Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

195 - A Monstrous Trio

"Xyder!"

I barely had time to process Sorine's arrival before Cheryl appeared  and threw herself at me bodily. Her small frame latched tightly onto me with her desperate hug.

"Xyder, I was so worried! I rushed here as fast as I could! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" she ranted, glaring at me with deep concern.

"Y-yeah," I answered in an unsure tone.

A chilling hail of snow circled around us for a moment, forming a humanoid female on touching the ground. Seconds later, a darting shadow streaked across the field and peeled itself off of the Earth, forming a familiar ally.

"Winter! Disas!" I blurted out their names.

"Guys!" the Epitome of Umbra choked out tearfully.

"Are you all okay?" Celes shouted to us as she dropped down in a cyclone of wind.

"Celes..." Dagan said softly. He looked at her momentarily before his eyes grew wide abruptly. Staring past her he exclaimed, "Jacqueline?!"

Not far away, Jacqueline was inching her way towards our group all while leaning against Satella for support. With them, propping each other up, was none other than the Fenix trio of Shula, Etna and Adara.

"Oi, what are you girls doing walking around?!" Zacharias boomed, rushing over to his three allies.

"Come on, you know I wouldn't get put out of commission that easily," Etna grinned coyly. Without warning, her knees buckled, causing her to fall forward. Zacharias instantly lurched forward, catching her halfway, and doing his best to break the fall of the girls she brought down with her.

"O...okay... so maybe... Zephyr's actually pretty strong. Whaddya know?" Etna joked through her panting breaths.

"You idiot," he hissed, holding his dear cousin closely.

"Aww, that's sweet," Jacqueline noted as she watched the scene unfold, "Maybe Fenix isn't that bad after all."

"Jacqy..." Dagan trailed off as he stepped towards her in a daze.

"Hey, bro-" she began.

"Jacqy!" he cut her off, squeezing her in a powerful embrace as he bawled into her shoulder, "I thought I would never see you again! I thought I'd lost you forever! I thought... I thought..."

"S... stop it... You stupid... stop... you'll make me cry too," she wailed, emulating his grasp.

The rest of us stood by, bottling in emotions that words could do no justice. We were together. After all this time... we were finally a unified group once more.

Satella hobbled over, her attention also trained on the pink-haired girl clinging to me. Cheryl noticed her approach and, to my surprise, she slowly released herself and took a step back. They glared at each other for some time before finally, Satella broke the ice, "You're alot stronger than I expected."

"You were great out there yourself," Cheryl responded.

"I think... I think we have alot of things to talk about... when all of this is over," Satella suggested.

"Yeah, you're right. I think so too, and I'd like that," Cheryl agreed.

"And Xyder..." Satella turned to me quietly as a warm smile crept up on her face, "It's great to have you back."

"Ella... Do... do all of you remember?"  I pressed. One by one, my allies nodded in affirmation.

"I see. I did you all a terrible disservice for these past months. I plunged us all into a painful and uncalled for choas. I don't blame you if you've lost faith in me. I'd understand if you decided to walk away from this," I stated regretfully.

"It wasn't you and you know it," Jacqueline chimed in.

"If we should hate you for being under Tenebrae's control, then the same should go for those of us who were too. It's the same," Sorine grunted.

"No. I knew what I was doing. I wanted to do all of it. It was me," I insisted.

"Even if it was, you're still the one who fixed this, right? You're the one who made everything right. The rest of us were already..." Satella trailed off.

"Besides," Disas picked up where she paused, "As bad as it may have seemed, those days were a great blessing in disguise! Those who were captured by Blaze were being left behind in power and we all know that  even we were pushing our limits just to barely keep up with the other clans. Heck, our team couldn't even do that."

"In fact, I think we could argue that you, Evelynn and Sorine were the only ones who were truly up to par. You three were dragging us all forward," Dagan spoke.

"But look at us now. Because of what you did, we were able to grow... evolve. Now look at us," Winter called my attention to her arm which slowly shifted into a mass of snow, "We've all achieved unbelievable strength. The Epitomes became Deity Vessels and we all perfected the art of fighting as a unit. We gained so much progress in seemingly no time at all. For the first time, we all have a definite chance at victory!"

I mulled over their words in silence for what felt like an hour before eventually lifting my head to look towards them, "Then stand with me my friends. We'll show them how far we've come. We aren't the same rascals they thought they could mess with! Fenix, I'm sorry for what I did to you."

"Sorry? What are you talking about? It was a battle. We were all prepared to be damaged," Zacharias declared.

"Zephyr," Ignatius chimed in, "There's something different about all of you... but especially you Xyder. I sensed a forbidden malice in your Elemental Energy before, but it has faded away with the passing moments. When we entered our battle, I saw Evelynn as our true threat. As you are now however, you've achieved her level... nay, you've surpassed it. I don't know what happened, but you all clearly do. It's safe to say that we aren't on the same page as you."

"Fenix doesn't remember..." Dagan thought aloud.

"I figured as much," I told him.

"Then who does?" Sorine put forth the question on everyone's mind.

"That's a great question."

"Hey. Before we figure this all out, shouldn't we find the rest of our friends?" Winter spoke up, "Storm said he was coming here ahead of me but he's still missing."

"Alva, Rydia and Fira too. Where in the worl-"

"BOOM!"

With puffs of undulating, billowing, black smoke, two large holes erupted from the North-Western wall with a tremendous crash. Two trails of ash diverged toward opposing sides of the field, arcing sharply as it plummeted towards the ground. From the sizzling shadows, two recognizable figures came into vision.

"Storm! Fira!"