Realm Sagas: Story 27: Secrets and Lies By: Chandra Rooney ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal stuff: Sonic & Knuckles, and all related characters are copy-right of Sega and Archie comics. K.T.E/Jack Mamoru are copy-right of K.T.E. Vampire Sephiroth is copy-right of Vampire Sephiroth. The Green Gibbon!/Midori Saru is copy-right of GG!. Moon Echidna, Ashrire Guardian, Lirsage Sephiroth, Sailor Evil, and all other original Realm Sagas characters are copy-right of Chandra Rooney. All the characters and ideas presented are my own, unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter One: Local: Unknown Realm Local: Guardian Family's Realm Lirsage carried the limp body down the hall. He changed directions, and went into a room. His room. There he lay Moon on the bed. His hands unlatched the wooden case on the floor at the foot of the bed. He stared down at the long sword resting in it. It's polished blade gleamed not betraying its millenniums-old age. The holy characters engraved in its hilt seemed to glow. <> his father's voice echoed through his mind again, as he lifted the sword out. He turned to the cooling body on the bed. A sense of sorrow passed over him. The first one he'd felt since embracing the Black Materia. The cold voice of the Materia was quiet at last. Something else guided him over to the bed, and instructed him to place the sword in her hands. She had to hold the hilt. The blade was as long as she was. Truth be told, he didn't really know why he was going to help her. It violated all the rules of the game. And hadn't he been told repetitively that the Game was all that mattered? Hadn't he been told to never, ever break the rules of it? Because in the end, the Games were the only thing that his people had. "What about love?" he wondered. "If she...if she felt what I did...? Would that be enough to justify..." There wasn't time to waste wondering about consequences. He placed both hands on the blade, and closed his eyes. "Oh source of all souls...spirit energy of the world I beg you to grant me your power," he spoke softly. "Powers of life and death, power of existence and breath, gather in me, and through this Holy Blade and my will return this soul to me." Incredible pain ripped through him. He choked, unable to breathe. It felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside out. But he didn't open his eyes. The Fukkahtsu Kazeno could kill one of his people for casting it if they couldn't control powers they invoked. And it was taking everything he had to keep it them in check. Local: Inside the Black Materia's Nether Realm Swirled in darkness, the cold void that was her home, the goddess Akugou frowned. What was this? The younger one was breaking away from her control. Some disgusting Holy Power was flooding through his soul for he seemed to be wielding the very power of Life. Such a feat she hadn't deemed him capable of. Certainly he was strong, being a descendent from the House of Sephiroth, and being a twin. But who'd taught the little bastard how to perform the Fukkahtsu Kazeno? Was it possible that his father had when she hadn't been keeping such a tight leash on him? No, of course not. It had been Eien. Only she would have dared to teach something as dark as he a spell of resurrection. Most distressing. It seemed that she had under estimated her old rivals. How far had Eien's little training gone? Was it possible that she'd actually managed to change the boy? If so it would be different from when she took control of Sephiroth. He hadn't been changed by Eien directly. But what did it matter. She had gotten him back, hadn't she? Hourly she strengthened her hold over Sephiroth. Soon he'd be too far gone to even recognize the little brat as his own. It didn't matter if the boy had feelings for the girl. He would remain to his father and his people's traditions. He'd play his part when she instructed him to do so, and soon enough she'd be released from her prison. Chapter Two: Local: The Citadel's Security Rooms, Lower Floor, Robotropolis Blaise led them to a room filled with monitors. A pale girl with stringy bleached-white hair and gray eyes drawn in a permanent squint was seated at a swivel chair. She was dressed in black, and punching at a keyboard with a shaky hand. Black rings of eyeliner surrounded her eyes, and her skin almost seemed pulled tightly across her face. "Sonya," Blaise knocked on the door. The girl jumped. "Jee-jeezus Blaise," she snapped. "Don't sneak up on m-me like that." Blaise looked at her shaking hands and edginess, and gave a look of sympathy. "Son's trying to quite smoking." "Oh," Jack replied. "Yeah. It's a bitch being addicted to cancer sticks. They'll kill you...but damn it's a bitch trying to quit cold turkey," Sonya replied. "Two w-weeks, Blaise." "I'm proud of you." Blaise smiled. "It's a new record." "What can I do for you?" Sonya asked, she shoved a stick of gum in her mouth. "You know this stuff really didn't help me before but maybe the third time's the charm." "We'd like to find Ash," Gibbon said. "Blaise said if he was anywhere in the city your cameras would see him." "Ash is back?" Sonya coughed. "I didn't know that. Goddammit!! I want a cigarette." "Waitaminute," Jack interrupted. "Your cameras see everything, and you sit here and watch them, but you didn't see Ash?" Sonya swung the chair around and stood up. It was then that they could see her left arm was metal. "Yeah that's it." "Possible camera malfunction?" Blaise suggested. "No way," Sonya shook her head. "I check them on a regular basis. There hasn't been any technical malfunctions for nearly five months." Jack looked at Gibbon. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this." "Look, Sonya," Blaise ran a hand through her hair. "Can you bring up the stills of me on patrol in Beta-Seven-Twenty-nine at 15:00 hours today?" "Is binary code composed of ones and zeros?" Sonya asked. She tapped at a keyboard. "Watch monitor 3." A shot of Blaise holding the cross bow on three boys flashed on. "Look right there," Blaise put a finger on the screen. "There's Jack, and Gibbon here." "Don't mark up my screens," Sonya told her. She stopped the video flow and zoomed in on the image on the two figures. It flashed onto the screen three times closer up. The one was Blaise with her cross-bow held on a guy. But the guy wasn't blond or blue-eyed. "What the hell?" Blaise asked. "Who is that?! That's supposed to be Ash!" Gibbon's eyes narrowed. He looked at Jack. "Who do *we* know with long silver hair and green eyes?" "And wears a black trench coat?" Jack asked. He glared at the frame. "That's Sephiroth." "I know it's Soup Broth! How the hell did he managed to fool us into thinking he was Ash?" Gibbon demanded. "What's going on, you two?" Sonya asked. "Didn't you just meet Ash?" "Uh..." Jack trailed off, and looked at Gibbon. "Not exactly." "So who is this 'Sephiroth'?" Blaise asked. "Another 'old' friend of Ash's. God knows he's got enough strange ones..." "Heh?" Jack asked. "Long story." She replied. "Can you tell us where this guy went?" Gibbon asked, pointing to Sephiroth. "Yeah huh," Sonya nodded. She tapped in a few commands and a grabbed a print-out. "From what the computer can tell me...he's upstairs. In the closed-off floor where Robotnik used to stay." Jack looked at Gibbon. "Is Sephiroth leading us into a trap?" "We don't have much of a choice," Gibbon replied. "What floor is that?" "The 70th," Blaise told them. "But you can't get up there without a passcard." "Then give us yours," Jack told her. "I can't. It will only get you to the 65th." She held out the card for them to inspect. "No one can get up the elevator to the 70th because Robotnik had the only passcard that worked to it." "Not true..." Sonya spoke up. "You can take the elevator up to the 70, but the security kicks in and ever bot on that floor is after you. No idea how Mr. Sephiroth would get up there. Unless he's a hell of a fighter and knocked down whatever got to him." "What else is on the 70th floor?" Gibbon asked. "Some prison cells. It's where Robotnik stuck anyone he wanted to personally keep an eye on." "Can you get a shot inside any of those cells?" Sonya shrugged, and tapped at her keyboard. A cell shot came on. In it a white-blond- haired boy with a mass of spikes was up against the door. He seemed to be trying to take it off its hinges. "That's Ash!" Jack said, pointing. "Is that on the 70th floor?" "Are you sure that's Ash?" Blaise asked. "It doesn't look like him. I don't remember him having hair that pale. Or that spiky." "It's him, trust me," he told her. "You want to go to 70?" Sonya asked. She gave him a look. "You've got spunk, kid. But you're uttering a death wish if you do." "Just tell us how to get to that cell," Gibbon said. "We can take care of ourselves." Sonya shrugged. "I can give you a map. But you're on your own. You didn't learn about 70 from me, and I certainly didn't show you video feed from any of the cameras on that floor because none of them are functioning. Comprendez?" "Crystal clear." She sighed, and tapped at the keyboard again. After another handful of print out was spewed onto the floor, she handed it to them. "Good luck." "Luck, shmuck." Gibbon replied. "Let's go, Jack." Jack nodded, and the two of them left. Local: The Elevator "Wait!" Blaise cried, running after them. "I want to come with you." "Why? This doesn't involve you," Jack told her. "You'd only be in our way." "Look...Ash is my boyfriend. I know him better than anyone," Blaise told him. "Somehow I doubt that," Gibbon muttered, as he punched the button for the elevator. "What's that supposed to mean?" Blaise asked, stepped in front of the opening doors, blocking his path. "You know, this whole tough girl act is really starting to annoy me," he told her, pushing past. "C'mon Jack." Jack stepped into the elevator. "Sorry, ma'am, but he's got a point. You would just be in our way." Local: Inside a Cell on the 70th Floor, the Citadel Ash finally just sighed and gave up. He knocked the door off it's hinges with a single chaos energy blast. "Don't know why I didn't just do that to start with," he muttered as he stepped out into the hair. Despite the noise of the explosion the sleeping guard had not stirred. "Yet another reason why it's not a good idea to fall asleep on the job," Ash remarked to him as he strode by. "Dangerous criminals might escape." Now to find the others. Chapter Three: Local: 70th Floor Moon stirred slightly, her whole body ached and her arms felt heavy on her chest. She managed to force open her eyes after a few moments. She was laying on a bed, and a long silver sword had been pressed into her hands. Where am I? She wondered. The last thing I remember....Sephiroth and pain...and coldness... But there wasn't any pain now. And the coldness had been replaced by warmth. "Am I dead?" she wondered out loud. "Goddess....I...hope not," the muffled reply came. "Not...after what I went through to bring you back..." "Gabriel?" She asked. For some reason she thought it might have been him. He seemed to have gained control of Sephiroth again before...before Sephiroth had killed her. "Nai..." there was a shuffling. Someone struggling to push themselves up. "Gomen for the disappointment..." The first thing she saw was the bright green eyes half hidden by the long silver bangs. "Seph-" He gave her a pained look. "Moon...I'm...gynah...so sorry..." "Lir?" She pushed the sword off her chest, and moved over to where he was laying. "You don't understand...he wasn't like this before. He wasn't like...Gabriel either...but I don't know...he's different now. I think...I think this time he's really gone over the edge." "You're hurt." She pushed the hair off his forehead. "You have a fever, Lir." "This?" he laughed bitterly. "A fever and a little pain is a small price to pay for using the Fukkahtsu Kazeno." She blinked. "Lirsage...you know the most sacred of resurrection spells? But...only full-fledged Priests know that. You...you can't be strong enough to cast that." "Why not?" he asked. "I don't think you know who I am, Moon dear." She paused, looked at his eyes for a long time. They were gleaming slightly. A demon gleam. She'd seen it in Sephiroth's eyes, and her mother had often told her stories about the kind of demons that had glowing eyes. "I know what you are, Lir." She told him softly. "I know what you are because you are his son and I know what he is." "Hai. That's right." He looked at her. "Demon's eyes. That's why I'm powerful enough to cast the Fukkahtsu Kazeno...and why it costs me so much too." "You're part demon," Moon said it softly. He nodded, neither shame nor pride in the movement. It was just a fact of existence for him. "It's why I'm named what I am. 'Lirsage'; the 'masked one'. Whose true nature is concealed behind an innocent face." He paused. "She, the Black Materia, had such high hopes for me. Born of her master servant, destined to be one of her most powerful...Oh, she wasn't happy when I was taken away by your mother. Not happy at all. But she got me back; of course she did. She always knew she would." "Lir, you've got a fever and you're delirious," she told him fiercely. "You need to rest." "And you," he continued rambling, softly more to himself than anyone else. "You! Why do you stay? You aren't safe near me. No one is. Is it pity? Is it because you never could turn your back on anyone in need?" He narrowed his eyes. "Well I'm *not* in need! You hear me? Soon I'll be too far gone, so it's not worth trying to save me. You see...I am going to end up just like my father because it's in my blood...it's in my dark spirit. You can't even begin to understand what I am..." "So tell me." He laughed. It was a choked sound. Forced, and not natural. "I watched you everyday as we were growing up, you know that? Everyday you become more filled with Eien's light. Light I could never have. Oh, but I wanted it. I wanted that light so bad. I tried so hard to be what Belladonna wanted me to be. I tried...didn't I? But I've failed. Or maybe I've just come to see that it could never happen...we could never...I can't have your light. Not me. I'm not worthy of it." "Shh," she told him. "You need to rest. You need to get better so we can get out of here and find the others." "Oh but we don't need to. They'll come here. They've come to finish it," he told her, getting up. He reached for the sword, and walked towards the door. "Where is my father? I must speak to him. We have to decide what to do now. Star is dead...you should be dead. Hrmph, but it doesn't matter. He won't care. He only cares about one thing now." He reached the door, and turned to speak one last time. "If you're here when I'm back, fine. But don't expect me to endanger myself again for you." "Lir," she stood, and walked up to him. "What's wrong with you?" "Nothing. I told you. I've just come to see this pursuit of you is useless. You can't even see me." He paused, thoughtful. "But then someone who spends their entire life surrounded by that light would never have any reason to look in the shadows." "Lir...wait...I don't understand. Stay, we'll talk-" He growled. "No. We won't. I...I may not be your enemy by choice," his voice shook. "But I am still one by nature. Don't look to me for any favors, and don't expect any help. We next we meet...things will be as they should." He left, and after a few moments, she followed. Lirsage cursed the goddess softly. Before today he wouldn't have dared to show any disrespect to her, but he was fed up with her playing him for a fool. "You should have just told me, Belladonna," he whispered hostily. "You lied to me. You said I could make my own destiny, but you were wrong. I'm as trapped now as I ever was." "You're only trapped because you chose to be," was his reply. Lir spun. The ghost was standing there. "Gabriel." "Lirsage," the shade nodded. "How in the hell are you here?" "Oh don't be such an idiot. You think I ever managed to merge with Sephiroth? Goddess...he's managed to fool you as well?! I might have expected it from Moon...but Lirsage you're his son! You should know his tactics better than anyone!" "He pretended that he had his soul back." He felt stupid. "Just like when he met Mom..." "Of course he did. He doesn't change his strategy. He repeats the old tricks again and again and you still fall for them!" "Of course...he caught her off-guard by pretending. That's how he managed to get her without any fight." "Of course. Sephiroth knows how to exploit weaknesses. A nasty habit you haven't seemed to pick up yet." "I pick up things here and there. But I just don't use them unless it suits me." "I suppose it suited you to bring her back. Impressive. I didn't think you had it in you. Very defiant. Damn, I knew someday you'd make me proud." "You? You think I give a damn about gaining your approval? You're not my father." "No, but I am your friend." "I don't need friends. They cause more pain than they're worth." Gabriel sneered at him. He really did have some of Sephiroth's expressions. Like that scornful sneer. "I see. You're really going to give her up that easily? Didn't I teach you *anything*?!" "You taught me not to fight losing battles," he replied with a sigh. "I most certainly DID NOT!!!!" Gabriel slammed a clenched spirit fist against the wall. "Did I ever call what we did a losing battle? Did I ever say there wasn't honor in being an agent for the Balance? Well, DID I?!" "Honor doesn't do much for a guy these days. Stop living in the past." "Fine fine fine." He'd really made the specter upset. "I'll stop living in the past if you join the rest of us in the real world, Lirsage! Goddess damn you! For once stop feeling sorry for yourself and clue in!" "I thought you said you were my friend? What's with this nagging?" "I am your friend! But you're being an idiot!" "I see. Tell me, in your highly regarded opinion, was there ever anytime when I *wasn't* being an idiot?" "When you brought Moon back. Any of the countless times you've thought about telling her how you feel..." Gabriel stopped. "Of course, you *never* bothered to act on those thoughts." "I don't deal well with emotions." "No kidding." "Yeah, well most demons don't." "You're not a demon, Lirsage. You're a Shadow Angel. A converted demon. You were blessed by Eien herself. You're supposed to help maintain the Balance. Not destroy it." "Yes, so you've told me. So you kept telling me." "Well excuse me, but you seem to have a habit of forgetting!" Gabriel threw his hands in air. "What did your grandmother escape to the Silver Realm to become? What did I become? What did you come to me to become?" "A Shadow Angel," Lir replied. "But only after Belladonna suggested it." "Yes! Exactly. You listened to her then. You listened to me then. Except on one subject: Moon." Gabriel gave him a patronizing look. "What are you so afraid of?" "Failure." he replied simply. "Rejection." "That never stopped you from doing anything else." "Is this important now?" "You have no idea. This is the most important thing! You are the *last* Realm Protector, Lirsage, and in your hand you're holding the *final* Master Tool. If you don't stand together with the others then there is no way they stand a chance against Sephiroth and Akugou." "You think I can just turn around and bare my deepest feelings to someone?" Lir shook his head. "I can't do that. I don't have the courage." "Oh for Goddessake... Are you honestly this stupid, or are you just being as difficult as possible?" Gabriel's green eyes glowed with the same light as Lir's. They were the same color as well. "I can't believe any child of mine could be as stupid as you." "I'm not *your* child. I'm Sephiroth's." "Yes, yes of course. Except, you keep overlooking the fact that I am Sephiroth!" "No you're not. You exist as two separate beings." "I am Sephiroth, and he is me! It doesn't matter if we don't share the same body! You're as much my son as you are his, you know!" He paused, then started up again. "And don't stand there and gawk at me like you don't understand!" "But I don't," Lir told him. "What do you mean you don't? Do I have to explain it to you?" "It'd be nice if you would." He threw up his hands in disgust, again. "You must get this density from your mother. Really, Lir, what am I going to do with you?" The reply was simple. Cold. "Leave me be." "Abandon you? What kind of mentor would I be if I left you when you needed me most," he frowned a little, looking thoughtful. "Leave you be... Is that really what you want?" "I don't know what I want anymore." Gabriel's smile smirk returned. "And that, my friend, is the source of all your problems." He looked up. "What do you mean?" "You're standing here with two options; one is the path to the Black Materia, and one is the path away from it. Which one are you going to take?" He held out one palm. "Destiny..." he held out the other. "Free will. Darkness. Light. A demon, or an angel. Which one are you, Lirsage?" "Lir?" her voice cut through his thoughts. He turned to look back; Moon had followed him. "Who are you talking to?" she asked. He looked back; Gabriel was gone. "I'm talking to my father's better half...and my common sense." "What?" "Nothing." He shrugged. "Forget it. Why did you follow me?" "I was worried about you. You seemed delirious. But you appear to be more lucid now." "Oh. Is that all?" "What do you mean 'is that all'? What's wrong with you?" She demanded. "And don't think I'll let you get away without answering me again." He sighed. "You really don't know, do you?" "Know what? Would you stop talking in riddles?" "Sorry. It's an inherited trait." He took one of her hands. "You don't know how hard it is for me to feel like I do, and know you don't feel the same way." "And how would I know how you feel about anything?" She asked. "You never talk to me anymore, Lir. I don't know what's going on in your head." He clenched his fist, then unclenched it never letting his other hand leave hers. "I love you, you little fluff ball. I knew the first day I saw you that I wanted to be with you, and you...you never seemed to clue into it." She blinked. "You...love me?" "Yes." "And it took you this long to tell me?" "Well...yeah...and," he mumbled, awkwardly. "I mean...it's not like we've had a lot of time alone together lately." "And what would you have done if we'd had a moment alone?" Moon asked. "Well...that's hard to say." He looked at her thoughtfully. "But I think something like...this..." Chapter Four: Local: The elevator The elevator creaked and groaned. "Goddess...is this thing gonna make it to the 70th floor?" Jack asked, he looked up at the red LCD that showed the floor number 60. "60 floors is a long way to fall if it doesn't." "Kinda like that ride at Disney World," Gibbon muttered. "I love that ride." "Somehow I doubt you'd like it as much if it happened here." "Well...you never know." "What's the plan once we get up there?" Gibbon raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You're asking me?" "Well, *you're* the one Sephiroth is after, aren't you? Or did I completely misinterpret that whole last conversation with him?" "Nai, you caught it. Good job. Impressive. It usually takes at least a decade before you learn to catch the meanings in those...enigmatic speeches of his." "Care to tell me what's going on?" Jack asked, leaning against the wall of the elevator. "Sure, we've got some time to kill." Gibbon replied. "Where to start...?" "How 'bout the beginning? That usually works the best." "You have no idea how far back in time the beginning happens to be." "Let me take a shot...oh 1000 years." "If this was just Sephiroth, hai. But this goes waaaaaay back. Much further back than just him. We're talking back at the dawn of time." "Wha?" "Look. I am just gonna have to repeat myself later, so why don't I just give you the basics?" Jack nodded. "You can say what you want, but you can bet I've already got questions for you." "Hai, I wouldn't doubt it." Gibbon stared off into space for a moment. "All right. What do you know about the 3 forces of Creation?" There was a pause. "There was two goddess, Eien, and Akugou. Eien is the goddess of time and existence...we call her the Mother Goddess. Akugou is...a bad goddess. The Mother of demons, monsters, and all those other wonderful things. The third one was a god of some type...the element god." "Midoriiro Ryujiin, the God of the Elements," Gibbon told him. "Anyway, this Akugou was a really nasty chick. She decided that she didn't like the idea of having to share all the worlds with the other two. So she made an attempt to destroy Midoriiro Ryujiin and take his Realms from him." He paused. "Anyway, she failed at least in the part about taking his realms from him. In punishment Akugou was sealed in Nether Realm never to be released. But from inside this Realm she can still tap into the minds of demons and other people whose souls are tipped towards Darkness." "And she's controlling Sephiroth?" Jack asked. "Yes." "So where do you fit into this?" Gibbon looked up. "Ah, this is our stop. 70th floor, hardware, electronics, and Realm Destroyers. Let's go, Jack." "But your story isn't done," he protested as the elevator doors began to open. Gibbon looked at the mass of robotic guards waiting for them outside. "It is for now." Local: The 70th Floor Julie-su wandered back up into the control room. She'd given up on Ash going back to Knothole, and the Lady Lara-le had not seemed happy that she was there. The hell she gave his father...Julie shuddered. Poor guy. He may be a liar and a fraud, but still... "Sailor Evil?" She asked. "I'm back... Ewwwww, the floor's all sticky." Julie-su looked down, and screamed. "Ember! Sailor Evil!" Both dead. "Yes." Sephiroth was sitting calmly in a chair looking at the two bodies. "It seems the seal on the Materia is stronger than I thought. It's taken much sacrifice to crack it. But I am certain with one more soul it will shatter completely. You came at just the right time, Julie-su. Probably the only thing you've ever done right in your entire life." "You killed them?" She asked. "But why? I thought you loved Sailor Evil?" "Love? Bah. A useless emotion. It only makes people weak. Look at how pathetic it's made you. Still pinning away for you Ashrire, are you?" He stood. "Well, don't worry. Soon the pain will be gone. Where you're going you won't have to worry about things like love...or warmth...or joy." "You...you'd kill me?" "Well, why not? You serve the Black Materia no purpose in life, so why not serve it in death?" He began walking over to her. "And don't run. You see I'm very impatient for the Resurrection to come, and it's made me short-tempered. If you run I will make your death extremely slow and painful. So stay where you are, and do as you're told. Just like you've done your entire life, Julie-su. Pretend that your father was the one to tell you to stay put. You always did what you father told you, didn't you? Such a obedient girl." "Why...?" Julie-su asked as he came closer. "Why me?" "Because, as I said. One more soul will shatter the Black Materia, and then the Resurrection will happen!" He smiled. "And you are conveniently here. That's why you." "She's not the only one." Julie-su looked with her eyes to the doorway. She recognized the figure standing in the doorway. His spiky, white-blond hair, and dark twilight blue eyes. "Ashrire," she smiled. "How endearing!" Sephiroth exclaimed. "The prince has come to save the day! Too bad this time he won't be successful." He drew back the masamune. "Prepare to die, Julie-su." "Sephiroth!" Ash cried. "Why not take my soul instead?" Sephiroth turned. "Your soul...?" "Kill me instead of her," Ash explained. "Take me, and let her go. What do you say? Do we have a deal?" Sephiroth began to laugh... to be continued... ~Completed: November 10th, 1998~