Coda
It was a dark night. Piecis was glad it wasn’t raining. She walked slowly down the town streets, wrapped in a large coat with a hood, hiding her face. She kept a watchful eye, worrying about the appearance of more of those frightening soldiers. She stepped out of the bright streetlight and looked up to the next one, trying to gauge the shape of the shadows ahead.
It had been two days since she first heard the weird noises. She ignored them at first, but then she saw signs of something crashing into the palm tree next to her cabin when she awoke one morning. Using some security equipment she took before she left vacation, she was able to put a small motion sensor network up and determined objects invisible to the naked eye were watching her. Fearing the worst, she stayed in the house in the few rooms without windows until one night a small group of men in black armor with red-cross-shaped face-guards knocked on her door. When they knew her name, she knew that was her cue to roll out the nearest open window with a coat and hide in town until this blew over.
She stayed in a hotel last night, but she needed to get back home... she didn’t exactly bring a change of clothes when she bailed. She had seen the armored men every now and then, but so far she’d managed to stay a step ahead of them. That was another reason to leave the hotel.
Nervously, she stepped into the light of the next street lamp again. She kept her pace, but every time she walked into another light, she worried she’d be seen. A cry out from above her justified her fear.
“Piecis!” a voice cried. “Piecis, is that you?”
She didn’t look up. She grabbed her coat at the collar and started running, her right arm swinging as she did. She turned the corner, panting as she ran. Quickly, she turned into a small alley, hoping to fake out her pursuer. She leaned against the wall of the building and caught her breath quietly, hoping to see her pursuer run past. Several seconds past before she calmed down enough to look out of the alley to check on her pursuer. Then she heard a loud thud behind her. She turned quickly and someone reached and grabbed her shoulders. She screamed and struggled, but the arms of her attacker were much too strong.
“Let me go! Let me go! I don’t know you! Please, let me go!” she cried. She started beating on her attacker’s head with her fists.
“Ouch!” her attacker mumbled, “Piecis! Piecis! Calm down! Please! It’s me!”
Piecis stopped long enough to look at her attacker. A man with pale skin and a pair of red eyes stood before her, his messy short hair half-black and half-light blue in color. His face looked very familiar to her.
“San-san?” she asked, “Is that you?”
“More or less,” Sanguineous smiled in reply. “I’m not quite the same person that I was when I left you, but I’ve come back.” Sanguineous released his grip and Piecis backed away a little. She looked at his face for a few seconds, and then reached up with her hand. She felt his cheek, as if it was some affirmation as to his identity.
As a tear formed on her eye, she cried, “Oh, San-san! You’re alright!” and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. She started to cry softly in his arms as he closed his eyes and smiled, wrapping his arms around her. “I was so worried...” she whispered. “When the guys in black armor showed up, I was afraid that you’d... you’d...”
“Oh, the Nod troopers?” Sanguineous asked. He let Piecis go and whistled. Three of the black armored men appeared around the corner. “I asked these guys to tell me if you were still here. Vergil promised me they could be sneaky.. but I guess not.”
Piecis frowned at San-san. “Vergil? Nod? What?”
San-san laughed. “Oh man, do I have a lot to tell you. But that’s what the trip on the Taiidan battleship is for.” He smiled and wiped a tear from her face. “The nightmare is over, Piecis. Let’s go to your cabin and get your things. I think I’ve found us a new home.”
*****
Piecis followed San-san into the chamber full of people already gathered. They were in a large spaceship, something San-san described as a “FavuTech-owned Taiidan Mothership.” It was long and thin in shape, and a light grey in color. Several large access ports were on the underside to allow ships of all sizes to go in and out as they please. Several small weapons batteries were fitted onto the ship, but they didn’t look like they did much other than anti-fighter defense. The back of the ship glowed a bright blue, an area that Piecis guessed was the engines. She wasn’t aware of the method of high-speed transport it used, but some announcement about jumping to “Hyperspace” answered her question.
The chamber was very simple in its design, large, oval shaped, tall windows running along the wall. The windows were separated by pillars of a sort that were built into the wall and curved up into the ceiling, reaching a disk-shape with a light in it in the middle of the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large table that was big enough to seat at least fifty human sized persons. There weren’t that many people in the room, but it was a healthy host all the same. At the head of the table sat a young man who looked around San-san’s age, wearing a pair of glasses that changed its tint based of the light in the room. At his side stood a small, round creature, something San-san identified as a “Favu” on their way in. The creature sat on the table by the man at the head. She could not help but notice nervously how the young man looked at her as she walked in... as if he knew her from somewhere. Piecis tried hard to remember, but the young man’s face drew no connection. There were several others sitting at the table, including a scary looking figure who had to be at least twelve feet tall, decked out in bright red, warped power-armor and had a black face with horns coming from it. Piecis didn’t get a chance to inspect the others before the man at the head of the table spoke. He stood up and then offered his hand to her.
“Piecis, my name is Vergil,” he said as he offered his hand to shake. As she nervously responded by offering hers, Vergil continued. “Technically, we have met, but for all intents and purposes, I’m pleased to met you.”
Piecis contained her jitters and politely replied by nodding her head to him. He then motioned for her and San-san to take a seat next to him on his right side. As Piecis sat down, she noticed she sat across from a young woman dressed in a white shirt with blue jeans and a black coat. The woman looked at Piecis with her blue eyes and wore a smile on her face. Piecis couldn’t tell if the smile was one of greeting or of smug arrogance... she felt somehow as if the woman though she was competition...
“Now that everyone is here,” Vergil stated. “I’d like to get some introductions taken care of. All of you pretty much know each other except for our most recent arrival.” Vergil stretched his arm out to Piecis. “Everyone, this is Piecis Alistar. She was a controller and assistant to the Athenian dimensional enforcers before Akron destroyed their space station. She was very important to Sanguineous’ survival and for that reason I felt the need to bring her here before I debriefed everyone else.”
Piecis wore a look of shock. “How do you know all of this?” she asked.
“Skip that crap,” B’harroth whined from down the table. “I wanna know where the f*&$ you’ve been all this time!”
“Grow some patience,” The Dominion chirped from across the table. “Were you strong in the Force instead of with that Khorne loser, you wouldn’t have to ask such questions.”
B’harroth threw his middle finger out at The Dominion. “Oh yeah! Well you can just suck that you Jedi-panzy!”
Void broke out in uncontrollable laughter as The Dominion leaned over the table. “That’s SITH!” he cried, “I’m a Sith-lord, damn it! There IS a difference!”
“Fine! You’re a Sith-panzy!” B’harroth laughed, but before weapons could be drawn, a beam of Parasite Energy flew between both of them.
“I only invited you three hoping you could behave,” Vergil growled, “Now grow up for once.” B’harroth and The Dominion both pulled on their right eye and stuck out their tongue at him before he could continue. “Okay, going around, um... Piecis, as you can tell, my name is Vergil. To be quick about it, I’m the CEO, Chieftain, and Master of the Research and Development company known as Favu Technologies Inc. We own the ship we’re in.” Vergil then stretched his arm out to Favmar. “This is my number one man, Favmar. He’s sort of my dad and my vice president at the same time. Across from you is Crystal Graves, a young vampire hunter from another dimension. I met her not too long before I met San-san.”
Crystal smiled to her, but didn’t move from her seat. “Pleased to meet you, Pieces,” she said.
“That’s Piecis,” Piecis replied. Crystal waved her hand in dismissal.
“Next to her,” Vergil continued, “is Doctor Madea, my personal physician, and an expert on Neo-Mitochondria. Sitting next to San-san is Void, the master of the Nanimo Co. R&D. The rude gentleman across from him is B’harroth, Lord Chosen of Khorne, master of the Khornate R&D, and next to Void is The Dominion who heads the R&D called ‘The Dominion.’”
“He’s not all that original, you see,” Void chimed in.
“What is this, pick on the Sith day?” The Dominion asked. He was answered by B’harroth reaching over the table and hitting him in the head. Another Parasite Energy blast broke them up and another round of offensive faces were given to Vergil.
“Okay, so that’s everyone,” Piecis stated. “Now why am I here?”
“You played an important part in a long and complicated story the likes of which I have you and Sanguineous to thank for my being alive today,” Vergil replied, bowing his head a little. “It all began when Crystal appeared one day trying to steal my Mammoth Gear MKII Prototype.” Vergil motioned to Crystal as she leaned forward and began to explain to all present the events that transpired on her world during the reign of Shais. She explained the events that lead up to her meeting Vergil, through Vergil’s defeat of Shais.
“Though,” she stated as she finished her tale at her being left knocked out in the Tau Devilfish transport. “I still don’t know what happened other than apparently Vergil won...”
“That’s for later,” Vergil replied as he turned to Piecis. “Piecis, why don’t you tell us about Zeth coming home with Sanguineous?”
“Well... okay...” Piecis sounded nervous at first, but compiled diligently and professionally. She recalled the events of Sanguineous’ stay with Zeth as best as she could, as formal as if she was writing a military report on the event. Crystal and B’harroth asked her to tone down the formality a few times just so they could keep up more easily. Sanguineous filled the gaps in Piecis’ story for his battle with Raven, including a brief description of who and what Akron was.
“Okay, so now we know what Vergil creamed a few days ago,” B’harroth stated. “And we know where you’ve been. I’m satisfied.”
“I’m not,” Void stated leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “I still want to know why there are two of them now and not the one that fought Akron.”
“Yeah,” Crystal seconded the thought, “and you still haven’t told me for sure that you defeated Shais!”
“That is the complicated part,” Vergil stated as he stood up again to begin explaining. “I defeated Shais, yes, though it wasn’t an easy battle. Her power was already being boosted by Akron’s while mine was lower than maximum after saving your life, Crystal. I won the battle, but not before Shais technically ‘killed’ the Vergil you once knew.”
“I don’t follow,” Piecis stated.
“Vergil’s cells,” Doctor Madea stated from his chair, adjusting his glasses, “have a mixed Neo-Mitochondrial set up... like a Neo-Mitochondrial cocktail if you will. His cells allow him to mimic the Neo-Mitochondrial abilities of the New York City Eve, the NMC hunter Aya Brea, and Eve’s child, the Ultimate Being.”
“The Ultimate Being,” Vergil continued for the doctor, “could have its current body killed, but could not be killed outright without the use of Aya Brea’s cells and a tanker exploding on it. Instead of dying, the body would fall where it stood and explosions of Parasite Energy would rip at the bio-structure of the creature. When the explosions ceased, the creature had evolved. It grew stronger, more versatile, more powerful, and tougher each time Aya killed it, until its final form was invulnerable to all conventional weapons.”
“So in other words,” The Dominion chimed in. “You weren’t killed, you were forced into a similar evolutionary process.”
“Haaaaaaaaa!” B’harroth laughed from his seat. “Vergil died!”
“I’d watch it if I were you,” Void chuckled at the daemon from his seat. “Supposedly Vergil’s evolved... he’s even more powerful than before.”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” The Dominion snickered from his seat. Vergil continued.
“It was with this evolved form that I destroyed her, but due to the biological strain of both the evolution and my saving Crystal, my body wasn’t able to maintain its form... was starting to degenerate into a Neo-Mitochondrial ooze to allow me to rest until I was at full strength again. But that would leave me vulnerable, something I didn’t like. That’s when Sanguineous showed up. He wouldn’t tell me much, other than he too had just won some great battle, but was mortally wounded in the process. He carried a sword that is probably still lying on that open field somewhere if no one has taken it yet. He was injured beyond anything I could do, and in the brief hour or so we spent together, we became buddies. Once I explained my situation to him, he told me, before he passed out, that if there was anyway he could help me, he would. Something along the lines of ‘better one of us lives then we both die in this hell’. So, in what I thought was my last thought as an independent organism, I turned into the Neo-Mitochondrial ooze, and implanted myself into Sanguineous’ blood stream, until my powers were fully restored, and at the same time, saving his life. Unfortunately, he somehow managed to forget everything of his past before after I did this.”
“Sanguineous is a name Zeth came up with,” Piecis stated suddenly. “Did he tell you his real name before he passed out?”
Vergil shook his head. “His exact answer to my inquiries was ‘a dying warrior has no need for a name.’ He refused to tell me.”
“Vergil continued to live within my blood,” Sanguineous took over from his chair, “leaving me unaware of the whole thing. The fact remained, however, that Vergil’s blood was fighting off a bite from Shais, and, without his or my blood at full strength, my blood stream became a strange mixed substance of normal human blood, Neo-Mitochondria, and the power of the vampire’s curse. The vampire curse and the Neo-mitochondria did not get along, and they fought a microscopic war for control inside my body as I went on my adventures with Zeth, allowing both of my power types to mature at faster than normal rates. By the time Crystal had let me escape from FavuTech, Vergil’s evolution was practically complete and his power totally restored.”
”Unfortunately,” Vergil continued for San-san. “The fight against the vampire curse hardwired me into San-san’s body, so I couldn’t just break free of him. Upon my restoration, I presented him with three choices, to terminate my involvement in his biology forever, to have me completely take over his body, basically destroying him in the process, or living on as a fused entity, a ‘Vergilneous’ if you will.”
B’harroth grumbled. “Horrid Dragon Ball Z ref, Verg.”
“I picked the fused entity,” Sanguineous stated. “That entity was the one you all saw fight with Akron a few days ago.”
“That battle however,” Vergil continued, “didn’t end as we had hoped. Akron’s life force cannot be destroyed by just destroying his physical form. In a last attempt to kill us, he tried to possess us and take us over. Had Crystal and Favdee not interfered, he might have pulled it off.”
B’harroth laughed loudly. “So you’re still a wuss, eh, Verg?”
“Will you stop interrupting?!” Crystal cried furiously. “My god, you’d think someone whose been alive as long as you could be more mature!”
“Well ya know what,” B’harroth replied, getting ready to give her the finger, but The Dominion interrupted.
”B’harroth!” he yelled, and then spoke in a normal tone. “Enough.” B’harroth grumbled to himself and let Vergil continue.
“The end result of the affair was that Akron had to separate San-san and I before he could posses either of us,” Vergil stated. “Favdee formulated some plan to use his massive soul energy to contain Akron and then seal him within the soul energy of Sanguineous. This was a selfless act, one that earns my undying gratitude. We both came out of the ordeal completely worn out, both physically and emotionally, and its taken us the last couple of days for both of us to get back on our feet. As soon as I felt well enough to officially take over again, the first thing I did was hire Sanguineous permanently as a special agent to FavuTech and have given him near unlimited access to appropriate FavuTech resources in his hunt to destroy Akron once and for all.
“And that is why you’re here,” Vergil said as he turned to Piecis. “The Athenian Order’s Dimensional Authority might have been destroyed, but I am to understand you know quite a lot about their procedures. FavuTech has a vast and skilled Research and Development network, but we don’t have a dimensional transportation department yet.” He extended his hand to her. “Piecis Alistar, I would be more than honored if you would head our dimensional transportation department and serve as an assistant to Sanguineous in his quest. You will be given a place to live, a ludicrous salary, and a special status so that you will only answer to me and Favmar.”
Piecis was shocked. She started to mumble something under her breath, but finally she took a deep breath and stood up, taking Vergil’s hand. “I’d be delighted to do so, Mr. Vergil.”
“Just Vergil will be fine,” Vergil answered as he shook her hand. “Welcome aboard Favu Technologies Inc.” He let go of her hand and then turned to Crystal. “And you Crystal, I also owe you greatly for your supporting FavuTech while I was indisposed. If you would like, I plan on sending a group of FavuTech support teams to help your people rebuild your world from the chaos and destruction caused by Shais. I feel it is the absolute least I could do.”
Crystal looked up at Vergil with a wide eyed expression on her face. “Thank you very much, Vergil. It is greatly appreciated.” She paused for a moment and then averted her eyes. “Can I request one thing, though?”
“What’s that?” Vergil asked.
“I want to go home...”
*****
A few days later, everything was back to normal. Vergil fought with The Dominion, Void, and B’harroth on the field of battle and then hung out at someone’s place and played GameCube for several hours as usual. Vergil’s powers had indeed increased, and he gave the R&D masters more trouble than they expected, but, as per the law of the R&D Warz, Vergil still couldn’t kill any of them.
Favdee was missed in FavuTech’s ranks, but with Vergil back in business, Favmar was pulling both of their weight around just because he was so glad to have him back. Some of the Favus joked the late blooming Favmar may ascend someday soon just because he was working so hard and still enjoying it.
The Dimensional Transit Department was in full swing in developing a transportation system similar to that which the Athenians had. It turned out that Piecis also knew how to remote connect to the Athenian Authority’s back up networks on other planets to find their actual research data which greatly accelerated the research and development process. She told Vergil she expected to have it up and running and Sanguineous searching the multiverse for ways to get rid of Akron for good as soon as the next month.
Madea took in Sanguineous to as his second ‘high priority’ patient. He monitored the flow of soul energy from both Favdee and Akron careful, while also maintain a watchful eye on the growing vampire curse, which no longer had Neo-Mitochondria to oppose it. Madea told San-san of an alternate dimension of Earth where he had heard of a woman who developed a cure for vamprisim, but Sanguineous refused on the grounds that he might need his powers. Madea was concerned however, since it appeared that Favdee’s barrier had grown just a tiny bit weaker since Sanguineous first returned from his fight with Akron.
Crystal went home with Vergil’s support crews, but not before she gave him a goodbye.
“Verg,” she said as they stood on the launch platform, the engines on the support ships powering up behind them. “Just so that you know, I don’t want to leave you for good. I just... I haven’t been home you know and I’m worried about dad.”
Vergil nodded, smiling. “I know, Crystal, and I understand. I was actually going to ask you if it would be okay if I could visit from time to time.”
Crystal looked up at him quickly, her joy written all over her face. “Please do! Lord knows I’ll get bored with nothing to fight for the first time in years all of a sudden. Besides, I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too,” Vergil said as he took a step closer.
“And Favmar, and San-san, and Piecis, and B’harroth, and Void, and The Dominion, and, hell, everyone.” Crystal continued. “It’s amazing how much that stupid daemon can grow on you if you spend too much time around him.”
“Isn’t it?” Vergil asked. “Before you know it you start talking like him too. Crying out ‘EIGHT’ when something amusing happens in eights... crying out ‘blood for the blood god’ while you play PSO...”
Crystal took a step forward and placed her finger on his mouth to shut him up. “There’s something I have to take care of before I leave,” she whispered.
Vergil gulped nervously. “Um... well.. if that’s about the... you know... I mean... if anything I owe you...”
Crystal smirked. “Exactly, I’m here to collect my kiss.” Before Vergil could react, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. The ANMC didn’t move... he wasn’t really sure what to do other than stand there and enjoy it. Crystal broke from the embrace and chuckled to herself. “Bye bye, Vergil.” Using the watch she used to first find Vergil, which Piecis had the R&D department repair, Crystal pushed the green button and was taken away back to her home.
From up above the hangar bay as the ships launched, Sanguineous laughed out loud. “Okay, Favmar, Piecis, pay up.” Favmar and Piecis reached for where they kept their currency and gave Sanguineous a bit of it.
“How did you know she would kiss him before she left?” Favmar stated as they started to walk away.
Sanguineous smiled to himself. “Let’s just say, I know she’s a good kisser.”
Piecis blushed angrily. “What the devil is that supposed to mean?!”
“Hey, hey, calm down!” San-san laughed waving his hands. “She never kissed me, she kissed me and Vergil at the same time. Remember the whole fusion thing?”
Piecis bashed him in the head with her purse and proudly walked away. Favmar laughed as Sanguineous struggled back onto his feet. “Oh man... this is going to be fun...” he said to himself.
*****
Off somewhere in a distant dimension, Mizumi Kotta picked up a piece of rubble from the ruins of the capital city. She had spent days searching for some trace of survivors, and found none. She was lucky that the fire hadn’t destroyed all the food storage places in town, but the supply wasn’t enough to last her forever.
She threw the rubble off the edge of her floating world that she was the sole survivor of. She looked over the edge, playing with the thought of jumping after the rubble she threw and ending her suffering here. Then she thought of everything that had gone wrong since those two showed up. Angrily, she stopped towards the ruins of the palace, the word revenge warming her palette.
She mumbled to herself between her tears as she walked. “I swear on the honor of the Kotta clan, as the last child of Celresstia... Sanguineous and Akron will die.”
Rhapsody & Requiem: ~Fin
