Disas Zephyr - POV;
"Shh! She's waking up!"
"Okay, okay, get ready everybody!"
My eyes fluttered open slowly and the bickering of people instantly met my ears. I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the bed slowly before scanning the room with half-closed eyes and a tired expression.
"Surprise!"
Huddled around me with broad smiles stood Xyder, Evelynn, Satella, Storm, Winter, Dagan, Celes, Sorine and Jacqueline. Even Rydia, Fira, Alva and Cheryl were there.
I stared blankly for a moment before concluding, "Oh, I must be dreaming," and rolling over on my bed once more, pulling up my covers as I did.
"No you're not you idiot!" Jacqueline protested angrily beside my bed.
"Sure, if you say so," I told her half-asleep.
"They cancelled the Future Fantasy 7 Remake last night," Xyder muttered.
"NO THEY DIDN'T!" I screamed, jolting awake. I found myself staring wide-eyed at a grinning Xyder. Looking around the room once more, a realisation dawned on me.
"Everyone is back! How?! When?! Wait, where am I?! What about the match?!" I blurted out all at once.
"Easy there tiger," Xyder said putting a hand on my head, "Don't go exerting yourself now. We'll tell you everything."
****
"No way! You guys did all of that without me?! No fair!" I protested.
"For your information, I would have rathered if we didn't need to do any of it," Jacqueline huffed.
"But then you wouldn't have made your banging debut. It's only been three days since you showed off your stuff and you already have a huge fan club and everything!" Evelynn chimed in.
"Ugh, please don't mention that. Dagan is beating himself up over that and I swear he'll kill those guys if he gets his hands on them," Jacqueline stated.
"Of course I will. Those people are just perverts and creeps," Dagan validated himself.
"Heeheehee. What was it again? 'All hail our Flaming Blue Empress', right?" Winter giggled.
"Please stop," Jacqueline pleaded with a face of disgust.
Everyone was laughing and conversing with each other, having a fun time as they did.
"U-um... everyone..." I barely managed to squeak out. They all paused and watched in my direction, waiting for me to finish speaking.
"I um... I... Sorry!" I exclaimed, lowerinf my head. They looked at me with confusion and turned to each other, hoping to find an answer.
"So why are you sorry exactly?" Xyder pressed.
"If I was stronger we could have won against Astra but because I got myself defeated, you all were put at a disadvantage. Then I caused you all so much worry and I couldn't even help to save everyone. I've just been asleep for the last month. I'm so stupid," I murmered.
"What are you talking about?" Sorine laughed and the others joined in.
"Huh? What's so funny?" I argued.
"Hey, I got my ass handed to me against Astra too. Me and Dagan both," Storm grinned.
"Also, we may not have known but Xyder sent us to be bait, and that's all we were," Celes added.
"If we're talking about making people worry, the four of us are the most guilty. We were kidnapped for months!" Fira remarked.
"Even so, we don't really regret all of it," Satella said.
"It gave us the chance to grow closer," Winter said, leaning against Storm who placed an arm around her.
"It gave us the chance to grow stronger," Jacqueline declared.
"It gave us the chance to grow better... to inch so much closer to becoming the best versions of ourselves," Xyder completed their poem as he sat on the edge of my bed next to me, "We're glad to have you back Disas. We've learned and improved from it but we will leave the past behind. Now we will work to forge a better and beighter future for us and for Zephyr... together. We can't go on without our Epitome of Umbra."
I couldn't hold back any longer. I began to weep joyful tears uncontrollably and Xyder gently pat me on the head as I did. We finally found it after so many hard times and so much toiling... everything was filled with ecstasy and joy. We finally reached the happy ending.
****
Lennox Blaze - POV;
"NOOOOO! THIS CAN'T BE TRUE! WHY?! NOOOOOOOOO!" Laura screamed at the the top of her lungs as she trembled and wailed. She dug into her own arms with her nails until she drew blood but the physical pain hardly seemed to faze her.
"Laura, stop. You need to calm yourself Laura. Listen to me, everything will be okay," I tried to ease her suffering but my words seemed to pass right through her.
Seth still stood with his tearful face pressed against the wall as he punched it repeatedly for some fifteen minutes. His knuckles had become swollen ad shredded from his actions.
"Move out of the way! Where is she?! Move!" a familiar voice bellowed from around the corner.
"Master Nero, you can't be- gah!" one of the doctors began but he was cut off whren he was flung into the wall. Nero came barreling around the bend, blood and pus oozing from the lacerations and burns on his body. His eyes widened as he saw us in our pitiful state. I unconsciously looked in the direction of the door to the room we were currently outside of and Nero followed my gaze. He rushed to the door but I quickly ran towards him to hold him back.
"Nero! Nero, no! You're too injured! You need to be resting and recovering! You took most of the hit that day! You're in no shape to be out here!" I demanded as he struggled to get ahead of me. With a determined push, he slammed me against the waiting bench and managed to burst into the room.
"Poppy!" he called out as he entered. He looked around quickly and his eyes fell upon the young girl's still body, lying on one of the tables.
"Poppy? Poppy?!" he shouted as he dropped down beside her and held her hand.
"Poppy?! Poppy, what's wrong?! You're so cold. Poppy, come on open your eyes! Poppy, this isn't funny! Poppy! Poppy!!!" he pleaded to her.
"Nero!" I boomed, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him away from her.
"Lennox, what are you doing?! They wouldn't tell me how she was but she's right there! She's fine!" he insisted.
"No Nero! She's not! It's too late! She's gone Nero! Poppy's gone!" I bellowed, as tears began to trickle down my face.
"No. No she's not... She said she would become a star. Once we were free from all of this she would go be famous. She didn't do it yet so how can she be gone?" he questioned in a daze.
"She's gone, Nero. She's gone," I repeated. He dropped down on his knees and slammed his head into the floor in grief.
"Nero, please... you have to go get treated. Blaze's doctors are doing their best. Please," I begged him.
"No."
"Nero please!"
"No. I'm done playing around," he growled as he shot to his feet and bolted outside. I chased him across the halls and down a dozen flights of stairs until he eventually broke into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory. He grabbed a pair of filled syringes from the table and stabbed them into his bicep before pumping the red contents into himself.
"Wait! What are you doing?!" I cried out as I stopped him from injecting three more, "What even is this?!"
"The Blood of Zephyrus," a voice answered behind us, "Used to maintain the Vessel at a high degree of power."
I turned to look at the male and saluted, "Regulus Blaze?!"
"Father!" Nero exclaimed, "I've had it! Zephyr is out there celebrating their happy ending but there's nothing happy about this! This is a nightmare! I'm through stalling! It's time!"
"You do understand what it means to go through with that?" Lord Duran questioned.
"I know and I don't care. Give it to me! Even if its the last thing I do, I will make Zephyr pay!"