with Rene, but had to conclude that it may have been someone else since she’d been informed he was distraught after losing forever to the Kedzaer Dimension.

Her eyes were firmly fixed on her “twin”. She still felt very resentful for what had happened to her. However, what was important right now was why she had done these things and why exactly she wanted this world to be destroyed. Whilst the actions had already been seen in the vision, the words were muffled and lost along the way. Faith crossed her arms defiantly for a few short moments before groaning under her breath and allowing herself to dive down from the hill like someone ready to commit suicide.

She landed on the floor without much damage. Eve certainly hadn’t sustained any either, but she had already been seen to be somewhat inattentive and slapdash. Nexi approached the two of them. Eve looked like she was itching for a fight, but after taking one glance at Faith; she immediately dropped her eagerness and determination.

“So it’s true,” said Nexi quietly. “You have returned.”

“I am Faith Crest of Earth,” said Faith, stepping in front of Eve. “I think it is finally time you coughed up why you wanted me out of the way. You might as well or else you’ll get the biggest mental fight of your life.”

“You think you can penetrate my mind?” she retorted.

“It’s my mind. I think I’d know my weaknesses by now.”

“Weaknesses? Don’t you understand by now, Faith? Do you know why I picked you out of billions of people to serve as my copy? I have had my eye on you for thousands of years. The prophecies predicted you would become the superhuman warrior destined to bring balance to the worlds. I wanted a body as powerful as you to be able to do my bidding. And it’s only now that you decide to insert weaknesses? Like me, Faith, you are … regrettably … invincible.”

“Not yet,” Eve muttered quietly to Faith.

“If I’m invincible, then would I happen to know that my emotions are my greatest weakness? But of course, you wouldn’t know that unless you’ve been under great duress,” Faith glared coldly at her nemesis. When Nexi looked appalled, it was a moment of victory for her and Eve. “I know you’ll destroy this world, but the next one won’t be yours for the taking. You could try put me back in the Kedzaer Dimension, but the crystal will be useless by now.”

“Useless? How dare you!” hissed Nexi, raising the crystal in her hand.

However, thanks to some quick thinking, heat vision emitted from Eve’s eyes quickly scorched the crystal and destroyed it into ashes. Nexi stared at her hand and then at Faith’s companion. Eve smiled triumphantly, whilst Faith maintained her cold glare. She felt nothing for Nexi, nothing whatsoever. Being imprisoned in the Kedzaer Dimension had brought all kinds of hell for her, having to battle the frequent phantoms, being powerless and enduring the endless precognitive dreams that she couldn’t tell were real or not. Having Eve with her was an added bonus to this confrontation.

“There must be something more!” shrieked Nexi.

“You’re a monster that has to be destroyed, one that exists for the wrong reasons,” Eve spoke up for the first time, joining Faith’s side now. “You were wrong to take on the form of Faith Crest. Whilst she is deemed to be legendary by some standards, you seem to forget that her life will impact you one way or another. You might be thinking that this is your victory, but … it won’t be. Either way, you’ll get sent down to hell.”

At the sudden sound of Eve’s voice, Faith felt chills down her spine. Even though Saix and Frisk’s daughter was very young by now, she seemed to have had to grow up fast and never had a proper childhood. Despite feeling the eternal torturous days and nights that the phantoms spent in killing her, Faith turned her direction towards Nexi. There was no force in the universe – unless Mark was counted as an exception – that could stop her.

“And if I go to hell, then I’ll drag the entire universe down with me!” hissed Nexi, retaliating. “It was fun seeing all of this. Too bad that your other persona will emerge soon enough, Faith …”

“Other persona?” Faith asked Eve.

“I think my dad referred to it once,” she quickly replied. “Your nickname of Crimson? Superhuman personas aren’t usually seen, but Mark’s has been unleashed. He’s currently terrorising the universe and could destroy it at any point now.”

“When were you planning to tell me that?” yelled Faith.

“When we actually got to safety!” exclaimed Eve. “If you haven’t noticed, your evil self – well, not you, actually – is actually ending the life of this universe!”

The two girls looked up to see Nexi had flown into the sky, which was being engulfed by darkness so evil that Faith found it hard to imagine what Riku would say if he were here right now. As much as she grown attached to this universe in the last year, Faith knew she lacked the power to defeat Nexi. She looked towards Eve, who was glaring furiously at the Goddess of Death. Before long, she glanced back at Faith and held out her hand.

“Take it if you want to live,” she advised.

“So this is what the end of the world looks like,” assumed Faith, grabbing her cousin’s hand and looked up at Nexi in the sky. The atoms of the world were beginning to disparate until they finally disappeared in the air. Faith refused to let the tears flown down her face. “I never thought that it would be so beautiful.”

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say the world in ice,” Eve said regretfully.

* * *​

Saix and Frisk were sat in silence in the room. They were back at Saix’s lair, somewhere they could be safe in the meantime. He had been anticipating the destruction of the parallel universe for quite sometime, but did not expect Frisk to be so quiet suddenly. It was distressing to witness his bride-to-be filled with worries about her friends that she highly valued. It felt wrong for him to take her and his daughter away from them, but he had to put their safety first before anything else.

The more he thought about it, the more Saix began to realise that he was becoming like his old human self again. Perhaps this was because he had lost his powers when FFF took him in. Maybe Frisk’s love for him was involved. Whatever the case, he had allowed his superhuman persona to lose control. It was quite possible that he was the one calling the shots, not Gray. Gray had been in control during the earlier stages when he felt betrayed by Faith several years ago, but Saix had slowly becoming cunning and was the one controlling Gray in return.

“Frisk,” he said.

“Saix,” she said.

“I … I know that they mean so much to you, but –”

“If you loved me, then you would’ve warned them.”

“Faith is a smart girl. She’ll figure it out.”

“Faith, Faith, Faith. When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you were Faith’s cousin!” exclaimed Frisk, her anger concealed inside now finally unleashed. “If you were going to get involved with me and then suddenly start having a family, then I deserve to know if Faith’s your biological cousin! She’s one of my best friends, Saix, you have to respect that … even though she’s not your favourite person in the world right now.”

Saix said nothing at this point, knowing full well she had him pinned down and righted all those wrongs he’d said. True, he still had a burning hatred for his younger cousin. But he still couldn’t help feeling that having Faith with amnesia was useful. Although she’d been hostile, perhaps it was also better the other way round. Faith had become more sympathetic towards Saix when learning of their blood link. Perhaps she was violent at first, but that was understandable after being lied to constantly. It was through this that he came to the conclusion that if he was ever going to make this marriage work with Frisk in the future, then he’d have to live up to his part of the commitment and be honest with her.

“Eve doesn’t deserve to grow up in this world,” stated Frisk.

“She deserves better,” agreed Saix. “But there’s also something else.”

“What is it?” she asked, now looking at him directly in the eyes.

“I know that we’ve wanted to be together for so long and I just needed to say –”

However, they were rudely interrupted when Faith and Eve appeared in the air only to drop to the floor with a loud thud. They were covered with ash and dust on their bodies. Faith coughed loudly, as Frisk helped her up with Saix helping the future Eve.

“You know how to pick your moments!” Frisk hissed into Faith’s ear.

“Oh, thank you! I’ll just go back to the parallel universe that’s been destroyed!” snapped Faith, pulling away from her friend’s grasp and tending to Eve, whilst glaring coldly at Saix. Eve looked hopeful, but Faith had other ideas. Don’t expose yourself here. Not here, not now, Eve. Please …

“Who’s your friend then?” questioned Saix.

“She’s from the future,” Faith quickly said. “She – She’s your – my d-daughter.”

Eve was mortified by the thought. What are you doing?

Faith’s eyes widened as if she was angry. I’m improvising! You’ve always wanted to meet your parents, right? These are the dysfunctional pair. And from what I can tell, they’ve been having another argument again. You really think that, ‘Hi there! I’m your daughter from twenty-one years in the future!’ is going to help that situation?

It could do, she thought in a playful voice.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Twenty

The Prodigal Cousin​

“You expect me to believe this girl is your daughter from the future?” asked Frisk.

Faith took one threateningly look at Eve and then slowly nodded. Saix and Frisk burst out laughing, causing Eve to smirk and fill Faith’s mind with sarcastic thought bubbles. Faith raised her mental barrier to block out her cousin, knowing full well of the consequences if the engaged couple would discover that Eve was actually their daughter and not hers. Saix was the first to control his laughter, but cast his cousin a suspicious look. On the other hand, Frisk lacked the willpower that her fiancé had.

But when her mother wouldn’t stop laughing, Eve tapped her foot impatiently and furiously against the floor. She couldn’t believe she had such an immature woman in her early twenties for a mum! Yet, she was beginning to understand where she got her sarcastic comments. And as much as she hated to admit it, Eve had to agree with Faith. It would’ve been wrong to tell her parents that she was theirs. Perhaps until the world was saved, she could tell them the truth. However, there was just one horrifying fact that meant the truth would had to be told sooner rather than later …

“Fine! I’ll prove it!” she blurted out.

“How are you going to do that?” sneered Saix when Frisk stopped laughing.

Eve looked at Faith. Help me!

No way, you put yourself in this situation when you teleported us here! YOU sort this out, Faith shot back. I only said you were my daughter because it was the first thing that came into my head.

Hang on a sec! It was YOU who put us in this mess because you said I was YOUR daughter, duh! Eve snapped. So why should I have to clear up this mess up?

“Stop your telepathic argument now,” said Saix, who appeared to be both annoyed and bored at the same time. “She’s not really your daughter, is she, Faith?”

“No,” admitted Faith. “But she is from the future, Saix. She knows something terrible is going to happen and we’re the only ones that can stop it.”

Saix, however, did not look amused. “I know. We have two incoming apocalypses –”

“Actually, just one,” piped up Eve, likening to the idea of challenging the knowledge of her father. His golden eyes rested upon her green ones. “Mark won’t be able to destroy the world alone. He claims to have all the power he needs to wipe out existence itself, but he’d need the other superhuman personas to do so.”

“And so it would appear that Faith and I would account for two of them.”

“Wait, what? Why me?” Faith stared.

“You’re telepathic and you’re not aware that we superhumans have a more powerful persona locked within our very souls? How far you’ve come,” sneered Saix.

“Superhumans have another personality?” questioned Frisk. “Then what about me? What about Eve?”

Eve shuddered at the very mention of her name. Whilst she knew that everyone standing in the room had another persona, it felt like a powerful moment for her when her mother spoke her name for the very first time. She fought to protect her mental barrier against Faith, who was attacking her mind at any possible moment.

“There are a total of eight superhumans in existence, or at least as far as we know,” explained Saix. “There are many more evohumans than us, but combine the superhumans together and we can take them when we tap into the true superhuman within us – the persona. Each superhuman has another personality that calls itself a colour, his or her mood identical to that colour once the other side is brought forward. It’s hard to define superhuman personalities, but …”

“You called me Crimson,” Faith suddenly said, staring at Saix. “You called me Crimson a year ago when we fought.”

“Your superhuman persona is called Crimson,” he stated. “Discovering your abilities at the mere age of fourteen turned you into somewhat of an ice queen until there were others that you met. You can say that our superhuman personas are the opposite to what our human side is.”

“So what is this? You’re saying that we have other sides to us?” hissed Frisk angrily.

“Yes. Frisk, love, your capabilities are … different. Whilst you do possess superhuman blood that runs through your veins that Faith had to donate to save your life – which I’m hoping she’ll gladly return the memory of that incident – you only have evohuman capabilities because you were not born with the power that you possess. However, because of the superhuman blood, you have another persona inside of you just like us. Perhaps because of your limited capabilities, you may not be as strong as the others, but still stronger than any evohuman.

As I’ve kindly pointed out before, Faith’s persona is Crimson. We have only ever seen her a few times, but I would like to take the opportunity to say now that I never liked her nor will I ever take nicely to her either. My own persona is named Gray. Mark is Ecru, your angel friend Filden is Auburn, his sister is Lilac, Aerith is Violet, Frisk is Jade, Faith’s twin brother Gabriel is Coral and I believe that our daughter Eve is Emerald.”

Eve shuddered at the mention of her superhuman persona. She noticed how well her father had a huge sense of awareness, even knowing what her superhuman persona was before she was a week old. Her other side was not to be messed with, realising full well that having her unleashed was a bad thing. Since she was a second generation superhuman, her capabilities were far greater than those of the first. She folded her arms across her chest, staring intently at Faith, who had been disgusted to hear that superhumans had other sides to them. Eve remembered that she heard stories of Crimson back in the future – of how she’d used almost all her power to break out of the Kedzaer Dimension (now that she knew it had been there where she’d disappeared to) and all superhumans could feel her presence at times.

“There are a total of seven superhumans in existence,” stated Saix. “There are Faith, myself, Mark, Filden, Fifi, Aerith, Gabriel and Eve. However, we sometimes may count Frisk in, considering she is a hybrid of both superhuman and evohuman –”

“So I’m a hybrid now?” growled Frisk. “And what does that make our daughter?”

“The superhuman blood is dominant, considering it’s both inside of you,” Eve said before anyone could answer that question. “But the important thing is that no matter what happens concerning superhuman blood, the child will always be human. Every superhuman has some normal humanity inside of them, whether it be just the blood or the human body or –”

“Hold on a sec,” Faith interrupted, her face frozen in shock.

She glanced at Saix with her arms folded defiantly over her chest. The next thing anyone knew, Saix was being telekinetically flung across the room, bashed into the wall and slid down while groaning in pain. Everyone turned to face Faith, who wore a dark look upon her face. Because no one would dare to get under her skin in this very moment in time, she walked towards Saix, grabbed him by the throat and raised her spare hand.

“WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME I HAD A TWIN BROTHER?”

“Faith!” Frisk screamed.

“Did you know anything about this?” Faith snarled at Eve.

“I know Gabriel in the future, but I never knew that he was your twin, let alone your brother,” stated Eve, calmly stepping towards her older cousin with much caution. He was in the resistance with me, Rene, the shape shifter and many others I can’t name because it could screw up the future entirely. Please, Faith, we have to find him. You sent him away to be a better person the last time you saw him. Please don’t hurt my dad. I don’t want to see this happening of everything …

“Fine!” she growled, releasing her grip – both physical and telekinetic – of Saix, but refused to take her gaze away from him. “If there’re anymore secrets of mine you want to accidentally spill, then shoot now.”

“Um, Faith, I thought it was best if you let your memory do the job for you?” Frisk whispered in a frightened voice.

“The dreams aren’t working as well as I thought!” she snapped. “Before Mark went away to be the evil person he is now, he did the last good thing for me – by allowing me to get my memories back through the use of dreaming. I’d dream the memories spontaneously. But now – now I think I might not want to remember at all.” She looked at her hands, which were bleeding because she’d been holding Saix by the throat too hard. I’m scared of who I really was. I’m scared that I’m not who I thought I was.

“You don’t have to be scared!” protested Eve, grabbing Faith’s bloodied hands and prompting Saix and Frisk to stare curiously at the girl from the future. “I might not know how it feels to forget everything about yourself and then be scared of who you were when you’re on the verge of rediscovering everything. You are one of the legends that I looked up to during the years of the resistance, Faith! You, Faith Crest, will be amongst others that will be remembered for thousands of years to come. The destiny that you will fulfil is the greatest honour given to a superhuman!”

“My destiny?” asked Faith.

“I thought that we already assumed that Faith’s destiny is false,” stated Saix.

“That’s wrong,” Eve disagreed. “Her destiny is far greater than even mine – and I’m a second generation superhuman! I could be more powerful than her, but she’s given an even bigger job than I have. And if I can’t correct the past, then there’s no future for both you OR your fiancée!”

The tension had been building for quite sometime, but Faith knew Eve wanted to let the truth out sometime soon. She glanced at Saix, who was fighting hard to conceal his thoughts on this matter. On the other hand, Frisk was confused and didn’t realise she was slipping her feelings out in the open to Faith. She was frightened by this future that was being proclaimed to her, but wondered what her part she played.

When I think about it, this is becoming more like one of those soap operas like Coronation Street or EastEnders, thought Frisk. She shook her head to herself, something Faith took note of. But this is even better – it’s the supernatural, freaky version! We are all a part of this; we have our role to play. But I don’t understand why it has to be me, too! I was just an ordinary girl wanting to have fun two years ago and now I’m … caught up in this … stuff. She glanced at Faith, who had been studying her closely. Oh crap, she’s been listening in again, hasn’t she?

“I can’t control it, Frisk,” she glared coldly. “If you just blurt it out mentally, then I can hear it. If you even try to make sure I don’t get in, then maybe I can have some peace and quiet for once.” Faith grabbed her jacket that she’d taken off and threw it around her waist. “Come on, kid, we need to go now.”

“Why call me kid when I’m physically older than you?” complained Eve.

“Because I can see where you get your characteristics from,” Faith raised an eyebrow, “and I’m older than you in your time, too. So therefore, I can call you kid.”

“You’re three years younger than me and I’ve fought in the resistance, so why the hell should I get called a kid? I’ve faced the Goddess of Death and lived! Faith, I think they have the right to know the truth!” she protested.

“Don’t make me unleash Gray if you don’t tell us the truth!” snarled Saix.

“Yeah, I’d like to know the truth as well,” Frisk agreed, standing by his side.

“I’m your –” began Eve.

However, her eyes looked emotionless. Faith gave Saix and Frisk one last regretful look before she manipulated Eve into teleporting the pair out to somewhere she’d been longing to be for the past year.

* * *​

He couldn’t quite explain it, but Riku was certainly having a near death experience. The walls were white, almost heavenly. There was a glowing bright light ahead that was golden, calling him to come. Riku looked back and saw the life he had led so far. His family had always been the Fantasy Freedom Fighters. When the darkness took over his home and killed his own family, he thought all had been lost when that almost-identical darkness filled his very veins and nearly turned him into a monster. The image of the old Faith Crest, possessing the early memories, flowed into his mind. She smiled innocently at him, refusing to relinquish the humanity within her to become the heroine she was always meant to be.

“You can’t give up on your life, not yet, anyway,” she whispered in his ear, as her image became real when it stood next to her.

“You’re not real, you’re not really here,” Riku shook his head. “You’re just the only person I could think of in mind when it came to my conscience.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right,” agreed Faith. “It’s no wonder we became best friends as soon as you arrived on Earth. My destiny was tied to you after all. If we didn’t meet, then Darkblade would’ve surely ruled both our worlds with an iron fist.”

Riku threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, aye! The ritual! I forget it about, aye. We danced like old tribe warriors around a fire, whilst Darkblade was tied up to the golden tablet that we sealed his soul in. His body faded away into it, too. I wish we could back to those days, lassie. It was … how could I say it? Fantastic.”

Faith, his very conscience, nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Ecru could’ve destroyed you, Riku. He’s dangerous, superhuman and has lost control of himself. I could’ve easily ended up like him if you didn’t arrive when you did. He’s lost his humanity; I could’ve lost mine if it weren’t for you. To become the villain he is now, Mark had to lose all sense of his compassion for the people he loves. His superhuman persona, Ecru, emerges when that happens.” She sighed, smiled sadly and shrugged her shoulders. “It could’ve happened to me – Crimson has only managed to come out once when I ran away after the Darkblade situation.”

“You ran away from your destiny, lass,” Riku nodded, speaking seriously now. “But of course … how is there a destiny when there are no memories?”

“A destiny isn’t a lost cause, Riku,” Faith said pleadingly. “I might not remember, I know that I’m not here now because this is, obviously, your conscience. When you think of it, I’m here. I’m the one that’s always encouraged you to get back on your feet and take that step to rising again. But now you need to do the same for me. Riku! If it weren’t for you, then maybe I would be dead now.”

“Death’s taken ye twice. How could it do again?”

“Three time’s a charm, right? Third time lucky and all that …”

“It can’t come again, Faith. We lost you twice before – once to Saix killing you and the portal separating our worlds. We don’t want to lose you again.”

“And who is this implied ‘we’ you speak of?”

“The Fantasy Freedom Fighters, they’re my … family.”

“But if they’re your family, then why are you trying to kill Mark?”

“It’s like you said,” Riku said gravely, looking up at her. “He’s lost all sense of morality. He will destroy the universe if he could. Every atom … everything in existence is going to be doomed! If I can’t stop him, then what can I do? He’s far gone now with his plan! If he destroys everything … but what’s the point of living now, aye? If I die, then Mark will get what he always wanted …”

“Riku, Riku, Riku,” Faith shook her head, smiling sadly. “You still don’t get it, do you? Mark isn’t himself anymore; this is Ecru we’re talking about. Mark and Ecru are two entirely separate entities in one body. Take Crimson and I for instance. I’m in control all the time, but Crimson is beneath the surface, ready to emerge should the time come. And the way things are at the moment … I think her time will come. My true self will emerge.”

“Is Crimson a match for Ecru?”

“I don’t know. We should consult her.”

“Are you being serious, lassie?”

“I wish I was, but no, I’m not. That was an attempt at failed humour.”

“Aye, I suppose it is. But Faith, I … I don’t know if life needs me anymore. I don’t even know if you need me anymore!”

“Why do you think I wouldn’t need you?”

“Because I saw my entire life flash before my eyes!” protested Riku, raising his arms in objection. “They say that before you die, you see that happening. I failed, didn’t I? I couldn’t stop Mark. I’m not good enough to save the world alone anymore, am I?”

“Riku, you think too lowly of yourself!” yelled Faith, gaining his immediate attention. “If you said this years ago, would Darkblade have been banished to the ancient golden tablet that Lord Golbez created to capture his soul? No! He would’ve been roaming the world now in Saix’s body. And then would Saix be alive? No! Darkblade would’ve erased his existence from his body if he could! You might think your death will be meaningless; perhaps it is so. But I won’t give up on you, Riku. I never have and never will. Even when you might not think it, I never give up on you. Riku, don’t you see that the minor things that happen in our timeline can affect the major things to come? Saving Saix from Darkblade led him to falling in love with Frisk and now they have a child together, a child named Eve, who will go on to do such amazing things in the future! Your survival depends on the future being right. I won’t let the Goddess of Death do everything with my face. But if we’re to stop her, then I’m going to need your help. If we were powerful enough to seal Darkblade, then we’re powerful to stop Nexi when the world needs us most. One universe is gone, don’t let another go.”

“The parallel universe is … gone?”

“Of course it’s gone! I stood and watch it be destroyed. I couldn’t do a single thing to stop Nexi because I lack the power to do so.”

“You can’t stop the Goddess of Death? Faith, you’re much more than what you think you are.”

“I don’t know who I am. I only know through my memories. The Faith that you see before you now is the one you desire to see – the one with both memories of the past and present, the one that I want to be, but I might scared of rediscovering myself.”

“Say if you weren’t scared of rediscovering yourself, then who are you really?”

“It’s funny because I know. I know who I really am now. I’m not the Saviour, not the Chosen One, not a superhuman warrior destined to bring balance to all worlds. I’m Faith Crest and that is what matters most.”

“You’re a superhuman warrior destined to bring balance to all worlds?” Riku raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “Is that the destiny everyone was blubbering about whenever we met the evohumans that caused us problems back in Marwick?”

“Yes, but I don’t think that’s ultimately my destiny,” Faith shook her head. She growled loudly when she realised that she was met to be saving Riku from death. “This is you we’re supposed to be discussing, not me! I am your conscience. Or does your conscience prefer to skip you altogether?”

“I suppose it does, but I’d rather worry about other people than myself.”

“Riku, this is why I’m perfect for your conscience. We’re similar, but even I think that you need to worry about yourself every once in a while …”

“Then what about you, Faith? Don’t you think that it’s time for everyone else to save the world instead of you? You’ve been through enough for the past three years! You’ve sacrificed your entire life for this! Your education, social life, family … all for this! The world can’t keep calling on you to save it. Think for yourself for once, Faith. I don’t want you to go down a dark path.”

“I can never do that, Riku. I certainly WON’T go down a dark path, trust me.” There was a moment of silence that erupted, one that Riku took the chance to look at the bright light ahead of him and then at the life he’d left behind for the time being. “Now are you ready to rejoin the fight? I’ll stand in the way of you reaching the afterlife if you think of that option.”

“Is this why you’re here as my conscience, my guide?” asked Riku, glancing at her next. “You’ve died twice, reached the afterlife temporarily and forced to return to life shortly after? Don’t tell me you’re going to force me back to life.”

“Well, you’re right about the reasons for me being your guide,” chuckled Faith. “I can’t force you back to life. I’m here to stall for time, to allow Aerith to heal you completely.” Riku looked taken aback. “Yes! Your family is here, Riku! They came back to you. Now go back to them. They want you back.”

* * *​

Mercurial held Rydia in his arms, refusing to let her go. After all that they’d been through yesterday, another day was beyond the horizon. He’d hardly slept, but neither had Filden or Fifi. After being grateful that their dad was not here at the moment, the two Gurito siblings realised they had a big responsibility on their hands. Not only did they have two people who did not technically exist in this universe of theirs, they would have to contend with their dad and uncle of their sudden reappearances and changes, too. It was more emotionally difficult for Fifi because she hadn’t returned home in three or four years.

Whilst the two remaining RRM members were left in Fifi’s old room, Filden was left to deal with the consequences of their actions with his older sister. He hadn’t enabled himself to glance at Fifi and take in how much she had changed since they’d last seen each other. Her blonde hair had grown wavier and longer, her physique was tougher and she looked more emotional than before. Perhaps the events surrounding her sudden departure from Marwick had impacted her more than anyone else. Being back in Marwick must have been strange for her, considering that it had been too long.

“You’re more handsome,” she observed, smiling sadly.

“You still got those cheeky blue eyes,” he crossed his arms.

“The wonders of being a Gurito, eh?”

“Fifi, why did you run away? Why couldn’t you turn to me?”

“I let you down, I understand. But I – you have to understand that I was protecting you.”

“Protecting me? From what?”

“From me! From what my power could do to you!”

“You run faster than the speed of light. I hardly see how that’s dangerous.”

“Filden, I love you too much to hurt you. Faith begged me to stay to avoid breaking your heart, but she said she’d respect whatever decision I eventually chose to make.”

“She comforted me in the weeks after you left,” admitted Filden tearfully. He wiped away the tears slipping down his face. He couldn’t bear to face his sister because he had to pick up the pieces after she left. “I couldn’t live a day without you here. Faith was here everyday, though, even when she was struggling with her powers. I knew she was struggling to cope with something entirely different, but never thought that she was … you know … one of us.”

“We’re asking too many questions about the superhuman race,” Fifi said fiercely, changing the topic to avoid upsetting her brother once again. “I know for a fact that Uncle Ed can’t help us because he’s our dad’s brother – and Dad isn’t evohuman. For a superhuman to exist, evohumans bond together – or even with a human – and create a child. And we’re left with one alternative.”

“Mum.”

“Precisely. Dad has never told us about Mum whatsoever.”

“I thought she died?”

“Maybe that’s the story Dad fed to us and Uncle Ed, but we have to get to the truth.”

“Plus we got our alternate universe friends in there sobbing their hearts out now that their home’s been completely wiped out,” sniffed Filden, wiping the last tear from his cheek. “At least you only had to carry Rydia. Mercurial kept protesting, saying he knew how he could save the world. But there’s just something about the future Eve that’s spelling something bad.”

“She’s keeping a lot from us, but you have to put yourself in her position, Filden,” she replied perplexedly. “If you came from the future after witnessing a war and struggled to be in a resistance that opposed the person that led that same war, would you spill everything you’ve seen? Would you really just walk into a room and express yourself? Filden … she said you died when she was fourteen. Don’t you think that girl’s been through enough trauma already? She’s hiding a lot of things, yes, but right now we can’t think about Eve. Faith can handle Eve, she always thinks of a way to resolve everything.”

“This is the amnesiac Faith we’re talking about now, Fifi!” he said insolently. “She only remembers up to the point before she gained her powers! She might remember her childhood, but what about the three years or so after? There’s still that to consider, sis. I don’t wanna shout and cause another row, but … it has to be said.”

“I know. I understand. Completely. Let’s – Let’s just sort out what we’re going to do with Mercurial and Rydia. They’ve just lost two of their friends. I think they’ve been through enough already.”

* * *​

“You could be happy, you know.”

“I could be. But I can’t let what I want get in my way of stopping Saix.”

Faith Crest and Mark Johnson stood on one of many towers in the FFF headquarters. It was twenty-four hours before she would go off to face her cousin to end their feud once and for all. She did not want to go back to the old life she once led and forget everything. Mark was encouraging her to do this, but Faith knew that Saix would always be right behind her whenever something came up. He would not want to end their feud so soon. How and why could she walk away from her cousin?

“Work with me here, Faith!” Mark raised his voice alarmingly, prompting Faith to turn away from him and allow to be comforted by the violent wind whipping through her long and brown hair that was not tied up, a rare feat. “I can’t ignore this for much longer. Riku wants you to go up against Saix because he doesn’t want to be overpowered by his rival for much longer. If you don’t go and find Saix, then maybe you finally have a chance for happiness. Think of it this way – you could go back home to your family, start afresh, do anything you want!”

“I sent my family away when they threatened Saix,” Faith glared coldly, a shade of crimson erupting in her eyes. “If I don’t deal with him once and for all, guess who’s going to find him themselves? To protect my family, I had to erase their memories of me and anything out of the ordinary that’s happened in Marwick! I have no family anymore, Mark. If Saix finds them, then I’ll be the one to blame. They’ll instantly remember me when Saix appears. If they see Saix, they remember everything. Not only will they try to kill him, they’ll also fall out with me. I’d rather have their happiness put first and then put my own on the line.”

“You know what the problem is with you, Faith? You’re too selfless. You’re out of control. You’re … like the Prodigal Son, except you’re the … Prodigal Cousin or something like that! You’re going down a dark path here, Faith, and if you even think that I’m going to let you get rid of Saix –”

However, Faith turned around and looked fiercely into his eyes. “Once upon a time, I was told by Darkblade that I was the most compassionate human he had ever met. Well, guess what? He is right. He will always be right. And maybe it’s time that I realised that if I keep doing this human act, then … I’ll never live up to this supposed destiny that I have. If I’m going to be the heroine that everyone thinks I’ll be in the future, then it’s probably time that I stopped considering myself. I – I have to put my humanity aside.”

“You’re going to kill Saix? Faith –”

“No. Don’t call me Faith. That’s not me anymore, Mark. You might not be able to tap into your superhuman persona, Ecru, but I have to tap into mine if I’m going to be the heroine that I’m destined to become. The humanity inside myself is stopping me from doing the good I’m destined to do. I don’t know much about my destiny, but … it feels right to be doing this. I can’t have you getting in my way, Mark. This is what I have to do. Maybe someday you’ll be able to forgive me.”

“Faith, don’t do this!” yelled Mark, activating his telekinetic grip upon her. “I’m sorry, but – but I can’t let you leave the headquarters. Lord Golbez forbids that you leave Gaia under all circumstances.”

“Stop me and you stop the fate of the world from being saved,” growled Faith. She fought furiously against Mark’s grip. He eventually caved in and gasped at the sudden power surging through Faith’s veins. She stepped up on to the wall and looked down, where the ground was not seen for thousands of miles downwards.

“And here I was … thinking you were afraid of heights …”

“I am. I am afraid. But I cannot allow myself to be afraid if I am to fully confront my fears.” She turned to face Mark once more, her eyes fully red now by this point. “I am Crimson of Blackstone. It is time to fulfil my destiny and reunite the superhuman warriors to finally take back what is ours.” And with that, she flung herself downwards, hurtling towards the ground until she finally floated midair and flew off faster than anyone expected.

* * *​

Faith cringed at the last memory. She shuddered to think that her superhuman persona, Crimson – previously mentioned before by Saix – had emerged at an emotional point when she herself had refused to consider her own happiness when encouraged to do so by Mark. But what had happened after that? Had she confronted Saix, fought him and then he impaled her shoulder with his blade? Her hand ran through the faint mark on her left shoulder, the pain of that wound scarring her until her very death.

Eve sat across from her on the grass, reliving the memory with her since she was still under the control of her older cousin. However, this one moment of weakness that Faith experienced allowed Eve to mentally fight against her power and regain control of her body. She saw that they had landed in the middle of Marwick, in the middle of a forest, one that was important and contributed to one of the greatest and most important memories that she possessed. Eve stood up, noticing it was in the middle of the afternoon. Where had the day gone?

“We can’t waste anymore time, Faith,” she said. “We only have less than five days to defeat Nexi.”

“Less than one hundred and twenty hours,” growled Faith, as she allowed her head to fall back on to the soft grass and tears flowed down her cheeks. “Fantastic.”

“Hey, hey! What are you crying for now?”

“I’m still scared. I’m still scared of knowing who I was …”

“Look, I saw that memory and I understand the whole giving-up-your-humanity to do your heroine thing. Sometimes, even the best heroes have to give up something to save the world. One day, you have to understand that when the time comes, it’s either you or the world. In the case of the memory, you chose the world because if … well, my dad was allowed to get away with murder, then … oh, poo! This is really getting under my skin.”

“You could just go back to the future and finally be happy with your family now that things have changed,” stated Faith.

“Things haven’t changed, Faith! Can’t you see that?” shouted Eve. “Nexi is still out there! She destroyed the parallel universe when she realised you were still alive! We watched it burn and – and that was emotionally difficult to see. It was worse than seeing her destroy every atom of Filden’s existence.”

“Filden is dead in the future?”

“In fourteen years, yes. That’s why I’m begging you to get off your guilty high horse and start taking responsibility for the world! I know it’s hard, but we only have less than five days to destroy Nexi. It’s not a task I’d like to do myself, but … without Nexi, there is still a future.”

“And what then, Eve? What then? There’s always going to be something around the corner to hinder my chances of a normal life! How am I ever going to consider myself for once? Maybe Mark was right! Maybe … just maybe I’m not cut out for this. Maybe I should just go and live the rest of my days out alone. I’m better off alone. Besides, I wiped out my adopted family’s memory of me to protect them from Saix! Now they’re living the dream of being rich and successful as well as happy! Maybe I was always meant to be alone. Maybe … maybe …”

“You’re getting weaker and I don’t want to see you being weak either. Please, Faith, do this for me. Carry on for the next few days and then you can rest. It’ll all be over and we’ll see each other again soon someday, huh?”

“I hope so. Where I’m going, I don’t think I’ll see anyone ever again.”

* * *​

He really was stalling for time here.

Under the guise of Julius, Damon continued to pursue Nexi like a man possessed. Although she’d managed to slip through his radar for a while, he’d been able to track her down once again and make sure that she wouldn’t escape his clutches. He forcefully held the Goddess of Death down on the ground against her will. She moaned painfully, as he kissed her from her cheek down to the bottom of her neck.

“You can’t … do this … forever,” she whispered fiercely.

“It feels wrong because I’m Julius, the brother figure. Am I right?” he taunted.

“Go find yourself some other sucker, Damon! I don’t have time for your ferocious, sick mind games!” hissed Nexi.

“You’re an ancient being destined to bring death upon all worlds by reversing it with life,” Damon rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you get it through your thick skull that perhaps we present beings don’t like being told what to do?”

“And you really think that this is any different?”

“Like I said, you’re ancient. You stole my ex’s form and I’ll hold you down for as long as I can.”

“But what makes you think that you were ever good enough for Faith?”

Damon suddenly slapped Nexi in the face out of retaliation. The blow was so hard to Nexi’s face that it caused her cheek to turn red almost instantly. She looked furious that he’d done it, but he enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the shocked expression on her face. Damon rose to his feet, continuing to mentally hold Nexi down to the floor against her will. He shape shifted quickly back into his form, feeling comfortable once again. It was quite a relief to be in his own skin again, even though he knew that he’d have to shape shift again soon to avoid any confrontation with demons of his past anytime soon. He was on a mission to help Faith get rid of Nexi, despite the possibility of her never knowing he was truly involved in all of this.

“Your moment of weakness allowed me to gain access into your mind,” sneered Nexi moments later, smiling nastily. “Saix put you up to this. He wanted you to use your talents to track me down. I must say that I’m very surprised, Damon. I didn’t expect a filthy evohuman to accomplish such a feat.”

“Filthy? You really think of me that way, baby?” teased Damon, crossing his arms against his chest. “And to think … Rene was always Faith’s beautiful disaster. I was always the beautiful nightmare. Looks like I could be yours as well now. We’re going to have so much fun together tonight.”

“In less than five days, I will destroy this world and everything else!”

“Yeah, talk to someone who actually cares … I’m more interested in just how identical to Faith you really are …”

“PERVERTED NUISANCE!”

“Oh, were you talking to me? Sorry. Yes, that would be me.”

* * *​

Mark had his eyes closed, still sat in the same position as he had done so for the past hour or so. It was very easy to feel relaxed here, at least when no one was here. But it would have appeared that not even Faith Crest or Eve Valentine would be able to fail where he really lived. Mark opened his eyes, sensed their presences immediately and rose to his feet with his back turned to them. But then again, this was not Mark Johnson; this was an entirely different persona.

“I see you remembered our previous engagement,” said Ecru emotionlessly.

“Yes,” replied Faith, standing in front of Eve. She had informed her earlier that she wanted to confront Mark’s superhuman side on her own since this was their personal vendetta after all. “I’m sorry for the way things turned out, Mark. That was a really honourable thing you did for me sometime ago. I should’ve –”

“Mark isn’t here, you dimwit,” he snarled, now facing his adversary. “All the humanity in him that you thought he possessed has all, but almost faded by now. We are consumed by the power that you locked away so many years ago. Because of yours and Lord Golbez’s mistakes, it can be rectified through my ascension to power.”

“It’s not about power anymore,” she stated, walking towards him and unafraid when he looked like he was ready to pounce and strike. “The future is so important to save. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand that, Ecru. Whilst Mark’s very unbiased and looking to retain his humanity, you refuse to be compassionate.”

“Which is what makes Crimson and I so much more similar.”

“If you think that she’s coming out, then you’ve got this all wrong.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less of you. But Crimson is who you really are. Our superhuman personas are what we are, Faith Crest. Since the Mark side of me is truly being diminished, I can finally show the world the superhuman I really am. We have lived in fear that we could hurt everyone around us with the power we were gifted with. The world doesn’t need destroying, Faith Crest. It needs to be told the truth.”

Telling the world the truth would be bad, Faith heard Eve’s loud thoughts. Very bad!

“But of course, your friend from the future thinks otherwise,” Ecru said, now motioning towards Eve.

“Eve, protect your mind,” Faith said without looking at her. “He has my powers, which is very unfortunate for us.”

“And so the Prodigal Cousin continues on her quest to risk her humanity to become the heroine written in her destiny, which predates before the day she was born. Marvellous, simply marvellous!” Ecru said dryly, showing some emotion behind his words. “After the incident at Blackstone Industries, it became quite apparent that you felt so much sympathy for this pathetic waste for a superhuman.” He shook his head disappointedly. “My human side was traumatised from that experience … he had lost his entire family and for what? So that he could be experimented because of the fact he was superhuman? Perhaps. You have remembered Blackstone, surely?”

“I remember Blackstone,” growled Faith, forming her fist into a ball.

“It was just before the Fantasy Freedom Fighters were formed, correct? Immediately after Blackstone, they took in my human persona – before you were offered the chance to join, obviously. Riku personally saw to it that Darkblade recruited you into the fold. With superhumans and evohumans within FFF, there would be no force that could stop them. The power that we have experienced for so many years has been the main source of all the conflicts. But we’re forgetting one important person that added to all the drama.”

Faith, please don’t listen to him, pleaded Eve.

Ecru looked directly into Faith’s eyes. “It was you all along. If it were not for you, all of this wouldn’t have started. Your birth triggered these events.”

For the first time, Faith forced herself to look at Ecru. She ignored the cries from Eve, which were both spoken and telepathic, not to listen to what Mark’s superhuman persona had to say. She stood there, remembering that he was right. Her birth into the world had triggered so many important events – with her right in the centre of every conflict that occurred.

“I never asked for this,” she quietly said.

“With you in the way, everyone has suffered!” Ecru snapped, shocking Eve into submission. Faith could feel her temper rising, but refused to let it out. “Think of the people that have died in your name, Faith Crest. They died for you. Shenorai Eterna, Patricia Musso, Angelus Mortis, Koloth Serlo, Hera Ledro, Contra Fates … how many more will die in vain? It may as well have been Riku Walker next, but of course, how can I, the human side of me so compassionate, bring myself to kill a pathetic excuse of an evohuman? Whilst I do not kill people, they will always die for you, Faith Crest.”

As soon as he spoke his sentence, Eve retaliated angrily by using her heat vision to shoot off fireballs from her eyes. Ecru simply consumed the energy and flung them right back at her. Faith ducked just in time, witnessing her future cousin quickly teleporting out of the room in those same beautiful white lights. She rose back on to her feet, facing Ecru again.

“She knows how to fight,” he said in a cold tone. “A second generation superhuman would be invaluable in taking the world back from the humans. They do not understand that there are higher beings above them. Those filthy breeds must be wiped out in order to make way for their superiors.”

“So you don’t want to destroy the world after all,” Faith realised. “At least you don’t anymore. But killing the humans is going to do it for you? I’m not going to let this happen. Not on my watch you’re not!”

“If you stand in my way, Faith Crest, then I know just how to completely erase you from the face of the planet.”

Suddenly, several fireballs appeared again to hit Ecru directly in the chest. He went backwards on the floor, but only sustaining burn marks and managed to cling on to consciousness. As the room was now filled with violent gusts of wind, Rene stepped into the room and saw Faith stood there in genuine shock. Instead of speaking, they hugged and realised that perhaps all was not lost after all.

“I finally found you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Sorry I was so far away,” she muttered, sighing happily. They released each other momentarily. “But what are you doing here, Rene? Mark … he’s not Mark anymore. You have to get out of here or else you’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I almost did get killed before by him,” Rene rolled his eyes cockily. “But I think you should really get up right now because that thing over there doesn’t look too good …”

Faith and Rene turned around to notice that a crack in the wall had opened, appearing almost like a portal. Ecru was now limping towards it; obviously being able to summon it with the power he had left remaining. In that one moment of weakness he had, Faith was finally able to access his mind and see what wicked deeds he was about to perform.

“We have to go through and stop him!” she exclaimed as soon as he was through.

“What? That could be hell for all we know!” disagreed Rene.

“Don’t argue with me! I could be gone any minute!” shouted Faith.

“I don’t know what you mean!” he said loudly over the wind that they were struggling to walk through in order to reach the gateway.

“Ecru – Mark’s superhuman persona, I’ll explain it all later – has figured that all of these conflicts that are going on are to do with me being alive and involved in them,” explained Faith. “That gateway he’s just opened … it’s going to … it’ll lead him back to the past. He’ll travel back to the day I was given to my adoptive family and kill me if I don’t do something.”

“Then we would’ve never met!” cried Rene.

“Precisely! Which is why we’re going through!”

“This is time travel?”

“You ask like you don’t know what to believe anymore …”

“Trust me … after three years, I just go with the flow!”