Original [Story] Fantasy Freedom Fighters Crisis: The Amnesiac Champion

[Amizon]

FFF Crisis​

The rise of the Dark Crusaders is coming.​

In the beginning ...

A war had once torn the world apart over five thousand years ago. The light had prevailed victorious and darkness had been sealed away by the priests of light. But then five thousand years later, the great evil has been unleashed again in the form of a new organisation called the Dark Crusaders. Prior to this, a peaceful organisation called FFF, descending from the light of five thousand years ago, had protected the stone tablet that held the power of darkness. Evil has risen again, but the effort to stop the Dark Crusaders was inevitable.

And now ...

When Faith Crest awoke on a yacht boat, she had no memory of her previous life. Upon arrival in Spain, she tries to put the shattered memories of her life together and also to unravel the mystery of FFF. This is an organisation that keeps the world safe without people knowing themselves. However, there are the Dark Crusaders intent on finding Faith and using her untapped potential to take down FFF and take over the world.

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Chapter One

Heavenly Ascension​

Every story must have a beginning or a starting point – in other words, it must commence somewhere. It was a cold, cruel, dark and terrible night along the ocean. There had been a disturbance going on, judging by the noises that were heard along the cruiser ships that were slowly drifting away from each other and going in different directions. A small yacht boat was all that remained in the middle of the sea, as the weather took a turn. The rain poured down and thunder heard sent chills down people’s spines.

As the captain of the yacht boat fought to keep the boat under control, he could just about manage to see something – or perhaps even someone – floating in the water. As he neared the boat close to the object, his eyes widened when eh saw that it was an actual person. He ordered his crew to bring the person to the boat, despite their protests and theories that the person may have been dead. It seemed that the captain believed that this person was alive.

When the body had been taken into the boat, the captain searched for a pulse with his crew watching eagerly and anticipating the outcome. As they drew closer to look at the person, it turned out to be the appearance of a girl – perhaps seventeen years old, long black hair and a thin figure wearing everyday clothes of a black jumper, jeans, brown coat and trainers.

“There’s a pulse!” shouted the captain, as one of the crewmembers came forward like he was ordered to. “Bring her back, we can’t let her die! A poor soul cannot be devoured by the treacherous ocean and be allowed to rot in hell itself! No, she must be revived. Even though it’s somewhat harsh if we bring her back, then we can ask her where to go from here.”

He felt ashamed of himself. Here he was as a yacht boat captain and he was lost at sea. It damaged his sailing spirit. As the man trying to revive the girl was performing the kiss of life, the captain looked out towards the distance. The stormy weather had suddenly stopped and the next day had come to a start. Dawn was shining upon the mighty ocean; the tides themselves had calmed down and returned to normal. The rain even stopped.

And then the girl started coughing. The captain turned back to her and shooed his crewmembers away to give the girl some air. He grabbed a bucket and then watched her throw up in it. After all, she had just been in the sea and seawater being in the system? It was NASTY. The girl hadn’t yet opened her eyes, but was still coughing up the seawater and spitting it into the bucket without even aiming for it. The crew were surprised, but so was the captain.

When she had enough of coughing up seawater and was recovering from vomiting, the black-haired girl fell asleep out of exhaustion. Hours later, she opened her eyes and was finally able to breathe properly. She saw the sun in the distance and didn’t know what to think. Then her blue piercing eyes were cast on the captain, who was sat in his chair metres away from her. She jumped at the sight of him and looked nervous.

“Please don’t be afraid,” he smiled comfortingly, “we’re not going to hurt you. Neither are we gonna throw you off the boat either.” When she kept on looking confused and scared, he opened the fridge and then walked over to her with a bottle of water in his hand. “Drink this; it’ll make you feel better.” The girl gladly took it, but it didn’t stop her feeling confused at what was going on. “We found you lying in the ocean unconscious, not breathing and with a severe wound to your shoulder. Ah! Don’t worry ’bout it! We bandaged you up straight away.”

The girl hadn’t still said anything, but felt like she was unable to utter a single word.

“You don’t have to be quiet just because I’m the darn captain,” chuckled the captain. He crossed his arms and sighed.

“Who are you?” she asked in a frightened tone, which alarmed him. “What am I doing here?” She paused for a moment, feeling a little cold because she was shaking repeatedly. Then she glanced at the captain again. “Who am I?”

He grinned at her at first, but then stopped when he realised that all wasn’t like it would appear to be. “First of all, I’m the captain of this fine yacht boat. You’re here because I told you already – we found you in the ocean just floating. Next, I don’t even know who you are. You’re just some person from the ocean, but I can tell there’s something about you, missy. I feel awkward for saying this … I think you got amnesia.”

* * *​

Several hours later, the girl was rummaging through her belongings that had been zipped up in her coat pockets. One interesting thing that she found was an ID card, which clearly depicted who she was.

“I’m Faith Crest, aged seventeen years old, from Manchester in Britain and an agent of FFF,” she muttered under her breath, deciding not to share the newfound information with the captain and his crew just yet. Maybe she would tell him her name, but nothing more. The FFF part had her intrigued. What exactly was FFF? It sounded like a secret service to her; the “agent” part supported that. The captain, whose name happened to be Norman Baron, entered his cabin where she was and sat down next to her. “I found out my name. It’s Faith.”

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl, I must say,” grinned Baron, but then noticed her sad look. “Aww, come on! I didn’t mean to flatter ya. I really wanted to compliment ya.”

“It’s not that, it’s just the fact that I can’t remember anything,” said Faith, touching near her shoulder, where it was bandaged up. I’ll find out whoever I was, whether it’s the easy way or the hard way.

* * *​

Two hours later, the yacht boat arrived on the coast of Spain. She jumped off the boat and was supported by Baron. She looked around, feeling like she had been here before, but then realised that it might have either been a mere coincidence or the fact that she had actually been here a few times before. As she slapped on some sun scream Baron had given her, he turned to face her.

“Well then,” he smiled. “I guess this is where we go our separate ways.”

Faith nodded. “Thank you for saving my life,” she nodded her head.

“Eh, it was nothing,” grinned Baron. “But don’t go getting yourself killed this time. You’ll be on your own now and there won’t be any Captain Norman Baron to help you. Well …” He saw that his crew was ready to leave. “… It was good to meet you, Faith. Good luck with finding out whomever you really are. Let’s hope we don’t see each other again, ya?”

As Faith watched Baron and his crew leave the harbour, she knew that she had a long journey to go. She carried on watching until the boat was out of sight. Closing her blue eyes, she tried to take everything in that had happened to her so far. However, it seemed too much for her to handle. What was her next goal? It was to find out what on earth FFF was to her and possibly even contact any relatives or friends. She had a good feeling about being here in Spain to begin with – it felt like she knew the place already.

But unknown to her, there was already someone watching her from a distance. His silver hair swayed in the air, his green eyes focusing on her intently and gripping his own weapon, Way To Dawn, tightly in his hands. This mysterious person couldn’t believe that Faith was alive. He tensed his muscles and wondered what was going to happen next.

Yes, the man who had been watching Faith like a stalker was Riku.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Two

Scattered Memories​

Unaware that Riku was following her every move in secret, Faith walked along the Costa del Sol beach near Fuengirola, wondering to herself. What on earth had FFF anything to do with her? She didn’t even know who she was anymore. Was there really a life out there awaiting her? If she had been stabbed near the shoulder, then someone must have wagered a great grudge with her. But since Faith didn’t know who she really was, she felt like she couldn’t question herself much at the moment.

She saw happy families of different nationalities on the beach having the time of their lives. She could have been in one of those families and yet not know it. If there was something else that helped Faith when she had rummaged through her belongings, then it was the fact that she had a debit card for financial matters. She walked towards the cash point and looked behind her to make sure no one was following her, although she had no absolute reason to feel paranoid.

But then Faith’s eyes lit up. There had to be at least twenty million euros in her bank account! She instantly went back to the main menu, hoping that no one was waiting in line to use the cash point straight after her. For now, Faith withdrew two thousand euros. She pocketed the cash in her purse and then turned to see that things had changed a little. The sky looked dark – as a matter of fact, it had turned purple and it had Faith alarmed.

Even though she couldn’t recall anything from her life, Faith knew that the sky turning purple was something very unusual. But then again, everything had been unusual for her lately. Being brought back to life, waking up on a strange yacht boat, suffering a shoulder stab wound, not recalling who she was – it was just your everyday thing in the life of Faith Crest. Or so that was how she viewed it.

The next strange thing happened. There were voices in her head. Those voices belonged to the people on the beach, whom were all pointing at the sky. She thought that she was going crazy. But then it seemed that the answers were about to come.

“You might be finding some things weird, but don’t take it too seriously yet,” said Riku, as he was sat on a bench right near her and was munching on an apple. Faith jumped at the sight of him, but didn’t have anything to say. She hadn’t interacted with anyone else apart from Captain Baron yet. “I mean … look at this situation. You woke up on a ship, can’t remember who you are and now you think you’re going crazy.”

“Who the hell are you?” glared Faith coldly, as she curled her fists into balls.

Riku laughed a little at what she said. “You should’ve seen the look on your face when you said that the first time. It was hilarious; you even got Julius smirking for once. Damn, if only we found you sooner that time, then maybe it might not have come to this.”

“I asked whom the hell you were!” she yelled, ignoring him.

“Oh, so you’re the Q and A type, huh?” he grinned, rising to his feet and yawning a little. “Boy, am I glad to get away from headquarters for a while. It took me a long time to track you down, but I finally found you here. For the record, my name’s Riku and don’t you forget it.” Faith muttered that she wouldn’t, but he continued to laugh at her. “Damn! I’m so sorry, I forgot … you don’t remember anything, do you?”

As he continued to laugh and throw sarcastic comments at her, Faith finally felt herself becoming mad for the first time. She let the anger take control of her. She expected something to happen and it had done so. Riku was somehow knocked off his feet and fell on the floor with his face first hitting the ground. Faith shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She felt drained of her energy and her mind was going dizzy.

“I know when I sense something dark and I sensed it, all right,” said Riku, as he rose to his feet and was speaking seriously for once. “Be careful, Faith, please. I’m trying my best right now to find out what’s going on and I’m sure that you’ll find out, too. Who knows? You might find out before me. Oh –” He glanced at the sky. “– And that was me making the sky go purple. You’ll find that there are others like me. Be wary of them.”

“Wait!” cried Faith, as she jumped back when she saw a dark portal appear and the sky turning back to normal. Riku walked through the dark portal and it was closing. “Don’t leave me like this! What is FFF? Who am I?” But she got no answer at all since the dark portal had fully closed. She had tried jumping through, but went straight through as if it hadn’t existed the first time. She lowered her voice. “Well, that’s great, isn’t it? He has some kind of power … maybe I do as well? I did read minds and Riku fell … telekinesis? Telepathy, telekinesis – my powers?”

For once, Faith was worried. Did she really have powers? And even now, she was hearing thoughts everywhere around the beach – these people hadn’t even noticed that she had a brief meeting with Riku.

This is all so confusing! Damn that guy! I’ll get him, she thought angrily, feeling a breeze in the air and shivered a little, even in the sunny resort of Malaga, Spain. She yawned a little and then decided to let it slide for now. Why is it so cold here? I thought that Baron told me that Spain was a sunny place. When she walked around wrapping her jacket round her body to keep herself warm, she suddenly heard a voice speaking out. She didn’t know if it was to her, but she could hear it, all right. And as she glanced around, she seemed to be the only that could hear it.

“These worlds have been connected.”

“What?” whispered Faith when she did realise that only she could hear the voice. It was hard to tell whether it was male or female; it seemed to be giving very little away. She looked scared and thought that she was going crazy. She heard the voice mutter her name and it actually hurt her heart. There was so much that she yearned to know. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Faith?”

Faith turned around to see a young woman standing there. She had black hair reaching the middle of her back, her eyes were dark purple and she looked like she was in a fairly fit state, judging by the state of her figure. Faith didn’t know whether if she was friend or foe. Right now, it was too hard to tell. So she stood there, staring at the newcomer with suspicions in her light blue eyes.

“You look like you don’t even recognise me,” chuckled the woman, but then stopped laughing when she saw that Faith was still standing there and staring at her. “What? You don’t remember me? Come on, Faithy! It’s me, Shen!” But when Faith shook her head, she sighed sadly. “I guess that it didn’t go well at all then …” She looked around as if there was someone watching what was going on. “What’s that, Leondra? I know … she looks like she doesn’t remember anything.” And then before she knew it, she was thrown back into the wall by Faith, who had unintentionally unleashed her anger through the form of her telekinetic powers. Luckily, the damage was only minor. “Gee, Faith! You really don’t remember, do you? It’s me, Shenorai Eterna! But then again, you always did show me some respect by calling me Lady Eterna at first. Ha, it didn’t last long. You were always calling me Shen or Shenny –”

“So I know you?” asked Faith, who looked like the type of take-action-ask-questions-later kind of person right now. When Shenorai didn’t say anything, Faith continued to speak. “Are you associated in any way with FFF?”

That was when Shenorai’s eyes seemed to have turned darker. She was shaking her head when she got back up on to her feet. “You can’t talk about that here and I think you should find out yourself,” she said. Then a smile crept upon her face. “Ohhh, I get it! Riku’s been here, hasn’t he? He taunted you again … just like the old days.” She tossed a credit card towards Faith. “Besides, I came by to give you this. It might help you with whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

“I’m trying to find out who the hell I am and all you’re doing is being like that guy!” yelled Faith. “Now gimme some answers or else I’ll blow your head off!”

But Shenorai just smiled. “Even though you can’t remember who you are, your personality’s still a little intact. You just gotta work on the way you speak to people and then you might be sounding like you’re nice.” She floated a little into the air and waved her hand. “I’ll tell you everything myself one day, but well? We just have to let events run their course.” With the sky now turning dark, she flew off into the distance quicker than Faith had expected her to.

“These worlds have been connected.”

There was the voice again. Faith now knew it couldn’t have possibly belonged to Shenorai. So the man that she’d seen before happened to be called Riku. The name rung a bell in her mind – maybe she knew him from somewhere.

* * *​

Faith walked into the town of Fuengirola sometime later to then find herself on one of the lonely rooftops in the outskirts of town. A tear trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away. She just let it slide down her face and let the sorrow take over her. Here was a young teenage girl who didn’t know who she truly was …

“These worlds have been connected.”

“I want to know who you are,” she said, glancing at the dark sky. “Show yourself.”

“Why should I show myself to you? You should show yourself to me.”

“I am showing myself! You’re probably watching me right now.”

“You’re not as pathetic as I thought, Crest. You might prove to be … valuable.”

Valuable? Faith shook her head in disgust. Was that all she was to this voice? Now she could tell that it belonged to a male because she felt so used to hearing it. Before she knew it, a hooded figure appeared out of nowhere. He punched her in the face, kicked her in the gut and stamped on her face when she fell to the ground. Coughing up blood and feeling lucky to be alive, she felt her body shake and shiver in fear, as she looked up into the eyes of her attacker.

“You should know my name by now, Crest.” He held a knife to her throat. “Saix.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Three

Introducing the FFF Team!​

The world had a cold and cruel shoulder to poor, innocent Faith Crest. As she glanced at her sudden attacker, she learnt that his name was Saix and his voice had been talking to her before, possibly toying around with her mind. If she had not been attacked, then she would not have found Saix so intimidating. But as for now? Hell yes, she did find him quite intimidating and somewhat rude as well.

“So much for … an introduction!” spat Faith.

Saix growled at her words, but held the knife closer to her throat and bent down towards her. “He should’ve finished you when he could, but yet you’re alive,” he said darkly. When he didn’t hear anymore words out of her and just an expression of confusion, Saix released the knife from her throat, put it away and then began to walk around Faith, circling her. “You keep using that same technique, don’t you? You try to appear vulnerable at first, but then you come out brave and bold. Despite that vicious attack you survived, your personality is still intact.” Once again, he saw her confused expression and smirked. “Now that’s something new.”

Faith didn’t know whether she should say something or not to Saix. It seemed that each time she would say something, he’d retaliate and attack her. But at other times, he would say how brave she was to react to him. She tried to sit up, but then felt his foot firmly step on to her chest. It seemed like there was going to be no way she could get out of this one.

“Is little Miss Crest going to finally admit defeat?” hissed Saix, as he bent down towards her again.

He punched her in the face and she coughed up more blood. When was the pain going to end? The way things were going, she thought that she was going to die even before she would find out whom she really was. Saix kept on with his pain and taunting her about how she would never be able to face him. She was punched to the edge of the rooftop and then looked down. It was a LONNNNNNG way down.

Faith was shaking. She couldn’t get out of this no matter what. Saix was leering over her with an evil grin on his face.

“It’s time that you died,” he hissed.

But barely moments later, a blinding light caused them both to shut their eyes. Saix rolled to his side and cried out in pain, yet Faith wasn’t screaming out either.

“Leave her alone,” said an angelic-looking woman.

“You! Lady Aerith!” hissed Saix.

Lady Aerith held her hand high, which was apparently glowing a white blinding light. Although she could hardly see, Faith could just about hear her sweet and innocent voice. She felt like she didn’t belong here and this was just some futile world, where death was at the end. Despite the blood pouring down her nose and the pain coursing through her body, Faith managed to crawl towards where Saix was pushing through the light and trying to get to Lady Aerith.

“You won’t win this time, Lady Aerith!” yelled Saix, as darkness began to appear all around him. “The girl must be destroyed … if we can’t have her, then neither of us can!”

“Hurting such an innocent girl is the worst atrocity that I have ever heard!” said Lady Aerith, the tone of her voice full of shock and determination. “I have journeyed far and wide to search for Faith. I won’t allow this journey to be meaningless when I watch you kill her!” Her light grew stronger, but then her eyes widened. “No!”

Faith gathered every ounce of her strength left in her body and then pushed Saix off the rooftop. Lady Aerith lowered the light on her hand and looked down to see that the dark portal appearing halfway down on his fall had saved him. She shook her head and sighed.

He is such a coward, Faith heard her thoughts without meaning to, and one day, he will pay for what he has done to FFF. I only hope that he finds the light very soon. I keep on praying it’s not too late. Everyone else thinks Saix is gone, but … what should I think? She glanced at Faith, who was beginning to black out, yet Lady Aerith just smiled innocently. “You were hearing my thoughts, right? Don’t worry about that right now, Faith. Just go to sleep … you’ll be coming around again in a few hours, anyway …”

From when Lady Aerith said, “go to sleep”, Faith actually did feel herself slowly falling into a deep sleep. Was she a hypnotist? She didn’t look like one, but she didn’t think about that right now because rest was exactly what she needed. She closed her eyes and then felt her dreams take her far away from the hell that she had been in.

* * *​

It felt like years when Faith opened her eyes and woke up. She saw that she was in a bright white room and immediately thought that she was in heaven. However, she was quite wrong when she saw a man appearing to be in warrior clothes sat there, glancing at her in interest.

“So you’re awake,” he said, rising to his feet and walking towards her. Faith didn’t seem alarmed, although she questioned herself why she wasn’t. “There’s no need to worry about anything. I’m a friend of Lady Aerith’s.” Faith continued to look around the room, although she acknowledged the fact that the man was talking to her. “I actually know some people you’ve already met. Riku, Shenorai … I even knew that dark idiot, Saix.”

“Who are you?” whispered Faith, although she felt like she knew him already.

“Julius Argexis,” replied the stranger. “I am King of Aldabra and Lord of Castle Silverwing.” Although he was a king and a lord, Faith didn’t understand. He only looked about the same age as her after all. To her eyes, she could see him as a disturbed young man, who had his heart broken quite a few times before. “People call me the Sleeping Lionheart and let me assure you, young girl, you might never cross someone like me again.” And for once, Faith didn’t dare question this. But then she looked surprised when she saw him chuckle a little. “Well, I try not to be so formal all the time.”

Yes, he’s definitely a lone wolf, she thought.

When she didn’t say anything to him, Julius flicked his dark brownish blond hair back and stared at the rose in his pocket. Faith found his appearance quite strange in comparison to Riku, Shenorai, Saix and Lady Aerith. He was standing tall, had dark brownish blond hair and his eyes were a greenish grey colour with a dark golden brow in the very centre of the iris. It was as if he was stuck in the old times or something. She decided to let that slide for now and watched him observe her very closely.

“Hmm, I see,” he nodded his head and looked towards the door. “I think you could be right for once, Riku. Maybe she did hit her head a little too hard and forgot everything.”

“Aye, that’s the ticket!” beamed Riku, as he burst into the room and then saw an annoyed Faith; she still hadn’t forgotten him messing with her head. “Why, if it ain’t our lovely Faithy! How’s life been keeping ya?”

“Pretty much bad, thank you very much,” glared Faith coldly.

“Interesting,” Julius blurted out, which perked both of their attention, “and here you both were as best friends messing around with each other. Now look at you both, one likes to mess around with the other and that other … returned with so many questions and such a passionate anger. Furthermore –”

“Julius, you weren’t really known for social skills,” chuckled Riku, patting his friend’s shoulder. “Why don’t you sit this one out and maybe I can jog her memory a little bit? Plus! She didn’t hit her head at all! We still don’t know what on earth’s going on, but maybe –”

“Darkness won’t help here, Riku,” said Julius, grabbing Riku’s arm that he had put on his shoulder and pushing it back. “You use too much darkness and you’re going to end up in the pathetic mess that Saix got himself into.”

“Confused teenage psychic here!” called Faith, but then hissed in pain. There was a lot of pain coursing through her ribs. Julius and Riku turned their attention towards her this time. “What the hell are you going on about? Isn’t anyone going to tell me where the bleeding hell I am? What about you both? Who are you? What happened to this guy … um, Saix is what you call him, right? How on earth did it get to be like this?”

As Julius and Riku started to argue what was best for her, Faith only seemed to notice that the very face that had saved her had just walked through the door. How could she forget that angelic face? Lady Aerith’s green eyes met Faith’s blue ones. She smiled innocently and when she turned to face Julius and Riku, Faith noticed that her hair was plaited and a pink bow was what held it all together at the back.

“A spell knight and a darkness warrior fighting over how these things happened,” she grinned, breaking the argument up with just her soft words. Faith was amazed how she could do this. The voice that she heard definitely belonged to her. She walked towards the balcony and sighed happily, as there were doves – previously having fling in the air – both ascending on the edge. “Surely, a stupid and bitter argument that won’t lead to anywhere … or will it?” She turned to face Julius and Riku. “Julius, Riku, you should know better. We have a guest here wanting questions or as we like to put it, an old friend.”

More people piled into the room. There were many faces that she did not recognise mainly due to the amnesia that was affecting her. Lady Aerith began to introduce them to her: Tielknight, Koloth, Angelus Mortis … and so on. The last one to enter the room was Lord Golbez, the leader of this pack.

“You’re quite popular, aren’t you?” grinned Lord Golbez, walking forward. “As Lady Aerith kindly pointed out, I’m Lord Golbez and I run this whole association. I’m very proud to be its new owner and I’m sure that we’ll protect you with the utmost care.”

“But Lord Golbez, what IS this place?” stared Faith.

She watched him sigh sadly and then crack a smile. “Why, it’s FFF. Your home.”

* * *​

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.” This dampened Faith’s spirit. “You don’t have to worry about anything though, Faith! All you have to do is stay here and recover from your little accident. When you’re feeling better, we can always have Angelus tap into your aura in a few days and picture everything in your point of view.”

“Angelus can really do that?”

“Of course she can! Angelus is a genius! She could be compared to you in a way.”

“So she’s psychic like me?”

“Not exactly, but she has this aura … it allows her to tap into other people’s auras and see events happen right before anyone’s eyes – that is, anyone that she wants to see these things happen.”

It was quite a lot to take in. First, Faith had an accident, wound up on a boat, came to Spain, was brutally attacked, brought to FFF in another world and now she was finding out things that had happened before the accident.

“Anyway, it was nice chatting to you again,” continued Lady Aerith, “we should do it more often, you know? We used to talk like this a lot before the mission –”

“What mission?” asked Faith.

“The mission that got you in that accident,” she replied. “But just like I said, we’ll talk about that when Angelus looks into your aura and replays memories from your point of view.”

Faith smiled weakly, but then her smile faded when she walked away. So much confusion! She hated amnesia so much right now! As she started to walk out of the gardens, she came across Shenorai, who was now at the marketplace. She was eyeing the goods on the stalls, but her attention was shifted when she saw Faith walk in.

“Faithy! Good to see you’re all right,” she beamed. “Sorry that I couldn’t be there before. I had to go off on a mission and find Saix. I didn’t find him, but I did manage to get some information about what happened after he ran off. Or more like when Lady Aerith totally kicked his ass!”

“Mind if you tell me?” whispered Faith in case they were overheard.

Shenorai giggled. “Ohhh, I get it. You don’t want anyone to know that I’m telling you? Well, I only did just get back, so I don’t have a problem with it.” She cleared her throat and spoke quietly. “I got a hold of a few of Saix’s goons and they told me that he’s ran off into the dark realm again. Typical … he’s going to probably lure Riku in there or something … did I also forget to mention that Riku’s our darkness expert?”

“I kind of figured that out,” she said, rolling her eyes when she remembered Julius telling Riku off about his dark methods when she’d only just woken up. “So he’s in a dark realm? Well, I can that’s not gonna be pretty.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Four

Finding Where I Belong​

Faith sat on the balcony of her room, gazing out at the headquarters of FFF. Somehow, she felt like she didn’t belong here. One part of her was urging her to discover more about this curious world and what led her to coming here. But then the other side wanted her to go solo and find out why Saix had suddenly attacked her like that. She twiddled her thumbs and sighed under her breath, wondering how she was going to work this one out. After all, a mere week had passed since she had been brought here.

If Saix is in a mess, then why aren’t they chasing him? I’ve seen Riku pass the hallways several times already, she thought to herself, fully realising that Riku would be the one to pursue Saix, considering he was the only one here able to use darkness fully. God! What is taking Lady Aerith so long just to get back to me? She rose to her feet out of frustration, walked back inside her room and lay down on the bed, unable to shift the flashbacks of being found out at sea. Stupid dreams, wish they’d go away!

And then as if on cue, Lady Aerith knocked on Faith’s door. After telling her to come in, Faith watched her walk into the room with that pleasant smile that she always wore on her face. That was perhaps one of the few things that would cheer Faith up whenever she felt down here at FFF.

“Lord Golbez has to extend your time being here I’m afraid, Faith,” she said sadly.

This wasn’t surprising to Faith; she’d been delayed staying here all week. Lord Golbez was an extremely busy man himself, she could easily understand that, but didn’t he understand how she was feeling? She had died out at sea, been brought back to life, viciously attacked by Saix and now told to wait here like a good girl? Her reply to that would be no, thanks.

“I’m not waiting any longer,” assumed Faith, rising to her feet and glancing out at the balcony. “I want answers and I need them now, Lady Aerith. I want to know why I died, why Saix attacked me … don’t you realise what I’m going through here?” She didn’t want to take out her frustration on anyone, but since she had little contact with anyone for the past three days, it was mentally killing her. “I don’t even remember anything for heaven’s sake! I really do want to remember everything, but …”

“You’re right,” sighed Lady Aerith. “I don’t know how you feel, I don’t know what you’re going through. But one thing is clear! You have to keep a strong and upbeat attitude because then Saix would be getting to you! You don’t want to appear weak in front of him, do you?” Faith shook her head. “Then let’s get ready. I’m going to be taking you down and teaching you a few things about FFF …”

* * *​

An hour later, as Lady Aerith was telling Faith the history of FFF, they were rudely interrupted by the arrival of Angelus. Faith thought that Angelus did look strange no matter how hard she tried to ignore that fact.

“I’m sorry to disrupt this, but Lord Golbez requires your presence at the meeting room immediately,” she apologised to Faith and spoke directly to Lady Aerith.

“I see,” nodded Lady Aerith. “I … I understand. I will meet you there, Angelus.”

“Did you forget you had to go?” Faith asked her when Angelus left the chamber.

“I must have let it slip my mind,” she chuckled a little. “I have to go now, but please feel free to look around the historic monuments and sites of FFF. If you get lost, then don’t be afraid to call for a guide. They’re everywhere go; they’re moogles.” Faith nodded and sighed, as she watched her go. “I’ll see you later, Faithy.”

At first, Faith would have actually wanted to see what was really here, but then she changed her mind. She had once chance to see what was going on in the meeting room and she wouldn’t let that chance slip by now, would she? So she abandoned the wild goose chase of discovering more about FFF and persisted with following Angelus and Lady Aerith to the meeting room. Despite being quite stealthy herself, she had to be as quiet as possible and make sure that they didn’t look back to see her there.

After twenty minutes of ducking and diving for cover whenever someone was walking past her, Faith finally found the meeting room and felt relieved when the door had just been narrowly left open for her to eavesdrop right on them. She smiled for once. She felt so sneaky and childish for doing, but it felt like a lot of fun that she could feel she hadn’t had for a long time.

“My kingdom has been attacked,” said Julius in the meeting room, unaware that Faith was secretly hearing everything just outside. He and the entire elite of FFF were in an emergency meeting. “There is no doubt that Saix is behind this vile monstrosity. Lord Golbez, why would he strike this world?”

Lord Golbez sighed sadly and then came up with only one answer. “He must be working for the Dark Crusaders, there’s no other answer,” he said, but then nodded his head. “Then there is the girl. Faith Crest is in much more danger than we ever thought, Julius. We must maximise the security around here.”

“I’m in danger!” whispered Faith angrily to herself. She fell over when she was about to turn and run, but everyone heard her. “Crap!”

“Faith, wait!” cried Lady Aerith, as she was the first to barge out of the meeting room.

“If I’m a burden to you, then why are you keeping me here?” she shouted. Before anyone could answer, she ran towards the stained glass windows, smashed through and took off, flying up into the sky.

“I’ll go after her!” offered Riku immediately, acting serious for once. He turned to Shenorai. “Hey, Shen! I need a boost here and then the darkness will support me afterwards!” Shenorai nodded and then pushed him into the sky. “HERE I GO!”

The rest of the FFF elite just couldn’t believe what had happened.

“I wish I could have gone after her,” sighed Lady Aerith sadly.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” said Angelus, crossing her arms and gazing up into the sky. “We know that Riku can be a little … well over the top … but we have to trust him this time. He won’t screw things up, Lady Aerith.”

“Screw things up? You really trust Riku to do a job like that, huh?” came a familiar voice to the elite of FFF.

Mark strode around the corner with a cheeky grin on his face, as his brown short hair and blue eyes came into light. Lady Aerith smiled, whilst the others just made no motion to welcome his appearance. Mark grinned at Shenorai, who was bursting out to laugh.

“What? You really think I should eat my words?” he said.

* * *​

In the meantime, the sound of “WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!” was heard in the sky, as Riku had gathered up the strength to summon a dark cloud from the power of darkness and rode on it, as he tried to catch Faith. He could tell that she was really fast, considering how determined she seemed to want to get out of this world. But did she really know how to get back to the real world? That was a question he kept on asking.

“Leave me alone, Riku!” cried Faith, as tears streamed down her face.

Reality wasn’t sinking in. she just wished that this wasn’t real. She wished that she were dead in the ocean and never had to deal with this. Instead of flying forwards, she went upwards towards the sky. Faith didn’t know where she was going and she didn’t know why she was heading this way in the first place. Riku kept on pleading with her to come down and talk about it instead of taking things in the wrong direction.

And then suddenly, all faded to black.

“Wake up.”

No response.

“Wake up.”

The same again …

“Wake up!”

“Ouch!”

“So. You’re awake then.”

“What? You? No, not again …”

“Yes, again! Except you’re on my territory now.”

When her vision came into light, Faith saw that she was on a rooftop back in her own world. The rain was pouring down heavily and the wind was roaring violently. Saix stood there with an emotionless look on his face, yet a gold glare seemed to escape. She couldn’t believe that Saix had tracked her down and sensed her fear of getting away from FFF – now she was, but a prisoner to him. A magnetic collar was around her neck and felt tight. He had sat down tied up to a pipe against the wall.

“Welcome back to your world,” smiled Saix nastily, as he pointed towards New York City, their current location. “I had to shake Riku off, but don’t you worry about him now. I put him somewhere … safe.”

“You mean as in your safe!” spat Faith, retaliating angrily. “I’m so gonna kill you for us!” She tried using her powers to throw him back and release herself, but they weren’t working for some reason. “What?” Saix started laughing to himself. “What did you do?”

“The collar you’re wearing repels your powers,” he explained gladly. “And it also means that you’re untraceable, too. If FFF comes sniffing for you, then they’re going to have a very hard time doing it. You see –” He paced around the rooftop, looking down at the city. “– Shenorai was wrong. I may have hidden in the realm of darkness, but I wasn’t in a pathetic mess.” Faith looked disgusted. “That’s right, I eavesdropped on your little conversation. Brilliant, aren’t I?”

More like you love yourself, she thought. She watched him stand on the edge of the rooftop, as he continued to look down at the city and the skies had turned dark. “So why now? Why are you so eager to jump at every chance to kidnap me? I know that you attacked Julius’s kingdom!”

“My, my,” sighed Saix, “and I thought you weren’t exactly the smart one. But I guess that even a little amnesia doesn’t change you either.” He turned to face her and crossed his arms. “You want to know why I’m kidnapping you? You’re the only that can make my plans work! FFF has to be destroyed! Considering that you are very closely affiliated with it, then you’re the perfect candidate.”

“Here I was, thinking that FFF should be the last thing on my mind,” murmured Faith.

“FFF should be the first thing on your mind, really. There is a darkness deep within you, Crest, and I’m going to unleash it.” There was a pause when he nodded at the henchmen to release her from the pipe. Faith felt a bit weak, considering she was still recovering from the injuries he had given her before. “I tried it with Riku once, but he could control the darkness himself after a while.”

Faith just knew Riku’s name would be mentioned somewhere in this conversation. She tried to run at and attack him, but the goons held her back. As they held her down though, she was still determined to make her voice heard. “If you think using me is going to help destroy FFF, then you’re wrong! I’d never do that! I’d never betray my friends!”

“Friends, friends, friends. Do you really think they’re your friends?”

At that point, she just froze. What if Saix was right? It really started to make Faith doubt everything.

“Your friends aren’t coming,” he glared coldly. “So why don’t we start with the pain then?” He took out a knife and then slashed her wrist without warning. He laughed at Faith crying out in pain. Without her powers, she was, but powerless. Could anyone save her from this demented psycho?

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Five

Dark Encounters and Memories​

Powerless. That was all she had seen herself as right from the beginning when the madness had begun. But Faith Crest was trying to hang on to consciousness as not to fall asleep and let Saix get what he wanted. She looked at him with her ocean eyes, which were turning into a fiery, furious red colour. They would only turn red when she was using her powers fully. But obviously, she couldn’t use her powers. Saix had seen to that. He bent down and slapped her in the face. Her eyes returned to normal.

Now Faith wondered why she was even alive after the accident out at sea. All that she had ever felt since coming back to life was pain – and there was plenty of it to go around. The darkness that Saix sent towards her was choking her and mentally making her fight for her life. He didn’t even have to lift a finger to do that. It was up to the darkness to do that instead. She thought that she would die rather soon. With none of her friends here to help her let alone Riku (she didn’t know what had happened to him), who had mysteriously disappeared, all hope was deemed to be lost.

A storm ripped New York City apart. The lightning flashes quicker than both Faith and Saix expected. The one with fear, however, was Faith. She couldn’t speak because the darkness wrapped its vines around her mouth and had even trapped her arms and legs from moving as well. Faith tried to wriggle free, but it seemed too impossible. Maybe this was where she truly belonged – in darkness along with Saix and doomed to eternity in that realm.

“See? Your friends aren’t coming,” grinned Saix, as he was sharpening the edge of his dark blade on the wall. His goons leered down at Faith laughing evilly and loving the sight of her falling to their master’s power. “While we’re on the subject of your friends, they’re not exactly loyal, are they? You seem to think that they would have saved you by now, but of course, we both know why they haven’t come, don’t we?”

Faith shook her head. How the hell am I supposed to know?

Saix sighed. “Tut, tut, Faith. Then allow me to spell it out loud and clear – FFF are worried about both worlds colliding. Your world is so much fun to be in! Your people are so weak. Being weak cannot make you strong, Faith. Speaking of which, there is no good or evil either. Power only reigns between the people of the entire universe. You choose to use your power for selflessness.” He walked towards her and grabbed her chin with his hand. “Not so brave now, are you? Not so brave, but still so selfless.”

Today would be nice, she thought at the prospect of being rescued any minute now.

* * *​

Meanwhile, back at FFF, Lady Aerith paced around the room that Faith had stayed in. She smelt the bed covers and sighed sadly. The news of Faith’s kidnapping hadn’t come as a surprise to her; it hadn’t been so long either. She and Angelus were trying to detect where Faith and Riku had disappeared. Whilst suspecting that Saix had indeed taken Faith, no one had any idea where Riku was or what kind of situation he had gotten himself into this time.

“What are we supposed to do?” Lady Aerith asked Angelus.

“We have to keep trying,” replied Angelus simply, as she gazed into the crystal orb that showed maps of their world, Gaia, and the other world, Earth. “To know where Faith is, then we must see what kind of place Saix has taken her to. We have to see things from his point of view.”

But Lady Aerith sighed again. “It’s hard to see things from Saix’s point of view.” She turned to Julius, who was pacing around room as if he worried not about Faith, but about his kingdom. “Shen is taking care of things, Julius. It’s too dangerous for you to be there right now. It’s what Saix wants you to do!”

“I know,” sighed Julius, scratching the back of his hair, “but my kingdom is my responsibility! The people will need their king and I feel helpless just standing and walking around here! It’s as if nothing ever happened in the first place!” He stopped pacing around and sighed, nodding his head as if he was agreeing with Lady Aerith. “I’m sorry, you’re right. We should focus on finding Faith right now.” He turned to face Mark. “You know, your timing’s not too bad for once.”

“Well, I finally came at a right time,” he grinned. “So what’s happened now? Faithy got herself into a tight situation? Is it really true that she screwed up her last mission and then got amnesia from some accident that she had?” The others nodded. “Wow, I never thought I’d see the day when good old Faith would be the one left in the dark.”

“Faith won’t be left in the dark much longer,” assumed Lady Aerith.

“She has to be,” whispered Julius and turned to face her. “Shenorai has given too much away already about Saix. If Faith ever think for a moment that she knows what he’s got planned, then –”

“You worry about your kingdom, now you worry about our top priority?” said Angelus.

“A guy can change his mind, can’t he?” joked Mark.

“Why can you joke around at a time like this?” stared Lady Aerith.

Mark shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno, guess I get it off Faith. If we all start acting so emo, then things aren’t exactly going to look up now, are they? Speaking of which, has anyone seen Lord Golbez?” Everyone shook his or her head. “Figures as much. He’s still busy with getting used to the place around here. Things haven’t been the same for many months, not ever since –”

Everyone glared coldly at Mark. It wasn’t his fault, really. The name of a dreaded enemy that was still at large outside FFF may have very well something to do with this whole mess. Barely moments later, Shenorai returned, having dealt with her little problem, and hugged Julius when she saw him. Everyone except Lady Aerith was now giving Shenorai some strange and cold-hearted looks.

* * *​

Back in New York, the rain poured down on the city harder than Faith could ever imagine. She could finally breathe because the darkness had left her alone for now. Her mind had prevailed, but she was still weak on the inside. Her eyes were bloodied and swollen through Saix’s goons beating her up. Faith leant against the wall and actual tears streamed down her face. This was far worse than having some random man trying to murder her. Saix was driving her insane through this abuse and endless torture. Saix was laughing for once. He found her pain entertaining for his liking.

The collar was digging into her neck and was limiting her breathing a little. It stopped her speaking and now she felt like the end was surely coming. What was Saix really after? And then just as she thought that the end had surely come, Saix touched her shoulder, causing Faith to have several flashbacks. Men dressed in dark purple cloaks were stood around a great dark fire that was flickering brighter than the torch at the Olympic games that occurred every four years.

There were a few selected heroes that ran into the dark cave, brandishing their swords and other weapons … some were even barehanded … Faith was seeing these memories as if they were her own. She came back to the present time and saw Saix on his knees with sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked at her, confused as to how she was able to do that all of a sudden.

“How? When you can’t use your powers?” he hissed nastily.

“I won’t let you hold me d-down,” she whispered quietly.

“What did you say?”

“I won’t let you hold me down!”

“REPEAT THAT!”

“I SAID THAT I WOULDN’T LET YOU HOLD ME DOWN!”

And with that yell, the collar broke off Faith’s neck and the powerful telekinetic force that erupted from her anger threw Saix back. But the anger had worn her down even more. Faith felt that she could sleep for a week. Her injuries were getting worse and she was facing the prospect of … dying. She was breathing heavily now, as she glanced up at the friendly face of Riku diving down from his hiding place and helping her to sit up. He placer head on his knee and smiled.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can.”

“Where – Where’ve you been?” she asked.

“Realm of darkness,” replied Riku quickly. “When I was chasing you, Saix used this ancient magic to repel creatures of darkness to follow him. The only way I could keep on following was if I entered the realm of darkness, fight my way through various obstacles and finally find you by locating Saix. I’ve alerted FFF and sent my exact coordinates, so they should be here soon.” He looked towards Saix, who was stirring and ready to rise. “Just hang on until I get rid of this git here.”

The villain rose to his feet, looking furious with Riku’s arrival. But nonetheless, he walked towards the hero of the hour, ready to take him down once and for all for what would seem to be the fight of the century.

“It’s just you and me now, Riku,” glared Saix coldly, as Faith lay in between them, battered and bruised as well as being close to unconsciousness. “You come here to get here, but you’re quite mistaken if you think that you can win this time!” He pointed his dark blade at him. “Now why don’t you just leave politely and leave me to my own business with Miss Crest here?”

Riku laughed loudly, as he summoned the Way To Dawn.

“Not a fat chance in the world, mate,” he grinned. “You’re going to have to untie her now or else I won’t be able to stalk her anymore …”

“You’re exaggerating as per usual, Riku! You thought that you could win the last battle of darkness, but you couldn’t. He was far too powerful for you because he had become the very darkness you could never become. Riku, you seek to hold on to the light too much. If you had truly sought out darkness, then you would have defeated him and wouldn’t be in the pathetic mess you are in now!”

Faith expected Riku to fight back straight away, but he remained silent instead.

“Reflecting on your defeat, are you now? You better leave before I tear you down.”

“It’s just like what Faith said!” shouted Riku, smiling proudly and glancing down at his friend. “You can’t hold me down. You can’t hold any of us down. You can try and throw all the darkness you got at us, Saix, but you could never hold us all down in the end. You’re the one for making the mistake of leaving FFF and going to the Dark Crusaders …”

And then Faith’s eyes widened. “What?”

Saix had once been affiliated with FFF? What kind of madness was this? But judging by the serious look on Riku’s face, Faith could clearly see that this was no lie. It was the truth. The truth hit her harder than the punches Saix’s goons had thrown at her. When she did see the goons make a move towards Riku, she swung her arm and they went flying into the wall. Riku turned to face her and shook his head.

“Don’t waste your energy away,” he warned. “I can take care of them and him alone. You just need to make sure you don’t fall asleep.”

Easy for you to say, she thought.

Saix made the first move, as he dashed towards Riku at great speed. He sent a dark energy ball in his direction, dived to the left and then made an attempt to stab him. In turn, the dark energy ball missed because Riku had foreseen it, anyway. He teleported some metres to his right and found himself tied in a deadly fight with Saix through blades. The Soul Eater and Way To Dawn were two opposite blades, being different styles of fighting and design, too. When Saix had his blade locked with Riku’s holding one hand, he seized the chance to punch Riku in the face and knock him back to the wall.

Feeling that he had the upper hand and advantage over the fight, Saix was about to be proven wrong that Riku was a weak competitor. Instead, Riku was a strong competitor and would not give up the fight to become even stronger than he was now. He had been right all along – not even Saix could hold him down. He may be beaten up and knocked down to the ground, but Riku kept rising to his feet over and over again. There was one other thing that separated Riku and Saix. Saix’s heart was cold and dark, whilst Riku’s remained warm and strong.

Saix held up the Soul Eater to fend off the attacks of the Way To Dawn. Riku was charging at full speed now, though not at full strength. As predicted, Faith knew this would be a long and intense fight. She felt like she had to help somehow, someway, but she had to back down for now. She was still regaining her own strength and she was literally begging her mind to regenerate energy soon. Faith continued to watch on, as Riku drew nearer and nearer to Saix’s face, pushing his blade further forward in the massive struggle for power and victory. Not a word had been exchanged yet since the battle had begun.

Riku was desperate for control of the battle, but didn’t want to end it so quickly. I have to win this fight or else I could be destroyed this time, he thought. He kicked Saix in the gut and then made a chance to run all around the walls to gather his speed up. He wants to go for a quick and speedy win, but I, on the other hand, am out to wear him down slowly and surely for all the things he do to her …

Meanwhile, Saix was indeed hoping for a quick battle. He felt no need to mess with Riku, although he admitted to himself that he was a worthy opponent in battle so far. Nothing can stop me from fulfilling the plan that I have laid out for so many months now, he mused, eyeing a bloodied and battered Faith slowly losing consciousness. She won’t die from her injuries because it’s me who keeps her alive. I haven’t beaten her enough to kill her just yet. But she will die soon, however …

“Don’t … give … up …” whispered Faith when Riku went rolling on the floor near her after being wide open to an attack Saix had planned. “You … can … win …”

“Aye,” nodded Riku promptly, getting on to his knee. “Aye, no twit like him can stop the unstoppable Riku.”

Even through her pain and torment, Faith was laughing silently to herself. The phrase “unstoppable Riku” had her going on with herself. When she thought about it, he was probably right. So far, she hadn’t seen him fail once yet when saving her life. Speaking of which, why would it be up to him to save her life? This only portrayed Faith as someone who needed rescuing – a damsel in distress. In the meantime, Saix looked ticked off enough already. He was already being worn down from fighting Riku this long. It had been quite some twenty minutes fighting, but he would have preferred to finish Riku off quickly without much of an effort.

Riku was pushing Saix to the best of his ability, something he had never quite achieved before. The Dark Crusaders had always scolded Saix for not using more than half of his strength against an opponent in battle. Saix had brushed that assumption off, saying that there was no one too powerful enough to face him. Now? He might have just met his match. The same would have applied to Riku, too. He would often boast to everyone in FFF how he’d never meet anyone as powerful as him. Now, it seemed, this was perfect chance to show off his power.

The battle continued on. Blades clashed, punches and kicks were made, plus there were the occasional cold glares. Faith knew that her saying was true. Riku wasn’t being held down and kept coming back stronger than ever. The two dark warriors knew that their time was coming. The battle was almost ending. Both Riku and Saix were beginning to bleed. All this bleeding … for a seventeen-year-old girl lying on the ground, begging for mercy from the pain that she felt.

“You’ve … never actually pushed me … this far …” gasped Saix.

“Really … now?” grinned Riku, trying to catch his breath back. “The same here, although – although I hate to admit this, but … you’re not a bad fighter yourself, Saix.” He was now nearly out of gasping and started to laugh quite sinisterly. “Oh, would you look at that? Looks like the darkness can’t help us anymore.”

Blue skies were appearing as the finale of the battle. Saix growled. Riku knew that Saix was known for using darkness as his primary weapon and the Soul Eater as his secondary one. Riku used the Way To Dawn for a primary weapon and anything else, except the darkness, came secondary. Using darkness was often a last resort, unless it was an emergency. Perhaps using the darkness in battle was only used when he was facing someone similarly matched to him like Saix. After all, he had used the darkness quite a lot in this battle. At least he wouldn’t use it for much longer.

Light had finally come – and Faith was enjoying it. The sun was finally coming up after that terrible night. Her face lit up at the sight of the sun, the blue skies and the peace and tranquillity that was returning to the earth. She sat up against the wall, feeling somewhat restored from fighting for her life, yet she still sustained those old bumps and bruises that were scattered across her entire body. As Riku and Saix were still throwing remarks at each other, she was the only to hear another pair of footsteps walking on the rooftop.

“Faith,” came a female voice, as she felt a hand on her forehead. “We need to get you somewhere safe.”

“Who are you?” whispered Faith. She couldn’t see this woman’s physical appearance well.

“Someone you know,” she replied. “Probably the last remaining relative in your entire family and I can get you out of here. You won’t have to worry about this for quite sometime and I can help you remember what you’re really all about.”

Faith felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. “But who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter now. Let me get you back to my home and I can finally see if there’s still some life behind my goddaughter’s face.”

Everything faded to black barely moments later.

* * *​

Faith hadn’t been drugged. She hadn’t been forced to take anything against her will either. She opened her eyes to feel warm – and plenty of it. A bed was where she found herself lying in with a familiar sense of comfort. Her vision was still somewhat blurry, although she blamed that on the fact that she had only just come around from unconsciousness. Had it all been a dream? Were waking up in the ocean all, but a mental dream that she had imagined? Was she perhaps a normal girl longing nothing more than a normal life? Unfortunately, these things did not come to pass.

When her vision was correctly adjusted, she saw that she was lay on her bed in what seemed to be a teenage girl’s room. Faith turned her head to find that the same woman saving her life was sat down on a chair by her bedside. This woman had long blonde hair that was curly at the bottom and stopped just below her shoulders, blue piercing eyes that looked so familiar to anyone who looked at them more than once and was wearing clothes that consisted of jeans, a white jumper and brown boots. The woman brushed her hair away, so that Faith could see her face.

“You’re finally home,” she whispered. She had a British accent just like hers.

“Home?” asked Faith, looking around the room and then taking in the sounds outside the window, which was left open. “It feels like I am home.” She then turned towards her saviour. “But you still haven’t my question. Who are you? You said that I was your –”

“Goddaughter,” she nodded. “Yes, you are. I’m your godmother. My name is Patricia Musso.” She held out her hand. “Just like a first meeting, isn’t it? Nice to meet you, let’s keep the introductions short.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Six

Harsh Betrayals​

Many days had passed now since Faith had reawakened back in her true home. Memories were starting to come back to her through bits and pieces in flashbacks she would occasionally have in her dreams. On the rainy afternoon, she pressed her hand against the window in the living area, taking in the atmosphere of the garden. Patricia wasn’t lying about anything after all then. She had read her mind on several occasions and had even gained access once by accident. Her mind revealed the many memories she had with Faith when she was a child, so it only proved this was her godmother.

Being inside the house trying to recover from her large amount of injuries could only allow Faith to wonder what FFF would be doing now. Could they possibly find her now that she had crossed over to Earth, her home world?

As if I need finding, she thought to herself, answering that question quicker before she could say go.

Many more things kept haunting her, too. Did Patricia know about her powers? Although she had managed to see her memories, she couldn’t see any memory to suggest that Patricia really did know about her powers, which only made things even more complicated than they were before.

“That’s me,” she muttered under her breath. “Bleeding amnesia girl.”

“Hey, bleeding amnesia girl,” grinned Patricia, coming into the room. “I’ve got someone here who wants to see you.”

“Someone to see ME?” Faith blurted out. She didn’t care, though. She hadn’t been able to see anyone for quite sometime now. After all, it had been nearly two weeks, trying to get back to full health from all her injuries. Speaking of injuries, there was Saix to consider. She was so going to kick his arse when she could fight properly. Oh yeah … her attention now going back to her visitor! “So who wants to see me?”

“I do, you div,” said a young woman not much older than Faith. She strode into the living room with a huge smile stretched across her face. She was tall, had long brown hair and green eyes. “Been a while, hasn’t it, Faith? Just like Tricia said here, let’s keep the introductions short. I’m Frisky, your long time friend. But you normally call me Frisk, so let’s keep it there …”

“Frisk, huh?” smiled Faith. Her name did sound vaguely familiar. “Hmm … it’s nice to see you, er, again.” She turned to Patricia. “Is that what you’re expecting me to say?”

“Lighten up!” exclaimed Frisk before Patricia had a chance to even say anything and laughed out loud. “You sure look better than you did nearly two weeks ago. Tricia invited me here –”

“You let yourself in,” interrupted Patricia with a stern look on her face.

“Yeah, whatever. I wanted to see how you were, but you look so much better now.”

Faith smiled weakly. “Thanks. Besides, it’s nice to finally meet someone else apart from Patricia. Um …” She turned to Patricia. “Well, can’t I go out now that I’ve recovered? If – If anyone tries attacking me again, then – then I’ve always got Frisk to back me up. Isn’t that right, Frisky?”

“Rule number one – it’s Frisk,” sighed Frisk sadly. “And rule number two – I’ll beat the crap out of whoever hurt you, Faithy. Just tell me who it is and I’ll make sure that they won’t be walking the time I’m done with ’em!”

“I told you already,” sighed Patricia, rubbing her neck. “She doesn’t know.”

Yet another white lie I must tell, thought Faith. “Listen, I won’t be out for long. Just give me an hour. If I go out for a bit, then maybe I might start remembering some stuff around here, you know? Besides, Frisk said she was my long time friend. What better person to go around than her, right?”

So it was decided. Faith put on a coat and stepped outside. The rain looked like it hadn’t come at all. Her yes widened in shock and delight when she saw that they were now walking through snow. Frisk was herself too, but didn’t let that dampen her spirit. She instantly hurried to the brick wall, formed a snowball and threw it in Faith’s face.

“C’mon then! Let’s start remembering with a good ol’ snowball fight!” she laughed.

“Ohhh, it’s on now!” beamed Faith, getting a snowball ready to throw.

* * *​

Meanwhile, things weren’t going so well at FFF headquarters …

“You betrayed my trust, Shenorai!” yelled Julius, as he saw her look at the floor in fear of his might and power. “You gave far too much away and you need to deal with your problems before I do!” He walked forwards, but then turned to hear Shenorai cry out in pain and fall to the ground, knocked out cold. Julius found himself facing with the very man, who had been responsible for taking over his kingdom. “Saix …”

“Julius,” smirked Saix, as he pointed the Soul Eater towards him. “My, my, my. Nothing changes with you, does it? Still trying to be the very strong king with the formal tone of voice. Nothing phases you, does it? Now you must be wondering how on earth I managed to infiltrate FFF headquarters, I assume?” Julius nodded, but was slowly reaching for his own blade without Saix noticing. “I’ve discovered him, Julius. The very man that created FFF will return … you may have banished him a long time ago, but he will return! I must have it that way!”

Julius gasped in horror. “You can’t be serious, Saix!” he yelled. “If he is brought back from the underworld, then the universe is doomed as we know it. It took a huge rebellion to throw him off the throne! If you bring him back – if you even think about it – then we’ll strike you down and we won’t banish you to the underworld, we’ll destroy you into a million pieces!” He drew out his blade and clashed with Saix.

Saix managed to keep him back, but snuck in an evil smile. “I am serious, old friend,” he nodded his head. “Darkblade will return, whether you like it or not.”

“I WON’T LET YOU TAKE OVER THE EARTH!”

“Really now? Who are you to dictate the earth? Your kingdom fell to the Dark Crusaders – my precious Dark Crusaders – and all you can do is say how the earth will not fall next? I can sense your darkest fears, Julius, the darkness has been telling me how you still linger here, but away from your comrades for long periods of time. Tell me, do you love this half wretched demon lying before you?”

“DON’T CALL HER WRETCHED! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!”

“And you have no right to dictate the earth either! I will go there and find Crest. I only came here to sense that her scent didn’t misguide me. Oh yes, Julius, darkness lingers inside of her, too. Although it’s too bad that she doesn’t know yet.”

Finally, Saix stabbed Julius in the shoulder and laughed manically, as he lay there bleeding. He withdrew the Soul Eater and took out a small golden stone. His dark eyes glowered a red colour for a short time until the golden stone floated into the air. Despite lying there near to Shenorai and bleeding heavily, Julius gathered the strength to watch what Saix was doing and wondered to himself.

What is he doing? Why does that stone seem so familiar to me? It must be from my kingdom! Now Julius was finally starting to realise why his kingdom was attacked in the first place. “You,” he said loud enough, so that Saix could hear. It worked, however, considering Saix had turned his attention to the fallen king. “You took that from the royal treasury … from my family’s royal treasury! How could you?”

“Simple,” smirked Saix. “I took over your kingdom. End of.” He continued to observe the stone with greater interest. “If I am going to revive Darkblade, then I can’t obviously trust him. I need to gain his power and this stone, believe it or not, can lead me to the stone tablet that Darkblade was imprisoned in. His soul would rise from the underworld and emerge from the tablet, thus, breaking the seal your people implanted on him several years ago …” He looked down at Julius and bent down to him. “I am going to take over the universe whether you like it or not, Jul.”

“Why? Why now? Why are you doing this?”

“You really want to know why I want to take over the universe?”

He turned away, grasped the stone in his hand and sensed the location of the tablet.

“Because it’s fun.”

Riku charged into the room holding the Way To Dawn in his hand and then kicked Saix out of the way after his little remark. When Saix was blasted through the wall and the bricks fell on top of him, Riku put his blade away and then bent down to Julius.

“You all right, mate?” he asked with concern in his green eyes.

“Do I look all right?” snarled Julius.

“Nah, you don’t, mate,” Riku shook his head and his attention turned to Shenorai next. “Damn it, the bleeding git got her. But don’t worry, I’ve called Lady Aerith and she’s on her way here with Mark and the others.” He looked towards where Saix was lying. “I’ll take care of our nasty little problem over there. Well, not little. But definitely nasty.”

“RIKU!”

Saix broke out of the bricks on top of him with the darkness blasting them away.

“Ouch, you might want to lower the darkness usage, mate,” remarked Riku.

“Why do you call everyone mate?” muttered Julius.

“Because it’s fun.” He crossed his arms. “It’s good to steal other’s lines.”

* * *​

Back on the earth, Faith and Frisk were still walking down the streets as if they didn’t have a care in the world. There were kids outside throwing snowballs at each other, making snowmen and making angels on the ground. It was a typical snowy day would have been like after Christmas. When Faith had eventually gotten around to seeing what month it was, she realised it was February. No wonder the weather was dodgy around now, anyway …

“Let’s go to the pub,” smiled Frisk, clapping her hands and rubbing them together. But she couldn’t help notice Faith’s distant look, as she had a look at the view of the large hill they were standing on top of. “What’s wrong? Afraid of the pub?”

“No,” she shook her head, sitting down in the snow. “I just need some time alone to myself. But thanks for showing me around, Frisk. Heck, I’d have been stuck in there another day if it weren’t for you.”

“I guess you’re right. But if you change your mind about the pub, you know where I am. If you forget, just give me a bell on the mobile phone, yeah? See you later, Faithy! Let’s hope that I don’t get too drunk!”

And that’d be saying something, thought Faith to herself, looking at the view.

When she got home later on that day, Patricia was immediately worried about what she had been up to. After telling her everything that she and Frisk had done, Faith was now going to listen to what her godmother had to say. Now for once, Faith was afraid. Very, very afraid, she was. She sat down in the kitchen at the table and waited to hear what she was going to say.

“Faith, I know about your powers,” assumed Patricia, sighing. “I’ve known ever since you were little. I never got a chance to tell you, but I knew that you came into them three years ago when you were just fourteen.” She sighed again. “I know that you’re still recovering from the attack and all, but … I had to get this out in the open. And I could just tell that you were worried about my gut reaction if you were ever planning on telling me, anyway.”

“Wow,” was all Faith could manage to say. A smile crept upon her face – a surprised one. “That’s really … relieving.” But does she know about FFF? She looked at the time, which read five o’clock in the evening. “I was really worried that you didn’t know and didn’t know really to ask you at all.” At least there was something out in the open and not having to worry about it. Now there was just one little problem – and that happened to be her attacker.

* * *​

Saix lifted his chin and gazed into the mirror. Another cut added to his collection. How great was this then? He wiped away the blood that was still there and then made sure he looked fine. Exiting the toilets, he noticed his minions scattered all around the room. A fine bloody pub it was, if he should say so himself. He sat at the bar, ordered a Coke and vodka, sitting there in silence.

“Hey, handsome,” smiled Frisk, as she sat down next to him. “Drinking alone?”

“Yeah, well, what does it look like?” growled Saix, not in the mood to socialise.

“Aww, c’mon,” she said. “There’s no need to be angry like that. Tell me all about your problems, sugar, and then there’s no need to get so angry anymore, huh?” Saix glanced at her. He hardly ever gave women of the earth a second glance. He smiled innocently and crossed his arms. “You see … you can’t resist the Frisk charm. Guys practically fall over me –”

“Let’s go somewhere else,” he said quietly in her ear. “This place isn’t good enough for the pair of us. We’re too subspecies that deserve more.”

Frisk nodded, looking quite impressed with the guy that she had pulled. “Handsome, smart and specific. I like a guy like that. Maybe there’s somewhere else you can think of then?” He was about to answer, but then she cut in. “What’s your name then? I’m Frisky, but you gotta call me Frisk.”

“Name’s Saix,” he growled, feeling annoyed that someone even dared to have the audacity to ignore him. It infuriated him! Yet at the same time, he couldn’t help feeling attracted to this human girl. “Just come with me and all will be clear …”

With the minions remaining inside the pub, there was an underage guy watching the whole conversation. Rene Skylar became visible with a look on his face that only spelled suspicion. What was going on? Why had Frisk left with him? Well, there was only one person that he could turn to right now, even though her mind was in a bit of a state, anyway.

* * *​

Back at home, Faith wondered to herself.

Did she have a guy in her life?

How had Patricia always known about her powers, even though she never told her before getting amnesia?

Questions like these could never be answered. Or at least until she regained her memories, that was.

The longer that she stared out of the window, the more she began to see a dark face emerging from the snow that was falling down from the heavens. Maybe it was a hallucination? Eh, she had not a clue. What harm was it to her?

“A lot more harm than you can think, Crest,” said a hissing, inhuman voice.

Faith jumped at the sight of the stranger in the living area. Then her fears were for Patricia, who was unconscious and being held by this stranger by one bare arm. He flung her godmother into the wall and just laughed at her pain that she would feel when she woke up and probably pain she was feeling right now. The stranger tried flinging dark energy balls at Faith, but she managed to deflect them with her telekinesis and he just absorbed the energy again.

“And perhaps a lot stronger than I may have estimated,” he smiled nastily.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Faith half-shouted.

“Me? Why, I am your worst enemy, possibly your worst nightmare. The reason for all of this.” He took off his hood, revealing an inhuman face with dark markings all over. “Darkblade.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Seven

The Rise of Darkblade​

The sound of Darkblade’s name could only make Faith laugh on the inside. But on the outside, she wasn’t really dealing with it well. Darkblade – why did that name sound so familiar to her? She didn’t know who the hell he was – well, she didn’t know how many people were considering her amnesiac problem – and she wanted him out of her house right NOW. She was about to unleash a powerful telekinetic wave upon him when she caught a glimpse of his dark energy ball forming in his hand and it turning in Patricia’s direction. Faith stopped instantly; she couldn’t risk Patricia’s life.

“Now that’s a good girl,” snarled Darkblade nastily, extinguishing his dark energy ball just by crushing it with his bare hand. He went to sit down on the sofa with a smug look upon his face. “I think you and I have a lot to talk about, Crest. You see, we’re similar in many ways. We were both used by people we loved and trusted –”

“I don’t know who you are, but I want you out of my house now,” said Faith.

She didn’t like the look of Darkblade one bit. Half of his face was inhuman as if dark magic had dabbled around with it. Dark purple markings that she didn’t recognise whatsoever now covered that half of his face. In the meantime, the other half of his face seemed still human, although the black eyes he bore gave off a mutual feeling of being a monster. Faith didn’t know whether she should fight Darkblade or listen to what he had to say. Some words, right now, were a way of messing with her mind.

“Didn’t you hear me?” she shouted again. “I WANT YOU OUT NOW!”

And then instantly, Darkblade sent a dark energy ball, hurling it towards Faith and it hit her squarely on the shoulder, blasting her back into the wall. She slid down the wall with a burn mark on the same shoulder and blood dripped down. Tears slid down her face. She couldn’t hold back the pain that she was feeling. Although Saix had beaten and slashed her with a knife, nothing compared to this pain right now. She could only watch, as Darkblade rose to his feet.

“I don’t want to destroy your house,” he said calmly, taking in the atmosphere of the living area. “Such a joy to finally see your real home as well. Besides, I bet Musso wouldn’t be happy if she found her house half-destroyed and her goddaughter gone, would she?” Faith didn’t react or answer to this; she only scowled and tried clinging on to consciousness. “And it’s nice to see you’re still so strong. You’re still the same fighter, although you can’t quite remember what happened that night when you died.”

Still being as silent as ever, Faith looked up at Darkblade with curiosity.

“That night I died?” she whispered in fear.

“They never told you, did they?” he sighed sarcastically and then broke out into an evil laugh. “They always knew when to tell you things and when not to, don’t they? That’s why I left.” He observed the grandfather clock and placed his hand on his chin. “I still don’t know why these bloody things are still here. Tell your godmother to get with the times already.” He then turned the topic back to what he was talking about before. “Speaking of they … FFF. So rotten, that’s why I’ll never trust them again.”

“You know about … FFF?” questioned Faith.

“Know about them? I created the damn thing!” yelled Darkblade, as the ground began to shake violently.

* * *​

Meanwhile, Frisk opened her eyes to find that she was unexpectedly … warm and comfortable. Since when was it that she felt like this, anyway? Then the hangover hit her. A terrible migraine inflicted her mind and she sat up in bed, trying to remember what she did last night. Normally, she wouldn’t remember things and then her friends would wind up her by saying that she did things that she hadn’t done. But when she looked next to her, Frisk was in for the shock of her life.

Her eyes widened when she saw Saix next to her fast asleep. Wasn’t that the guy she had briefly met in the pub last night and then they had gone off somewhere private? Now Frisk was starting to remember, which was quite unusual. Her green eyes surveyed the room that she was in – a dark room, not much in it at all … there was chanting heard very faintly and the weird thing was that there were no windows. Where on EARTH was she?

Another thing hit Frisk. If Saix was lying on the other side of the double bed, then she was on her side. Oh no … she hadn’t, had she? Frisk had done things before that she lived to regret the day after and the next few days to come, but she hadn’t slept with someone on a drunken night out! God, no! God, she felt disgusted with herself. She couldn’t believe she was calling herself a slut, tart and a nasty piece of work in her mind. Just what was she even thinking of doing? This was bad, really bad. Bedding someone she didn’t know at all was even worse than doing it with someone that she did know …

“Good morning, my Frisky,” murmured Saix, as he sat up in the bed and then saw her fearful look. “Oh, there’s nothing to be afraid of at all.” But Frisk went backwards when he tried to touch her. “I take it that you remember what happened then.” She nodded and then his minions of darkness teleported into the room. Frisk was alarmed. She hadn’t seen anything like this before! Where on EARTH was she again? “I’d like you to make our guest very comfortable.” He turned to face Frisk. “Everything will be explained in due course, I assure you, my love.”

Frisk hadn’t said anything yet, but his voice … God, did it sound so dark and sexy. She was finally falling for him instead of it being vice versa. He had fallen for her and now she was finally falling for him. His charm and way of words seemed to have her literally under his spell. But still in a state of shock, Frisk lay back on the bed, covering herself up, wondering what on earth she was going to do next.

* * *​

Over at FFF headquarters, Riku cried out when Lady Aerith was patching up his dark wounds. She couldn’t heal them yet because she was of light and healing dark wounds like his could have had such a great negative impact on her.

“Calm down, Riku, we’ve done this before,” she said calmly.

“Done this before? Lady Aerith, I don’t know why you call yourself a lady when you keep on dabbing these accursed plasters and such into my wounds too harshly!” yelled Riku, wanting to curse her out loud, but didn’t because he’d only lose her respect, which was something he had worked hard on when first coming here a long time ago. “Besides, Saix got away and it’s all my fault.”

“Saix may have eluded us several times, but I know that he won’t keep away forever,” she said, trying to reassure him. “Riku, you’re the only one strong enough to stop him. Julius or Shen couldn’t stop him. He knocked Shen out before she had a chance to see him and Jul had yet to work out on his training. So far, you’re the only one having to survive his wrath. We almost lost Julius and Shenorai two weeks ago now.”

Riku lay back on the bed sighing and wondering what Faith would be doing now. If she were dead, then Angelus would have sensed it by now. But what had happened to her? Surely, she must have remembered what had happened and come to her senses to then return to FFF. But did she even know the way? Yet again, it was a matter of many questions and no answers. He crossed his arms, thinking of what Saix was really up to and how Darkblade was involved. Julius had passed out sometime after Saix had retreated, having wounded Riku severely. All that the knight had to murmur was Darkblade’s name. Of course, this had worried Lord Golbez very much.

He had resorted to extra protection around the headquarters, having it being infiltrated several times now. There was also an immediate search for the stone tablet that Saix had intended to search for around Gaia and possibly unleash Darkblade. So far, there had been no leads. Mark and his team of warriors had returned after a three-day search, insisting that the stone table had been removed from the dark temple whence it had been sealed.

Darkblade could walk this earth right now, thought Riku, gazing out at the sun outside the window that was gleaming inside. If he is, then we could feel his presence. Well, I could, anyway. He’s so into darkness that he’d probably be laying low for now … or would he want something much more than laying low? What if he was after someone? What if he’s targeting us for what we did to him?

“You think too much,” observed Lady Aerith, now finished with bandaging Riku’s dark wounds. “For now, just keep the wounds like that, even in the water. In two days, come back to me and I’ll examine them to see if we need to use white magic from then on.” She sat down on a chair. “I still can’t believe you waited two weeks to finally tell me you had some dark wounds …”

“Well, I can take on the wounds, but not if you’re dabbing them!”

“But if you told me sooner, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“I don’t care about the wounds! And we’re NOT in a mess!”

“Yes, we are! We need to track Saix down and you’re our best shot! But we can’t track him down if you’re wounded!” Lady Aerith calmed down. “I’m sorry, Riku, I don’t usually go overboard, do I?” Riku shrugged his shoulders hopelessly, despite the pain he felt in his stomach. “I’m going to inform Lord Golbez that I’ve patched you up and then we’ll see if you can tap into the dark crystal ball again to see where Saix could be.”

Riku watched her go, thanking her in the process.

* * *​

Things were getting even more sinister for Frisk. She had just learnt that Saix wasn’t as normal as he seemed to be. No wonder she had found him so dark and irresistible! She knew he was partly human, although his heart conspired him in darkness. So maybe he was a dark human? Frisk didn’t know how to put it at first, but he had told her that he hoped it didn’t change things between them. To prove that he was being honest with everything, he had taken her on a journey through time and space.

Her journey had taken her from Ancient Rome to the end of the universe. To her, it felt like Doctor Who all over again – just without the TARDIS, of course. All this time, she had been looking for love and didn’t really expect to find that he was standing right in front of her all along. Maybe he wasn’t as normal as she had first seen him as, but he was still … Saix, right? There wasn’t anything dark or mysterious about him that haunted Frisk. She loved his dark and mysterious self. She loved it so much that he had a preposition for her.

“You know, I could show you so much more, Frisk,” grinned Saix, as they both sat down in the living area looking at the fire, which was lit up with dark flames. “I could show you anything. But you see, I can’t do it right now because I’m in the midst of something very important.”

“Something important? What’s much more than important than me?” asked Frisk, sounding a bit upset, but was secretly playing around and flirting with him.

“There’s a girl that is getting in my way all the time,” he replied, rising to his feet off the sofa and pacing around the room in front of the dark fireplace. “She’s like me, but she has to be stopped! If she – if she carries on, then I’ll die and you’ll never see me again, Frisk. She exists in the human world, your world, and I need your help to unmask her. She walks amongst your kind … well, our kind literally, but she is clever and cunning.”

“So you’re looking for some crazy psycho bitch that wants you dead?” she said.

Saix nodded.

Frisk took this into consideration. “I’ll help you.”

“Are you sure? After this, there’s no turning back.”

“Saix, I’ve never met someone like you. You’ve shown me the world in a complete different point of view. I wanted to travel the world for as long as I can remember, but you’ve given me the universe to consider, too! Saix … it feels like I’m under a spell and I can honestly say that I WILL help you with this problem. I’ll stop this girl, even if I have to shoot her down with a machete gun.”

However, even as the couple hugged, what Frisk didn’t seem to know that this girl in question was Faith. What Saix didn’t seem to know was that Frisk was actually his target’s best friend. Destinies were now becoming intertwined … and its course was set. With so much controversy and chaos going on all around them, there was nothing that anyone could to stop destiny from taking its course. And even Faith Crest could do nothing to prevent Frisk from bedding her sworn enemy.

* * *​

She continued to glare coldly at Darkblade, who happened to be having fun.

“I stand before you, Faith Crest, as the creator of FFF, a secret organisation to protect all worlds. However, you are just one of the lowly inferior humans that they see fit to help with their mission.” Darkblade was still standing right in front of Faith, but she could not escape his overwhelming power. His darkness kept her body firmly on the ground and made her unable to do anything, apart from move her eyes around and talk through her mouth. It was a case of nothing more, nothing less. “So why would you devote yourself to them when they’re using you? Faith, you have to see things from my point of view! They were the ones that dumped you in the ocean and hoped that you would forget who you were in hope that you would indefinitely forget what happened that very night!”

Faith could only stop and stare at the very man that was described as a “dark, cunning legend”. She had trusted FFF since arriving there. But now that she thought about it, Darkblade was starting to make sense. Lord Golbez and the other elite were keeping things from her. But what exactly were those things? Darkblade played and toyed around with her mind even more, creating illusions of a future betrayal. She closed her eyes and cringed at the pain, determined not to cry out and be seen as a weak person. The illusions stopped several moments later and she could finally breathe, relieved of what she had seen. It didn’t change a thing, however. He had stormed right into her own home, attacked her godmother and held her hostage. Why was it that she could only stop, stare and listen to this inhuman person talk to her as if he could understand her?

“What will it be, Faith?” he then finally asked, turning his black eyes and meeting her own ocean blue ones. “Are you really going to waste your life away helping FFF, to be used as a tool and then discarded when not needed anymore? Or do you really want to know the truth of what happened that very night when you rose from the dead?”

But she was too lost. Too confused.

What does he mean? I don’t understand him at all, yet he seems to understand me, she thought. C’mon, I need to break free of his control and focus on what really needs doing around here – kicking his sorry arse all the way back to the dark freaking realm! But how can I do that? Well, he can’t read my mind, but he can put stuff in it instead. Then she suddenly remembered something important. Patricia talked to me about my telepathy before. What if I tried contacting someone on the outside? Maybe it’s worth a shot, I dunno … I’ll never know if I don’t try.

Then suddenly, Rene appeared behind Darkblade and tackled him down without him noticing, thus, releasing the hold that he had on Faith. She moved at last, finally able to breathe and feel relieved. When Faith looked at her rescuer, she knew him from somewhere. His name resounded in her head; she didn’t even remember him, yet she knew his name already!

“Rene?” she whispered.

“Faith,” Rene clearly said and smiled, “so you do remember me.”

“Just your name,” Faith shrugged her shoulders, “nothing much else.”

“Ohhh, another friend of yours?” hissed Darkblade, as Rene stepped forward to protect her. “No matter, I’ll just kindly get rid of him and then we’ll be on our way.”

“You’re not going to take her anywhere,” smirked Rene, laughing loudly as if he was the bravest guy in the world right now. But before Darkblade could respond, he grabbed Faith’s hand and they turned invisible. They had to leave Patricia behind. So as soon as they were out of sight away from the house, Rene turned them both visible again. “I’m sorry, but I had to get you out of there, Faith. The guy’s a maniac.”

Faith shook her head. “But Patricia –”

“Patricia will be fine,” he continued to say. “Darkblade will take her probably, but he won’t kill her at all. She’s just a human being and won’t get in his way. He’ll take her to lure you to where his lair is. But he could be watching us right now.” He looked around, eager for a place to hide. “Come on, we need to go to the sewers and lay low for a while.”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eight

Childhood Memories​

Running wasn’t an option. At least it wasn’t for Faith.

She had wanted to fight off her enemies for so long now, but hadn’t been able to muster any of her strength to do so. Well, unless she counted using her psychic powers to get them away from her, of course. But running really aggravated her. It put her into a foul mood and what was worse – Patricia was now Darkblade’s little hostage until she could fix this mess. As they walked through the not-so-clean sewers, Faith could hardly contain her anger and what was about to come.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she finally said to Rene, sliding down against the wall and sitting down, staring into the distance without an emotion expressed upon her face, although a few tears had just managed to escape. “I can’t keep running for the rest of my life.” She looked right into Rene’s eyes with a sense of being lost. “Teach me how to fight. You can fight, you took on Darkblade.”

But Rene rolled his eyes.

“Only just barely,” he said. “Stopping Darkblade isn’t an achievement to be that much proud of. Fighting him face to face is, though.” He sat down next to her and sighed sadly. “Look … Patricia’s orders were for me to come and protect you when the time came, all right? She’s known about me all my life, too. She can trust me, so you can trust me as well. Besides …” He rested his hand on top of hers. “… You and I, we’ve been at it so long … we’ve known each other since we were teenagers.”

“Since we were teenagers?” She chuckled a little. “We still are teens.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s only been about two years now, but Patricia knows that we’re inseparable, you and I. She always used to say that it would be us against the world and to be quite honest with you, Faith, I think she’s right for once.” Rene let go of Faith’s hand and then crossed his arms. “The sewers are where we always used to hide. Patricia never knew. So if Darkblade even tried tapping into her mind, then he wouldn’t be able to find us here.”

Silence occurred until –

“What’s it like?”

“What?”

“What’s it like to die? How does it feel? What happens?”

Faith just stared at Rene.

“I … I really don’t know,” she said after much thought. “I don’t remember what happened to me a few weeks ago. I might not ever be able to remember who I was. I might keep going in my life, never fully remembering the girl that I was.” She closed her eyes. “Sometimes, I wish that it was all a dream. I wish that I could just open my eyes and then pretend that I’m a normal girl with a normal family and normal friends.” But then she forced herself to laugh. “Really, I don’t think normal is in my dictionary, is it?”

“Could be one day,” shrugged Rene, rising to his feet. “Now come on, we need to keep moving or else the git might be after us. Besides, I don’t want to see this Darkblade idiot, anyway … he freaks me out – and I’ve only seen him once! Though it wasn’t face to face.”

* * *​

War had erupted in Gaia. The only true safe place was in the FFF headquarters.

Well, that was what happened when a lunatic released such a dark entity with enormous power – you got a full-scale war on your hands and people would only die or get severely injured for life. The elite of FFF now stood in the meeting room, having talking about the recent attack on Faith in her own home and had now officially agreed that Darkblade had returned.

Lord Golbez, Lady Aerith, Mark, Riku, Julius, Shenorai, Angelus, Mitsuki and Koloth were the FFF elite. But they were missing one important member of that team. Faith wasn’t around to fill that spot. There had been times when the elite had often been able to gather together and socialise with each other. Those times were long gone now. War had dawned upon their world – and it would only be a matter of time until that war would bring itself to the earth, in other words, Faith’s world.

“How much longer until other kingdoms fall, I wonder?” Mitsuki thought aloud.

“Don’t think negative, Mits!” said Shenorai, trying to keep everyone happy and upbeat. “We’ve all got to stick together through this no matter what happens.”

“Even if FFF is our last standing ground,” said Julius, with his arm now in a sling after his accident, “then we must stand that ground. We must give our lives for our home because it is, of course, our home. We must defend that honour if we are to prove ourselves stronger in battle than Darkblade hopes.” He turned to Riku. “And we are not forgetting about you. You are our best hope of finding Faith.”

“Why? Because he’s her stalker?” teased Mark.

Riku nodded. “Aye, I need to find her quickly before it’s too late.” He crossed his arms and then closed his eyes, trying to depict where she was. “I can only sense her because I can feel her rage … that rage is building. Building into a big darkness that I hope she won’t let out of control … Mark, who is that guy with her?”

“Oh, you mean Rene. Yes, well, Rene’s a good friend of mine. He’ll take care of Faith. He’s not like most humans on the earth. He can turn invisible, which only proves useful for protecting Faith. We’ll find her soon, but for now … let Rene worry about her.” He walked towards the dark crystal ball. “Whilst there’s still Darkblade to worry about, we need to focus on finding Saix. He’s the oddball that started this mess in the first place.”

Whilst most of the elite gathered around the dark crystal ball curiously, Lady Aerith tended to keep away. She still hadn’t really quite talked to Riku since helping him recover from his wounds. Lately, she’d been having dreams … or possibly, they could be described as nightmares. She foresaw a dark future coming out of this war. But seeing into the future was deemed impossible for her power. It seemed outrageous.

“Not outrageous to me,” said Angelus, as she joined her. “What did you see?”

“Dark and terrible things,” whispered Lady Aerith, her voice full of fear. “I saw the earth overwhelmed by something dark. It was someone controlling Darkblade, or maybe even using his power … Riku mentioned Faith having a form of darkness, right?” Angelus nodded. “I’m praying it’s not her.”

Angelus kept on reading Lady Aerith’s aura. “You’re very disturbed. You must get some rest. You cannot lay Faith’s state upon yourself. Neither should Riku. Go, you must get some rest if you are to be at full strength tomorrow when you and Riku enter the earth. For now, we can hold back Darkblade and whatever army he’s sending right at us.”

Riku’s eyes opened instantly and he coughed, almost choking in the process.

“Easy there,” said Koloth, rubbing his back if that made him feel better.

“Thanks,” Riku nodded and rose back to his feet. “Well, Saix is on the earth somewhere. He’s got no idea that Darkblade’s back nor has he any idea that it’s him that triggered his resurrection. The idiot needs to be taught a lesson.”

Lord Golbez walked towards him.

“I have the utmost confidence that you will succeed in protecting Faith and stopping Saix, Riku,” he said with an approving look. “She might be safe for now, but danger always lurks in every corner …”

“Yes, I know.” Riku looked towards Lady Aerith. “I’m going to get some rest now. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”

* * *​

Flashbacks.

Terrible flashbacks.

Disgusting flashbacks.

These were what Faith kept having and was suffering from them. She could hardly keep up with Rene any longer, as they continued to trail through the sewers. She stopped to breathe and Rene had to keep stopping, too. He didn’t seem to realise that she was suffering from these flashbacks at first, but he was suspicious that she wasn’t keeping up. And then suddenly, Faith fell on to the floor, crying out by what she was seeing.

* * *​

The memory was vague, but Faith could image it very clearly. She was five years old and such a fragile child. She was sat in a terrifying pink bedroom, surrounded by many teddy bears and dolls, which freaked her out. A man with light blue hair appeared before her with his light orange eyes. Faith couldn’t help, but stare at the X scar across his forehead. The man bent down to her, but she was hiding in the corner.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said in such a haunting voice. “You can come out now and play. No one needs to hide anymore. Besides, I’ll be introducing you to your new mother tomorrow and then we can be a proper family again …”

“Please don’t hurt me,” whispered Faith, now crying her eyes out, but silently.

* * *​

“Faith? Faith! Speak to me!” pleaded Rene when he saw his friend in a vulnerable and terrified state. She couldn’t hear him and it really worried him. He took out his phone. Unfortunately for him, there was no signal. “CRAP! What am I gonna do?”

* * *​

Another memory.

The fire was so hot that Faith felt like it was burning her skin and melting her. She tried to look for a way to escape, but there wasn’t one. The very man that she had learned to fear was someone she needed the most now. She cried out his name, but it wasn’t loud enough. The smoke began to choke her and she was slowly slipping to the darkness, unable to fight any longer.

“It’s ok,” whispered Patricia, as she appeared in front of her. “The bad man isn’t going to hurt you anymore, sweetheart. It’s me, Patricia, you’re finally going to come home.”

At first, Faith didn’t recognise her voice.

Patricia … Patricia who?

Then it clicked to her. Patricia Musso, her godmother, the one that had come to save her from this chaos. The one she had prayed that would come one day to rescue her. She was her heroine, her one true heroine. Faith cried into Patricia’s shoulder, as she was lifted up into her arms.

“He can’t hurt you anymore,” Patricia kept saying. “I’ll die first …”

* * *​

Faith returned to the real world and breathed heavily, as she adjusted to the memory in her mind. She looked towards and uncomfortable and anxious Rene, who jumped at the sight of her heavy breathing. A smile crept upon her face moments later when she saw his reaction, but it faded away not so long after when she realised something she thought would never happen to her at such a young age …

“He destroyed my childhood,” she whispered.

“Who destroyed your childhood?” asked Rene, as he helped her back on to her feet.

“Some man kidnapped me when I was only five,” explained Faith.

“What’s this got to do with anything, though?”

“I just saw my life flash before my eyes and then – and then I was – I was in this really bad pink bedroom that some man put me in. He kidnapped me when I was five years old and – and … he trapped me there. He had me as a prisoner for three years. I didn’t get out of there until I was eight. I don’t know who he was, but I was so scared of him. It’s lucky that I even got out alive. Patricia, she – she saved me.”

“You’re starting to remember things,” Rene pointed out. “It’s good, really good. Not the whole kidnapping thing, but it’s good to know that you’re starting to remember some things at least.”

“Right now, I’d rather kick Darkblade’s arse,” growled Faith, as she followed him. “It’s really ticking me off now that a lunatic is after me and I’ve got no idea what to do.”

“If you were in an alternate universe, then maybe Darkblade couldn’t get you,” said Rene.

Faith stared at him. “Alternate universe? Rene, you’re on crack.”

“Maybe I look like I am, but who’s watching me twenty-four seven, eh?”

“So this alternate universe … if I go there, then I might be safe?”

“Yeah, that’s what Mark told me.”

“Mark?”

“He’s from FFF, he’s –”

“How do I even know if I can trust you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Then before she knew it, Faith exploded into a full feral rage.

“FFF HAVE BEEN KEEPING SECRETS FROM ME EVER SINCE I ARRIVED THERE! BUT NO, JUST BECAUSE I DIED AND CAME BACK TO LIFE WITHOUT REMEMBERING WHO I WAS DOESN’T MATTER TO THEM, DOES IT? IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT I CAN’T REMEMBER MY LIFE AND GO ON WITHOUT KNOWING IT, DOES IT? DON’T TRY TALKING YOURSELF OUT OF THIS ONE, RENE, BECAUSE I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF I CAN TRUST YOU AS WELL!”

Darkness gleamed from her eyes and Rene stepped back almost immediately.

“It’s being activated,” he whispered to himself. “Darkblade, the git!”

“No, not Darkblade,” came Saix’s voice, as he finally showed his presence. “It’s me all along, Rene.” He took out the Soul Eater and pointed it at him. “The anger inside is leading her down into the darkest days of her life. Soon, she must make the choice. A choice of whether she wants to be good or bad … something I intend to control!”

“Pu-lease,” groaned Rene. “Can’t we have normal talk instead of the usual bad arse crap?” But then he noticed it was Saix, not Darkblade. “What? Who are you? You’re not Darkblade.”

“What about Darkblade? He is, but deceased. I possess his power.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, blue head. Darkblade’s alive.”

“Nonsense. His power had become my own!”

“Really? Now why is it that he targeted Faith before then, eh?”

“Darkblade was after Faith?”

“Don’t act surprised.” But then Rene paused. “Wait, why am I even talking to you? I should be totally kicking your arse by now, which I do intend to get around to when I get the chance.” He looked at the paralysed Faith. “Ok, Faith! Stalling time is over. Can you at least help me out here and tell me who this maniac is as well?”

Faith couldn’t move. It was just like when Darkblade held her hostage, but this power that seemed to control her was somewhat different to that of his. Saix was back surely because she saw him with her own eyes, but why was he here now? She still yearned to know his true plan, why he wanted her, what it was that made him so eager to chase her down …

“I can’t move!” gasped Faith. “His name is Saix and he’s going to kick your arse, unless you get the hell out of here!” She used her telepathy to talk to him. He’s bad news; he nearly killed me twice already! I need you to get out of here and contact Mark or do something! But before you go, tell me one thing: what were you going to say about Mark, anyway?

That he was one of the only humans in the whole FFF thing, thought Rene, laying his eyes only on her. He’s put me under strict orders to protect you, but I can’t leave you! Not like this!

“Kill him,” ordered Saix, as he clicked his fingers.

Against her will, Faith began to walk towards Rene, looking shocked that Saix could just that with clicking his fingers. She felt like a puppet on strings without being able to stop herself.

“Whatever I do, don’t take it personally,” she said to Rene sarcastically. Yeah, that’s really great, isn’t it, Faith? Be sarcastic when you’re about to kill one of your best friends … not going to go down well with him, is it?

“No need to worry about that,” came a familiar voice.

Riku appeared and knocked Saix back without him noticing. Even though Saix had some of Darkblade’s power, it seemed he wasn’t as invincible as he had claimed to be.

“Now where was I?” he wondered out loud. “Oh yeah, you nearly killed Faith twice, attacked Julius, put Shen in a coma, severely injured me … what else was there? Ah, never mind! Wait! There was also Julius’s kingdom as well. Take this, you bleeding scumbag!” He was about to slash him with the Way To Dawn when he was suddenly thrown back into the wall. “What the … Faith?”

Despite being a little knocked back, Saix was laughing. “The anger she feels towards FFF is just so amazing, isn’t it? She’s uncontrollable now.” He brushed the dirt off his clothes to then think of Frisk. I can’t keep her waiting. Although she couldn’t find Crest for me, she still has her uses … many different uses, might I add. “Looks like I get to keep my prize, Riku.” He crossed his arms. “So what’s it going to be? Do you really think you can save both Faith and Rene? Make your choice, Riku. It’ll be a choice that will be so important for the future!”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Nine

When Friends Change​

“No.”

Faith looked at Riku.

“You made your choice a long time ago and I’m never going to go back to FFF.”

Saix turned to where the sound of Faith’s voice was coming from. Suddenly, he flew right into the wall, unable to stop himself from doing so. Riku felt relieved that she had a bit of self-control again, but when he neared her, she seemed to be backing away. When he walked quicker, Faith shook her head and then flew off up towards the ceiling, used her telekinesis to blow the lid off and zoomed off into the night.

“I’m quite fed up of this,” groaned Riku, sighing and shrugging his shoulders. “It’s the same old usual thing – find Faith, fight, make a choice and then run away. The same process keeps repeating itself.” Then he turned to face Rene. “Hey, aren’t you the friend of Faith that Mark mentioned? Wait, what was your name again?” Rene sounded like he was going to answer, but he was beaten to it. “Oh, aye! Rene, isn’t it? You’re a crafty little devil.”

Rene didn’t know how to react. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“I’m a crafty little devil?” he said, feeling confused.

* * *​

Whilst these things had happened, Saix limped across the sewers with blood running down his leg and cuts on both is lip and above his eye. He climbed up the ladder up to the surface; he was far too weak to use his powers right now. He was in no fit state to make it back either. Luckily, help was around the corner. Literally.

“Saix!”

Frisk hurried to his side and helped him up slowly, but surely, despite his complaining. To actually realise that someone who he loved and adored – well, starting to, anyway – was helping him make the world seem like a different place to him. He thought humans were wretched and unworthy of calling the earth their home. But now … now things looked completely different from his point of view. His eyes met hers and it was like falling in love at first sight all over again.

He pressed his lips against hers, as they were both caught up in the moment of peril and giving into their feelings. The passion was ready to burst out in the middle of the street … well, lucky for them; they weren’t in the middle of a street. Frisk remembered where they were – in an alleyway. She broke off instantly and looked around to see if there was anyone watching them. When there was no one watching, she decided to sit him down against the wall.

“What’s wrong?” asked Saix, groaning at the pain he felt in his bruised ribs.

“I thought some perverts were watching,” whispered Frisk in a hushed voice. “Did this girl that you talked about hurt you?” Saix only nodded, putting on an act that he was even more injured than he was originally was. “You know what? This girl probably has nothing against me; I’ll go beat her up myself. Anyone who hurts you is gonna pay.” At that point, Saix could only smile. This was an even better plan that he had originally planned. “Give me the description of this crazy chick and I’ll blast her arse all the way to Mars with a machete gun.”

* * *​

Alone was the only word in her dictionary that Faith could think of when she finally came back to the place she had called home for a little over seventeen years. But things were a mess when she walked in. To put into simple words – the house looked like a bomb had hit in the inside. She couldn’t suppress her emotions when she walked into the living area. This had been where Darkblade had made his grand entrance into her home and into her life.

It looked like a tornado had struck down combined with lightning. The room looked almost destroyed. There was no way that Faith could stay here anymore, especially since she could tell that FFF had lied to her about what had happened the night that she had died. They had refused to tell her anything yet; or rather they had said something else to change the topic. It angered her so much!

She punched her fist into the wall, but did nothing else. When she looked at her knuckles on her hand, blood dripped down. Faith did nothing to nurse the wound. It was almost as if she wanted the pain to tear her apart and torture her endlessly. This, she felt, was punishment enough for letting Patricia get captured by Darkblade. Then there came the topic of Patricia.

Where was she now?

Was Darkblade torturing her?

Had she revealed anything about her yet?

I wish I could go back in time, she thought desperately. I wish that I could turn back the time and remember who I was. If I could remember who I was, then maybe I can figure out more about this whole damn mess. I could find out the REAL reason why I died that night and why I was in the ocean in the first place …

* * *​

Rene accompanied Riku up to the surface, where a smiling Mark was waiting.

“It’s about time you got up here,” he nodded towards them. However, his smile faded when he saw that Faith was no longer there. “What happened? Wait … don’t tell me that idiot had something to do with our plans again!” The very thought of Saix drove him up the wall. “I’m really starting to get pissed off with this guy right now and sorry for the swearing, but … AAAAHHH! Wait until Lord Golbez hears about this! He’ll be unleashing his wrath on that betraying, evil, dark mastermind of a git soon!”

“Least she took Saix down and weakened him,” grinned Riku, feeling proud that his friend had finally managed to accomplish such a feat. “It was incredible, Mark! You should have been there and cheering on our girl! Of course, that changed later on –”

But Rene was off in his own little world. He looked towards the skies, noting down that there was the same unusual blue colour they had almost always been. If the skies were so clear today, then why couldn’t he shake off this awful feeling that something was about to happen? He couldn’t help thinking about Faith. She was in such a fragile state right now and she was so confused … what if she needed help? He had to find her!

And then without even considering it, Rene turned invisible and did a runner.

* * *​

Faith was so tired of being here. Her childhood fears revealed all. This was the very room that she had been trapped in for three years. Because of that man that had kidnapped her, her childhood had been destroyed. A few tears slid down her face when she saw several scratch marks on the walls. They painfully reminded her of when she had wanted to commit suicide several times – and only as a child, too. The tears continued to slide down her face. Riku had made his choice. Now she couldn’t go back. She couldn’t go back to what life she had. She was on her own now.

“I knew you’d come here of all places,” said Darkblade, as he lit a candle, lightening the entire room up. Patricia was sat on a chair gagged and tied up. Faith wanted to dive forward to save her, but she couldn’t. He paralysed her again. Dark vines wrapped themselves around her legs this time and bound her to the ground. “You know, you’re such an interesting person, Faith. The memories you have of FFF … they’re quite overwhelming to be honest.”

“Why did you come here?” whispered Faith. She was fearful of the room, but not him.

Darkblade scowled at her. “I came here because I also have a choice to make. You see, I could just use Saix as a puppet and bound all the universes together. Or there’s an alternative … I could dispose of him and replace him with you.” Faith looked away in disgust. “Do you really think that Riku cares about you? All he cares about is the darkness! He’s a creature of darkness for heaven’s sake!”

“What, like you?” she spat. “He’s worth ten times more than YOU!”

But he laughed out loud.

“I really need this conversation more often,” he grinned. “I can’t remember the last time that we had it after all.” Faith’s eyes turned towards him again. The last time? When was there ever a last time? “They never told you, did they? They tried protecting you from Saix, but they failed. If they can’t protect you from HIM, then how can they ever protect you from ME?” He rubbed his hands together and laughed louder. “I’m the Big Bad that they’re terrified of, Faith! Just imagine it! Their former leader using the tenth member of the Order to destroy everything that they worked hard for! Or rather, what they piled over my work!”

Although she was listening to what Darkblade had to say, Faith had to concentrate. Patricia looked worriedly at her goddaughter and then back at the dark genius. If she could fight off Saix’s control, then surely she could have fought off Darkblade’s control, right? She had her eyes closed and was piling her energy all into her mind. But the harder she tried, the more energy she was deprived of. What the hell was going on? Wasn’t she powerful enough to hold him back?

Then again, why would Darkblade be in this room? The more she thought about her memories, the less that Faith was convinced that Darkblade was the man responsible for kidnapping her at a young age. One, he didn’t have light blue hair that was long. Two, he didn’t even possess those piercing orange eyes that were made to kill. Darkblade did not have these features across his face. Besides … now that Faith thought about it, she seemed not to be scared of Darkblade after all. Saix was the real problem around here.

“You’re fighting well, Faith, but you have so much to learn,” snarled Darkblade.

So that must mean something significant, Faith thought shortly after he spoke. He would call me weak if I’m not fighting hard enough. He’s weakening because of my power! But he said I have so much to learn. What if he’s the one that’s gotta learn something new? Maybe he should learn that … HE SHOULDN’T MESS AROUND WITH ME WHEN HE’S HOLDING MY GODMOTHER HOSTAGE!

Blood dripped down Darkblade’s nostril, but only a small amount did. This was enough to distract him from possessing Faith. She broke free of his control, telekinetically undid Patricia’s ropes around her body and mouth and her eyes met Darkblade’s own dark ones. She smiled, feeling triumphant of herself, whilst she had told Patricia telepathically to escape when she had the chance.

“Faith, you surprise me so much,” said Darkblade, looking at the floor for a moment before looking back up at her. “Now why is that you have to make things so difficult? Maybe you’re not as vulnerable as I thought you were when we first met. Maybe the scumbags at FFF taught you some valuable lessons in the arts of combat.”

“Well, here’s proof that I’m not as dumb as you think I am!” shouted Faith. She sent several shards of glass at him, but he simply phased through them. “What?

“You really think I came here unprepared?” Darkblade shook his head. “Oh no, Faith, you’ve got to be prepared for everything that your opponent throws at you. You see, whilst you’re limited to your own powers, I go around killing those that possess power.” He raised his hand and a purple moon shape appeared, glowing in his hand. “The power of life absorption allows me to take people’s lives. I could hold on for a matter of moments and absorb their energy. But if I hold on for too long, I take everything away from them. Their memories, their pitiful lives, their powers … I’ve learnt a lot since our last fight. Our last fight was a good damn hour, I assure you. Right before your FFF buddies locked me up tight!”

So Faith HAD encountered Darkblade before. The anger was swelling in her guts. She was fighting so hard to get an insight into Darkblade’s mind, but it was proving useless right now. She needed to find out which lives he had taken and who he had come into contact with. But she knew her telepathy wasn’t limited, as Patricia had explained to her. She could create illusions that she was talking to him normally, right? But that was for advanced telepaths – that was one plan off the checklist. So he said that their last fight had lasted an hour and that was before he had been sealed away. But where was that?

“I want to know who you are and what happened in the past!” she yelled.

But Darkblade, on the other hand, was playing hard-to-get. “Come and find out for yourself!” he shouted. “See if you can get through this!” He sent the shards of glass firing right back at Faith, but a psychic barrier had appeared to prevent her from getting harm. “Interesting, I can’t wait to take your powers and try that one whenever your FFF buddies come looking for you once you’re dead!”

Faith didn’t know how the barrier had appeared, but she was grateful it was there surrounding her. The shield was a blue sparkling light surrounding her and protecting her from harm. She had fallen over out of panic, but now she was back on her feet and she wiped away the dirt from her jeans. With her mind, she lowered the shield and looked Darkblade directly into the eyes.

“Have it your way then,” she said clearly, her eyes turning a shade of a red colour.

She tried sending the shards of glass back at Darkblade, but he fought back as well, mimicking her telekinesis. The glass was halfway between both of these competitors. Darkblade lifted his hand to push it further, but Faith did the same. The battle between the pair of them was becoming even more immense within each passing moment. It seemed that nothing could break their fight. Darkblade was strong, Faith would admit that, but she wouldn’t stop now, would she?

And then before any of them knew it …

… They were being thrust into the past …

* * *​

Whilst their bodies were unconscious in the present time, Faith and Darkblade arrived in the past. Faith took note that it was the year 2004, although she couldn’t quite understand why they were here in the first place. Darkblade scowled when he looked around to see that he was lying in some trash. Faith, on the other hand, had landed quite comfortably on the floor. But judging by the look on Darkblade’s face, she would have preferred the ground than the trash any day.

“What have you done?” shouted Darkblade, as he hurled an energy ball at her.

Faith dived and ducked, as the energy ball hit the wall and created a scorch mark.

“I haven’t done anything!” she shouted, getting back on to her feet. “We’re in the past. We’re three years into the past.” Darkblade started mimicking her and she thrust him into the wall with her bare hands when he wasn’t looking. “Don’t you dare do that again! This isn’t my entire fault! You’re involved with it too and if you want to get back to the year 2007, then I suggest you zip it and stop trying to kill me! Taking my life isn’t going to help either of us understand why we’re her in the first place!”

Usually, Darkblade would have taken Faith as one of his victims and figure this out on his own. But her words struck him hard. Maybe there was a reason why they were both here in the same timeline … perhaps it was the impact of the battle before? He pushed her back and nodded abruptly, although not exactly in a friendly way either. Faith fell back a little, but didn’t hit the ground.

“So what’s your theory then, Crest?” glared Darkblade coldly, going back to surname terms.

“Great, you give me a surname and I can’t call you one, can I?” smirked Faith.

“I don’t even know my surname! I don’t even know if I have one.”

“Well, does it matter NOW? Besides, we need to figure this out and fast. I want to get back to our own present time and make sure that you don’t kick my arse in a fight.”

“We’ll see about that, Crest. We’ll see what happens.”

* * *​

As Rene hurried and never stopped on his run apart from crossing the roads and looking back to see if anyone was following him, he came to a sudden halt. He remained quiet, despite the fact that he was invisible. As he peered into the dark alleyway at this time of night, Rene felt like he as going to be sick. He noticed Frisk tending to a severely wounded Saix. Yes, he was going to throw up at this point!

She’s madly in love with him, he came to realise. That evil git! Threatening to hurt Faith and us … we’ll teach him a lesson about it when it comes to messing with FFF. But then he stopped in his tracks. Hold on! I’m not even a member at all. What the HELL am I going on about then? He continued to watch and then looked away when Frisk started passionately kissing Saix. Some people would say that this is so wrong that it’s so right. Why did I ever get away from Mark and Riku in the first place? God help me!

* * *​

“Rene will be somewhere, I know it,” said Mark, as he and Riku had been looking for him for two or three hours now. Riku had lost count of how long he had been missing for in the last half hour or so. “He won’t have gone far. If I know him really well, then he’ll be on the streets invisible and looking for Faith.” He turned to face his comrade. “You sure you can’t sense him anywhere? He has got to be around here somewhere!”

“Sorry,” Riku shrugged his shoulders. But then he stopped when he felt something else. “Darkblade.”

“Darkblade. You mean as in … here?”

“In the atmosphere, but not in this time.”

“You can sense what time period he’s in, too? I need to get daily updates …”

“Three years ago. But he’s not alone. He’s got Faith with him.”

“How did they get there? What happened?”

“Some kind of fight, I think. Patricia’s safe.”

“Are you in Darkblade’s mind or something?”

“No, I’m not. But I’m depicting his emotions … and they’re not good. It’s nothing to be proud of. I can’t cling on to Darkblade for much longer or else he’ll sense me sniffing him.” He opened his eyes. “The year 2004 in that rubbish pile over there is where they are.”

“Why do you think they arrived there in three years ago?” asked Mark curiously.

“I don’t know, but it must be something very important,” replied Riku seriously.

* * *​

“I know where the girl is,” said Saix, closing his eyes and smiling nastily. He had been trying to recover from being wounded and his powers were beginning to regenerate as well. “She’s in a struggle, her mind isn’t stable … go to the abandoned playgroup centre near the town hall. I don’t know why, but she’s there.” He opened his eyes and sighed. “You have to kill her now before it’s too late. If she finds me again, then –”

“Then I’ll blow her arse off,” Frisk finished the sentence. She kissed him on the forehead. “Just … try not to move much, ok? I’ll be back later. If I’m not back in an hour, then I’ll be at the lair – as you like to call it.”

Saix smiled ever so slightly. He watched her run off with a machete gun around her waist and she disappeared around the corner. When she was out of sight, Saix rose to his feet and breathed in. His wounds began to heal rapidly the more he concentrated. Then … the wounds were truly gone. He smiled nastily and two minions appeared.

“Prepare for war on this earth,” he grinned. “Crest is no longer needed for my plans.”

* * *​

That was it. The end of the line.

Darkblade didn’t want to be in the past for much longer. But he had a plan in mind, as he clashed with Faith again. They had resumed the battle they had before with sending any objects around them against their opponents. Faith was trying her best, but she knew that she was failing to keep up with him. God, if only she had been able to control her powers better, then maybe things would’ve turned out better –

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, FAITH CREST!”

That stupid maniac and inhuman voice wound Faith up that she fought back even harder to make sure he wouldn’t be winning this struggle. She could feel herself being blown back by the immense fire that Darkblade was now producing and was coming out of his fingertips. Fire and floating objects being flung at her? Not exactly a fair fight, should she say so herself. But of course, Darkblade didn’t play fair.

“You should try a little harder!” she called out over the noise of the burning fire and the wind that was blocking out most of the sound.

And then suddenly, both of them flew back into the wall in opposite directions.

Faith rubbed the back of her head, which she felt a bruise forming.

Crap, I can’t really believe this, she thought. She never swore, but God … Darkblade was really starting to tick her off. She was hurt from being thrown back by whatever force had done so. The first thing she noticed was Darkblade in the same position, but in the other side of the dark alleyway. But when she continued to finally take in the atmosphere around her now that both she and Darkblade were weakened, Faith finally realised why she was here.

“Are you all right?” asked a concerned young woman, probably just a year or two younger than her.

“Yeah, I am,” smiled Faith, trying to act as normal as she could. She took the girl’s hand and got back up to her feet, feeling the pain in the back of her head. “At least I think I am. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Was he trying to rape you?” the girl pressed on, pointing to Darkblade. She couldn’t quite notice his physical features yet.

“No,” Faith shook her head. “No, he wasn’t. Listen, I –” But then she froze when she looked at the girl’s face. Holy crap, it’s Frisk! It was a younger version of her friend, except she was calmer than usual. What the hell do I say to my best friend in the past? “It doesn’t matter. Um, thanks for helping me out, ok?” She started to walk away.

“You need to see a doctor! You’re bleeding!” insisted Frisk, as she spotted the blood dripping down her forehead. “Come on, let’s get you to the hospital before that rapist gets up again –”

“I told you already! He wasn’t trying to rape me and he’s not a rapist!”

“Then who he is? And what were you doing around here?”

“I –”

Frisk touched Faith’s hand, causing the young psychic to see images of the present time, somewhere she was supposed to see. An image of Frisk walking through that same dark alleyway came to her mind instantly and her eyes looked dangerous as if she was set on murderous ambitions.

* * *​

And at that moment, Faith opened her eyes to find that she was back in that same torturous place that had destroyed her childhood. She coughed and breathed, feeling relieved that being back in the past had only been a subconscious thing – she couldn’t exactly get killed there, although she could feel the damage right now. The blood was still dripping down her forehead and there was the same shaped bruise on the back of her head. Darkblade seemed to be unconscious right now, but he wasn’t her problem at the moment.

BANG.

The sound of a gunshot …

The sound of Faith falling to the ground …

The sound of her cry echoing throughout the nursery …

Her hands were shaking; she couldn’t really focus her eyes on anything. Faith felt the gunshot wound hit her squarely in the chest. She couldn’t move. She was frozen in fear. Once she had faced death and cheated it … no longer could she hold herself back from it. But it couldn’t have possibly been Darkblade that pulled the trigger. If it wasn’t him, then who had?

However, all was revealed!

At any moment now, Faith expected the Angel of Death to appear and take her away from this miserable world to a place of sacredness, where she could be with her parents again and just forget about everything else. There, she’d be able to ask them anything about her life, about her memories, anything …

But death did not take her.

“Oh my God.”

Faith looked at the direction of where the voice was coming from and her eyes widened, whilst she was still lying there in pain.

The one who had pulled the trigger was Frisk.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Ten

Separate Ways​

Time had frozen. Well, it felt that way for Faith. She felt like that time had frozen suddenly and let her live one of the worst nightmares that she could have ever experienced in her lifetime. But despite that, the pain still struck her hard and was killing her deep inside. Here was Frisk, out of the blue, and shooting her! Who would have thought of the odds on THAT? Of course, this was no time for joking around. Frisk’s gut reaction was to run, but she couldn’t. Something wasn’t right here, something was terribly wrong.

She dropped the machete gun and tossed it to the side for now, bending down to her fallen friend.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” whispered Frisk, as she tried to calm her down and kept reassuring her that she would make it through this difficult time. But her fears were the same as Faith’s – she thought she was going to die, plus it would make her a murderer, misled that the girl she was meant to be shooting was someone else. Or was Faith the one that had to be shot? “I’ll get you help …”

However, the reaction she got wasn’t very friendly either.

Frisk went flying back into the wall and groaned in pain. She hadn’t expected that coming! Saix had told her that the girl in question was indeed psychic. No, it couldn’t be Faith, right? She had always known Faith as the happy and normal girl to have fun around with. But now came this. This was probably the worst thing and situation she had ever gotten herself into. Her best friend actually was psychic, then possessing the three abilities of telekinesis, telepathy and flight.

“Saix sent you, d-didn’t he?” stuttered Faith, as she read her mind. Frisk couldn’t fight back, she wasn’t used to having her mind invaded. “You … I can’t believe this! You …” She let the tears flow down her face. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

Frisk cried out because Faith was invading her mind. Faith herself didn’t know how she was doing it. Was it out of anger? Was it a dying wish? Whatever the reason, she wanted to cause Frisk so much pain. She wanted her to suffer the same way she was suffering right now from the gunshot wound! Did this, in turn, make her an evil and twisted person?

“Stop it!” cried Frisk, putting her hands to her head. “STOOOOOOOP!”

Within moments, Faith stopped invading her mind. Frisk opened her eyes, realising that she was still in the nursery. She grabbed the machete gun and aimed it at her.

“You know what? Saix was right! You really ARE a crazy girl!” she yelled out of pure anger. “I never thought you’d stoop low to go around and attacking innocent people, Faith! What is it with you? Is it your whole amnesia? Did you happen to lose your memories and then go on a rampage attacking everyone with these special powers you claim to have? Well, you claim them to be yours … and I can see something clearly now. You’re not the same person that I once knew. You’ve changed!”

“Glad to know that someone’s finally bloody noticed,” scowled Faith. She knew she had changed herself since arising from the dead, but what was the need in talking about that right now? Images of Frisk sleeping with Saix haunted her. They made her feel sick. But because she was in too much pain right now, she couldn’t throw up at all. Then again, she would have liked to throw up all over Frisk. “So what are you going to do now? Finish me off, why don’t you? I’m fed up of people trying to kill me and failing, anyway! I’ve lost everything! I’ve got nothing to live for! My friends are lying and betraying me! Patricia probably thinks that this is my entire fault! But all you care about is being with Mr Right!”

“Your life isn’t as complicated as mine right now,” glared Frisk coldly. “You have no idea what you’ve let yourself into, Faith. You have no idea how powerful and charming Saix can be.” But then she looked fearful when Faith didn’t reply. Her eyes were beginning to close. “Faith? Faith! Stay with me!”

“Why should I stay when you’re so keen on getting the job done?”

“Because …” She was about to say that it was because she was her friend and would stay with her right through her dying moment. But it seemed that those words would never escape her lips. “What does it matter? You know what? You’re right! I might as well kill you while I got the chance … or maybe I should just let you die painfully.” She shook her head. “No … I shouldn’t say that … I have to get help.”

Her eyes were closing. She couldn’t hold on for much longer. What made things worse was that the truth really DID hurt. Frisk, her best friend for so long since they were kids, had slept with the enemy. It sickened her so much! It sickened her so much that now Faith considered her to be the enemy. But she couldn’t lie here dying and not do anything, right? Against Frisk’s will to tell her to sit down and wait for help to arrive, Faith rose to her feet and angrily yelled at her.

“YOU LOST THE RIGHT TO BY MY FRIEND A LONG TIME AGO!”

Frisk seemed to be confused. “I don’t understand what you mean!”

“You’ve changed, Frisk! Look at you; he’s turned you against me … you don’t care about me dying! You care about Saix and his lovely gestures! You think he’s Mr Right all along, don’t you? He’ll kill you whenever he gets the chance and I can’t be there to stop him if you’ve changed and gone on his side!”

But then Frisk turned away in disgust. Perhaps she really had changed.

“You’re right,” she said, turning to face her and her eyes no longer the same green colour that Faith had only barely begun to recognise. “I’ve changed, Faith, and you’re the one threatening to destroy Saix! He’s the one for ME! I can’t let you kill him, Faith. If I’m ever going to find happiness, then it’s with him.” She readied her machete gun and aimed at her former best friend. “I guess that means I’ll have to take you and whoever defies him down!”

She had her target lined up and her finger was nearing the trigger …

* * *​

“We haven’t got much time left!” exclaimed Mark, as he and Riku dashed down the street. Rene was still missing – but they would have to forget about him right now. What was more important was the fact that Riku had just sensed Faith and Darkblade not far away. They had returned to the present time, but he didn’t know what they were doing now. “If we get there too late, then Darkblade might kill her!”

Riku, on the other hand, had different thoughts. He won’t kill her; I’m one of the only ones who know how his twisted mind works. He’d torture her first and then kill her when he gets what he wants. That’s what almost happened with Lady Aerith … at least now we can get some sort of revenge. He instantly stopped near the nursery. Mark told him to hurry up, but then stopped when he noticed the expression of shock etched across his face.

“What is it?”

“The scent of evil … a greater evil than I could have ever imagined.”

He pressed his hand against the glass window and felt it burn barely moments later. Riku removed his hand and looked at Mark.

“There’s a much more powerful evil in there. It’s dark and ready to kill … but it’s not Darkblade. It’s not even Saix for that matter. I – I … I don’t know who it is.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” yelled Mark, as he ran forward to the door.

He tried to knock the door down with his shoulder, but he did not get there. A dark force repelled him and sent him flying back on to the floor. Riku didn’t look surprised in the slightest; he had expected this to happen.

“This here is something I’ve never seen before,” he whispered, possibly in fear. “This kind of dark magic, the dark power – whatever it is – it’s new around here. I’ve never seen or felt this kind of power before. We’re looking at the next generation of darkness here and I don’t think it’s looking nice either.” He would have entered himself, but only knew that the same would happen to him. “I’m not even strong enough to get through that.”

“What is THAT?” came a familiar voice. It was Rene.

“RENE!” shouted Mark, jumping back on to his feet and looked ticked off. “DON’T YOU EVER RUN OFF LIKE THAT AGAIN! I TOLD YOU TO STAY WITH US!”

“What can I say?” Rene shrugged his shoulders, but annoyed by how loud he was shouting. He then glanced at Riku. “I’m a crafty little devil, or so I’ve been told.” Riku forced himself to laugh softly. Rene looked at the door, which was now surrounded by a dark force field. “So what have we got ourselves here then? Dark force field then? I haven’t seen this one before. They must be seriously taking a leaf out of Faith’s book.”

“All we can do is wait,” stated Riku, careful not to take his eyes off the door in case of a change, “and see what happens. I’ll know if she dies, that powerful presence in there isn’t holding back its emotions. It won’t suppress its feelings at all, it’s almost as if it wants to be known.”

* * *​

“The headquarters are no longer safe!” exclaimed Lady Aerith, as she was healing Angelus’ shoulder. She, Angelus herself and Lord Golbez were in the meeting room, the last standing place that was deemed to be safe. Saix’s forces had finally infiltrated the headquarters and were now almost ready to declare Gaia as their world. “We have to retreat, my lord! Mitsuki can’t stop them for much longer! Strong she may be, but we can’t risk anymore lives!”

Lord Golbez just stood at the balcony, looking out at the airships and the riders that were attacking from the air. Then he looked down at the ground, where many battles took place. Soldiers were fighting with their weapons and magic, whilst creatures of darkness were ripping apart the beautiful landscape of the headquarters itself. He felt ashamed of himself. He thought he could have held them back … but he was wrong.

“The elite will be safe,” he said. “Riku and Mark still remain on Earth. You and Angelus must leave immediately.”

“What of the others?” questioned Angelus, staring at him suspiciously.

“Koloth is standing his ground and refuses to admit defeat. You know how much he refuses to accept defeat … he will fight until the last soldier of his army falls. As for Julius and Shenorai … I know not where they are. I would predict that they would be fighting, despite their inner feelings telling them to spend a few last moments together rather than fight. Everyone is fighting …” He glanced at the pendant in his hand. “She is our last hope.”

“Faith has been blinded to everything!” yelled Lady Aerith suddenly.

But Lord Golbez did not turn around to discipline her. No, the time of ruling over his elite was over. A wide revolution was occurring – and he was not the chosen one to stop it from happening. Instead, he walked over to her and put the pendant in her hand as if he was entrusting her with it.

“You must take this to her. The truth must be spoken.”

Lady Aerith clutched the pendant as if it was important. “I will.”

Angelus rose to her feet, having her shoulder healed at last. “We must leave now!”

The meeting room started to shake as if an earthquake was starting. Lord Golbez stood there, watching the fall of his headquarters. FFF may have been crumbling, but it would bounce back. Ever since taking over as the unlikely leader from a twisted and deranged Darkblade, he had managed to turn this organisation into one that was well respected and honoured. He had ensured the elite’s loyalty and kept everyone well informed with what was going on. But now, it was all falling and turning into a disaster. There was one person he hadn’t been honest with since she was found alive again – and that was Faith.

Lady Aerith and Angelus were gone. His loyal subjects. Gone.

“They can never know,” he whispered under his breath, thinking about Saix and what his menacing plan could be. He had a very good hunch what it may have been. “He can never know what she could do …” Lord Golbez hurried to the escape pod, which was literally a huge red shell and enclosed himself inside it with his last thoughts foreshadowing terrible consequences. Change. Betrayal. Revelation. Blood. Choice.

* * *​

… She collapsed.

Frisk dropped her weapon out of shock and watched her best friend faint. But she was not dead. No, she checked her pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. Well, just. She didn’t know what to do. Should she take her to the hospital and leave her there? Then again, she could just leave her to die. Why did it seem like that there were two voices in her head fighting over what the right choice was?

She shook her head, stepping away from her unconscious body. This was the wrong thing to do. Frisk had to leave right now before she did anyone else any damage. But hang on … hadn’t Faith attacked Saix? Now her mind was REALLY messed up. The issue of trust had forced itself into this situation. But never mind that now … Faith would die any minute if she didn’t do anything or act quickly!

“Don’t do it.”

Frisk froze in fear. Was she hearing things?

“Don’t you dare save her life.”

Now she had seen everything. Great, now she had voices in her head. Whoopee do.

“If you save her life, then your life will be the worst ever to be lived.”

“Who are you?” whispered Frisk, not knowing what else to say.

“Where’s the fun in telling you?”

Fear overwhelmed Frisk Valentine again. She had never felt so afraid to hear a voice that she could hear, but not know who it belonged to. Glancing down at Faith, she realised what she had become. Of course, Frisk had changed. Saix was possibly a bad influence on her after all … but there was no way that she could ever escape that now.

“I will never be done with you.”

It wasn’t Saix’s voice. She knew the sound of his voice by now.

“Doomsday is coming … you better be ready to make your mind up …”

“I want to save her!” Frisk finally made her mind up.

“I. Won’t. Let. You!”

And then before she knew it, Frisk couldn’t move. She was trapped in her own body as a prisoner and she was blinded by darkness. Pure darkness. She was blinded by it and fell deeper and deeper into it. A part of her wanted to fight, to resist this power taking over her body. But then there was an attractive side to this. Frisk realised that she had become the very thing she had originally set out to destroy and it was too late after all.

Her dark persona was emerging.

Frisk felt stronger. Or at least the new dark side did. Not only physically stronger, but mentally as well. Whatever or when Doomsday was, it would be coming soon. The new Frisk gazed down at Faith with her newly acquired pure black eyes with no emotion bustling out of them. She looked at her victim with such interest as if it was a first meeting with her.

She touched her forehead and smiled nastily.

“I feel the power,” she whispered. “I feel your power, Faith.”

“No! NO! Leave her alone!”

The old Frisk was dying to break free. She wanted to break free so badly. She wanted to take everything back that she had done. She really wanted to rewind back to two days ago when she was sneaking through the back gate of Patricia’s house to take a sneak peek at how Faith was doing. If only she could turn back time, then maybe she could save the life that she still had back then …

But it was too late now.

“You can’t stop me at all, bitch.” Frisk examined herself in the mirror just next to her. It was old and dusty, but good enough to view herself in. “You know, I think I got more prettier because I’m on the outside. As for yourself, well, let’s just say that you won’t be coming out for a long while.”

“DON’T YOU DARE HURT HER! LEAVE HER ALONE! STOOOOP!”

She didn’t listen. Frisk kept on feeling Faith’s power swirling inside her body through the use of her ability of empathy. The power that was in there felt so … incredible! It was the only word to ever describe it. Frisk wanted to take it from her this moment. But then again, there was Saix to consider – what would he have wanted her to do? Surely, if he felt her power, then he would have wanted it as well. She knew he wanted her to be faithful to him. So for now, Faith Crest would be spared. Or at least she’d have to remain here bleeding to death. Either way, Frisk would know if she died. And right now, there was one thing keeping her alive – her powers.

It left Frisk no choice, but to leave the nursery.

* * *​

As Riku and Mark dashed in when the dark force field was broken, Rene was the sole witness to see Frisk walk through the dark alleyway with her new dramatic change in appearance. He turned invisible and hurried in his relentless pursuit of her. He was suspicious because Faith had been in there and if she were hurt … if Frisk had hurt her, then there’d be a whole lot of pain to come.

“My love,” smiled Saix nastily, but pleasantly to her, as they met.

“It feels so good to be finally set free,” blinked Frisk, wrapping her army around his shoulders, whilst he did the same with her waist. “I’ve never felt so alive!” She glanced up at him. “You can’t kill Crest yet! You can’t do it! There is so much to be learnt about her! Her power … it gleams! It’s so tasteful.”

“You have felt it,” he said, looking into her eyes with his own orange ones. “The scent of it does intrigue me.” He looked at the sky. “Come now, we have to get out of here and away from these ridiculous public places. We’ll have to get back to the lair and figure out what our next move is.” A dark portal opened up behind them and they stepped into it.

Rene turned visible the moment that the portal closed. Part of him wanted to rush inside to hear that next move, but he knew that he would have to remain by Faith’s side at the moment. But he had his theories. They might be taking away her powers and then killing her! Or what if they enslaved her mind? God, at times like this, I really wish that Faith didn’t have amnesia. She and Riku would ALWAYS figure out what to do. But I guess that she’s not the same girl I remember right now.

When he ran into the nursery, he noticed her bloodied state. Riku picked her up in his arms, despite the heavy blood loss she had sustained. Mark looked speechless and was pretending to examine the nursery instead of facing up to the possible prospect of losing Faith.

“I’m taking her to a hospital,” growled Riku, obviously sounding like he was in a bad mood. “If I find out that Saix hurt her, then I’m taking the idiot down.” He rarely made insults, but in intense occasions like this, he felt the need to express his deep anger and hatred towards his main rival.

Rene looked around the nursery and remembered something.

“I just saw my life flash before my eyes and then – and then I was – I was in this really bad pink bedroom that some man put me in. He kidnapped me when I was five years old and – and … he trapped me there. He held me as a prisoner for three years. I didn’t get out of there until I was eight. I don’t know who he was, but I was so scared of him. It’s lucky that I even got out alive, Patricia, she – she saved me.”

Those had been Faith’s own words describing her shattered childhood. This room was pink – was this where she had been held captive for three years? Then he noticed the scratch marks on the walls – an obvious sign of torture. It pained him to see them right now. He looked towards Mark, who was staring into the distance.

“She was kidnapped and brought here when she was five years old,” he told him.

Mark stared at him.

“How do you know that?”

“Before I met Riku down in the sewers, she had these … flashbacks. She told me about this place and how she was living here for three years without anyone to interact with in the outside world, how Patricia saved her and that man who kidnapped her.” He shuddered at the thought of that. “I don’t think she had a very happy childhood then.”

“If she’s right, then she would have been forced to grow up really fast,” assumed Mark. He had always wondered what made Faith so vulnerable and quiet at certain times. So this is why she hardly ever spoke about herself. All she would say is that she was from Earth like me and say how she had a godmother … strange.

The two walked outside to notice an ambulance had just arrived and the medics were now putting Faith on a stretcher. Riku glanced at Mark and Rene.

“St Mary’s hospital,” he nodded towards them. “I’ll be there when you’re ready.” He then looked at Mark directly. “Mark, I don’t know what happened back in Gaia, but I need you to make sure that everyone’s all right. Especially Lady Aerith … we’re going to need her the most.”

“I’ll get the job done,” said Mark, which only caused Rene to be confused even more. “You just make sure that she doesn’t die, Riku.” For once, Mark was being quite emotional – something rare. “If she dies, then all hope is lost. You’d be our last chance and we can’t take that risk, anyway. She can’t die because she’s the only one that forms half of what needs to reseal Darkblade.” He sighed. “And you’re that other half, Riku. You both need to recover soon, so that we can reseal him, all right?”

Riku nodded.

The ambulance doors closed and they were off to St Mary’s.

“So Faith and Riku sealed Darkblade in that tablet thingy, right?” asked Rene.

“That’s right,” nodded Mark, who still looked upset.

Rene felt somewhat useless right now. Mark was very emotional with the prospect of losing Faith. But he was hiding his true feelings – Rene could never express his emotions. He wanted to bury them deep within his heart until the right moment came around.

“Crap,” muttered Rene, as he and Mark were now facing Darkblade.

“There’s the crafty little devil that caused me all this trouble!” yelled Darkblade, but then he noticed Mark. “Ah, Mark. It’s good to see you again and it’s so convenient that you’re both here at the same time, at the same place.” A dark energy ball formed in his hand. “Any last requests?”

“Yeah, I’d like you to stop being fancy,” gulped Mark.

“I got one request!” exclaimed Rene, glaring coldly at Darkblade. He didn’t care if he was almighty and powerful. “KISS MY ARSE!” Darkblade hurled the dark energy ball at him. Both he and Mark ducked and dived. “Come on, let’s get out of here! Run!” So both of them got back on to their feet quickly and broke into a long sprint.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eleven

Mental Unconsciousness​

Darkblade ran at fast speeds, chasing after Rene and Mark. He went far as even sending dark energy balls towards them in his relentless pursuit. This only made matters worse, considering people were now looking out their windows after hearing the disturbance. He kept on hurling them and laughed manically, as he saw the two young teenagers duck and dive in any direction that they could to avoid his attacks.

“You should really lay off the last requests,” murmured Mark, as he and Rene were now hidden behind some bins.

“What? He provoked us! It’s only fair that I get to shout at him, right?” Rene shrugged his shoulders and jumped when another energy ball hit the bins. There were only scorch marks, however. “God, how powerful is this guy? I really wish he could just lay off for once … you know, at least give us a chance to leg it?”

Mark could only grin. Well, he’s Darkblade, isn’t he? He can’t be stopped so easily. Only Faith and Riku could seal him away because he couldn’t be fully destroyed. He gulped when Darkblade started walking in their direction. He knows that we’re right here. There’s nothing we can do, right? But then Rene turned invisible and the sound of his running was heard. “Thanks a lot, Rene! Run for your life and leave me here!”

“You might as well get up and let me get it over and done with,” stated Darkblade.

“Still so formal as always, you creep,” growled Mark, as he rose to his feet and looked into the face of true evil. “I could never forget such an ugly face like that. I bet the girls turn away now that they see the hieroglyphics on your face.” He forced himself to smile. “Tell me, Darkblade. Why have you come back?”

“I’ve come back to settle an old score, you know that.”

“An old score? What, you mean with Faith and Riku? Sorry, but not gonna happen.”

The dark purple hieroglyphics on Darkblade’s right hand side of his face started to glow. Mark stepped back as a precaution. He couldn’t fight right now! He had nothing to fight with. But then again, his mind flashed back to one particular incident – one that had, of course, changed him and made him useful for once. Well, more useful in his case. He swung his arm and Darkblade flew backwards into the wall.

“WHAT?”

He got back to his feet several moments later.

“Telekinesis?” hissed Darkblade. “But – But that power belongs to Crest!”

“You really need to catch up on what you’ve missed,” yawned Mark. It was in the early hours of the morning right now. He had been chasing Faith all night with Riku and Darkblade turning up hadn’t made matters any better either. To be quite honest, he wished he could just dump the idiot in a lake and be done with it. When Darkblade still looked confused, Mark had to explain it all. “Just after your demise – or rather, sealing you in that stone tablet – Faith kind of lost control of her powers and I was exposed to it. So I guess you could say that I exhibited signs of telekinesis. Besides, there’s no way to reverse the process.” He grinned. “Bet you didn’t expect that to happen, did you?”

Darkblade sent lightning spurting out of his fingertips, but Mark raised his hands to telekinetically repel it back. It was deemed to be yet another harsh struggle, one similar between Faith and Darkblade before they were accidentally warped back in time.

“When I win this, I’m going to kill you and take your power!” snarled Darkblade.

“In your dreams more like!” retorted Mark.

* * *​

An hour passed, but there was no sign of Rene or Mark. Riku glanced at the clock pinned on to the wall for what seemed to be the fifteenth time in two minutes. He was anxiously awaiting the latest updates on Faith’s state. So far, he’d been told to sit in the waiting room and also had been informed that they had to perform sudden lifesaving surgery on her.

Surgery?

Riku didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t like waiting around here and thinking about Faith as dead. No, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t just sit here! He had to know what was happening back in Gaia, back at the headquarters … he should have been there right now. But his heart told him to remain here. He took a sixteenth look at the clock and felt like tearing apart the wall – until they came in.

Koloth, Lady Aerith, Angelus and Mitsuki walked into the waiting room with nervous and stressed looks on their faces. Riku could tell by the tears sliding down Lady Aerith’s face that something terrible had happened. Could it have been worse than Faith getting shot? Probably. Probably not. He would just have to find out.

“Lord Golbez sent us here,” stated Lady Aerith, being the first to speak and break the eerie silence surrounding them.

“So I see,” nodded Riku, taking his eyes away from her and unable to acknowledge the news that they were about to tell him. “You all failed and it’s all my fault …”

“I wasn’t like that at all, Riku –” began Mitsuki.

“NO! IT’S MY FAULT THAT WE FAILED! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!”

“Riku, please calm down,” pleaded Angelus, never being one to show so much emotion in her eyes. But of course, desperate times called for desperate measures. She sat down next to him and rested her hand on top of his. “Thoughts of vengeance could be a path down to the dark side again …”

“I know, I know.” He sighed, feeling bad for exploding like that. “But … it’s not looking good here. Faith’s been shot.” Lady Aerith gasped, Koloth felt the desire to unleash his sword to take out his wrath on the person responsible, Angelus bowed her head low ever so slightly and Mitsuki pretended he hadn’t heard. “We don’t know who did it either. I told Rene and Mark to meet me here after I got in the ambulance … but they haven’t turned up yet.”

“Either Darkblade or Saix must have gotten to them,” suggested Koloth, growling. “I know that I never really saw eye to eye with Crest, but if she dies in vain –”

“She won’t die in vain,” cut in Mitsuki. “She’s Faith Crest – and she’ll pull through it. Besides, she’s died once already and she came back! What are the chances of being found out at sea and being brought back to life by a captain of a yacht boat, eh? You gotta think on the positive side!”

Riku turned towards Lady Aerith.

“What of Julius and Shenorai?”

Lady Aerith could only shrug.

“We lost contact with them. After that, there was … nothing. Mits went looking for them, but she found no one … except Saix’s forces. Lord Golbez has retreated for now, although he never told us about his exact location where he would go. I suppose he did it, so we could be safe.”

The remaining five members of FFF sat there in silence. Half of the team was there, but the other half was either missing or hurt – or even worse. And then almost instantly, Rene burst through the doors.

“Where is she?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“Currently undergoing lifesaving surgery,” replied Riku. He was the only one that Rene recognised for now. “But that was like over an hour ago. Someone should have really come out by now and told us what was going on.”

Normally, Rene would have asked to be introduced to everybody, but didn’t feel this was necessary right now. He presumed that they were FFF – or at least, some of the elite. The clock was ticking. But Rene wouldn’t stop believing. He kept thinking that things would get better in time …

* * *​

“We will survive, Shenorai! We must!”

“Jul, you have to go on without me … this is my destiny …”

“No! I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“I told you, Julius! It’s my destiny … I’ve known for – for a long time now.”

Fire rampaged across the FFF headquarters. But there were two resistance fighters left. The army had been defeated after a major struggle. All that was left now in the building were Julius and Shenorai. They had barricaded themselves in the meeting room, trying to make their last stand. Julius was strong enough to fight, but Shenorai, on the other hand, had weakened and was close to dying. Well, she was close to passing out at least.

“Julius, you have to rejoin the elite …” said Shenorai, whom was becoming delirious. “You have to rejoin them and – and save her … this all my fault … tell her that I’m sorry … that I wasn’t able to see her again … that …”

But Julius was the stubborn type.

“You have to rest! I’ll make my final stand here.”

He drew out his sword, keen on revenge for what Saix had done to him. Losing his kingdom and castle overtaken hadn’t exactly been the best things that had happened to him either. This was a question of honour – and he would live up to the honour he had always been taught about as a young child. The creatures of darkness would soon penetrate through the meeting room and kill him. All Julius wanted was for Shenorai to get out safe and alive.

“I’m not leaving, damn it!” yelled Shenorai, rising to her feet and pulling him back with determination sparkling in her eyes. “I am the one that has finished the journey. You need to protect Faith and Earth. Leondra and I have unfinished business.” Julius was shocked, but she nodded her head to confirm that. “If they try to kill me, then I’ll take down the headquarters with us! You get to the last escape pod and get going before they take you as a prisoner!”

Julius could have laughed when she said they would take him prisoner.

No, Saix did not take prisoners. He liked to see dead bodies and if so, then he would see his dead body sprawled across the floor, having protected Shenorai. But of course, that wouldn’t be the case. Julius was already witnessing Shenorai’s from human to the half demon, Leondra. There were tears forming in Shenorai’s eyes, but was undoubtedly smiling.

“I’ve always loved you, Julius, but I can’t do this anymore,” she smiled. “You can find someone else, you know that you can. But my destiny is to die here … so you might say destiny isn’t written in stone. But I know it is! And so does Leondra!” She closed her eyes and cried out a little. “Go while you can, Julius! I love you.”

Julius gulped.

“I love you, too,” he said quietly, but she could still hear him.

He dashed towards the escape pod and allowed the shell to close. Moments later, it teleported from the room into the sky and set off towards Earth.

“So it looks like Argexis won’t be next on my list,” scowled Saix, as he walked into the room with his creatures of darkness accompanying him. Also, Frisk was standing at his side, having being unable to escape her transformation. “FFF has fallen, Shenorai. What more can you do other than surrender and ask for a merciful death?”

“Oh, but I’m not Shenorai,” smirked Leondra, as she gazed at Saix and Frisk through her golden eyes. “Saix. I suppose we’ve never met before, but only through Shen’s eyes.” She then glanced at Frisk. “Here I was thinking you never took prisoners. My, I should have let Julius stay after all … but it doesn’t matter now, does it? I’ve got you where I want you.”

“She’s no prisoner of mine, she’s besotted with me …” he whispered, then going over to kiss Frisk’s neck.

“Besotted? Saix, you could never flirt with a woman!” she spat. Saix stopped kissing her neck and then they both stared at Leondra angrily. “You were no good in FFF and you suck worse as a villain!” Saix looked insulted and Frisk just stood there, looking at him and then at her. “Actually? Those were Shenorai’s thoughts. It’s time that someone put you in your place, Saix! It’s gone far too long with you manipulating the whole situation!” Her golden eyes sparkled even more. The room started to shake. “I’m going to take this whole building down and you with it!” Her whole body began to slowly explode.

“NOOOOOOO!” screamed Frisk, as she pushed Saix out of the way.

The explosion occurred in the entire headquarters. Glass shattered and bricks fell. When Saix opened his eyes, he was partially injured. He glanced down at his arm in which the skin was now scorched. It caused him a lot of pain, but he couldn’t see Leondra in the distance. Was that her mission – suicide?

“Frisk!” he called out, coughing over the smoke.

After looking around for sometime, he finally found her underneath several piles of rubble. Once shifting it aside, he grabbed her with his clean arm and summoned a portal of darkness with the remaining power he could use. Saix walked through it, limping with an unconscious Frisk, who he hadn’t dared look at it properly check the damage that she had sustained.

* * *​

The surgery had been successful.

Unfortunately, it only meant that Faith would be in a coma. The doctor wasn’t entirely sure of how long she could be in it for – he mentioned it could have ranged from hours to weeks. However, he had reassured Riku and the others that they would be watching her for twenty-fours a day. It made him and the others feel better, but unsure of what to do next.

“FFF has fallen,” said Lady Aerith, as she stood side by side with Angelus. “There’s nothing left we can do, but protect this earth and her along with it.” She glanced down at the now unconscious Faith on her bed. “It seems that Saix and Darkblade are both intending to kill her now, but why?”

“Don’t forget Frisk,” growled Rene, as he curled his fist into a ball. There were actual tears flowing from his face. “She’s the one that shot Faith … the one that went over to the dark side and … slept with him … my own friend doing that …” He couldn’t take the pain anymore.

Riku sighed and crossed his arms, glancing at the defeated FFF team standing there, not knowing what to do with themselves. “Well since Lord Golbez isn’t here right now, then I’m temporarily taking charge,” he said, witnessing many shocked faces. “You heard me right. War is coming to this earth and we can’t let anyone else die now! Shenorai’s gone and Julius …”

Rene glanced at Faith with his fist clenched.

“This time, I’ll fight,” he murmured.

He had told the others about the whole Frisk thing and had been introduced as well as introducing himself to the team. There was nothing in his heart right now, except for sorrow. But then again, there was the anger. His anger was directed at Frisk, who he thought he could trust. No, then again … yes … she was under Saix’s influence now. It was too late to save her. Not fighting her would have only slowed them down.

Then came the unexpected. Julius scowled, as he walked through the corridor, wearing normal clothes that anyone from Earth would wear. He hated common clothes, but knew he’d have to wear them to blend into society. Rene didn’t know who he was, but knew he was with them. He was about to burst out laughing loud when Julius’ fist shook uncontrollably. Rene dropped his funny thoughts almost immediately.

Lady Aerith sat Julius down, as Rene watched on in curiosity. What had happened? His face seemed somewhat scarred. Not physically, but there was this look about him that made him old – and he was only the same age as him as well! It couldn’t have possibly been the royalty that he was from, as Riku and Mark told him when he asked who Julius was. It was deemed to be something much more, something terrible –

“I’ll kill him,” murmured Julius, growling. “I saw it all with my own eyes …”

“What did you see, Julius?” asked Mitsuki, taking care to conceal his long blade from the nurse that passed him by. He crossed his arms. “And where’s Shenorai?” But then he stopped and bowed his head low. “It can’t be.”

“His aura says it all,” confirmed Angelus. “Shenorai is dead.”

“Shenny is dead?” whispered Mark fearfully.

“Saix,” Angelus continued to say. “From Julius’ aura, I can sense hers. She had strong feelings for you, Julius. They were so strong that the pair of you shared a bond so deep … her dying thoughts were nothing, but you. She released Leondra and destroyed our headquarters to protect us. Saix … is mortally wounded. But Shenorai was near death, anyway. He killed her.”

Julius’ hand was trembling, especially when Saix’s name was mentioned. Twice he had appeared and failed to stop him! The first time had been when Shenorai was knocked out. But this time, he had failed. Shenorai was dead because he was unable to protect her. She had made the ultimate sacrifice; one of the FFF elite was dead. All that was left was the remaining nine members – or rather eight because Faith was now unconscious.

“What can we do?” asked Mark, looking pleadingly at Lady Aerith.

“I said I was taking charge,” growled Riku, now disgusted with Saix’s latest murder.

“We both will!” insisted Lady Aerith. “My white magic isn’t enough to heal Faith. We need to regroup and fast.”

But then Rene cut in.

“I’m coming with you guys,” he said.

Mark rolled his eyes. “Rene, this seems too much for you –”

“Too much for you? I survived Darkblade for crying out loud! You said it yourself, right?” He looked at Angelus. “Your friend, Shenorai. She’s dead. You could need someone else to help you. Besides, my talent could help you be sneaky! I want to get whoever shot Faith. I have to do this! I can’t sit back and watch people die!”

“If you think that this is a game for one minute, kid –” began Koloth.

“No,” cut in Lady Aerith, raising her hand. “I think his mind was made up when he saw the state that Faith was in.” She walked towards Rene. “Do you really think that this is worth the fighting? You want to fight … for your friend?”

Rene nodded. “For my friend.”

“Looks like you got no choice, Mark,” grinned Riku, laughing softly. “We should do a Friends Reunited search and see how many more contacts you have here –”

* * *​

Saix arrived back at the lair. He panted after putting Frisk down on the floor in a comfortable position and he coughed heavily. The smoke was still in his lungs and he was struggling to breathe, although he was fighting back pretty well. Frisk wasn’t conscious, but she was still breathing – at least that was a good sign.

“So like you to do that for me,” he hissed, feeling ticked off that he was still not completely wounded. “Why is that everyone can’t hurt me? Am I too invincible?”

“Invincible? You don’t know the meaning of invincible,” growled Frisk, but not in her usual voice.

But it was not Frisk who truly stood before him. Saix could feel her trapped as a prisoner in her own body … no, this presence … it was so familiar, yet vague! It couldn’t have possibly been Darkblade. He was probably miles away by now. He still needed to destroy Darkblade and gain all of his power. Then it hit him. It was the servant of Darkblade.

“Aztec Triogal,” whispered Saix, although in an annoyed tone of voice.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Twelve

The Red Rose Movement​

It had been a very long day for Rene Herrod. First, Mark had visited and then asked him – or rather, just told him, anyway – to go to Faith and protect her from some unknown force he wasn’t saying much about. Then he had lost Faith in the midst of everything happening, including Saix’s arrival. But of course, the next time he saw her, she had been lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound penetrating her body. The others didn’t really know much about Frisk; Rene wasn’t prepared to talk about her just yet. He was far more interested in kicking her arse, or perhaps even murdering the damn little …

He couldn’t sit in the room for much longer. Faith wasn’t making any signs of life. She was still unconscious, locked away in her coma. Was she trying to break free? Had she given up on life itself and would never wake up because she was constantly hunted down and almost getting killed? Rene felt so much sympathy for her. All he wanted to do right now was hold her in his arms and tell him that everything would be all right. But he couldn’t. He had to let her just lie there on the bed and watch her.

“She’ll remember, don’t worry,” came Mark’s quiet, but calm voice from the doorway.

“I was going to tell her … how I felt about her,” admitted Rene, not really caring if it was Mark that had put him through this pain just by telling him to protect Faith. Even though she was injured, at least he finally saw her again. There had been so much he wanted to tell since she disappeared – something he still thought about. Something that maybe Mark and the rest of the team weren’t telling him. “But then she disappeared.” He glanced at him. “What happened, Mark?”

Mark lowered his head, looking guilty.

“I can’t tell you anything,” he simply said.

“Can’t tell me anything? Mark, I think Faith was right in the first place!” he yelled.

“What do you mean, Faith was right?”

“That you or the rest of your buddies out there shouldn’t be trusted!”

“And what makes you say that, Rene?”

“Because! She’s confused. She wants to know what happened and now you won’t even tell me! She’s unconscious and she almost died because she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on! I don’t have a clue what’s going on, so if I really am going to help you, then you’re going to have to let me know everything.”

But Mark still shook his head at this gesture. “I’m not authorised to tell you anything, Rene. You’ll have to see Lady Aerith or Riku –”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THEM! I WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH!”

His outburst came as a sudden surprise to Mark. He tried to keep his own anger under control. Ever since acquiring telekinesis as an accident, Mark had learned that the simplest burst of anger and then being unable to control his emotions would lead to such disastrous consequences. The truth was, he had accidentally been exposed to Faith’s energy when she and Riku were sealing Darkblade away for the first time. He had been exposed to it because he had been too close and had thus acquired the power of telekinesis, although he didn’t know to what extent this was.

“Then I guess I can’t help you there,” said Mark, as he turned his back on Rene. “I have my investigating of my own to do … don’t tell them.”

Rene felt confused. Investigating of his own – what did he exactly mean by that? He took one last look at Faith in her room in her inescapable coma and then set off in his own direction. Despite Lady Aerith and Koloth calling him to return to them, Rene ignored them. He had something to do. He had something very important to do.

* * *​

Saix could have screamed his heart out of his chest right now. He stared into the dark eyes of Frisk, whose body was now inhabited by the elusive Aztec Triogal. No wonder he had sensed something different in the air when he saw Frisk again after she had shot Faith … of course, Aztec Triogal was a long time enemy of Saix’s – so there was no way that he would be able to escape him this time.

Aztec grabbed for the gun in Frisk’s pocket and clicked it, ready to shoot him.

“It’s too bad it had to end this way, isn’t it?” he laughed manically.

If there is one thing I hate right now, then it’s the way he’s using Frisk’s voice to laugh like a lunatic, thought Saix with an evil glare etched across his shocked face. I’ll have to remind Frisk that she should NEVER laugh like that. If she does, I’ll definitely have to bitch slap her.

When Aztec pulled the trigger, Saix simply smiled evilly and grabbed the bullet in his hand. He showed it to the annoyed psychopath.

“Well, isn’t that a neat trick? Too bad that you possessed the wrong person.”

“The wrong person? Saix, I’ve been meaning to get revenge for years now! You deliberately tried to kill Faith Crest and stop me rising above Darkblade! His power lingers within you, yet there are small traces missing … too bad that he’ll kill enough people and absorb their power to then kill you, Saix. But you know –” A grin crept upon Frisk’s face. “I can’t let Darkblade get what he wants, I’m no longer his faithful servant.”

Saix rolled his eyes. As if he was ever a faithful servant, anyway –

And then Aztec went into a full mode rant about Darkblade.

“He used me all along just to destroy FFF! He tried destroying FFF because everyone knew his dark intentions. It’s really bad for you, Saix … you’re not the real villain anymore. You’re –”

But then Frisk was knocked out and Aztec along with her. Saix sighed sadly, as he glanced at the bat he had used to knock her out with. He shook his head, bearing an apologetic look in his eyes.

“Sorry, Frisk,” he whispered, “but, you know, that old goat does ramble on …”

* * *​

The alleyways weren’t exactly the safest place to go nowadays, but it didn’t bother Rene Herrod at all. He was annoyed, so infuriated with Frisk’s fall to the dark side. What was it that Saix had that he and Faith didn’t have? They were supposed to be her friends! But it was over. Frisk had obviously made her choice, yet there was a part of Rene screaming inside his head to face her and ask what she would do.

He had to find a way to speak to her. But how could he do that? He had no idea where Saix’s lair was … or rather where Frisk could be right now. What if Saix had brainwashed her? It angered Rene to think what could be possibly be happening to her right now, even let alone the fact that a horrible dark presence resided in her unconscious body. When he was about to exit the alleyway, someone appeared.

“Darkblade,” said Rene calmly.

“Rene Herrod,” grinned Darkblade, as he stood there holding his own blade and it seemed he was intent on cutting Rene up into little pieces. “I’ve heard so much about you now that my sources gathered information on you.”

“Your sources?” retorted Rene. “I only fled the last time we met because you were going to kill me …” But he’s obviously going to get the job done now, right? Well, what am I waiting for? I have to run … wait, why am I not running? “You know what? I might have run for my life last time, but I’m not going anywhere this time! I want to know who the hell you are and what you want with Faith and FFF, or whatever you call them!” I really AM insane for staying put. I can’t keep running forever, right? If I’m going to die, then so be it. I have to remain put. “So why don’t you tell me about yourself if you’re going to kill me?”

Darkblade laughed.

“You’re noble for not running this time. As soon as I saw you turn invisible, I was intrigued. How could a normal human being such as you be able to do something so spectacular like that?” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “But now I finally understand. You humans ripped the powers from Gaia – a fitting reason to destroy this puny planet.”

“Gaia? Ripping powers? What are you talking about?”

“So FFF hasn’t told you much, have they? A pity, your case is similar to Crest’s.”

“Huh … you could say that.”

Wait, why was he agreeing with the enemy here? This wasn’t the right thing to do!

“You’re similar, but there’s a huge difference between the pair of you,” Darkblade pressed on. “She’s a hero and you never will be.” Rene felt haunted by these words; he wanted to prove this demon wrong. “When I kill you, I want to hear you whisper my name in fear … I want you to cry it out. I want you to shout my name, Darkblade!” He dived forward, but he didn’t get very far.

A man, looking like he was in his forties, pounced out of the shadows and then engaged in mortal combat with Darkblade. Thinking he was some ordinary human that was weaker than him, Darkblade willingly accept the challenge and fought on. But as time progressed, he began to realise that he was in fact a ninja. Perhaps from an ancient clan, or so he thought.

After being too evenly matched out, Darkblade flew back and the mysterious ninja jumped to Rene, panting.

“Rene Herrod,” was his first words. “I have come to send you a message.”

“You know who I am?” asked Rene. I’ve never seen a real ninja before.

“Patricia Musso sent me.”

“Patricia sent you? But – But I thought that she was dead …”

“She still lives, Rene Herrod. She sent this to you.”

He got down on his knees and then presented a golden blade to Rene. His eyes awestruck at the sight of the magnificent and rich blade, Rene took it. He couldn’t help noticing the light that was gleaming from it. The ninja rose to his feet after the young man took it.

“This will be important for Doomsday,” he motioned to Rene, as he prepared for mortal combat again.

“Doomsday? Who are you?” stared Rene.

“For now, you can call me Kai,” replied the ninja. “Now flee today. You will battle another day. You must go and protect her, forget your unnecessary matters with your ordinary life. You are part of something important now, which will ultimately affect the entire planet.”

As Rene put the blade in the holster that came with it, he wrapped it around his waist and ran. He didn’t want to run and leave Kai to fight Darkblade. But Kai seemed quite clever. All that he could make out of the ninja’s appearance was those striking light blue eyes. Did he really work for Patricia? Was she really alive? These were questions that he needed to know. Well, one thing was for sure.

Everything was falling into place.

* * *​

Julius was inconsolable. It felt like his heart had been ripped out of his still living body and chucked into the fiery pits of hell itself. Ever since Shenorai’s death, he hadn’t been to as much look into the eyes of his comrades. He partly blamed them, but he blamed himself for the most part. But there was one thing for sure – and he couldn’t let die in vain. If he let her die in vain, then all was, but truly lost.

There was nowhere for the FFF elite to go anymore. Gaia had been overtaken by Saix’s forces and soon, possibly Earth would be added to that list. Riku didn’t like being overdone by his main rival. Just what was Saix really planning? Why did everything seem to revolve around Faith, anyway? Was it because she was one half of the power to seal Darkblade away? Or was she a pawn in this sick, mindless game?

Whatever the reason, he kept on wondering.

Meanwhile, there wasn’t much going on in the waiting room. Riku glanced at the others. Angelus was meditating to regain some energy back. Mitsuki was admiring her sword in secret. But then there was Lady Aerith and Koloth bickering outside. He wondered what it could be now that they were arguing about. But he did find it odd that they were doing it in the first place. Surely, now wasn’t the right time to argue?

“He’s just a kid!” hissed Koloth, as he and Lady Aerith stood outside Faith’s hospital room discussing Rene. “He can’t fight! You heard what Mark said – he literally ran for it when Darkblade was coming! He could have left Mark for dead!”

“I know, I know,” nodded Lady Aerith, “but I see great potential in him. He’s young, strong and has a power. Not many humans have a power, Koloth. You don’t have a power and you’re not even human …” Koloth raised an eyebrow. “Ok, so maybe you’re half human …”

But then she was interrupted by the arrival of a familiar face. This woman walked up to Rene, who was inside the room watching over Faith.

“Patricia,” whispered Rene, standing up straight away. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” nodded Patricia, as two soldiers stood behind her. “Meet Private Smith and Private Wilkins.”

“Why are they with you?”

At that point, Patricia forced herself to laugh. “Well, why else would they be? They’re part of my secret organisation. We’re the Red Rose Movement.” When Rene still looked confused, Patricia sat down. “I think it’s time that we had a talk, Rene. I think it’s time that we talked … something we should have done two years ago.”

She then nodded towards the two soldiers in which both immediately left.

“The Red Rose Movement? It’s a secret organisation?” stared Rene. Does this make Patricia a secret agent or something? This sounds so cool, especially for someone like her! But it’s REALLY buggering things up. “What the hell are you talking about? Tell me what you mean …”

Patricia looked at her goddaughter for a moment and then turned to face Rene again.

“Seventeen years ago, there were sightings of another planet. I was the leading scientist investigating this matter. The British government decided to keep this a secret because it would cause quite a stir in the world at the time. I was at the height of my fame as a scientist as you quite clearly know … I was the only one for the job. They told me to look into this matter quickly and quietly, so that it could be resolved quickly. But of course, that wasn’t the case. There were conspiracy theories across the world, particularly in Russia. Well, you know how there was a Cold War many years ago between them and the U.S.?”

At that point, Rene nodded. He seemed intrigued.

“The U.S. slammed Russia. It could have ended up as another world war, which was something that Britain didn’t want. We had to end up erasing all research of Gaia, which was the planet we sighted. This planet is one that FFF and its members originate from. Well, not all of them obviously … you know that Mark and a few others are still from Earth, but either ended up on Gaia by accident or purpose. So going back, we erased our data and that was when the Prime Minister decided to make an organisation that would stop these things from ever happening again.” Patricia crossed her arms. “Then the Red Rose Movement came into effect. We prefer to call ourselves as the RRM, though. It avoids the long name.”

“So what does the RRM do?”

“Well, we investigate any kind of out of the ordinary thing. That includes what’s been happening in Gaia, the people disappearing out of their homes across the country, anything that’s beyond the police and out of the government’s hands.” Then a smile formed on her face. “Now I’d be lying if I said I was the first member that you ever met when this whole crisis started … the first member to formally introduce themselves was Kai.”

Things were starting to make sense to Rene, possibly a little.

“That’s who he was then,” he said. “He works for the RRM?”

“Yeah, we only have a small team, but we have the police and government working for us at the same time.”

“Wait, the police and the government? That sounds impossible with them working for you.”

“As impossible and stupid as it sounds, it’s true.”

“Wait, why? Why do they work for you?”

“That’s because they need us. Without us, they got nothing to cover up all these stories. We cover up these strange stories surrounding the world and solve the cases as soon as we can … you see, that’s why a lot of people get confused with these weird things and see them resolved quickly. That’s what the RRM intends to do. You could say that we’re similar to FFF in a way … just except that we specialise in higher things than them.”

And then suddenly, Frisk went flying into the room.

“Ok, what the HELL?” shouted Rene, jumping to his feet alarmingly.

“He must be here!” warned Patricia. “Saix must be furious this time for some strange reason … who knows? Maybe one of our old enemies just so happened to have gotten a hold of Frisk.”

“Wait, you know more than you’re letting on to!” cried Rene.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s a curse,” she assumed. “Saix is coming, Rene. You know what to do, use the blade.”

“You make it sound like Star Wars,” he mumbled. “Like use the force.”

Well, this isn’t Star Wars anymore, Rene,” Patricia reminded him.

Saix walked into the room and laughed when he saw Rene with his golden magnificent sword. “It seems like you think you can be a hero, boy, but you’re nothing more than that,” he glared coldly. “You’re an insect. Now move out of the way before I squash you like a bug!” But then his eyes fell upon the woman standing behind him, Patricia Musso. “Well, well, well. What do we have here? I see a certain Patricia Musso here again defying death as usual … it’s too bad that your fate in the future won’t really have much to live for …”

“I know,” said Patricia. “It’s coming, Saix, and you know it, Doomsday!”

Rene turned to look at Patricia and then at Saix.

“What the HELL is Doomsday?”

But as he awaited someone to answer, no one could see that Faith’s fingers had begun to move again …

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Thirteen

The Calm Before The Storm​

Doomsday.

It was the first word that rang throughout Faith’s mind. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet, but she was readjusting back to the familiar sensation of actual consciousness. Faith could hear several voices all around her, despite them being somewhat blurred. One belonged to Rene, who had raised his voice, whilst the other two belonged to a sinister Saix and a protective Patricia. Faith was breathing without the oxygen she was being supplied with, but no one had noticed yet. But she was still somewhat weak and could barely move right now – all she could do was move her fingers very slowly.

“You don’t need to know what Doomsday is,” Saix shot a cold glare at a suspicious Rene, who was holding his blade firmly. “All you need to know right now is that it is coming. My God, this world will bleed when it comes along.” He pointed the Soul Eater at Patricia first, however. “Your fate has been sealed, Patricia Musso.” Then he glanced at Faith. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen … who will protect you now?”

Rene dived forward in front of her.

“I will!” he shouted.

“Are you really going to stop me from getting that hideous git out of my lover’s body?” groaned Saix, looking even more ticked off with Rene’s act of bravery. “I didn’t come here to fight you, that will be left for Doomsday. I came for Frisk and to get that arsehole out of her body.”

“Arsehole? What?” Rene felt even more confused.

There’s no doubt about this that a dark presence is lingering inside of her, thought Patricia, as she looked behind her and glanced down at Frisk’s unconscious body. As much as she would have wanted to hurt her right now for shooting Faith, now wasn’t exactly the best time. She bent down to her goddaughter and whispered in her ear. “We need you …”

And then without any warning, Faith sat up immediately and swung her arm. Saix went flying back into the wall without having a chance to defend himself. Rene and Patricia were very impressed, however, things weren’t as they seemed. Faith fell out of her bed without another warning and crashed on to the floor crying out in pain, as she felt her shoulder collide with the hard floor.

As Patricia went to give help to her goddaughter, Rene walked towards where Saix was lying and held the blade to his throat. “If you ever come near her again, then I’ll kill you,” he growled.

“Crest will die on Doomsday!” laughed Saix like a maniac. “You’ll see! You’ll see!”

With that, he disappeared, as darkness surrounded his body.

Rene knew that he shouldn’t have listened to Saix. He knew that he should have said something – perhaps something on the lines of, “Hey! She just whooped your arse! And you’re saying she’ll die?” But those words never came. In his mind, he knew it was wrong. In his heart, there was another story. He looked towards Faith. She was being held in the arms of Patricia. It seemed like such a happy family portrait, but he knew … he just knew it was about to be broken.

* * *​

The final showdown would come soon. As soon as Saix arrived back at his lair, he took one last chance to face it. Maybe there was that look in the boy’s eyes that he would prevail after all … maybe Faith would die. But what if the boy was planning something? No, he couldn’t possibly do something as intelligent as that! He was, but a boy! Yet the power gleaming from the blade was deemed more powerful than ever.

Somehow, someway …

He needed that blade.

At the click of his fingers, his minions came straight away. But these minions weren’t like the others that fought alongside him – or rather, just fought for him, so that he wouldn’t always get his hands dirty. These kinds of minions were humans enslaved by his powerful dark magic. These humans deserved all that they got now, at least because they had dared to defy him and take a stand.

“Is the final battle approaching, Lord Saix?” murmured one young man appearing to be in his early twenties.

Saix sniffed the air. An evil smile crept upon his face.

“It does approach,” he said in a dark voice. He was finally beginning to embrace the power that he took from Darkblade, but he knew that he would need the rest of it if he was finally able to achieve his predicted result when Doomsday came around. “It approaches quickly and we have, but little time!” He threw his dark cloak aside and examined his face in the mirror to check the damage he had sustained. Nothing to worry about, I will get Frisk back one way or another. “Darkblade must be brought to me … I must eliminate him before Faith and Riku seal him away, or at least when they get the chance to.” He turned to his minions. “I suggest you kindly invite him here …”

Three minions bowed their heads and disappeared in dark flames.

Once they were gone, Saix took towards his vision of Doomsday. It was his intention to get revenge on the very thing that had tried to kill him when they had discovered his true goal. FFF was, but of the past for him now. It was one thing that had previously held him back from achieving all this power … now that Darkblade was back, he could finally get that power … and who better to spend his rule with other than Frisk? She, of course, had proved herself invaluable. But was it true love?

Did Saix know the meaning of true love?

“I do,” he whispered, as his heart beat faster within each passing moment that Frisk wasn’t here. “I thought it was lust, but now … I can’t go on without her. I need to get her back in order to get through this …”

* * *​

After getting Faith back into bed, she panted and felt relieved. But of course and as usual, she had quite forgotten that she wasn’t invincible.

“Thanks,” she nodded towards Rene and Patricia, “both of you … for helping me.”

“You’re the one that kicked Saix’s arse,” Rene pointed out.

“Only because I had to,” Faith also pointed something out.

“Well, now that things are getting worse, it’s time that we got the RRM involved,” said Patricia, as she stepped aside and spoke into her radio quietly, leaving a confused Faith to face Rene.

“What is she doing?”

Rene rolled his eyes. “It’s a LONG story.”

When Patricia returned, there wasn’t a look of happiness on her face. There was a seriousness expressed on her face, something that made her look older than she appeared to be.

“I got bad news,” she said. “The surviving FFF elite has been kidnapped while we were held up here. Fortunately, Riku was able to get away with Mark and they headed for somewhere safe. In the meantime, this is now a military operation.” She spoke into her radio again. “I want a squad here right now to transport Miss Crest to the headquarters. The hospital is no longer deemed safe. I repeat … the hospital is no longer deemed safe!”

“Why does she sound like a soldier?” stared Faith.

Rene sighed and sat down next to her.

“It’s like I said,” he said, still feeling overwhelmed by Patricia’s revelation. “It’s a very LONG story …”

* * *​

“Riku!” Mark gasped for air, as they stepped out of the dark portal and into a dark alleyway. “That – was – so – close – then!” He stopped speaking for a moment, unable to notice Riku’s serious look etched across his face. When he caught his breath again, Mark spoke again. “Why did you leave the others? We could’ve used Lady Aerith!”

“It’s part of the plan,” was all Riku said.

“Part of the plan? What do you mean?”

Mark shook his head. “You know what? Faith was right. How do we even know we can trust you all anymore?”

Riku turned to face Mark.

“Maybe it’s time that I told you what we’re really planning, Mark.” He crossed his arms as if he was ready to reveal all. “This is all part of our plan. I was meant to take you with me and keep you safe … besides, having Angelus around is quite handy sometimes.” Mark raised an eyebrow and looked confused. “She knows about you investigating the Dark Crusaders of the past and present. But what I don’t seem to get is – why?”

At this point, Mark forced a grin.

“Well, for one, I don’t want to be overlooked. Second, we’re in the middle of a war that threatens to take over my home world. You think that I want Earth to be taken over, Riku? This is where I belong and I can’t let it fall after what happened back in Gaia. Lastly … they want Faith for something. Saix might want to kill her, so might Darkblade, but the rest of them … they’re in it to win it. They’re in it for the prize. I don’t know what it is that they want with her, but I have to find out because this war will probably finish real soon if we don’t do something!”

Now this is why Angelus is so useful and resourceful, Riku smiled, having heard what Mark had to confess. “Right! Now that we got that ground covered, I suggest that we find out where the Dark Crusaders are. We need to discover Saix’s lair and then take down how many soldiers we can. Once we do that, we’re going to hold a few of them hostage and –”

“We’re not going to torture them, Riku,” interrupted Mark. “We’re going to ask them what their real plan is, right?”

Sighing, Riku shrugged his shoulders. “Damn it … I only wanted a bit of fun …”

“Well, do you even know that we’re in for a few goddamn months of planning?”

* * *​

Faith opened her eyes to find that she was in a similar room to the one she had been in the hospital. The last thing she had remembered before passing out was something called the Red Rose Movement, also known as the RRM. She sat up, taking in the atmosphere and observed everything around her with her ocean blue eyes. How long had she been out of it for?

Three days, she thought, as she saw the date hung up on the calendar next to her. She could hear voices everywhere. No, these weren’t voices that were minds that she could hear through telepathy … these voices sounded like people passing by through the corridors. Just where the hell I am, anyway? I can’t still be in the hospital; Patricia said that … she said something about moving me someplace else. She took another glance at her room. Everything’s too out of order. The flowers are meant to be on the table and not the window, there were get well cards just next to them as well and the floor was yellow, not white.

Then suddenly, five words rang out in her mind.

“Change. Betrayal. Revelation. Blood. Choice.”

It was these five words that pained Faith’s mind and troubled her when the pain eventually stopped. When they did stop, Faith felt relieved and felt some sweat dripping down her forehead. Was this what happened when she felt pain through telepathy? If there was one power that she couldn’t still understand, then it was the whole telepathy thing she had going on …

Faith stepped out of bed and noticed she wasn’t wearing the same hospital clothes anymore, but … pyjamas? So she had been transported here somehow. Well, there was one thing that she felt better about – and that happened to be her body strength. She didn’t feel so weak anymore that she would fall out of bed whenever she would send the simplest telekinetic wave forward.

“Faith Crest,” came a dark voice.

She turned to see that a man was standing there in, what seemed to be, ninja clothes. Or so she assumed them to be, anyway.

“Who are you?” she asked, but on her guard at the same time.

“I am Kai,” he said, bowing his head low and then raising it again. “I am surprised that you are awake again. Your accomplishment at the hospital is astounding. Patricia told me everything.” When she looked confused, Kai explained. “You are in the safe, capable hands of the Red Rose Movement. After that unfortunate encounter, you passed out and fell into your friend’s arms. We had to bring you here, so that monster couldn’t find you …”

“Monster? You mean Saix?”

“The one and only, or so I’m told.” He walked towards her curiously, but then backed away and smiled. “I have been curious for a long time now. I wondered … what is she like? How powerful is she? What does the legendary FFF have that the RRM doesn’t have? Then I realised, of course – they have you. That’s something that keeps FFF and the RRM apart. Here, you’re quite the hero, Miss Crest.”

“I’m a hero?” Faith then laughed out loud. “I’m no hero, I’m the one that’s getting pounded, stabbed and nearly killed all the time …”

“I can quite assure you that you will be no stronger to the headquarters, Miss Crest.”

“Um … yeah, about that … can we stick to first name basis? Call me Faith.”

“Then I shall … Faith.”

* * *​

The Dark Crusaders weren’t the friendliest bunch of evil soldiers in an army. They were in fact ruthless at what they did, there were rumours that they were actually demons. As a matter of fact, those rumours were true. But how Saix had his hold over the Dark Crusaders was a mystery, even to the man himself sometimes. Saix would often question his authority … possibly because he felt there was a traitor lurking around somewhere. He’d just have to find that black sheep.

Being without Frisk made him angry and infuriated. For many days now, he had been trying to track her, but to no luck did he manage to. Frisk was undetectable both in Gaia and Earth – there was nowhere else she could have possibly disappeared to, right? He sat down in his lair, closing his dark eyes and focusing on her and her only. It had become a regular routine for the dark, twisted mastermind, who was now legally the master of Gaia now it had been conquered scaring everyone to obey him.

All that was left now was Earth.

Strange enough as it sounded to him, Saix had also tried to track Faith, Rene and Patricia. They had been with Frisk at the time when she disappeared, but they had also disappeared around the same time with her. Where could they have possibly vanished? It wasn’t as if they could be dead … Saix would know if they were dead. He had a personal vendetta with Patricia more than the other two. Rene was just a nuisance, whilst Faith seemed to be rising in power the more that she used it …

“Then it’ll be us against the world,” he hissed, opening his eyes after failing to sense their exact location. “All I need to do is find the pathetic idiots. They must still be on Earth! I have crusaders on Gaia tracking people leaving and coming to Earth!” He slammed his fist on the table. “No one should surpass my authority!” Out of anger, he unleashed his wrath on one of the servants passing by in the hallway by hurling a dark energy ball at them and turning them into nothing more than ashes. There goes another worthless servant … maybe now the Dark Crusaders should start listening to their master and stop poking the prisoners …

He rose to his feet and decided to pay them a little visit in the dark, cold dungeons.

Horrible conditions always hit the dungeons. There were the cold temperatures, lack of food and water, plus the moans of prisoners being killed off. There were many prisoners down here, although not that many at all. However, there had been hundreds of prisoners down here altogether if the dead ones were counted. Saix cared not for the terrified ones that looked away. There were others that he needed to concern himself with.

His gaze fell upon Lady Aerith, who was currently sharing a cell with Angelus.

“For the eight hundredth and forty-second time, tell me where Faith Crest is!” he barked as if he was an untamed dog. He looked ready to attack her, but dared not reveal his anger just yet. Oh, he wanted to see Lady Aerith crack under the pressure. He wanted to see her get on her knees and beg for mercy. Mercy was something that fools begged for, weak fools so to say. “If you don’t tell me, then you know what will happen …”

“You’re only keeping me alive because I’m of use to you!” cried Lady Aerith, defiant as ever down here and standing her ground. I have to suffer because Angelus can’t reveal anything. “We’re FFF and that’s the only reason why you’re keeping us alive. But you’re also keeping us alive for revenge! Is that what you really want – our slow, painful deaths while you take over the world? Because it’ll never happen!”

Saix just glared darkly at her.

“Faith’s alive, all right!” called Mitsuki from a cell further down, one that she was currently sharing with Koloth and Julius. “When Riku and Mark get here, they’re so going to kick your arses!” Like Lady Aerith, she was also standing her ground. “They’ve probably found a way to block people like you scum to stop you from sensing them!”

On the other hand, Koloth and Julius remained silently. They, on the other hand, were planning something that was kept hidden from Saix’s suspicious orange eyes …

“Ohhh, a dangerous rebellion?” Saix looked bored already, rolling his eyes as if he had heard the most ludicrous thing ever. “You do realise that your powers have been stripped thanks to the dark chains that stop you from leaving? Nothing can penetrate them, not even white magic. Be grateful you can use your abilities inside the prison. You wouldn’t survive a day without your powers, Lady Aerith.”

He smirked and Lady Aerith glared after him when he left. She returned to healing her arm, which was still bleeding.

“He’ll restrict your abilities soon,” Angelus said, sensing Saix’s aura.

“I don’t care,” whispered Lady Aerith. “We have to leave here soon before it’s too late. Three days have been far too long for us and … you’re crippling under the pressure, Angelus. What if someone takes your power? What if Saix orders you to be the first to have their power extracted? You’re too valuable to lose.”

“Then I must do my duty,” Angelus said again, closing her eyes and tried not to think of the limitless things that Saix could do to torture them all. “There is too much pain and anxiety here … I cannot keep using my powers if all there is, but fear and pain.”

“The Dark Crusaders keep talking about a rebellion,” Koloth spoke up, which got everyone’s attention. All eyes were on him now. “Many of them want to overthrow Saix. Apparently, he’s not been in power here for long. I think he only started to be in power when we found out about his dark intentions when he was on our side.”

“Emphasis on the whole was part,” growled Julius. He still hadn’t forgotten Shenorai’s death.

“What did I tell you?” Koloth raised his voice. “We cannot give into a few days of hell and misery. Riku and Mark are working on everything! We have to stay here for three months … and stand our ground like we are now. Saix needs us all alive. He confessed to a guard last night while you were all sleeping that it would take that time to finally conquer Earth.”

“And why would it take THAT long?” asked Mitsuki, scratching her head.

“Because it’s the only reason why he came down here.” He smiled for the first time in a while. “It looks like he can’t find Faith, her friend or her godmother. He wants to know where they are first. Despite that he’s forgotten all about Riku and Mark, Saix is too reluctant to eliminate them. It’s almost as if they’re the great threat, well, Faith is only half the threat.”

“You know, it’s too bad that Riku and Mark weren’t here because then it’d be mission accomplished,” yawned Mitsuki. “We know what the Dark Crusaders are up to, well, at least half of them, anyway. It’ll be goodbye master and then … what? New master rises above the rest and we don’t know if things get better or worse.”

“I think that their plan is much more complex than that, Mits,” sighed Lady Aerith sadly, not really one to disagree with her. “They’re the Dark Crusaders. Since when does their plan normally start with overthrowing their leader and nothing else much?”

Mitsuki conceded defeat. “Ah, good point …”

“But what of Faith?” asked Julius curiously. “She is undetectable as Koloth says, so where could she be? I don’t seem to recall much of what happened when we were taken here, considering that the Dark Crusaders took us by surprise …”

“I’d be grateful that the hospital still stands,” assumed Koloth.

“She should be somewhere safe,” Angelus pointed out. “Otherwise, she’d be dead by now. There would be no way that she would be alive with just her friend and godmother. They would need outside help …”

* * *​

That was the way it went down now, was it?

The Red Rose Movement was a secret organisation to protect the world, although in this area, it aimed to protect Britain. Faith didn’t quite fully understand the whole process, but after three months of recovering and training, maybe she was finally starting to see sense behind the mystery. Yet how her godmother had been able to be in one of its key roles was also another mystery to be solved …

And now there was the wind.

The quiet wind … oh, how she loved it since coming here.

Faith stood at the top of the building, finally beginning to acknowledge that she had powers for the very first time. No one was chasing her right now. She was protected from anyone that would try to hurt her. Ever since coming around from the coma, she was starting to get her confidence back. Most of that confidence was coming back from the other unconscious state she was in when she was found in the ocean dead.

“Your destiny has been paved out before you,” said Kai, as he joined her on the rooftop. He hadn’t made much sound getting there; Faith had just turned around to see him standing there before her. “I can sense your confidence is coming back, but will it be enough for you to face Doomsday? What lies ahead, I know not.”

“I know what lies ahead,” she replied with a sad look on her face. “I know five thing that will occur. I remember now … Lord Golbez had five last thoughts before locking himself away for everyone’s own safety. Those five things are relevant to Doomsday. I might not fully understand them, but it’s a start.” She then recited those words. “Change. Betrayal. Revelation. Blood. Choice.”

Kai continued to listen to what this young prophesised psychic had to say.

“Someone will change … I know that. But I’m not sure if it’s the person that I’m thinking of.”

Then she looked at the sky.

“Someone will betray a loved one. I feel betrayed already, but I think it’s going to be much deeper than that.”

Faith looked at the ground many feet below.

“Someone will have a revelation. They’ll find out something for sure, which will rock everyone’s world.”

Next, she looked into her own hand.

“Someone will bleed their own blood. Anyone could die on Doomsday. I don’t know who, but I have to stop it.”

Finally, the last word had her thinking.

“Someone will make a choice. I can’t help, but feel that this choice is going to affect everyone, especially those around us.”

Faith turned to face Kai.

“What do I do, Kai?” she asked. “I’ve been training with you for three months now, got the basics of my powers and all … but I don’t know if I’m ready yet.” She then closed her eyes, thinking about all that had happened to her. “This started with me dying. What if it ends that way? What if it all has to end with me dying … again?”

“Your death has not been foretold,” said Kai, looking firmly at her with such strength and passion that he really did believe she would survive. “You may appear to be a child, Faith, but there is such a burning in your soul. That burning is the will to fight for what you believe in! You are one such brave soul risking everything to protect this world in which you call home. You will be able to face Doomsday. Not because of what I have taught you already, but also because you know you are doing the right thing for everyone … not just for them, though, but for yourself.” He walked closer to her at the edge of the building and stopped. “It’s like what your friend says, ‘Look at your name and have a little bit of it.’ Or so the boy says …”

At that point, Faith chuckled.

“Yeah, well,” she crossed his arms, “that’s how you put Rene Herrod. I might not still remember some things, but I can always count on him. I can always count on my friends and even my godmother, Patricia … it’s no wonder that I look up to her like a mother to me. She’s always there for me and –” She stopped when she saw Kai walking away unexpectedly. “What’s wrong?”

“Doomsday comes tomorrow,” he said sharply. “But the first step begins now.” He curled his fist into a ball. “We have to release Frisk and send her to Saix and the Dark Crusaders.”

“I thought that we agreed not to!” yelled Faith.

Kai turned to face her with a harsh look upon his face.

“Aztec Triogal is a very powerful entity and has already tried to possess you at one point! I know you love your friend, Faith! I know you care about her safety and want her not to be involved, but … this is the only way. We have to release Frisk and allow Saix to sense her. He’s the only one that can possibly force Aztec out of there!”

Faith sighed and then forced a smile.

“Well, I guess you’re right. Besides, it was her idea to call him Asstec, anyway …”

“Then we should get started straight away,” nodded Kai, as he made his way back inside the building. “Are you coming? This could be the last time you see your friend before we send her off to the devil.”

“Just give me a few more minutes,” said Faith. “I’ll be right down.”

As Kai left the top of the RRM building, Faith glanced at the red sky that was now setting. A few tears slid down her face.

“Why do I get the feeling that something terrible is going to happen?” she whispered under her breath. But then she wiped away those tears, realising that she couldn’t keep breaking down at everything. “No … I can’t keep doing this … it ends here and tonight.”

* * *​

As lightning flashed in the sky and thunder roared, the trapped elite of FFF looked miserable. They weren’t miserable because of being down there in the first place. They were just, well, bored.

“Too bad that we don’t have TV down here,” sighed Angelus. “I could really do with watching The Phantom of the Opera right now …”

“And why would that be?” called Koloth, as he was glancing at the caged window and seemed somewhat interested in the devastating weather.

“Due to the freaky weather?” suggested Mitsuki, as she found herself playing noughts and crosses with Julius, writing it on the wall with chalk. “Sorry, Jul, but you’re not just cut out for this game …”

“Three months of this game is bound to drive you crazy,” mumbled Julius. “I do wish that Riku and Mark would hurry up … maybe that’s good enough a reason to start arguing with that dark idiot …”

Lady Aerith’s eyes opened after being asleep and she gasped for air.

Putting aside her thoughts of visualising herself watching The Phantom of the Opera, Angelus bent down to her friend and saw that she was unwell, having her forehead sweating and her face looking pale.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“I saw him, Angelus,” murmured Lady Aerith. “It is him … Darkblade. He draws near to the castle!”

“What?” chorused Koloth and Julius.

“He thinks that Riku is here and maybe … maybe he’s after something else,” wondered Lady Aerith out loud. “Perhaps he’s here to torment us or maybe … there’s something that Saix has that he wants.”

“Saix and Darkblade – what a bloody bunch of villains,” grinned Mitsuki. “I swear, lock them in a room together and all hell breaks loose. You mark my words.”

* * *​

Frisk still found the sight of her chains quite soothing, even though it had been three months already. She had been told about her situation and now knew about the horrible being that existed in her body. It disgusted her that something as powerful and as dark as that would mess with her mind to then take over her, revealing her hidden dark side. But what was the most disturbing of all was seeing Faith’s broken face.

The night that she shot her best friend hadn’t quite left her mind. It hadn’t left Faith’s mind either. Although the pair was on mutual agreements for now, Frisk felt guilty for what had happened. She was almost certain that Faith hadn’t forgotten either, judging by the tormented look on her face every time that she would come to visit her. It wasn’t like Frisk was in a jail for her crime – no, this was something much more intense and went deeper than she imagined at first.

All the pain that scarred Faith, Frisk could never understand … never …

She had said she was sorry a thousand times or more in her mind, but she had never been able to say it to Faith’s face. What if she could never say those two important words? What if she ended up dying because of all this and Faith would never know how truly sorry she was for letting it happen? It had been a stupid accident … Frisk had never wanted to let it go very far … a stupid goddamn accident was all it was! But of course, she had never died it was her in the first place. Rene knew and so did Riku and Mark, well, whoever they were, anyway. The only one she knew was Rene.

And then in walked Faith along with Rene, Patricia and Kai.

Frisk knew this didn’t look good. There was an even more serious look on Patricia’s face as usual, an expression of denial on Rene’s face and a sign of letting these things happen on Faith’s face, too. Something bad was about to happen. Frisk needed to know now. Because if this was the last time she might have seen them, then it would be the only chance she would get to express how truly sorry she was. She found it somewhat silly that the slip of pulling the trigger had been the cause of all this.

“We’re handing you over to Saix,” said Patricia, sighing sadly.

“What? You can’t! Do you realise that this is wrong?” protested Frisk.

“There’s no other way,” explained Kai. “We’ve searched for answers for three months. Nothing has worked … the only person that can help you is the lord of the Dark Crusaders himself. Saix has the answers we need, but we’re protecting your location right now … so the only way is to send you over to him.” He looked at the ground. “I’m sorry, but this is what we must do …”

“I’ve got no say in this,” shrugged Rene. Frisk noticed he was right. He couldn’t do anything at all. But she would always remember his face … oh, and that awesome sword that he had by his side1 “Frisk, this could very well be goodbye.”

“I’m not saying goodbye!” shouted Faith.

“Please, Faith,” said Patricia coolly. “Calm down or I’ll have you removed from the premises immediately.”

But Faith caught her godmother’s eye. Frisk knew damn well that Faith would do whatever it was necessary to ensure her way would be kept now that she knew the gist of her powers. It was a shame really, training her and now she’d turn against them if they threatened her at all …

“No, this might be goodbye,” Frisk cut in, causing Faith to turn in her direction at once. “I don’t know if I’ll live if I get sent back to Saix. He might kill me if he can’t find a way to get Asstec out of me.” Faith would’ve normally laughed by now, but she could only manage a weak smile. “Hey, don’t be like that! This could be goodbye and, well, here it is. Goodbye, everyone.” She closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen. “Why am I not leaving?”

“Things don’t work like that here, remember?” Patricia raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not goodbye,” said Faith calmly, shaking her head. “It’s just a see ya until we meet again.” She hated the fact that Frisk had shot her. She hated the fact that Frisk was in love with the enemy. But of course, friends like her were irreplaceable. “Because I need you to remember who I was, Frisk. You and Rene are the only ones that are my closest friends.”

Frisk smiled. “Well, I’ve never known someone like you either, Faith Crest. You’ve really surprised me in these past few months or so. I thought you were a boring git who was more concerned with sailing through life as it came by. Part of me was right; you’re bothered about your life. But then … you’ll never be a boring git. Your life’s always an adventure, Faith! Battling evil, saving the world … that’s who you are. As for me, well … if I ever make it through this, then I’ll try see you again. You’ve brought a part of your life into mine and, well … things just haven’t been the same again, have they?” She continued to smile, although there were a few tears slipping down her cheeks. “And there’s just one thing I have to say before I go.” Frisk now looked serious. “I’m sorry. Please understand … it was an accident.”

But Faith nodded straight away.

“I know it was,” she said. “Good luck. Kick Asstec’s arse for me, will you?”

“Bet on it,” beamed Frisk.

A yellow beam hit Frisk directly on her body and then before anyone knew it, she had disappeared in a yellow cloud. When that cloud disappeared, Frisk had gone.

* * *​

Saix had expected many things to go his way, but never did he expect Frisk to be one of them.

She was back somehow, but knew that Aztec would seize control at any moment.

“Stay back!” shouted Frisk, holding her hand out. “Don’t come near me … he might slap you, pretend to be me and then kill you when you’re not looking … whatever you do … ouch!” She held her stomach as if she was suffering from a lot of pain. “Make sure that you kick Aztec’s arse!” Frisk cried out and then fell on her back.

Well, that was quite an entrance, thought Saix, amused by her sarcasm. But when he saw Aztec rising using Frisk’s body, he unsheathed the Soul Eater and pointed it at Frisk’s neck. “Now you’re going to listen to me or else you won’t be so lucky, Asstec! Tell me what it is Darkblade is planning and why he brought you back.” Aztec snarled and looked confused. “Ohhh, I don’t take that crap.” He kicked Frisk’s stomach, although he regretted doing it clearly, and watched her body fall to the ground. “NOW START ANSWERING MY GODDAMN QUESTIONS!”

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Fourteen

Beginning of the Fantasy War​

The night was approaching quickly, yet Faith Crest couldn’t help returning to the rooftop where she had spoken to Kai several hours before. She glanced at the red sky with the sun setting upon the earth. Ever since she had learnt to establish some form of control over her powers, Faith had been able to predict when the war would hit her world. The Fantasy War, as it had been called so many times already, was approaching swiftly. It was so swift that it happened to be fated for tomorrow.

But those five words wouldn’t escape her thoughts.

“Who is going to change?” she whispered worriedly.

“Nobody’s going to change, I can assure you that,” smiled Rene, as he joined her. He sat down on the wall and sighed happily. “I hope you don’t mind me being up here, I just needed a little bit of fresh air, that’s all …”

Faith shook her head politely. “No, no, it’s fine. You can be here if you want. I came up here as well … for the same reason.” Silence erupted between the two teens, as they watched the moonlight slowly creep into the sky. Then she forced herself to laugh, which triggered an awkward stare from Rene. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I? Here I am laughing my head off when there’s a war hitting the world tomorrow.” She glanced at the locket around her neck. “Even though I’m psychic, I have no idea what’s going to happen. But I just know that something terrible is going to happen!”

“Hey, hey!”

Rene grabbed her by the hand and smiled.

“Nothing bad is about to happen,” he said, trying to reassure her.

But she shook her head, although this time it wasn’t exactly polite either.

“You can’t promise that, Rene,” she murmured. No one can guarantee that.

At that point, Rene let go of Faith’s hand and unsheathed his golden blade. Faith watched in curiosity, as he began to practice swinging it around and pretending that he was in a swordfight with one of Saix’s dark soldiers. She couldn’t help, but feel that Rene was somehow connected with the war. Why would she feel that, though? It was this eerie feeling that she couldn’t quite shake off. Whatever the reason for Rene being linked to the war, it had to be good. That was all Rene had ever been towards her.

Good.

* * *​

Saix had regretted kicking Frisk, but of course, it wasn’t Frisk in control.

“Angry, aren’t we, Saix?” sneered Aztec, as he raised Frisk’s body back on to her feet and then he wiped the dust off her clothes. “But, you know, being in here has been somewhat … exciting.” He no longer spoke in his own dark voice. Now he was using Frisk’s voice, except it was more … formal. Something that Saix could only find so awkward. “It feels so exciting to be in a woman’s body.” He jumped up and down. “Why, look at me! No wonder everyone should start calling her Hips!”

“If you really think this is really exciting, I’m about to stop your fun,” said Saix. He would have normally unleashed his rage and inflicted violence upon Aztec – he was his most hated rival on the same level as Riku. But of course, this was Frisk’s body and he didn’t want to damage it anymore than he had done already. He pointed the Soul Eater at her neck and glanced at Aztec, still finding it hard to believe that he was possessing the woman he loved. “I’m giving you one last chance to leave her, Aztec. One last chance to leave her behind … because if you don’t …” He removed the Soul Eater from Frisk’s neck and then raised his other hand that wasn’t holding anything, which caused Aztec to show a fearful expression upon Frisk’s face. “… Then I’ll force you out.”

“Force me out? Come now, Saix, you know that you want Darkblade out of the way!” exclaimed Aztec, then glancing at Frisk’s hands. “I never actually got the chance to see her hands until now … so vibrant and exotic …” He smiled sheepishly and looked at Saix again. “No wonder you love Frisk so much.”

“I love her because she’s the only thing precious to me!” yelled Saix without any warning. This had scared Aztec, making him jump and back away a little, taking a few steps to the wall before being eventually cornered. His emotions were running high now. Damn! Why couldn’t he control them? “And if you don’t get out of her as soon as you bleeding can, then I will rip you out of her body and send you to the darkest depths of darkness that this universe has never seen!”

Even on the inside, Frisk was a prisoner. It was almost as if she was trapped in a glass bubble, trying to break free of the cage and being forced to watch every event unfolding right before her eyes. She tried to break free of Aztec’s control, she really did. She used her willpower to overwhelm him. Even though it wasn’t entirely enough to take the twisted git by surprise, she could amazingly wiggle her fingers for a few moments – something Saix took note of.

“She’s emerging,” an evil smile crept upon his face.

“She’s not!” hissed Aztec.

“Get out of her before I rip you apart!”

“You’ll have to face my power first!”

“Power? What power? You have no power!”

“Ohhh, that’s where you’re wrong, Saix. Power lies within here, even though my own was lost … I have my sources and they’ll be here soon … but for now, I think I may have just found own fun!”

Before Saix had a chance to react, a dark cloud emerged from Frisk’s mouth and then went inside his mouth. Frisk fell back to the wall, coming back to controlling her body and smiled brightly.

“I can move again!” she cried out happily.

However, all wasn’t well. Aztec opened his – or rather, Saix’s – eyes and smiled evilly at her, as he formed a dark energy ball in his hand.

“Crap,” muttered Frisk. “This isn’t good, this isn’t good … shit.”

* * *​

“This is the worst place to be right now, especially with our old nemesis here …”

“Mark, we need to stick to our plan. Get everyone out and … God knows what else!”

Three months had passed for Riku and Mark since planning out what they were to do on the eve of Doomsday. However, the days and weeks had become a matter of merely hours in their point of view. They found themselves standing near Saix’s dark lair, hidden inside the dark castle that was supposed to be concealed by the darkness somewhere near Russia on Earth.

But thanks to a little research from Mark and messing with the dark arts from Riku, the pair had managed to infiltrate the barrier that surrounded it. Now the hard part had come. Darkblade was on his way to the castle to take what was rightfully his. Riku felt somewhat nervous because if Darkblade sensed him, then their plan would bite the dust. Fortunately, that hadn’t been the case so far.

“That’s it, I’m taking Angelus’ advice and saying that The Phantom of the Opera really does suit Darkblade,” murmured Mark quietly, so that only his companion could hear him. “You’re only one half of what’s needed to seal Darkblade. The other half, still assuming that this is Faith, is currently missing, but she should be safe, knowing her to be with Rene and Patricia.”

“So many things going on at once, isn’t there?” Riku caught the glance of the dark eyed Darkblade looking furious, but happy at the same time. “We know that Saix has some of his power, but this must mean the battle for all the power. So whilst they deal with their battle, then we can get the others out and –”

“Find out the real plan to bust them out,” Mark grinned. “I can’t believe that Darkblade would come out of all times possible. On the very eve of Doomsday itself! Why couldn’t he have come tomorrow instead?”

“It’s not like the demon can book an appointment with our good old enemy Saix, is it now?” Riku raised an eyebrow, still wondering what the outcome of the legendary battle would result in. “Aye, I agree that it’s the stupidest night to come. But I’m really hoping that we can seal Darkblade and all of his power altogether.”

“Actually,” his friend interrupting, raising his hand, “I’d love to obliterate him!”

“Obliterate him? Kill him?”

“Of course I would! I’ve heard of one such legend that could kill the darkest of all darkness out there. I assume you’ve heard of it, Riku?”

Riku nodded, allowing Mark to continue.

“The Legend of Allargando – it was said that light and darkness had been colliding for many years. The Dark Crusaders, the old ones, were against our grandfathers of the Fantasy Freedom Fighters, those aligned to light. This happened over five thousand years ago, according to history. It was a war – probably similar to this one – that tore apart the world. Fortunately for us, the light prevailed and the darkness was sealed away.”

He paused for a moment and sighed sadly.

“The next part is what we’ve already seen. Darkblade was furious when we turned against him for unleashing the contents of that darkness. Despite that you and Saix could use darkness when you, or rather HE, was good, he was jealous. By unleashing the contents of that darkness, he almost caused a war that nearly destroyed the world. Luckily, you and Faith combined light and darkness together to stop him.”

Mark watched intently, as Darkblade phased right through the doors.

“But of course, he’d back. Saix turned on us shortly after wondering what Darkblade’s power could taste like … that’s why he brought his power back, but he didn’t know that Darkblade would return straight away. Now this is why Gaia fell to him … why we couldn’t foresee it until now … you and Faith and are the ultimate combination to stop Darkblade.”

And then Riku smiled sheepishly.

“Aye, aye! That’s why Faithy and I are perfect for each other!” he laughed.

“Perfect for each other? Please, that girl needs to be shown some guidance, not some making out sessions with you,” growled Mark.

He came out from behind the rocks and climbed up the path, where the dark castle was. Riku shook his head and sighed sadly, as he followed.

“You really are starting to sound like Julius …”

* * *​

Frisk could hear a lot going down in the dungeons, but of course, she had never dwelled down there … that was, until now. She had been running and screaming for her life for the past fifteen minutes. Aztec wouldn’t give up on killing her. Surely, that would have broken Saix’s heart and given Aztec the ultimate control over him. After all, there was only one thing that Aztec was after – and that was to betray Darkblade as his most loyal servant by killing and taking his power.

He had said that several times while Frisk had to duck from the dark energy balls.

“I’d love to slap him right now, the bleeding idiot!” Frisk cursed Aztec under her breath, as she carried on walking towards the dungeons.

She knew it would take him a while to get used to Saix’s body like he had done with hers. Well, he did have three months to get used to hers, anyway. She was hoping that he wouldn’t trap Saix for the same amount of time. Glancing around the cold and dark dungeons, Frisk couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Many servants that she had seen already from staying here were locked up. No wonder she thought they kept on going missing! She should have surely asked, but it didn’t occur to her.

“I can’t believe this … all these people are locked up here?”

Frisk continued to walk along the prison cells. Many of the prisoners were asleep, some looked insane and a few were glancing at her darkly as if they were going to rip her body open. Finally, her eyes rested upon the many prisoners that were not the same as the others.

Lady Aerith, Koloth, Angelus, Julius and Mitsuki were the different prisoners.

“Step back, demon!” cried Julius, rising to his feet and raising his fists. He would have normally unsheathed his sword, but of course, he didn’t have it. When the others looked confused, he explained. “Aztec Triogal resides in that body. I recall one of the prisoners informing me that Saix had been trying to track him for a long time.”

“I’m not who you think I am –” began Frisk, but was cut off.

“I bet you’re right, Julius,” agreed Koloth, patting his shoulder and nodding. “The look in her eyes seems demonic enough. Tell me, Aztec! Why have you returned? I assume you are not following Darkblade, but are merely after the forbidden power that he wields?”

“Darkblade? Forbidden power? What are you talking about?” yelled Frisk, looking shaken by these accusations.

“Stop,” interrupted Angelus, rising to her feet. “Aztec does not reside in her body. He is … somewhere else. There is only one aura in that body.” She looked to Lady Aerith. “This is good news, she can help us escape.”

Lady Aerith nodded and looked towards Frisk. “Listen to me, Frisk,” she said. At that point, Frisk looked surprised she knew her name. “We’re friends of Faith. You know Faith Crest, right? We’re the friends that were there when Saix blasted you, or rather Aztec, into the wall at the hospital.” She pointed at them all. “We’re the good guys.”

“Girls, too!” Mitsuki pointed out.

“So if you’re Faith’s friends …”

But Frisk’s head was messed up. Whose side should she really be on here? She loved Saix so much, but had learnt that he had been keeping prisoners here and remembered Aztec mentioned something about Doomsday, or whatever the hell it was. Then there was Faith. She had so many secrets that she didn’t even know about herself, considering she had amnesia. Then there were friends claiming to be the ones fighting for the greater good.

She wanted to scream!

“Frisk! You better die now or else you’ll be tortured later!” came the dark voice of Saix, obviously controlled by Aztec.

“That was Saix?” Koloth looked confused. “I thought he was in love with you?”

Angelus smirked. “That would be Saix controlled by Aztec …”

Frisk took the initiative immediately. She unlocked the doors with the keys that she found hung up on the wall nearby, not caring if it was the wrong one. Fortunately for her and the FFF elite, they were the right ones. With the doors open, the restrictions of their powers were finally lifted. Each FFF member hurried to grab his or her weapon from the storage room just down the corridor. However, Frisk looked annoyed.

“So you’re just going to leave me, a poor innocent young woman, to die here and let Asstec kill me?” she shouted towards them.

Julius groaned, as he came back to her and grabbed her hand.

“Of course, we weren’t going to leave you,” he winked, smiling for the first time in ages.

“Let go of her,” glared Aztec coldly. God, did Frisk hate that look in Saix’s eyes.

I need to give him a makeover, she thought. Well … that is, if I’m still alive.

Lady Aerith stepped in front of them all to face up to Aztec. He mocked her, saying how weak she was to even face up to him. But there was a sneaky smile etched across her face, one that she hardly ever wore. As Aztec sent a dark blast towards them all, Lady Aerith held up her hand and a white barrier appeared all around her. Holy had returned.

“What? Impossible!” yelled Aztec. “How can this be?”

“He needs to think of some more original catchphrases,” muttered Frisk, as she felt herself being taken out of the room by Julius and the others. “What? You’re leaving her there on her own? Let go of me! LET GO OF ME! HE’LL KILL HER!”

* * *​

What Riku and Mark hadn’t expected to happen was Darkblade turning around and happening to come across them. Riku bore the Way To Dawn in his hand, whilst Mark was armed with telekinesis. Darkblade drew out his dark katana, eager to strike them down if they didn’t get out of his way.

“Well, I never thought I’d never see you two again,” he said with a dark expression on his face.

“Well, you thought wrong!” exclaimed Riku, as he dived forward. “You can go rot in hell and never come back!”

“Riku, no!” cried Mark.

But it was already too late.

Darkblade grabbed hold of Riku’s arm. The impact and shock of this caused Riku to drop the Way To Dawn and look at his former superior in the eyes with surprise. How had Darkblade become this strong? No, it couldn’t be … his life force was being drained, as his last thoughts were now coming into place.

“Life absorption,” explained the dark lord. “I acquired it having returned to this world by killing a man that bore that power.” Mark looked disgusted, but Darkblade laughed loudly. “The man was killing people to stay alive. But of course, taking his power became somewhat of a curse … I have to keep draining people’s lives to stay on this world! But you and Faith were the ones vital to keep me sealed! By draining both of you, I won’t have to remain doing it …”

Mark couldn’t use his telekinesis. Somehow, Darkblade had negated the use of his powers. What Darkblade didn’t know that he had made such a vital mistake because after barely a few moments of holding Riku, he had been inflicted with Holy. Riku felt it as well, as he was tossed back to near Mark. Lady Aerith’s true power had been revealed again, having been the second time it had been activated.

Darkblade retreated.

He ran to the edge of the cliff, throwing himself off, trying to get away from the overwhelming light and then entering a dark portal when he was away.

Riku was just able to suppress Holy that was hurting in his heart. Half of his heart was light, whilst the other was dark. Because of that, he was the only person in the universe able to sustain that balance. When Holy calmed down, he put a hand to his heart and sighed, feeling relieved.

“I … I …” he tried to find words to speak with, but couldn’t do so.

“It’s ok, I’m here,” whispered Mark, worried that the impact of Holy may have just damaged their chances of defeating Darkblade. He didn’t personally blame Lady Aerith, but he had never seen that amount of power emitting from her before. He feels so numb right now … someone must have freed them. Maybe Frisk? I hope she’s ok.

* * *​

Hours had passed.

The dawning of a new day had come around.

Doomsday.

I can’t waste anymore time running from my enemies, Faith told herself. She was on the rooftop say on the edge, glancing at the sun that had risen. Today would be the most difficult day of her life. Nightmares had plagued her for three months about this day. This would be a day that many people would change, destinies would be revealed and horrible things would happen. Of course, this wasn’t a day to waste. There wasn’t any more time to waste. If I have to die trying to save the world from the dark army that I saw in my dreams, then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll bleed my blood if necessary!

Nine o’clock in the morning.

Faith found herself listening to the chants of the soldiers. The Red Rose Movement was based in London, so she found herself leaving Manchester and staying there until Doomsday. What her life would be like after today was uncertain. Possibly what the world would look like after today was unknown, too. Nothing could stop her now, however. Pushing aside her fears, she concentrated her hopes. Her hopes …

Civilians had to be escorted someplace safe.

That was where the countryside would be useful in that case.

For those three months being away from most of society, she had also been trained to fight as a soldier. It wasn’t exactly the best thing to do in her current position, but what other choice did she have? According to Lady Aerith, she had been a gifted fighter when she had been in FFF. But of course, that was her old life now. They were probably dead now. She had to avenge their deaths …

As the roars of male and female soldiers filled the streets of London, Faith wasn’t quite sure that this would go to according to plan. She was nearby them, watching in silence. Having escaped Patricia’s clutches and eager to go after Saix herself, she knew that this would be a risky test. But it seemed that being trained by Kai had only proved that she’d have to take these risks and see what happened as a result of this.

“Time to do this then,” she muttered under her breath.

But when she dived around the corner and started to dart forward, there was a familiar face she hadn’t been expecting. Darkblade turned to face her with his evil smile on his face.

“Faith, such a pleasure to see you again,” he sneered, walking towards her.

However, things had changed since then.

This time, Faith wasn’t scared. She wasn’t running. She had something up her sleeve, or rather, behind her back. Without any warning or hesitation, Faith pulled out her machete gun and put her finger to the trigger.

“Do you really think that machination will stop me?” shouted Darkblade.

“Ohhh, don’t tempt me,” she said, teasing him. “I’m a lean mean blowing machine and I’ve been dying to test this baby out …”

At this point, Darkblade would have laughed. However, he twitched in pain, resting his hand over his heart. Faith aimed for him and Darkblade, perhaps looked afraid for the first time since they had met.

“You’re weak, I can tell,” grinned Faith.

“First, you give out the sexual connotations and now you comment on my health!” he hissed out in pain. “What’s next, Crest? Everything is so predictable with you!”

“Well, that might be with her, but not with me,” came the drawling voice of none other than Rene Herrod.

Darkblade hissed in pain when Faith neared him. Rene came to Faith’s side bearing the golden blade he had been showing off and practicing with for the past three months. Maybe now its true purpose had come. But when Faith looked at Rene again after glancing at the blade, she saw something by change …

“You mess with my girl and you get to pay the ultimate price!” shouted Rene, as he took the plunge and stabbed Darkblade in the stomach all the way to the back.

“AAAAHHH!”

Rene took the sword out and then watched Darkblade fall to the floor, defeated.

“You … the one … the one bearing the … bearing the blade …” Darkblade said, trying to make his final words clear. He laughed, but stopped when he kept on bleeding even more. Then he glanced at Faith. “Hold him close … he is important to you … he will be important … the future speaks untold consequences …”

“Oh, go to hell already!” groaned Rene.

“Shut up, Rene!” Faith angrily told him. He looked insulted, but let it pass for now. She bent down and looked at him in the eyes. “What do you mean, the future speaks untold consequences? Tell me!” When Darkblade said no more, Faith decided to do something that she would live to regret. She put her hands to read his mind. Rene tried to stop her, but a force field appeared around them, blocking him off. “I can’t let you stop me, Rene.”

“But you’re reading his mind!” he argued. “You can’t do that! You might …”

“Might what?” asked Faith. But her question was already answered.

Entering Darkblade’s mind wasn’t the nicest thing she had ever done. She would have lived to regret it. She saw nothing, but clouded darkness, and also the feeling of murdering. There were feelings of hate, anger … revenge. These thoughts clouded her mind. She instantly let go of Darkblade, unable to get anything and Rene was there to catch her when she fell.

“Hey, hey!” he said, as he bent down when she almost fainted. “Easy!” He then wanted to scream and shout, but he didn’t. Instead, he stated what was on his mind. “You could have given me a heart attack, Faith! Patricia told me that if psychics cling on too long to a mind, then they could absorb that person’s thoughts and become similar to them! I was so worried that I needed to get you away from him!” A few tears slid down her cheeks and he shushed her. “It’s ok, we can find out what Darkblade meant if we just …”

However, his face turned into horror. He helped Faith back on to her feet and they looked at the skies.

Creatures were emerging from every corner of the world to take over. Gargoyles, dark angels and demons … every dark living creature was coming to take over the world. Rene took out his blade again and positioned himself in a fighting stance. He looked ready for the war. Faith came back into reality and now fully realised what change had occurred in Rene.

He had become a warrior – and was on his way to becoming a hero.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Fifteen

When Everything Is Gone​

The invasion was happening. It was finally happening.

Saix, still controlled by Aztec, was happy that the invasion was finally here. Yet he was angry that he couldn’t quite grasp control from Aztec. The idiot – as Frisk had called him Asstec on a regularly basis since running away from him and knowing that he could hear her, even when he wasn’t in a position to seize control himself – was creating so much chaos and confusion among his dark army. It was a miracle that the Fantasy War was now taken to Earth.

People were already dying. Aztec felt the death of Darkblade and the mighty soul of the warrior that had been destined to defeat him with that nameless golden blade. Oh, how Aztec wanted to get his hands on that blade. The marvellous power that was before him had to belong to him! Or what was even more … perhaps he could get the very soul of the warrior himself …

Yes, it was all becoming clear now.

Aztec’s destiny was not to be in control of the menacing Saix – it was to take over the body of Rene Herrod.

* * *​

Lady Aerith, Koloth, Angelus, Julius, Mitsuki and Frisk burst out of the dark castle only to bump into some old friends. Riku and Mark were more than pleased to see them alive, although Riku was quite convinced that Lady Aerith wasn’t up to her full strength. Julius was supporting her because, after all, the two were like brother and sister, even if they did disagree on some things. They agreed on more things than what they didn’t agree on.

“Frisk! You’re alive!” exclaimed Mark.

“Wait … how do you know that I’m not being possessed by Asstec?” asked Frisk.

Mark shrugged. “Oh, you know, there’s this part where Riku dives out and says, ‘you must die, thou demon!’ and gets his bad arse blade out to extinguish the evil inside of you.” Riku raised his eyebrow and give him an I-don’t-think-so look. “All right, maybe he doesn’t say thou demon. But that doesn’t matter, right? You’re alive and that’s all that matters.”

“And Lady Aerith could collapse at any minute,” added Julius, motioning to her. “So can we get a move on already? I don’t want to see her like this.” He paused for a moment and sighed. “I don’t want her to go out the same way … I don’t want her to die like Shenorai did …”

“No … keep on … I will keep … on … fighting …” was what Lady Aerith said.

“You gotta give her credit,” Riku said. “It’s the second time that she’s been able to summon Holy. The third time’s bound to be much stronger than the first and second combined.” He patted her shoulder softly. “That’s the talk of a true fighter, aye.” He took out the Way To Dawn and briefly closed his eyes as if he was in deep thought. “Earth’s under attack … I can see them now … Saix and his dark creatures.”

“You mean Asstec,” growled Frisk. She still wasn’t happy with the dark revelations she had discovered at the very bottom of Saix’s castle.

“Faith’s alive and so is Rene,” he continued to say, although he did crack a smile at Frisk’s remark. “They’ve got backup … it’s an organisation that concealed itself from Saix and even us … no wonder Frisk didn’t come to the castle sooner. Saix so wanted to do her in …”

“This is my love life we’re talking about here!” she shouted, protesting. “And whatever voodoo that you’re doing there –” Riku opened his eyes, stopping what he was doing. “– Then you don’t need to do it. The organisation that protected Faith, Rene and I is called the Red Rose Movement. It’s also known as the RRM.” She looked at several members of FFF. “Got it memorised?”

* * *​

It seemed that entering Darkblade’s mind had been a task too difficult for Faith. She couldn’t quite shake off these violent feelings she had absorbed from doing so. But he still lay there bleeding to death. She didn’t care about him right now; she didn’t really want to watch him die. But she did. What was happening to her? When someone died, whether they be good or bad, Faith would have just become emotion. Instead, his feelings had been transferred to her.

God, she wished he’d die already along with these feelings.

Fortunately, Rene was there to ensure that nothing drastic would happen. He stood there, cleaning the blood that made his blade filthy. He didn’t want the blood to stain his beloved blade. Oh, how he loved to call it beloved. It was the only thing he could call beloved right now. There was one other thing he wanted to call beloved, but knew that this wasn’t the best time to do that …

“We have to leave,” he said to her.

“Why? He kidnapped my godmother and tried to kill me,” said Faith without as much as moving a muscle. She kept on blinking and staring down at the very monster she had grown to despise so much with every ounce in her body. “He wanted to take over the goddamn universe or even destroy it. I don’t know what it was he wanted to do, but he seemed intent on killing me.” She laughed. “How ironic, isn’t it? That the monster dies before the victim is taken …”

“FAITH! SNAP OUT OF IT NOW!”

And then Darkblade died. Faith fell into Rene’s arms again. She tried standing up, but then she fell again and he caught her.

“You should’ve never done that,” he said with a serious look on his face.

“A serious Rene? You’re one to talk,” she said, laughing a little, as she was back to her usual outgoing self again. “So what’s happening again? Didn’t you say something about dark creatures as Saix’s army to take over the world?”

Rene rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, something along the lines of that …”

“Then what are waiting for? Haven’t we got a world to save?”

She ran off from the alleyway and into the open streets, where the main fighting was taking place. Rene sighed happily to see that the Faith he once knew before the whole amnesia thing took place was starting to slowly return …

“I guess we do,” he smiled and ran after her.

* * *​

Thanks to the strength that Riku had left, the remaining members of FFF and Frisk arrived in London to witness the war that was taking place. The Fantasy War had begun here now it seemed and perhaps Earth would fall quicker than Gaia because there was hardly anyone to fight. The scenes that she was witnessing horrified Frisk. She hadn’t been to London before, but she never thought that this would be her first sight of the capital city of England.

“I never thought that this was what he was planning,” she said.

“That’s what happens when we fall in love with the wrong people,” assumed Mitsuki.

But Frisk was shaking her head. “But I thought … I thought that he was the one. I’ve been drifting from guy to guy for a few years now and I thought that Saix was really the one, you know?” A few tears slid down her face. When Mitsuki was going to approach and comfort her, she noticed Frisk’s hand curl into a ball. “No, I can’t be in love with someone who’d be willing to take over the world. It sounds as crazy as being in love with a drug addict … no, wait. It’s even crazier.”

She began to walk off.

“Where are you going?” yelled Julius. “You’ll get yourself killed!”

“You have a world to save,” Frisk sighed sadly, turning to face them all. “But that’s not what I can do. I won’t get killed because Aztec or Saix won’t allow it. Saving the world isn’t in my category, anyway.” She walked off, muttering something under her breath. “Getting out of Saix’s life is.”

* * *​

Faith and Rene were here to do the job that they had been trained to do for three months. Fighting for justice, Doomsday wasn’t as light as they both had thought at first, which was why they were fighting harder than ever. Rene was combating his enemies with his blade, whilst Faith relied on her powers and mortal combat to get one over her own enemies. A large number had collided with them in particular. Perhaps Saix had plans for both of them? Neither of them had attempts on their lives as of yet. But these soldiers that they were fighting weren’t like any regular army. These were shadows that kept on multiplying in great numbers. The dark creatures in the skies seemed to care less about them because they were on the ground.

Tell me you’re doing a good job, Faith transferred her thoughts to Rene’s mind.

He laughed at her remark and jumped back from an attempted body slam. Ha! You’re one to talk! I’m on my eighteenth now and boy, isn’t he in the mood for a good fight!

At this point, she laughed and mocked him. Eighteen? I’m on forty-two.

“Bugger,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m being outdone by a GIRL.”

But this was no time for a competition, even though that was the way that Faith and Rene saw it as at first. The more the war dragged on, the more they saw it as the most important fight of their lives. After all, this war would impact the future. People were dying from the Red Rose Movement already – which only gave a reason for Faith go to over the limit with her powers. Something that ticked Rene off.

“Are you mad?” he shouted, as they came back to back, cornered in an alley.

“Yeah, and if you’re going to tell me that Patricia said this and that, then forget it,” she grinned. “Because you know damn well I’m going to ignore you like I always do with her.” She raised her hands and the shadows around them went flying back into the walls. When they were about to rise again, Faith grabbed Rene’s waist and they flew up into the sky. “That’s something shadows have to catch on – flying. They’re only useful on the ground.”

“Yeah, on the topic of being on the sky … we’re about to get burnt to cinders by these fire-breathing dragons!” yelled Rene, as several black dragons surrounded them.

“Ohhh yeah, never thought about them,” Faith laughed it off.

She stopped laughing when they flew at her and their horns narrowly missed their puny bodies. Faith flew higher into the sky so much that Rene was afraid that they’d be flying up into space. However, all became clearer when Faith began to fly forwards right towards Big Ben.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” jumped Rene. “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”

“YES, I AM!” Faith said loudly, coming out with more laughter. Rene looked like he couldn’t watch. “I should take you flying more often. It’s not too bad when you’ve flown hundreds of feet in the air after a few weeks … you get to see things others wouldn’t …”

“But you’re seriously expecting the dragons to fly RIGHT INTO Big Ben?”

“What other choice do I have – keep flying and see if they want a spot of tea?”

“Well, I don’t know … maybe fire-breathing dragons need some tea to recharge their batteries!”

“If you want to jump ship, then you can do so if you want …”

Rene looked downwards, gulped and shook his head.

“Uh-uh! No chance, no way!” he shouted. “Oh, what the hell … GO FOR IT!”

* * *​

Riku, now back to his full strength, had one important job to take care of before attending to more important matters such as the war. Even though the idiot was a slimy git that kept on defying death itself, Aztec had to be admired. Riku found it quite ironic that he had managed to find his way into Frisk’s body and then take over Saix when he least expected it. This was definitely something to tease him with …

Aztec turned to face Riku on the rooftop. He had finally found what he had been looking for, the Red Rose Movement headquarters. One of their soldiers had let slip to him before he died. The soldier thought he would live, but obviously got the wrong end of the stick when Aztec snapped his neck and let his dead body fall off the rooftop to sixty feet down below on the ground. It had finally come to this.

“There’s a face that I thought I’d never see again,” he sneered, as he held Saix’s Soul Eater in his right hand. “Riku Walker … my, my … how strong you’ve become and how many obstacles you had to overcome just to get here to see where I’m standing.”

“Aye, I’ve had my troubles here and there,” nodded Riku in agreement, “but I was kind of hoping that I could speak to Saix personally. You see, I’ve got a little score to settle with him and you know how angry I can be when I don’t get what I want.” The Way To Dawn immediately appeared in his right hand and he held it above his head, getting into a fighting position. “Right now, I think Saix could agree he’s a damsel in such great distress. But of course, we both know he won’t like that. So why don’t you just go to the afterlife instead of defying death like your master did?”

“Darkblade is no longer my master!” shouted Aztec angrily. “You can bet that I’ll let go of Saix quite soon … I’ve got my eye on someone else. The slayer of Darkblade is who I need … the one that they call me Rene Herrod, the prophesised one … well, one of the prophesised ones …”

“Good job that Darkblade’s gone actually,” Riku looked relieved. “The first time around that we sealed him away, it took me and Faith to perform a ritual. Our light and darkness had to be combined together to seal his whole entity inside that stone tablet. You lingered in the darkness continuing to evade me for so long. But when Darkblade returned, your intentions were clear. You wanted that power that Darkblade had, didn’t you? Well, now you know he’s dead … the power is dead and so is the power inside Saix … you know what that means, right?”

He ran swiftly at Aztec and grabbed Saix by the throat.

“It means that you can’t hide forever, Aztec. You’re going to hell – or wherever it is you’re going – and you’re going to stay there for a very long time.” Riku released Aztec and watched Saix’s weak body fall to the ground. “Saix will now know … that his servants aren’t following him anymore. You showed Saix something that he may never have known. Congratulations, Aztec.” He stuck the Way To Dawn in Saix’s chest. “You’ll die a proper death and was some use in the end after all …”

Darkness left Saix’s body and the screaming of Aztec slowly faded away. Riku dismissed the Way To Dawn and he looked down at Saix, who was slowly coming back to consciousness. He decided not to stay here because Saix would only want revenge for their mutual power thing that was going on. This world needed him now and that was where he was going.

Saix opened his eyes to what had been going on for many months now.

He got back up to his feet, now recovering from the whole Aztec disaster, and wiped the dust off his black cloak. A wretched expression was written all over his face. How dare that they even betray HIM, their master! Their actions were appearing in his mind right now because he was torturing their minds. The darkness inside of him was spiralling out of control. He just HAD to get the information out of them!

Aztec was gone … nothing more than dust in the air or ashes in the ground. Saix was finally able to breathe again. But he couldn’t help getting over that certain revelation he had unravelled. They were betraying him! How could they when it was him that kept him together leading up to the months of the final battle? The Fantasy War was HIS personal vendetta against FFF and he wanted to take it out on Earth! He would bleed to make sure that he got his revenge!

“Enough is enough,” said Frisk, as she came face to face with the man that she had fallen in love with. Saix turned to face her. She still looked the same, but her innocence was taking over. He didn’t like that about her. He wanted her to be like him and be evil. Yet somehow, he knew that this wasn’t going to happen. Would she turn against him as well? “I can’t be with you anymore, Saix! You’re about to take over my world! Have you ever thought about how I felt?” She was now shouting. “I LOVED YOU! You showed me a world that I never thought was possible! I can’t be safe as long as you’re alive and trying to wreck my world!”

Faith lowered her head. Frisk had told her how much she had loved Saix and was shocked to hear these things about him. To learn that someone you loved, your supposed soul mate, was doing something terrible and you couldn’t do anything about that. But one thing haunted Faith’s mind. Frisk had been searching for Mr Perfect for a few years now – she had found him here. But one problem, of course …

He wasn’t perfect.

Was this the end of what could have been a beautiful relationship?

“You’ve caused all this!” yelled Saix, pointing his finger at Faith. She was surprised that he could see her, but obviously, he could. “You and your FFF buddies have been messing things up all the time! But no, this is the last time you wreck something like this up! You don’t get to ruin my plans this time, Faith Crest! You might not have died properly that night in the ocean, but I shook you up really bad …”

“It was you?” whispered Faith.

The memories of that night were coming back to her and as Saix had put it, she was shook up really bad. This was what she was feeling like right now. He had mentioned someone had killed her. Was he her killer? Well, at least she had found him. Without any warning, she swung her arm and Saix went flying back into the wall. Frisk begged her to stop, but she carried on walking forwards towards Saix, who was laughing, as his lip carried on bleeding. The violent thoughts weren’t gone from her mind yet. No, it seemed that these thoughts weren’t even from Darkblade either. They were from her!

“You’re lucky that you’re alive right now,” she said, so close she was only inches away from Saix’s face.

She started to walk away, but then suddenly felt something burn her back.

Faith fell to the ground and Rene came running as soon as he heard what was going on. A dark energy ball had sent her flying to the ground, but it had not come from Saix’s hand. No, he was far too weak to summon one of them right now, considering his mind was intent on making his army pay for betraying him. The dark energy ball had come from somewhere else.

Frisk glanced at the palm of her hand.

That was where it had come from – and she didn’t know why it had done. But there was something she was about to discover that would rock her world …

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Sixteen

Concealing What Is Inside​

Rene helped Faith up to her feet, but instantly noticed that she was unconscious and bleeding. He swore at Saix, cursed him and ran off in the opposite direction, hoping to find some help. This left the evil mastermind to turn to Frisk.

“Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?” he asked calmly.

“I … I dunno!” protested Frisk. She tried to look innocent because that was what she was. But he glared coldly at her. He had every reason to hate her right now. He didn’t hate her because he hadn’t been the one to throw the dark energy ball at Faith. No, he hated her because he had seen this incredible burst of power coming from her.

Frisk left in a hurry because she was afraid.

Afraid of what was happening.

Afraid of the change in her.

* * *​

“Come on, we’ve got a world to save!” bellowed Riku, as he dived down to the beach and hit the sand. He swung the Way To Dawn at a few shadows that tried to devour him. “At this rate, we might as well let Saix do the job if you’re not going to do anything!”

“We – will – do – something!” panted Lady Aerith, trying to breathe.

The FFF team had ran a long way – making Riku look like the healthiest one out of the whole bunch. The others were panting and gasping for air, but they stopped as soon as they came under attack by even more shadows that were gathering.

“Since when did they all start coming after us?” Koloth wondered out loud.

“Maybe we’re the dessert on the menu,” suggested Mark, but only murmured it.

On the count of three, the strong team of FFF dived towards the shadows, ready to take them down.

* * *​

There was only one person that Frisk could turn to right now because Faith wasn’t the right person to turn to, considering she had just nearly killed her again. That person was Patricia Musso, the mother figure, the only one who could figure out what change had occurred within her. But then there was one more thing to consider.

The Red Rose Movement had fallen. Saix had found it.

I don’t know where on earth she could be, she thought, as she ran across the harbour.

And then …

“Frisk!” cried Patricia, as she bumped into her. She helped Frisk back to her feet. “Are you all right? You gave me a heart attack!”

“Well, you’re still alive and normal,” mumbled Frisk.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes, everything’s wrong! I nearly killed Faith again and it wasn’t fault!”

“You nearly killed Faith again?”

“I conjured a dark energy ball out of my own hand,” Frisk said, still looking shocked about the whole thing. “I need to know what’s been going on. I know Saix hasn’t done anything to me that would change me completely and …” Aztec couldn’t have possibly left any power behind. God, this is so damn confusing! “I need your help, Patricia. I need to know what’s happened to me. I don’t feel like myself on the inside and I think something terrible is going to happen …”

Patricia froze. She looked icily at Frisk and then sighed, as she pulled out a confidential file from her bag pack. Frisk looked confused. Instead of trying to calm her down, Patricia was getting a file out! What kind of comforting mother figure was she now? But the answers were about to be revealed.

“What are you doing?” asked Frisk.

Patricia pulled Frisk into a hug. She had been Faith’s friend for so many years now that she was like a second mother to her. In this unfortunate time, these kind of desperate times called for desperate measures. This why a form of motherly support was what Frisk needed right now. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening to her. Patricia released Frisk and sighed.

“I wanted to hold back this information, but because of what you did to Faith, which was an accident, then I decided that now was finally time to show what the real reason for it was.” She handed Frisk an important file that seemed confidential and top secret. “This … is the cause for everything. Frisk, you’re –”

“You’ve got this wrong,” Frisk was shaking her head in disbelief. “I can’t be –”

But the truth was in the file. It had every single detail of analysis in the duration that Frisk had been detained when being possessed by Aztec at the Red Rose Movement. She dropped the file in shock and took a few steps away from Patricia. Then her knees gave way and she fell on to the sand, a few tears sliding down her face.

In the meantime, Patricia was still taking this more seriously.

“You’re pregnant, Frisk,” she said firmly. “You’re nearly four months gone.”

“But h-how?” she stuttered.

“Well, I don’t want to point out the obvious,” Patricia rolled her eyes at that thought, “and I think you should know the details yourself. You have Saix’s son or daughter in your stomach, which could have a significant impact on every aspect of you. Your behaviour, body language … everything could change because you’re carrying that baby.”

“You sound like y-you want to k-k-kill it,” muttered Frisk, still fragile.

Patricia shook her head.

“I couldn’t kill it if I wanted to. The baby would kill me before I had a chance to kill it. And because of the power Saix has, that power has been passed down to your child. It could control you even for a moment. But it already did that, didn’t it? In that moment of anger, the child leapt to its father’s defence and struck down his worst enemy, that worst enemy being Faith. The child is indeed active and it’s only a matter of time when things get even more worse than they are right now.”

But nothing seemed to faze Frisk.

She was pregnant. She never thought it had been possible. She was scared.

A weak Faith watched them, being supported by Rene. So this was the revelation that she would discover. It sickened her that there was a being – possibly a monster – in her best friend and could take over at any minute. It angered her that it made her want to rip the child apart. But then again, this was Frisk she was talking about here. She’d have to get to Frisk to kill the child.

“Killing isn’t the best option,” muttered Rene, as if he had read her mind.

“I know,” she nodded abruptly. She couldn’t do anything right now. The world was being taken over by Saix’s army, who had betrayed him. The world was coming to an end. But unlike Gaia, which had been saved, maybe Earth would crumble. Maybe she couldn’t do anything to stop it. Then suddenly, an idea clicked in her head. “Rene, I think I know how to stop the war.” She froze in shock of her idea. “I could save everyone.”

“How? Tell me what to do and where to go.”

“There was this machine at the Red Rose Movement headquarters! I used it to help me learn to control my telekinetic powers even better! Of course! I could use my powers on that machine to send back the army! Isn’t that a brilliant idea? The force of using the machine can expand my powers to moving more people and things than I can imagine!”

“The Musso Invention.”

Rene raised an eyebrow. That was what the machine was called and had been invented by Patricia in the years to come. Perhaps Doomsday wouldn’t be as doomed as they had originally thought.

“But wait,” he said. “Saix is still up there. How are you going to get past him?”

“We’ll need an old friend,” smiled Faith, crossing her arms and now able to stand ever since Rene had patched up her back wound. “Riku’s the only one who can take on Saix. He said that I ever needed to reach him in the war, then I have to do one thing and it can be quite risky, so I’ll need you to stop me if something bad happens.” She closed her eyes. “I have to do the inevitable and open my heart to the darkness, so he can smell my dark scent.”

“This is going to be worse than letting dragons crash into Big Ben,” murmured Rene.

“I heard THAT!”

“Yeah, well, it’s my opinion. I’ll stop you should you go too far in …”

* * *​

On the battlefield, it seemed that FFF weren’t doing so bad. Whilst Lady Aerith was gathering her energy for Holy and healing her allies with white magic, Mark was throwing the shadows off with telekinesis, Koloth and Julius had teamed together to cut them down with their bloodstained blades, Angelus was using her aura reading to confuse soldiers, Mitsuki was cleverly using acrobatics and swordsmanship to win over her enemies, whilst Riku was doing his own thing.

And then almost like that, Riku sensed her. He sniffed the air and growled.

This better be an emergency, he thought and then turned to the others. “I’m going to have to go. Faith’s calling for me near the Red Rose Movement tower. Looks like she’s going to need my help.” He paused for a moment, considering what could happen next and then dismissed the Way To Dawn. “If I don’t come back –”

“You’ll come back, damn it!” yelled Koloth. “Just make sure you kick Saix’s arse if she asks it.”

“Actually, DON’T do it if she asks,” said Julius, then forming a wide smile. “Kick it, anyway, regardless of her request. Do it, anyway. Give him a kick from all of us!”

“Be careful, I sense danger ahead,” warned Angelus.

“You will come back alive because I have so much activity planning for you, mister!” Mitsuki poked him in the chest to then dive to her left and get locked in a swordfight with a soldier.

“Tell Faith I said hi!” winked Mark, as he ducked from a sword swing. “Gee, these soldiers are really nasty …”

“Go before it’s too late!” cried Lady Aerith. “Holy should be ready in the next half an hour! Until then, hold them down!”

Riku smiled at his comrades.

“I will,” he nodded. “I’ll be back alive just like I’m promising now and I won’t let anything happen to Faith or that klutz Rene. He needs to be alive especially because he’s going to make a pretty good darn FFF member when we rebuild what we lost.” And then he thought of Faith. We’ll need to bring her back alive, too. She needs to remember and regain what is lost. “I’ll see you lot later!”

And with that, he dashed towards the Red Rose Movement tower, which was a ten-minute run away.

* * *​

Faith is going to make the last stand,” predicted Patricia, as she and Frisk walked across a metal bridge on the way to the Red Rose Movement tower. “She telepathically told me that she’s going to use my grand invention to push all of Saix’s army back and save the world.”

Frisk smiled, although it was not forced either.

“That’s good to know,” she assumed. “It’s good to know that the world can be saved after all.” But then she sighed. “What about Saix? If we save the world, then will the Red Rose Movement kill him if they detain him?”

Almost immediately, Patricia shook her head. “No, that’s not the way that the Red Rose Movement works. We stand for equal rights and equal treatment. Killing any creature isn’t in our books, but then again … there is one exception.” Frisk asked what it was and Patricia lowered her head, looking guilty. “If the individual is too dangerous and much too powerful for us to handle, then we have no choice, but to destroy them.” She turned to face Frisk. “It’s for the world’s good.”

“So if Saix is too powerful for you to handle, then …”

“We may have to destroy him. I know it’s not in our interests, but …”

“I understand. He’s too dangerous, too powerful, you kill him. That’s the way it is.”

* * *​

Faith and Rene arrived at the tower. They flew up to the top, which happened to be sixty feet above the surface, and saw that Saix was there now at full power again after recovering from the Aztec situation. Rene immediately took out his blade and Faith scanned the skies for Riku.

“He needs to be here,” he muttered.

“I wish you could’ve come alone,” said Saix in a dark voice. He turned to face Faith and he looked the evilest he could have ever been. It was almost as if he was going berserk because of everything that had happened. “But now that you brought your toy boy, I can kill you both!”

“Where’s Riku?” shouted Rene to Faith.

“I don’t know!” she shouted, but was about to feel the full force of Saix’s anger.

“You’ve angered me for the last time, Faith Crest!” yelled Saix. “You’ve twisted Frisk’s heart, you want to save the world and destroy me! Well, guess what? I have you right where I want you and I’ll make sure that you bleed slowly and painfully! Riku can’t help you now, this is how it all ends!”

His weapon was different this time. The Soul Eater was no longer there, but there was a claymore instead. He looked at the dark sky and finally saw that the moon was here. The moon was where he could draw power and finally kill these two pathetic little kids with power.

“BEGONE!”

Saix went into full berserk mode swinging his claymore around with light blue lightning striking all around Faith and Rene. Faith put up her psychic barrier to protect them, but it was too much. She and Rene ended up separated. Whilst Rene hung on to the edge of the building, Faith grabbed his hand and flew off into the sky.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” yelled Rene, as he was put down to the floor.

“Something I should’ve done a long time ago!” shouted Faith, as she flew back up to face her would-be killer.

“NO! FAITH, GET BACK HERE!” he cried.

Faith returned to the top of the tower to face Saix. It was funny, she thought, of how it would all end here. If she died tonight, then she didn’t care. At least she knew that Saix had killed her and failed to finish the job. All those hints, all those taunts had made it possible for this to happen.

She got into a fighting stance, not caring it Riku wasn’t coming or not.

“Give me your best shot!” she yelled.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Seventeen

Loss of Self Control​

This was it.

It was really happening.

Faith versus Saix …

Now it’s really getting heated up in here, she thought.

But before even Saix could get close and attack her with his claymore, a fiery blade appeared in Faith’s hand. She protected herself from the attacking by engaging in a swordfight with the evil mastermind. He did look taken aback and astounded to see that she was carrying a weapon. As soon as the pair broke off from contact, Saix laughed.

“It’s nice so nice to see that you’ve returned, Crimson!” he yelled.

Faith was about to argue back, but stopped when he called her Crimson.

“You never knew that was your nickname, did you?” cried Saix, calling out to her. “Here we stand on the Rose Tower, the tower of your godmother’s all important movement, the Red Rose Movement. You’re telling me that you still can’t remember some things?” He got into a fighting stance and motioned for her to come closer. “If you can’t remember your incredible swordsmanship, then perhaps I’ll enlighten you to do it myself!”

“Incredible swordsmanship …” Faith quoted him silently and grinned. Maybe I’m not dead yet. Maybe I’ll last for at least a good ten minutes if he thinks I’m THIS good.

They came to close contact again going for the win. Or rather, Saix was much more evil and going for the kill. Faith could finally see that for the fist time, there was pure evil in those light orange eyes of his. No wonder he had gotten that X scar between his eyes …

* * *​

Patricia and Frisk hurried as fast as they could. Well, they couldn’t technically run because Frisk was pregnant and Patricia was somewhat of a doctor anyway, knowing that running for her would be the bad thing to do. They were headed towards the Rose Tower, where Frisk had somehow (using the child’s powers, she had no idea how she had managed to use them at all) detected Faith and Saix up there fighting away.

So instead of the pair of them running, Patricia arranged a spare team of soldiers to lift Frisk up and carry her, whilst she ran on to the tower. They were covered as well and wouldn’t be attacked so easily. Despite the fact that this situation was very overwhelming, Frisk wasn’t actually complaining about being lifted and given a ride there for a change. As a matter of fact, it had always been one of her fantasies to get the special treatment from the soldiers …

Actually, she realised and mentally slapped herself, that’s just plain wrong.

Frisk turned to Patricia.

“Why don’t you let them carry you as well?” she asked her.

“Because … you … are … our … priority,” Patricia said between breaths. She was pretty healthy and fit for her age. Frisk supposed it was being in the Red Rose Movement that did that. Wait! Forget that, it was about her starting it in the first place. Suddenly, everyone came to a stop. “What’s the problem, Sergeant?”

A tough-looking soldier turned to face Patricia.

“We found a friend.”

“Rene?” stared Patricia, as she found him banging on the wall in anger. “Rene? What’s wrong? What are you doing here on your own? You were supposed to be with Faith!”

“It’s my fault!” shouted Rene. “She … wanted to fight him alone. She said that she didn’t need anyone else to get hurt. She had this look on her face, you know? She had that look that almost said that she would die to make sure that the world would be saved. Damn it …” He was trying his very best to hold back the tears in his eyes. “We had a plan to save the world and now Saix may have just blown that chance.”

“The Musso Invention,” smiled Patricia, nodding abruptly. “Yes, I know. I built that machine for a very specific reason, Rene.” She bent down to his level and tried to make him feel better. “I’ve always known Doomsday would come. I’ve always known that five things would happen. I’ve always known that someone would change. Look! You were the one that changed! You became a hero!”

At that point, Rene rolled his eyes. But then he grinned sheepishly and showed off his blade, which only caused Frisk to groan and shake her head. Patricia continued with what she was saying after sending her a playful glare.

“And Saix’s army betrayed him. Despite that, we’re still in a world that needs saving. And there’s also the revelation, ha, ha …” She laughed sarcastically at the last point.

“Pat, I know about the revelation,” Rene cut in at that point. “I know what this is all about. Frisk is pregnant with Saix’s child, I know. Faith and I … we overheard you two talking before. That’s when we went after Saix … we didn’t want to get revenge or anything. Faith knew that if the world needed to be saved, Saix should be the guy to stop. She wasn’t intent on revenge at all! She isn’t even going to kill him. She just wants to save the world.” He looked at a crestfallen Frisk. “And, Frisk, I hate what you did. I hate that you fell into the wrong guy’s arms by accident. But like I said … it was an accident. It was also an accident that you nearly killed Faith twice …”

“Yes, accident! Let’s leave it at that!” interrupted Frisk, clicking her fingers and laughing nervously. “We got a world to save. Did you remember THAT?”

* * *​

Saix carried on in his berserk mode as if he hadn’t been hit yet when the actual truth was that Faith had struck so many times that she had lost count of it all. She had to keep putting up her barrier to withstand his attacks, but now she was crumbling under the pressure. As the sweat poured down her forehead, Faith glanced around. At least no one would get hurt now. She had lasted ten minutes as she’d predicted and she was still alive.

If she had one wish right now, then she’d want to reborn as a phoenix and take down Saix at that moment. But wishes weren’t on the options list now. What was happened to be fighting back! She released her barrier after it sustained too much damage and went on the offensive. His claymore and her crimson blade clashed so many times that sparks began to fly out whenever the metal connected.

“You’re not doing bad for a child,” said Saix, his face emotionless. Nothing, but evil.

“And you’re not doing too bad for an immortal guy!” grinned Faith, as she breathed heavily.

“But you’re not wearing out and that’s good for me.”

He flew into the air and outstretched his arms. Faith groaned. He was gathering energy and power from the moon again. She looked at her watch, which read eleven thirty at night. It would be midnight soon and perhaps Doomsday would be over? It had been going on for a long time now, anyway …

“Yeah, as if anything I want is going to happen,” she muttered under her breath.

As Saix continued to gather his power from the moon, Faith saw this as a great opportunity to seize the upper hand. This was her own personal battle against her own would-be killer if she had stayed dead. No, she was alive. He would be dead if they kept going on like this … and she would not be the one who would kill either. She flew up into the air and stabbed him in the right shoulder.

He cried out in pain and immediately stopped gathering his power from the moon. He looked to his left to notice the crimson blade in his shoulder. His eyes began to glow. What was going on? Faith heard Saix’s thoughts. They were all too mumbled up and it caused great pain for her mind.

Saix seized the chance and released the blade from his shoulder, thus, kicking Faith into the ground. She groaned in pain. She was only alive because the Powers That Be grant that she was. She tried to stand up, but was too much in shock. It was the matter of the shock, not the pain. How could he have gathered that power to be released? And those orange eyes … they had changed.

“We used to be such good friends, Faith Crest,” said Saix, as his eyes turned a dark colour now. “We were partners back in FFF until you exploited me as a dark conniving, power-hungry tyrant.” Faith’s eyes widened at that point. That memory came back to haunt her. “Do you remember now? The darkness was good to taste. I wanted more of it! And before I knew it, I was more powerful than I could ever imagine. You see … Darkblade had given me inspiration. He rose above us and decided to take charge of his own destiny! I wanted to do the same. But unlike him –”

He floated back down to the ground.

“… I am still alive. I have not crumbled to the pathetic blood traitors of Gaia. Those blood traitors will be eliminated, I assure you. I can kill your planet easily without my disloyal army’s help. All I need to do is unlock the ancient guardian of this planet and use its power to create another world! Can you imagine it, Faith Crest?” He began to laugh manically. “My own world! I will create a world to correct the mistakes of this one! I will eliminate Gaia and any other world that has tried to defy me! By using your guardian’s power, I will combine all dimensions together to recreate this world!”

So THAT was his intention.

It didn’t sound like a very nice intention to Faith. She rose to her feet again, feeling angry and wanting to unleash that anger upon Saix. Forget about stopping him, he needed to be killed! She remembered that the Red Rose Movement only destroyed creatures that were deemed too dangerous and powerful for them to handle. Saix happened to fall under that category. There was no way she was going to let Saix be the ruler of a new Earth!

“Now that you got that stupid plan of yours out in the open, do I happen to be alive in that new Earth?” Faith asked sarcastically. “Because from where I’m standing, you so want to take me in!”

“I am so going to kill you tonight,” Saix glared coldly at her.

“And you know something?” she continued to say, spinning her crimson blade around with one hand only, as she got into a fighting stance again. “Forget about not killing you! Because you said that, I’ve changed my mind! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU’VE CAUSED!”

* * *​

The battle for the earth was beginning to crumble. The dark army raised against the world was beginning to win and Patricia was beginning to doubt the Red Rose Movement’s power against this unearthly one they were facing. But she couldn’t help her own people now. There was some other fiercer battle happening up at the Rose Tower between Faith and Saix. She was praying to God that her goddaughter was still alive.

“You know what? Forget who Saix is! I say Faith kill the bastard!” yelled Rene.

“Rene!” hissed Patricia angrily.

“Pat, I don’t care what you say anymore! He was the one that killed Faith! He was the one that kidnapped her numerous times and tortured her! She had to get rescued by FFF all the time! But now that you’ve trained her, she can whip the guy’s arse and we’ll never have to deal with him again!” He turned to Frisk. “I’m sorry, but I can’t hold back how I feel! I can’t suppress my emotions, damn it!”

But there was one emotion he could hold back, yet he was fighting hard to keep it locked away. Despite only knowing Faith for two years, Rene was in love with her. He had been in love with her since the first time he had ever set eyes on her. He was hopelessly in love with Faith and if he ever heard Saix had killed her for the second time and succeeded, then darkness could truly cloud over his heart unleashing his true potential power …

“I know how you feel,” sighed Frisk. The fact that soldiers were carrying her didn’t seem to affect her anymore. “I want to be on your side. I really do, but … I don’t know how I feel. I’m in love with Saix and then there’re all these secrets he hasn’t told me. Finding out he killed Faith was one thing, but raising an army to destroy Earth is another …”

Rene looked up at the sky. It began to rain heavily and his hair was wet within moments. He took out his blade and looked into his reflection, as the soldiers, Patricia and Frisk carried on without him. Rene looked into his reflection, knowing that he had to do something. A decision was weighing heavily on his mind. Faith didn’t want him to get hurt, but he couldn’t walk away. He couldn’t walk away and knew Faith was capable of killing Saix. What was he to do?

“I’ll do it myself,” he answered that question to himself.

The time for being a man had come for Rene. He took up his blade and raised it into the air as if he was about to march off to battle. His eyes were fierce, almost determined to go ahead with whatever mission he had planned.

“Kara, Lily, this is for you two,” he whispered silently.

Rene looked towards the tower, knowing she would need his help shortly. Ignoring the fact that he had been tagging along with Patricia and Frisk in the meantime, he dashed off towards the tower right past them and did not look back to see if they were following them. This mission, whatever it was, may have looked suicidal. But Rene knew that it was all he could do. He couldn’t think of Faith becoming a killer. If someone had to kill Saix, then it would just have to be him.

* * *​

“How long we got until Holy, sis?” called Julius loudly, as he carried on fending off the attacks he received from the shadows and unearthly soldiers. These are nothing compared to the pawn at home! Aha, I’d like to see Saix come down here and grace himself with his pathetic loser presence! For this was the first that he truly felt alive. He was still grieving Shenorai’s death, but even he knew that he had to move on and heal from the pain. There was still so much more to live for and, apparently, to fight for. “I am having the time of my life and maybe, just maybe, I don’t need Instant Messenger for once!”

“Holy should be here in the next half an hour or so!” replied Lady Aerith. But then she looked confused at the mention of Instant Messenger. “Jul, of all the times, you mention that NOW? We can’t use it, anyway! There’s no connection, we have no computer and we are using our time for fighting!” A soldier came over to stab her, but she kicked him in the nuts and he went falling back. “That’s right! I went THERE!”

“Wow,” Mitsuki was in awe.

“A rebellious Lady Aerith,” Angelus took note.

“And you didn’t even need your aura reading for that,” grinned Mark.

Koloth, in the meantime, faced more trouble. He growled when there were zombies rising from the ground and trying to pull him underneath the surface. “Julius! I’m going to need some firepower over here! Zombies!”

Julius turned to his comrade immediately and summoned several fireballs to shoot at the zombies. Koloth was eventually released and he rose to back to his feet, giving the thumbs up to say thanks.

“Something bad is happening up at the Rose Tower!” Lady Aerith pointed out.

The rest of the FFF team turned to look when their enemies were defeated.

“Dear lord … God help whoever is up there with him,” observed Koloth. “We all know what this means. Saix is in his most powerful state and almost no force on the earth can stop him.” The others glared at him. “I said almost! I wouldn’t be surprised if Faith was up there right now trying to fend him off …”

“She is,” Angelus said immediately. “Her aura is growing stronger. It is brighter than any other aura I’ve ever seen. So young and vulnerable … yet she is strong, determined and confident that she can see this through. But then Saix …” She cried out in pain and fell to her knees. The others bent down worriedly. “His power is terrifying! I have never seen anything like that! He is more powerful … more powerful than … more powerful than Darkblade! It is hurting me because he senses me there … he is so angry! His intentions are darker than anything I’ve ever seen …”

“What is he going to do?” asked Lady Aerith, who was the only one stood up because Holy was still in the middle of being summoned and it meant she couldn’t move much since she was gathering the energy to summon it.

“Recreate this world by destroying it. He’s going to kill everyone on it and start all over.”

“That doesn’t sound like Saix,” Julius said out loud. “The killing part, I get that. But why destroy the world and restart it? Isn’t Gaia enough for him? Why should he have to tear apart Earth instead?”

“That’s because Earth is unique,” grinned Mark. “Not I’m insulting Gaia in any way, but Saix sees us as weaklings. He sees our planet as having so much potential. It’s no wonder that he’d go for us … most of us don’t even know about the existence of Gaia, monsters and unearthly creatures …”

“Well, today’s the day that everyone saw them,” mumbled Koloth.

* * *​

Faith fought so hard. She fought with courage. She fought with her heart. She fought for her planet. She fought as the champion of Earth, protecting it from Saix and his plan of rebirth. It had only been a mere seventeen years that she had lived on this planet, but Faith wasn’t about to give up and surrender it to Saix just yet. No, she was far from done.

“No one can save you!” hissed Saix, as he went into yet another berserk mode.

Wondering if she had her own kind of special mode, Faith sustained the attacks he sent at her. She kept on deflecting the claymore with her own crimson blade. What was it going to take for him to stop?

And then suddenly, he managed to cut through her flesh.

She cried out in pain and then glanced down at her left hand. At the back, the claymore had pierced through it and blood dripped down to the floor. The wound was quite deep and it hurt like hell. But it wasn’t about to stop Faith. In fact, it brought a sneaky grin upon her face.

“So you want to fight to the death,” she said, eyeing him carefully. “You want to see me bleed?” She couldn’t believe what she was saying. Maybe she was the one that would bleed her own blood. Maybe she was one that would die tonight, on Doomsday. “If you want to see me die, then go ahead and do it. But I’m not going to let you do it so easily! You’ll have to take me down first!”

Her eyes turned a crimson colour and she launched herself at Saix.

He, in the meantime, seemed satisfied.

“Now there’s that power surge I’d been waiting for,” he said, as a storm brewed all around them. The winds swept hard, lightning struck and loud thunder was heard. The rain was still there as well, pouring down heavily on them. “It’s no wonder where you got the nickname of Crimson. You never realised that your eyes turn that colour when you’re really heating up in battle. Now it’s ON!”

Sparks continued to fly out of their weapons on contact. With the weather elements raging on, both competitors were willing to fight to the death. Neither one would give up. Just when would this madness end?

It had been a long twenty minutes since the battle had started.

But Saix knew he had the upper hand. He kicked Faith in the gut and she went flying towards the edge. Instead of finishing her off like she thought he would, Saix raised a crimson stone that he had tucked away in his pocket.

“Come to me, great guardian! Guardian of the Earth! Azalea!” he shouted. “I command you to come forth to me and destroy this world! Recreate what must be done! Bring forth all worlds together and unite, so that Earth may be reborn!”

Faith glanced upwards to notice a heavenly angel floating down from the sky and then looked at the crimson stone that Saix was holding. The angelic figure was going towards the stone. The winds became stronger and the danger was immense. Suddenly, a portal opened up behind the angel, as worlds began to reunite.

“Azalea will bring about my world,” Saix said to Faith, glancing down at her. “You’re too late, child. This will end everything. You, your pathetic buddies at FFF, even your own family will die. I’ll make sure that all existence on this planet will end with immediate effect! It’s only a matter of minutes now that a new Earth will rise!”

But she rose to her feet, for what seemed to be, the millionth time.

Saix looked at her with horror.

“How can you still fight with an apocalypse looming over you?” he hissed nastily.

“I’ll fight … for as long as … for as long as I can …” she managed to say, now raising the hilt of the crimson blade. “You might have been planning this for a long time, Saix, but I’ve had a plan of my own, too.”

“Really? Does it match up to mine?” Saix asked sarcastically.

“This isn’t the time for jokes, Saix!” shouted Faith, standing her ground. “This might be my last stand, these maybe the last minutes of my life. But I’ll keep getting up to fight you. You’ve been getting away with everything for far too long! I’ll die trying to save the world. So what? You could kill me. You could destroy the world. But there’s just one thing you could never take away.” She looked at him fiercely at this point. “Ourselves! You could kill us, but you could never take us away completely!”

And that was when she made the final stand.

She stood firmly, as Saix rushed towards her. She closed her eyes ready for death. If she couldn’t stop him, then maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad after all.

But then …

The claymore was at her neck. Why wasn’t she dead already? Faith finally knew that she would be the one to die. But Saix was hesitating. It had nothing to do with the fact that Frisk was there. No, something else must have distracted him somehow. But what was it? Faith kept yelling at him to kill her already as if she was wishing for death so much. But he didn’t do anything.

Rene, Frisk and Patricia arrived shortly after. Riku arrived as well to notice that the full force of Saix’s berserk mode had taken Faith down. She was bleeding heavily and was bruised on every inch of her body. She shouldn’t have technically been alive now. Faith wanted to die. She knew she wouldn’t remember anything. She knew that death didn’t seem so bad since she had seen it for the first time.

And then before she knew it, everything had changed …

It happened so fast and she couldn’t stop it from happening.

Patricia dashed forwards to her goddaughter in a desperate bid to save her life. But Saix was there, glaring coldly at the pitiful attempt she was making. Faith shook her head at her godmother not to come closer, but either Patricia hadn’t seen her shaking her head or she was defying her, anyway.

“You can’t have her!” she yelled. “You can’t take her!”

Saix was about to kill Faith, but then his claymore was impaled into the wrong person.

Frisk cried in terror and Rene looked at the scene, wide-eyed. He grabbed hold of Frisk, who wanted to run forward and help. A few tears streamed down Faith’s cheeks. Patricia looked down to see the claymore was in her stomach. It stuck out almost inches away from Faith’s body.

Patricia was shaking violently. The pain was unbearable.

Saix angrily took out the claymore out and Patricia went falling to the ground.

As if an electric shock had hit her, Faith got to her feet and caught her godmother before she could hit the floor.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” she shouted, as she couldn’t hide her tears away. “Patricia, don’t leave me!”

“Faith … it was … nice to know … that you …” Patricia tried to say the right words.

But Faith wasn’t listening to any of it. “You’re going to live, Patricia! You’re strong, you can get through this!” She looked at Rene. “Call an ambulance! Do something!” She then looked down at her godmother again. “Patricia, you’re going to be fine … Rene is going to call an ambulance now!”

“Ambulance … no, don’t … I had to … save … you …”

“You should’ve let me get hit! He was meant to get me, not you!”

Frisk covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn’t bear looking at her second mother bleeding to death. It was a horrible scene. Rene hadn’t called an ambulance. Like Frisk, he knew it was too late. He knew that she was about to die at any moment now.

“Promise me … you will … go … on …”

“I can’t do it without you, Patricia! You’re the only family I have left!”

“Promise … me … please …”

“I … I … I promise …”

A smile crept upon Patricia’s face. “I … will … always … remember … you …”

“And I’ll always remember you too, Patricia.”

“I … will … always … be … with … you … watching … you …”

“Patricia, please don’t say those things. You’re my godmother and I love you!”

“I … will … love … you … more … than … you … can … imagine …”

Faith’s eyes widened, as Patricia’s last moments were here.

“Goodbye …”

And with that, her eyes closed. The loss hit Faith hard. She cried harder than she had ever cried before. Her godmother was dead. Dead, lying here on the Rose Tower. It wasn’t right. She should have died! She should have been the one to die! Patricia had so many ambitions with the Red Rose Movement. It just wasn’t right!

Faith let go of Patricia and rested her on the ground.

“Faith,” said Riku in an alarming tone. “We have to move her.”

“She doesn’t move,” she said in a dark and serious tone of voice. She rose to her feet and then grabbed Saix by the throat, pushing him down to the ground. “She doesn’t move until he’s dead as well!”

Saix couldn’t breathe. He could see the darkness within Faith, unlike the others. Not even Riku could see the power emitting from her essence. He was astounded to see that she had become so powerful from one simple loss.

“She … got in the … way!” he choked.

“You should’ve done it quicker then!” yelled Faith, as she released him and then kicked him in the side a few times. “You killed her, so I’ll kill you!” It took Rene and Riku to hold her back from killing him. “STOP IT! YOU SAW HIM! HE KILLED PATRICIA! HE KILLED MY GODMOTHER!” When Riku suggested she should calm down, she punched him and then slapped Rene for no apparent reason. He looked taken aback and walked away. “I’m so sorry, Rene!”

Rene nodded, but then turned to Frisk.

“Whose side are you on now?” he said fiercely, almost as if he was viewing her in the same as he now saw Saix, a murderer.

“Azalea …” hissed Saix, as he looked up towards the angel. “Change this world, forget what has happened here and restart everything …”

“The entire universe is going to collapse if we stay here much longer!” warned Riku, recovering from his nasty punch. He gently rubbed his chin, where she had hit him. “This is Azalea, Earth’s ancient guardian watching over this planet. If she obeys Saix, then we’re dead.”

Faith looked up at the portal that had opened. Everything around here was getting windier than ever. It was time to act now. But she couldn’t shift the fact that Patricia had died. She couldn’t believe that Patricia’s blood had split just so that she could be saved.

 

[Amizon]

Chapter Eighteen

The Only Way​

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

Faith leapt to her feet to face Azalea.

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

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

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

“Whatever happened to the Riku that I knew? What happened to him? Did he ever give up when the chips were down? Would he admit defeat when it was around the corner? Would he throw in the towel when his enemies were much more powerful than he was?”

She paused for a moment. Riku didn’t reply probably because he was seeing the full extent of her rage through her red eyes.

“The answers to those questions are no! Riku wouldn’t give up! He wouldn’t give up when the chips were down! He wouldn’t admit defeat! He would fight his enemies no matter how powerful they were! Don’t you see?”

She looked at everyone else.

“The world can still be saved and I’ll show you.”

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

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

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

“Use it to get the soldiers out of Earth!” exclaimed Rene, who came to her side. He looked at her in the eyes as if he was going to say something, but backed away at that point. “You … should probably use that machine to get the soldiers out of our planet. I’m sure Patricia said that it was designed specifically for that purpose herself.” He forced a smile at that point. He was still going through the phase of Patricia being dead. “But she obviously wanted it to be named after her.”

Faith looked crestfallen again.

“Faith! Why else would she save your life? I know that it’s cruel for her to be taken away from us. I didn’t want her to die! I don’t want anyone to die!” But then he smirked. “Ok, maybe except Saix. But so what? Patricia saved your life, so that you could be able to do what she wanted you to do! She knew Doomsday was coming! She knew that you’d be the one to save the world! Question is … are you up to it?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *​

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *​

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

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

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

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

Azalea.

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

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

“You have much to unravel, Faith Crest,” said Azalea.

She stared at her. “Much to unravel? What are you talking about?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What? What do you need to tell her?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Home? What?” Faith stared.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Saving your life!” shouted Riku.

“AAAAHHH!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *​

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

And then a lot of things changed.

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

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

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

“Sure is me,” smiled Frisk.

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

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

* * *​

Earth. Cardiff, Wales.

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

The facts were there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I think so,” shrugged Riku.

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

“I look faint? Hang on a minute …”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Riku smiled.

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

Tears streamed down her face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Riku! Please don’t go!”

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

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

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

“He –”

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

This was the end of the line.

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

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

This was far from over.

In fact, it wasn’t even near the end.

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