occ If we do end up finishing off all the alrdy dead Maestors (Mika, Seymour and Kinok) we could fight the ronso Maestor but he was a victim jst like everyone else (he was the only good Maestor). I put dibs on Seymour to avenge Mika.

Also here's an idea we fight the 3 alrdy dead Maestors after Sin thus helping to end Sin and defeat Yevon, and they be our final battles, since the Maestor would b well powerful we could fight them 2 on 1. Eg Kobie and Sonya fight Kinok. Tanis and Fariel fight Mika. Neji and Melina fight Seymour. or i could be a big 6 on 3 battle.

The Six compainions approached the main enterance, it towered above them and of the enterences of the preavious temples, Melina and Neji had done much travelling when on their pilgramig and had visited all the temple apart from this one, and even they had never seen anything like, Neji approached the temple and tried to push the door open, he heaved and heaved but made no progress in opening the door. He turned to Kobie, "well are you just gonna stand their or are you gonna lend me a hand?"

Together they pushed at the door and eventually the door began to move with a great creak, dust and rust crumbled off the hinges and between the two doors. Kobie and Neji entered first followed closely by Fariel, Sonya and Melina. They all gazed upon the magnificant hall which seemed to rise to the heavens. It was similar to all the other temple but was grander by far. The angels gazed at the magnificant Architecture (occ cant beleive i spelt the rite! considering my poor spelling). Apart from being much bigger and more beautiful than the other temples, it seemed empty, all their was, was the usual statues of the previous high summoners minus two Lady Yocun and high summoner Braska. High Summoner Gorgan (i forgot his name), High Summoner Ohalland's statues stood proud in these temple with above them the Statue of Lady Yunalesca and her guardian/husband (i know i made this up, i dont think there was any statues in the temple but this way we can judge how old it is). Indeed this temple was old since it didnt have a statue of Lady Yocun who defeated Sin over 100 years ago. All that appeared to be in here was the great door behind the angels and a smaller door at the other end of the hall.

Neji approached to door to inspect, upon getting a better look he immediatly reconised it from his previous travels. "the chamber of the Faith! Melina come quick!" Melina followed by the other Angels hurried accross the room towards Neji, "look Melina the chamber of the faith, ha and no trials, what don you say Melina, i know its been awhile but i think the Magus sisters would be quiet useful don't you think," Melina nodded, the door opened upon Melina getting closer and she walked casually to the chamber of the faith to begin her preyer. Fariel tried to sneak in through the door behind Melina but was pushed back by Neji, "only the summoner can enter the Chamber of the Faith, you'll just have to wait pathiently until she exits," the door slammed behind once Melina was well inside, Neji stood arms folded infront of the door his acting out his Guardian job. Fariel mummbled something under her breath then stuck her tougue out at Neji, andered Neji attempted to grap her but, quickly she avoided him and hid behind Kobie.

“We’ve found them, Maester,” Kiba growled, using Kirareq’s orb to communicate with Mika back in Guadosalam.

“You know what to do,” Mika replied, his voice betraying no emotion whatsoever, “They are thieves, murderers, traitors and heretics. Kill them all.”

Kiba rumbled an acknowledgement.

“May Yevon be with you,” Mika said quietly, and signed off.

* * *

Sonya slid off Ferin’s back and shaded her eyes against the sun to try and make out what the bizarre machine in the air was.

“Is that an airship?” she asked, “What would an Al’bed be doing around here?”

They aren’t Al’bed, Sonya, a now-familiar voice said quietly inside her head.

Closing her eyes and using Tritoch’s Farsight ability, Sonya let her consciousness fly upwards like a falconer loosing a hawk. She circled and closed in on the whirring airship and saw the occupants through the porthole windows. The assassins!

Suddenly the witch, Kirareq, spun round and looked straight towards the window and Sonya felt a sharp pain in her head as her clairvoyant presence was violently expelled from the airship. She staggered back a pace and gasped in pain.

“You okay?” Fariel asked as she dismounted and let Ferin run back towards the temple.

“It’s the assassins!” Sonya gasped, “They’ve caught up with us!”

“Oh, sweet unsent Yevon on a pogo-stick…” Fariel breathed.

Sonya turned and saw that Fariel was not looking at her, but up at the airship. A great glowing meteor of fire had blasted from the airship’s prow and was swiftly coming towards them. Not only had Kirareq seen them, she was casting Firagas at them!

Sonya threw up her arms and a halo of light surrounded her and Fariel just as the Firaga smashed into them and blew a gaping crater in the ground where they were standing. Great clods of earth rained down and as the flames flared out and the dust began to settle, the two women were still crouching behind Sonya’s shield spell, driven to their knees by the force of the blast but otherwise unharmed.

Sonya straightened and punched her fist towards the sky.

“Tritoch, help me…” she whispered, and then aloud, “Firannon!”

For a second, lightning coiled and crackled around her arm, then bolts of lightning lanced from her fist up into the sky once, twice, three times. A sphere of light appeared where they struck the clouds, collapsed in on itself, then burst outwards again in a massive electrical storm. The clouds turned dark and the air was rent by sheet lightning, bright flashes surrounding the airship. A bolt of lightning zigzagged down and blew apart one of the airship’s rotors, and as the storm began to dissipate the airship spiralled downwards in its wake, trailing smoke, until it slammed into the ground with such force that it crumpled much of the airship’s superstructure and drove a trench in the plains for a good 50 metres before grinding to a halt. Sonya and Fariel held up their arms to shield their faces as they were showered with earth.

Sonya’s magical lightning storm flickered out, leaving an oppressive silence hanging in the air until Kobie, Neji and Melina came running across the plains towards them.

“You shot them down?” Neji asked mildly, looking at the ruins of the airship.

“Did she half!” Fariel laughed with hysterical sarcasm. Even Sonya herself looked stunned at the devastation her spell had caused.

“It was the assassins,” she explained.

“Or at least, it was,” Fariel added, advancing cautiously towards the airship. The others followed.

“No-one could’ve survived that, right?” she said hopefully as they tried to peer through a gaping rent in the cabin where the door had been torn clean off. Smoke obscured their view.

Suddenly Kobie and Sonya were hurled backwards by bolts of dark energy that shot from inside the crashed airship, and a crossbow quarrel buried itself in Neji’s chest. He roared in anger and tore it out as a black-clad figure leapt through the smashed doorway.

“Wrong again, Far!” Kerr shouted in triumph as, one after the other, Kirareq, Kiba and the Guado dropped down onto the grass. With a mighty shout Kiba slammed his broadsword into the ground and the resulting shockwave flung the Angels into the air and smashed them down again a hundred metres away with concussive force. As the dazed Angels staggered to their feet, the four assassins advanced towards them in a wide line, grim determination etched on their faces.

<ooc - there you go, we can spend the next 3 weeks fixing the airship that Sonya wrecked with her ripoff of Eldritch Storm>

<ooc - oh damn. Well, I've written this so I'll post it, but you'll have to imagine it happenening before As's last post>

The assassins circled slowly, marking their designated targets.

“This is it, Far,” Kerr growled as he spun his two short-swords in his hands, “This is where it has all been heading. Why did it have to come to this? When you gave your territory to me in Luca, the authorities picked up my trail and I guess that wasn’t your fault but I had to run for it before the enforcers came down on my arse like a ton of bricks. I thought I’d given them the slip, but then I ran into Maester Seymour. I thought I was doomed but he offered to spare my life if I helped his Guado stooges find you. I did that.

But I still had respect for the thief who taught me everything I know, so I came back to Guadosalam and I freed you guys. That would have been the end of it, but no - you locked me in there and left me to die. You made it personal.”

He was shouting now, his face twisted in a snarl of hate.

“And one of us is going to be screaming our way to the Farplane before I let that go! This is where it ends, Far! It’s time to settle the score once and for all! No more running, no more hiding, just you and me!”

“ What a lot of **** you talk!” Fariel shouted back, “Like the sound of your own voice, dontcha Kerr? Spare me the banter, the obvious jokes and clichés - let’s just do this!”

Kerr charged towards her, and Fariel braced herself for the imminent attack.

* * *

Kobie and Sonya stood side by side, faced by the witch Kirareq and the cackling Guado assassin. Kobie flexed his fingers and gripped the bars that projected from the metal bracers of his Dragon’s Claws. His thumbs touched the buttons on the ends of the bars, and the twin blades snapped forwards from each bracer, glinting in the sunlight. He never took his eyes of the Guado, who was crouched in the classic knife-fighter’s stance with two of his poisoned blades held ready.

“Now time you die!” the Guado hissed. Kobie merely returned his bloodshot gaze impassively.

“That was a most impressive lightning storm you just conjured, child,” Kirareq said to Sonya nearby as the two mages stood opposite each other, the only movement being their cloaks blowing round them in the fitful wind. “Before I was just going to kill you, but now I see you do have a modicum of magic potential, I have a better use for you. Do you know what this is?”

She held up the orb, with the trapped Pyraflies of the witch’s dead rivals glowing inside the purple glass.

“I know.” Sonya replied darkly.

“Then you know what fate awaits you,” Kirareq said with a leer, “This is your future - never to see the Farplane, only to be a slave to my will, increasing my power with your sacrifice.”

“Today you’re going to pay for what you’ve done,” Sonya answered softly.

Kirareq laughed, as if amused by the threat.

“Welcome to your death, child.” she hissed, and the orb began to pulse as it gathered energy for a magical attack. Sonya spun her staff and held it diagonally behind her, parallel with her arm, and awaited the onslaught.

* * *

Kiba, the bandit prince, stalked slowly towards Neji, moving with a deadly, graceful ease in his armour of black metal.

“You killed my brother, Neji,” he said simply, “He was beaten and unarmed, and yet you still murdered him.”

“And did he ever spare his beaten and unarmed foes?” Neji countered, “Killing vermin like your brother is not murder, it’s pest control.”

Kiba roared in anger.

“I will have my revenge on you, Neji!” he shouted.

“Fine,” Neji replied defiantly, Melina at his side, “You seek the same fate as your brother? Then bring it on!”

The sand shield began to swirl around Kiba and his eyes turned red as he spun the great sword round his head. Neji raised Loki and Hades and blasted away.

<ooc - a note, just coz I’ve set this up as separate battles, it’s fine to have them mixing around and working together to take on each other’s assassins. In fact, I think it’d be cool if we did show some teamwork>

Sonya was still trying to figure out how Kirareq had nullified her magic when the witch leapt towards her. Though Kirareq looked about 50, she had the agility of a much younger woman and Sonya was driven back as she spun and slashed the round blade downwards in a series of fluid strokes, finally forcing the Angel to jump backwards as she scythed it round in a horizontal arc.

Kirareq stepped forward to continue the attack with a vicious uppercut, but Sonya avoided by launching herself upwards to finish in a handstand on top of her vertically-planted staff, then swung down and round and kicked Kirareq to send the witch-assassin reeling.

Seeing an opening, Sonya thrust the end of her staff into Kirareq’s stomach and, as the witch doubled up, spun the staff to slam the other end upwards into her face and knock her over backwards, but before she could bring the staff down on her fallen opponent Kirareq had backflipped away. The witch bounded forward again, actually jumping feet-first through the hoop of her blade to floor Sonya with a flying kick. With her staff trapped under her, Sonya instinctively raised her arm in futile defence as the round blade scythed down. To her surprise it reverberated off the blade of the dagger, still concealed in its sheath, strapped to her forearm. Though pain shot up her arm and made her cry out, Sonya managed to swing her leg round to trip Kirareq, who avoided it by leaping backwards. This gave Sonya space to plant her staff and use it to vault upwards, cartwheeling over it to smash first one foot then the other into Kirareq’s jaw. Sonya swung her staff forward, but Kirareq had recovered quickly and met it with her blade. She shoved Sonya backwards and counterattacked, slashing at Sonya’s exposed side and the Angel screamed in pain as one of the blades bit home, slicing through her hip. Sonya staggered back, clutching the bleeding wound with one hand and Kirareq charged forward. Sonya tried to focus beyond the pain and, using all her strength, she managed to hook her staff between Kirareq’s arm and the round blade, and levering her staff round she threw the witch to the floor.

Kirareq snarled as she stood up, and spat out blood from her split lip. Sonya, half doubled-up with the pain from her side, and with her arm still stinging from Kirareq’s other savage blow, used the pause to try and cast the elven healing spell, but she could feel the witch-assassin’s dispel magic fighting to nullify it and it was too strong. As she sank to her knees Kirareq laughed.

But then Tritoch’s hook-beaked face flashed before Sonya’s eyes and her staff suddenly blazed with white fire.

“What? No!” Kirareq shrieked as Sonya healed herself and clambered to her feet. Her round blade glowed and shrank back into its original form as a purple orb.

“Very well, child!” she spat, “Let us duel like proper mages! Let’s see your magic skills!”

<ooc - coming tomorrow (hopefully): Sonya vs Kirareq part 2 and Kobie vs Guado>

Kobie twisted his upper body to dodge a throwing knife and deflected a second with his Dragon’s Claws as the snarling Guado stood up and began attacking him. The assassin leapt at him in a flurry of blows, but Kobie parried expertly and then lashed out, forcing the Guado back as he spun round in a cyclone of blades. The Guado returned to the attack, holding his two blades points-downwards, raining vertical blows on Kobie and forcing him to give ground until he finally pushed the Guado back with a sweeping uppercut. Kobie’s retreat had brought him into Neji and Kiba’s combat zone, and Kiba swung his broadsword at him with an angry growl even as he used his other hand to blast Neji backwards with a sorcerous bolt of dark energy. Kobie had to Timeshift to avoid being decapitated by the sweeping blow, ducking under it. Then, still moving at supernatural speed, he slashed backhand with his claws at Kiba. The sand shield released Melina, dropping her onto the ground and whirling to intercept him and for a second he thought he had beaten it, but then it slammed his arm aside so that the blow merely glanced off Kiba’s shoulder-plate. The sand lashed out like a whip to hurl him backwards. When Kobie had flipped back onto his feet, the Guado was again blocking his path and cackling to himself as he brandished his knives.

“Don’t worry, Kobie,” Neji growled in his half-demonic voice, the black marks that were now covering his body pulsing with dark energy as he raised the Set sword and brought it slashing down, while Kiba knelt to parry horizontally, “This son of a bitch is mine!”

Behind him Melina staggered to her feet coughing and used Fira to shoot another of the Guado’s throwing knives out of the air as it sped towards Neji, then raised her arms to summon Bahamut against Kiba, but Kobie saw no more of their battle for the Guado was on him again. He shouted in anger as he drove the Guado back and leapt at him, lunging with both sets of claws then landing in a diving roll to straighten and meet the assassin’s counterattack, and parried it with such force that the Guado dropped one of his combat knives. Instead of pausing to draw another of the wicked blades, the Guado immediately floored Kobie with a punch from his free hand and, shouting in triumph, took his remaining dagger in both hands and lunged downwards.

But Kobie wasn’t on the ground anymore. He had Timeshifted, and the Guado was still catching his balance and cursing as he looked around for his opponent when the tips of Kobie’s Dragon Claws exploded out of his chest. Kobie ripped the blades free from the Guado’s back in a spray of blood and stepped back as the Guado staggered forward, choking. The assassin turned to face Kobie and he waited for him to collapse but, impossibly, the Guado’s hacking cough changed to laughter as he came at Kobie again, seeming to just shrug off what should have been a killing thrust.

“What the frak are you!?” <ooc - yep, no “real” F-words in my posts ;) >

* * *

Sonya reeled back as a hail of purple energy bolts hammered against her shield spell, not giving her an opening to cast an offensive spell of her own. She felt her shield failing and dropped it as Kirareq sent a Firaga hurtling towards her. Holding up her hand, Sonya used the Rebound spell Alarielle had taught her and the Firaga ground to a halt mere inches from her fingertips, still blazing in midair. Grimacing in concentration she thrust her hand forward and the giant fireball reversed direction, now screaming back towards Kirareq, who braced and shielded her face as the Firaga flared against her own magical shield. Sonya followed up with an Ishara, thrusting her staff forward to send a cyclone of water at the witch and knock her backwards. She dispelled the Thundaga that Kirareq tried to cast at her, but then the witch used a spell unfamiliar to her. An arc of purple light shot up from her orb, a giant clawed hand materialising at the end of it as it shot towards her. Sonya tried to dodge but too late, and the hand clamped over her face, sucking streams of light from her eyes and mouth and making her scream in agony. She felt her energy being sapped away and her legs gave way under her as she was rendered temporarily helpless by Kirareq’s Drain spell.

“Now you die, child!” Kirareq laughed in triumph, and she raised the orb to bring down magenta lightning that smote and split the ground asunder. The summoned skeleton warriors clawed their way out of the craters they made, fleshless faces grinning and purple light pulsing menacingly inside their empty eye sockets. Spinning their scythes, the hunched figures advanced towards Sonya.

She tried to back away but all strength seemed to have left her body and she could only crawl. A skeleton towered silently above her, its scythe held high in both hands, and then it suddenly exploded into shards of bone as a crackling blade swept through it. Kobie slowed from the blur of his Timeshift and defended himself against both the Guado assassin leaping after him and another skeleton warrior. He tried to Timeshift behind the Guado but he seemed to anticipate his move this time and parried. The skeleton was not so fast and burst apart even as it tried to hack its scythe down, Kobie’s lightning-infused claws tearing into its ribcage. Kobie only had time to glance in Sonya’s direction with a reassuring smile before the Guado forced him to parry again.

Sonya, beginning to recover from the Drain, cast the rock elemental spell Lauthelias had taught her, ripping a giant boulder from the ground and, with a sweeping motion from her staff, send it barrelling forwards to crush several of the remaining skeletons.

She raised her staff against the next skeleton attacking her but it broke apart as a dagger flew out of nowhere to pierce its forehead. Fariel flashed her a quick grin before turning back to fighting Kerr, and Sonya slammed her staff down on the fallen skeleton with a Banishing spell before it could reform. It crumbled to dust and disappeared.

Kirareq screamed her rage and raised her orb again.

<ooc - In answer to your “frak” question yes As, I do watch BSG XD and I’m also extremely sick of Dad ranting on about Gaius Baltar being a Cylon “sleeper”. He points it out every time that shot in the intro sequence (the one where Baltar ducks, and his Cylon girlfriend just stands looking at the storm, as a nuclear explosion rips through his house on Caprica) comes on and proclaims “he can’t possibly have survived that!” It’s really quite annoying.

Heh, and this week that Admiral with the proverbial rod up her arse got shot by Baltar’s imaginary friend. Random!>

“He’s an Unsent! He must be a frakking Unsent!” Kobie gasped to Sonya as he threw the Guado back. As the assassin scrabbled to his feet, he unslung his bow, nocked an arrow and drew back the string but Kirareq launched a Wateraga at him before he could fire. He was thrown off his feet, landed heavily and cursed as he picked himself up and found that the bowstring was now soaked and useless. He dropped the elven bow and extended his claws again to meet the whirlwind of attacks as the Guado rushed him, spitting curses. He blocked as many as he could but lost ground, forced to back up in the face of the Guado’s relentless attack. The assassin whirled towards him, all blades and speed, and he was moving so fast Kobie couldn’t even see the knife as it slashed forward, dripping poison. Somehow he turned it aside with his claws but even as he did so another blade seemed to leap from its sheath inside the Guado’s jacket into his other hand, and as the Guado spun round the blade slashed down, slamming deep into Kobie’s left shoulder and down into his lung. He could barely even cry out in pain as the blow drove him to his knees. He tried to breathe, but pain shot through him and he coughed up blood instead.

The Guado locked eyes with him, breathing heavily from the fight, and a leering grimace of a smile crept up his face as he realised he had struck his opponent a fatal blow. Kobie slumped forward and instinctively put a hand down to stop himself collapsing, though he could almost feel his strength seeping out of him as blood oozed from his nose and the wound in his shoulder, and he coughed again to splatter more blood across the grass. His vision was red - red and fading.

The Guado seemed to have forgotten him and was looking around at the other duels taking place nearby. Fariel was staggering back as she tried to avoid Kerr’s attacks, clearly faint from the disabling stab-wound in her side. Neji roared his hatred as he tried to batter a way past Kiba’s defences but was thrown back again by the sand spike, Bahamut rearing up nearby to unleash his Impulse attack as Melina tried to help. Sonya was deflecting another one of Kirareq’s Firaga spells and was too occupied defending herself to see what had happened to Kobie. The Guado grinned and drew a long dagger coated in bright red poison.

“Soul-render,” he hissed. Soul-render poison was an utterly lethal, magic-infused toxin that could penetrate any magical defence and rip the victim’s spirit screaming from their body. Kobie saw where the Guado was looking, saw the grotesque look of animal joy on his face, and as the assassin raised the knife he felt adrenaline surge through him, temporarily pushing away the pain. With a massive effort, he lurched to his feet.

“Help you, lady!” the Guado shouted to Kirareq, and hurled the dagger at Sonya. Kobie dashed forward but too late, and time seemed to stand still as it hurtled through the air towards her…wait a minute - time was standing still! As if in slow-motion the Guado was stooping forward with the follow-through of his throw, his eyes fixed on Sonya. Sonya was turning slowly, much too late, as she saw the dagger flicker at the edge of her vision. Even the dagger itself seemed to slow to a crawl, until Kobie could see the air rippling behind it like a contrail. Everything

Seemed

To slow

Down.

With the last of his strength Kobie dived forward towards the almost-stationary dagger and at first it felt like he was moving through treacle, but then he felt himself speeding up as the Timeshift took effect, until he was a blur of speed racing towards the suspended dagger. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it - he could feel the air rippling around him as his abilities reached their limit and time began to return to its normal speed. The dagger began to slip away from him, gathering speed.

He wasn’t sure if it was a strangled gasp out loud or if he was just screaming inside his head, but he dived forward and his hand closed around the dagger’s hilt, and as he fell forward he twisted his body, turned the dagger, and threw it back towards the Guado just as he was straightening from his attack.

Kobie did not see what happened as the world spun around him and his face slammed into the ground, the Guado knife still protruding from his shoulder. He did not hear Sonya scream as she realised what she was seeing. He did not see the dagger tipped with Soul-render bury itself to the hilt in the Guado’s chest, driving into his heart. He did not see the assassin rear back screaming as magical fire engulfed him, his already long-dead body crumbling to dust and his Pyrafly spiralling upwards. Darkness was closing in around him and he heard, as if from far away, Ramuh’s sonorous voice.

Kobie supposed he meant time to let go and die.

No, Kobie, it is time to summon me…

<ooc - well, one of the asssassins had to die first! Hurry up Tanis or you'll miss the fight>

Three spikes burst out of Sand and impaled Bahamut who burst into flurry of Pryflies, the force knocked Melina back and she fell down hard on her back, Neji now getting exhausted from failed attacks and dodging lethal spikes ran to Melina's side. A voice boomed from the cocoon.

"YOU FOOLS! YOU CAN'T BREAK THOUGH THIS! THIS IS THE ULTIMATE DEFENCE!"

Angered Neji charged at the cocoon, dodging the spikes which came towards him, he leaped up sword held high and brought it down hard on the top of the cocoon, it crashed into the cocoon with heavy force, but their was'nt even a crack, Neji quickly had to dodge the spike which came towards him, and he fell back. The voice boomed from the cocoon again.

"HAHAHAHA, I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER NEJI," a spike came shooting out of the coccon and headed straight for Melina.

"NO! MELINA!" The spike came at high speeds towards Melina, not having the energy to avade Melina closed her eyes and awaited doom, yet it did'nt come slowly she opened her eyes and saw the great figure of her guardian standing infront of her arms spread out in a guarding stance, the spike had ripped through Neji stomach.

"NO!!!" Melina cried and tears poured down her face.

"YOU FOOL" NEJI I'M THE ULTIMATE POWER!"

Slowly Neji's head raised his head, blood dipping out his mouth.

"When you have someone precious whom you want to protect, that's when you become truly strong."

Wings sprouted out of Neji's back, and he dropped his sword, slowly the lightning edge formed from his arm, he pulled himself out from the spike and charged at Kiba, he dodged the spikes heading towards him and then thrusted his hand forward, the lightning edge ripped through coccon, and connected with Kiba inside. The Sand began to crumble, and fell to the ground revealing the beaten Kiba, blood poured from his mouth and from where Neji ripped through him straight through the chest and out the other side. Kiba looked up at Neji.

"If you had someone in your life who...who acknowledged your existence...even cared for you...wouldn't that person become the most important...treasured...person in your life?! And when you have that person, you become truely strong,"

Kiba staired at Neji with fear in his eyes, "N..e..j..i,"

"join you'r brother in the farplain Kiba,"

Neji withdrew his hand from Kiba's chest and he slumped to the ground bursting into a hail of Pryflys.

"you are the strongest enemy i have ever faced...but i have a reason why i can't lose" Neji collapes to the ground.

"GURAGA!" Melina shouted casting a healing spell on Neji, she pressed down hard on his wound, her hands swimming in Blood and she cast it again, but their was no responce, Neji still showed some life signs, but they were fading fast.

"Come on Neji" she cried as she cast yet another cure spell, "i wont give up so i expect you not to give up either," she cast yet again.

(In Neji's head)

"NEJI! YOU FOOL! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!" Diablos yelled from within his cage, everything started to get darker and Diablos could feel himself slowly dying along with Neji, "NEJI!! I CAN HELP! LET ME LOOSE!" But Diablos' cage stayed shut, "Damn it Neji! we share the same body! you die I die!" Still his cage stayed shut. Diablos roared in anger, before calming down and once again speaking to Neji. "Neji, your and Melinas powers are not enough to heal a wound this greatm but if i use my powers to help, them we may be in for a chance," Still to cage did not open. "and what about Melina and you'r unborn son Neji! you said yourself you'r new goal was to bring that child into this world, and be their for Melina." Neji got a flashback from their time with the elves when Melina told him the news and the promise he made to that unborn child.

In the vastness of Neji's mind a lock could be heard opening, and slowly the cage door opened, immediatly Diablos burst from his cage and started aiding in the healing.

(outside)

Melina continued to cast cure spells on Neji, and finally it appeared to be working, slowly his wound began to close and the bleeding stopped, he began to cough up the remaining blood coming out of his mouth, one last time Melina cast Curaga and Neji's eyes shot open as if waking from a nightmare. Quickly he turned to his side and coughed up the remaining blood, before he started to pant severle, finally he began to breath normally and he turned to face the delighted Melina, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. "dont worry, Melina," Neji placed his hand on Melina's stomach, I still have one more task i need to complete.

Kobie sat up and groaned, putting a hand to his shoulder as Sonya and Tanis’ combined magic brought him back from the brink of death. Sonya threw her arms around him and sobbed as he stood up shakily, and he winced but hugged her back, whispering reassurances to her.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

“It’s alright, I’m okay,” he said soothingly, stroking her cheek as tears pricked at his own eyes, “Thanks to you! You were right, it was you who ended up saving me!”

She smiled at that.

“Tanis helped me though,” she said, gesturing towards their half-elven guide as he stooped over Fariel, supporting her head tenderly with one hand while he pressed the cut on the other to the wound in her side. He knelt there for what seemed like a long time, grimacing with pain as his life force flowed into Fariel in a stream of blue light. Finally, Fariel jerked awake and snapped upright, while Tanis fell backwards with a gasp and lay unconscious at her feet.

“Tanis? Tanis!” Fariel shrieked, seizing the half-elf’s hand, “Oh Yevon, Tanis, wake up!”

Tanis moaned and a flicker of a smile crossed his face.

“Don’t worry, Young One - I’ll live. Just give me a moment…”

They helped their guide to his feet and looked around at the battle-scarred prairie. Slowly, a great weight lifted from them as it sunk in that they had finally vanquished the assassins who had hunted them since Macalania. It was a mixture of relief and elation - they had survived and now nothing stood between them and their final goal. To defeat Sin.

But to find him they would need the airship that now lay crumpled like a beached whale before them, slicing out a huge scar in the landscape where it had ploughed through the ground in its crash.

“How the frak are we going to fix this?” Kobie asked, putting his hands behind his head as he looked at the smashed rotor and contorted superstructure.

“This piece of machina’s a write-off,” Neji replied grimly. He subconsciously placed a protective hand over Melina’s stomach as he spoke, which seemed odd to Kobie, but then they had all come so close to losing their loved ones just now… Sonya sensed his tension, and squeezed his hand reassuringly.
Suddenly there was a cough and a crash from inside the airship.

“Stay back!” Tanis said, pushing the Angels behind him and drawing his katana. They were all thinking the same thing - four of the assassins were down, but there was still one unaccounted for. Selina.

“Show yourself!” Tanis shouted as he advanced warily into the smashed interior of the airship. And then he stepped back in surprise.

For a dishevelled Al’bed mechanic had just stumbled from behind a wrecked console and fallen at his feet.