'My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.'
Light.
The world was awash with light. Xander frowned uneasily as he looked around, surveying his surroundings with a wary eye. There was nothing here but a too-bright radiance that almost seemed to mock him, as it did nothing more than irritate his Michael-enhanced eyes. He turned around slowly, expecting to see the Ancient standing before him, as he had once before, but there was nothing. Only an endless expanse of white that only served to remind him of the darkness which had held him prisoner for eight hellish years.
'It is time. . .'
The voice startled him. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, filling the endless white with eternal purity. It was a woman's voice, yet so much more. Angelic, pure, free from the curse of emotion that had long been his own bane, it surrounded him, engulfed him, and Sephiroth knew a rare, unfamiliar sense of apprehension.
' . . .time to see what you have wrought. . .'
The air began to stir around him, a curiously gentle breeze which lifted his silver hair lovingly, yet filled him with a dark sense of foreboding. His surrounding began to shift, to change, darkness swirling in to blend with the light, flecked with beautiful slivers of glowing green that could only be the souls that made up the MAMA.
'. . .time for you to discover what your petty. . .'
Out of that darkness came a being of light. Beautiful, awe-inspiring, yet terrible at the same time, she floated towards the ground, a vision of white and gold. She wore the armor an ancient warrior, two golden pauldons stretching out from either shoulder, a flowing white cloak streaming from each. He spied three small white wings, swaying in the breeze she had created, and he was forcibly reminded of Zacky as he had looked near the end.
'. . .desires have cost those foolish enough to care for you. . .'
But the comparison ended there. In one hand, she held a staff, twice the length of Nimuriri, topped with two golden prongs that resembled a crown. In her other, a large shield rested, pure alabaster adorned with gold, easily seven feet in circumference. The surface seemed to shimmer, almost as though it were alive, and Xander found himself taking a quick step back in a gesture of instinctive self-preservation.
'. . .time to pay for the destruction you have wrought upon me. . ."
Angelic features--surprisingly reminiscent of his own--were surrounded by a sheath of golden hair, which was held in place by an ornate crown, again made of gold, with a crest of sapphire blue. That stunningly beautiful face showed a serenity he himself had only ever felt while in Raphael's embrace, and a part of him envied her that tranquility. As though sensing his thoughts, her deep, pure blue eyes focused on him. Her full lips tightened slightly as she gazed upon him, and he got the distinct impression that she somehow found him lacking.
'. . .Bozorgh's Child.'
"Who are you?" he asked, his deep voice reflecting none of his anger at the wretched title this godlike being had bestowed upon him.
'I am all,' that voice answered, her whisper booming through the Mama, though her lips moved not at all. 'I am the dew that quenches the land. I am the sands, the sea, the sky. I am everything and nothing, the source of all life, and that which cradles those who return to it. I AM."
Xander stiffened, his chin coming up as he realized just who--or rather what--he faced. "Tegral," he said simply.
A cruel, rather un-godlike smile graced her lips at that. 'If that is what you choose to call me, Diavolo.'
"I am no longer tied to Irene," he explained as calmly as he could. "I severed those ties when I made the sacrifice to save another."
'Did you?' The mocking question hung in the air between them, the illusion of serenity gone as though it had never been. 'Would you like to see what your sacrifice has wrought?'
The large shield began to shine, a plethora of images moving across its gilded surface. It finally locked on the last, an image of the orchard in Bally, where he and Raphael had finally been reunited. Where he had died, Xander thought painfully. He watched with haunted eyes as Raphael ran him through, those beloved tear-stained features wearing a dark rage he didn't remember seeing. As he himself quoted Loveless and absolved Raphael of any guilt, the other man flung his arms wide and roared with grief.
Black feathers filled the darkening sky, nearly obscuring the slim figure who continued to scream wordlessly. Even as his own grief rose up to choke him, Xander was shocked to see his body begin to disperse. Slowly, as the call of the MAMA beckoned him, a green glow that was the MAMA began to appear around his body, showing that he had indeed been accepted. But the sky had darkened ominously around Raphael, an unnatural storm that only worsened as he dropped to his knees and attempted to gather his dead lover's body into his arms. Xander could only watch, helpless, as Raphael begged him not to die, not to leave him so completely alone.
"Raphael," he whispered, unknowingly stepping towards the heart-wrenching image of his lover as he finally broke.
'See all that you have wrought, wretched one.'
He watched as Raphael screamed his name and began to curse the goddess he had served so faithfully. Raphael's ultimate spell, the one he called upon only when near death, rained down upon The Planet. Apocalypse showered Tegral with fire and destruction on a level he would never have believed possible. Bally was wiped out in seconds, the orchards, the overgrown ruins, the underground cavern that had once held his goddess' shrine. . .all of it simply gone. Only he and Raphael remained, his body held together by nothing more than Raphael's will, set against a scorched and blackened landscape. As Raphael's continued to scream and rage against his fate, Xander was forced to watch as the rest of Tegral quickly followed, swallowed by the blazing fires of his lover's unending grief.
'SEE WHAT YOU HAVE COST THE FAITHFUL!'
At the top of the ruined Bable Headquarters, where Irene and his remnants had been so thoroughly defeated, sat Calvin Steel, a double-bladed katana clutched in his hands, his fair head bowed as though in prayer. That head came up as Apocalypse approached, red-rimmed, Michael-blue eyes widening with disbelief. As the end swept towards him in a reddish haze of heat and brimstone, a look of profound relief crossed his too-young features. A tiny, miniscule smile appeared on his lips just seconds before he too was engulfed in the blazing inferno.
Xander watched as The Planet was destroyed, not by Irene or Meteor, but by the man he loved. Jinora, Wyatt, Edgar, Kalem, Malik, even the Forgotten City was not spared. Apocalypse swept towards the sacred Senora dwellings with no regard for their sanctity, consuming the Sleeping Forest and its ghostly inhabitants in a matter of seconds. As the destructive magic wound its way through the Forgotten Capitol, Xander spied a speck of crimson at the top of the altar's dome. His breath caught in his throat as Stevano Mulk rose to his full height, his slender, hauntingly familiar frame moving fluidly as he faced the oncoming conflagration.
"Raphael, no," he muttered under his breath, unaware that he had spoken aloud, "not him."
Xander clenched his teeth as he watched the father he had never known face death with a resigned acceptance that both stunned and saddened him. That bizarre scarlet cloak whipped around him in a frenzy, almost as though it was expressing the emotions that its owner could not, curling in an almost protective manner around his father's black-clad form. Vivid crimson eyes narrowed slightly, the only change Xander could detect in Stevano's impassive expression, as narrow lips mouthed one indecipherable word. Then, he too was gone, swallowed by the firestorm of Rapphael's anguish.
'Now, bear witness to my destruction, monster.'
The MAMA rose up to defend The Planet, as it had once before, but was only engulfed in the heat of Raphael's rage. Billions of souls, some he knew, others he did not, were absorbed into Apocalypse as though they were nothing. Each soul screamed as it was swallowed, and Zack being the most agonizing for him to witness.
Disbelief filled him as the scene switched once more. In the blackened hell that had once been Bally, he watched his own dead body stir in Raphael's arms. Cat-like green opened, their mako glow somehow undimmed by death, elliptical pupils mere slits of darkness amidst that eerie radiance. His lips moved as he whispered Raphael's name, and Xander heard himself offering comfort in a voice that was his yet not, and dread filled him as he realized what was happening.
"No," he whispered, his too-deep voice harsh with denial. "This cannot be."
'But it is,' Tegral returned unsympathetically . 'Now, witness my champion's fall, and it's cause.'