Eclipse heard about Zidane actually making it into the palace the next morning. That fact neither really bothered him, or surprised him. What angered him greatly was that after Zidane had walked back into the Queen's hand, she had let him slip right back out of her stupid fat grasp once again. A day later he flew back to the palace with Drake, barely speaking to the queen before he did so. She seemed to be avoiding him by staying around a lot of people.

However, he wasn't going to just let this bumbling mistake pass. So he called ahead, and flew straight back to Alexandria after spending only a night at Daguerro.

 

Eclipse swept through the corridors of Alexandria castle like a frigid breeze. He knew the queen was avoiding him. The polite thing to do when she knew he was coming was to meet him at the dock, but she hadn't. She seemed to have hidden herself quite well for such a huge mass.

 

Brahne was worried—anyone and everyone who saw her could easily tell, so she’d chosen to stay close by her room where less people were likely to go. She paced back and forth through her room, out into the hall, and back…trying to think of… of anything.

Zidane would come back. She knew he would… he’d go after them, and what could they do? Oh, what a situation she’d gotten herself into… She glanced over when she saw Eclipse walking toward her. “The Black Mages attacked the Desert Palace…”

 

“And only managed to kill the furniture?” Eclipse replied in a tone as cold as his icy glare.

 

“They said that Kuja was there.” Brahne informed, quickly. “Kuja was there, as was Zidane.”

 

“So was your entire fleet of airships, not to mention a generous loan of several other airships from other nations, hundreds of troops, all of the black mages and even two summoners. Yet you didn't manage to catch or even slow either of them down…” Eclipse countered.

 

“Well if you knew he was alive you should have said something, don’t you think?” Brahne snapped.

The news had been a bit of a shock to her. It terrified her, to say the least. No matter how much Zidane looked like Kuja, in the end… he still was not Kuja. That was what allowed Brahne to be as bold as she had been when dealing with Zidane, but now he didn’t have to be anything like Kuja… because Kuja was alive. He was the reason she’d started the war in the first place, she’d stolen her red pearl from him, she’d learned about the Secrets of Terra from hearing him rant like a bad poet.

If he were alive… what’s to say he wouldn’t get Zidane to open the door for him? Then they would all be doomed…

 

The temperature in the room seemed to drop about twenty degrees and the color seemed to drain out of the room, so it became gray and dark. It was like the sun going behind thick clouds, but far more dramatic.

Eclipse took a step towards the Queen. Everything that had just happened was a pretty obvious warning. He didn't appreciate Brahne snapping at him. Or a complete moron like the one standing in front of him trying to make out that they were smarter than him in any way. It was especially infuriating.

“I think that Kuja is dead,” the robed man commented dangerously. “I don't feel his energy. I think that people who build houses with faces on them and wear huge pointed hats are not a reliable source of information. And I think that the Black Mages saw what they wanted to see.”

 

Brahne quickly backed down at that… it was a good point. If Kuja were alive, why hadn’t they seen him? Surely he would have tried something…”I worry.” Brahne stated, quieter. “I worry that Zidane has flown off to Terra and we have no way of opening the door without him, yet I also worry that he himself will open the door and get that… that… whatever it is the door is concealing.”

 

“If he planned to open it himself, he would have tried to do it by now.” Eclipse replied. The Terran's reluctance to open the door worked in their favor while they had lost track of him. Both Zidane and the queen were scared of it and that made Eclipse happy. Even if it didn't live up to his expectations, just possessing 'The secrets of Terra' was enough to cause people to fear him.

 

“I suppose you have a point…” Brahne admitted.

 

 

 

Drake woke up the next… afternoon and it didn’t take him very long to notice… Eclipse was gone.

He wasn’t completely sure. He wouldn’t bet his life on it… and that is what it came down to. Drake stalked around the palace, pacing repeatedly near any door he came across that went outside. Disappearing for a few days would be useful in his plans, and if Eclipse really was gone, Drake was going to take advantage of that.
He needed to speak with Zidane, and more than that he needed practice. As he got older his powers had advanced, but he’d always felt that there was something he was missing, something he wasn’t tapping into, something he was going to make himself figure out. It was going to come down to a fight... and if it did, he was going to need to be ready. If he could get stronger than Eclipse thought he was, there might be a chance at this whole thing working.

 

Drake was trying his damndest to find a way to slide on the stair rail ALL the way down the tower. His latest attempt involved a sled but it was surprisingly difficult to drag a solid oak sled up this many stairs… it didn’t feel that heavy to him, at least not at first, but after he was halfway up it seemed to have gained several hundred pounds.

 

Ellipsis was in his room when he heard 'it'. It sounded like a faint breeze at first, but slowly got louder and louder. It was a nearly continuous swishy scraping sound and apparently it was coming from the stairs.

Finally it got so loud that Ellipsis' curiosity got the better of him and he opened his door to peer out, just in time to see Drake pass by him with the sled.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ellipsis asked in a nearly mocking tone that showed he expected that there was no possible 'normal' explanation for wanting to drag a sled all the way to the top of the tower.

 

Drake looked at him as if that were the most foolish question he had ever heard, “I’m dragging a sled up the tower.”

 

“Why?” Ellipsis narrowed his eyes as he spoke again.

 

“Well… It’s my sled.” Drake offered, looking at it. “So… I decided it should be in my room?”

 

The way that Drake hesitated when he answered only made Ellipsis even more suspicious. His eyes narrowed even further.

“Won't that just be a hassle when you want to use it? To get it back down all these stairs?” He asked, testing the boy.

 

Drake grinned like he couldn’t stop himself from doing so, “No hassle at all.”

 

When Drake grinned like that, it could only mean trouble. That's what it always meant, but without knowing what Drake could be planning and without any proof that he intended to do something wrong, Ellipsis could hardly do anything about it without looking paranoid.

“You better not try anything...” He warned, as he started to retreat into his room. He kept his eyes on Drake warningly even as he started to close the door.

 

… Or what? Drake let out a malicious laugh and continued up the stairs.

It took him ten more minutes to get the sled up the stairs.


It took far, far less time going down.

 

 

Ellipsis gritted his teeth. He had been expecting Drake to try something, but not something this loud! It almost sounded like the tower was collapsing. The floor of his room actually shook as the sled passed by his door.

“What the hell are you doing!?” He yelled, throwing open the door as the loud noise became slightly quieter as it traveled down the stairs.

 

Drake hit the wall and decided that this wasn’t the best way to get down stairs. “Owwww… No hassle at all.” He leaned back and looked up at Ellipsis, “I am sledding. Duh.”

 

Ellipsis shook with rage and frustration, as he stood in the open doorway; almost afraid to step out onto the stairs in case something else came down. “Does this look like a snow-covered slope to you?!” He demanded loudly.

 

“Kinda, if I squint a bit.” Drake replied, squinting his eyes as if to prove a point. “Besides, I’m not allowed to be in snowy places… Unless, oddly enough, it’s Shivel.”

 

“I'm sure I could arrange a trip for you there if you want to sled so badly.” Ellipsis answered quickly, his eyes glinting slightly at the thought of revenge. Then his face dropped slightly when he realized he would be forced to go too.

 

Drake saw the hope in Ellipsis’s eyes be dashed by realization… it made Drake vaguely wonder about all that he was doing virtually on his own; completely separate from everyone he'd grown up around.

 

“Hah!”

 

Ellipsis shook his head. “For one day… could you just not…be yourself?”

 

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried,” Drake grinned, still leaning back so his head was practically upside down.

 

“You…” Ellipsis sighed.

 

It had been a while since Eclipse scratched him, but the boy still had scars… Ellipsis had heard that scream all the way in the tower where he was. He’d run to see the cause, but the instant he saw the sky, he knew… and there was nothing he could do about it. He just had to wonder if it had really come to… that. Eclipse was becoming violent with Dragon… proving he really did feel he had more control than their leaders, and he probably did. Ellipsis never thought anyone would dare harm Dragon, but the evidence that someone had was still shockingly evident. He had to obey Eclipse, though, and try to persuade Drake not to disobey again; to at least behave and obey while Eclipse was around… but Eclipse wasn’t around now. “You’re a pest, you know that? Getting into trouble.”

Drake smirked, but considered that.
Hunting was really the only thing Drake did that got him into trouble. One of the one things that separated him from the people he grew up with was his love of the outdoors. Everything else... the whole nature VS nurture battle. He'd never intentionally gone against Eclipse and Ellipsis this far. He had no one else. His parents weren't even the same species. They were never around...

He went from being his parents son to being Eclipse's property. What would Ellipsis do if he knew what Drake was really up to? He did not fear Ellipsis. He never had, really… but the idea that Eclipse would find out his recent behavior was to distract from his real plans? That was terrifying.

So, he got up, slowly, and prepared to take another step away from all he'd ever know. “Would you be happier if I left for a while?”

 

“Why? What are you planning this time?” Ellipsis asked suspiciously.

 

Drake took a few, unblinking, seconds to think up a believable answer. “Hunting…” Was the best he could come up with.

 

“Pfft!” Ellipsis spat out the dismissive noise. He should have known; that boy went hunting constantly.

Ellipsis hated the outdoors. He had been dreading every instant of the first encounter with Severo because it showed how much Drake didn't mind the nature experience and adored hunting... He was afraid Eclipse would make him follow Drake whenever he went out with a hunting party; Eclipse was cautious to a level of paranoia about the influences he allowed around the young prince... He made Ellipsis tag along every time... but Drake became very independent and never stuck with the parties for long. Ellipsis was thrilled about that! Eclipse didn't make Ellipsis tag along after the first few trips.

Eclipse took the hunting better than Ellipsis thought he would. He made a disturbing comment, though, about why he did not stop Drake from hunting. Despite that it let the boy go out on his own, put himself in danger, separate himself from Eclipse... it taught him to kill.
Ellipsis had been slightly unnerved by that; the prince was so young. From the beginning, he was the youngest Ellipsis had ever encountered. Going after the fire element was one thing... raising a fire element was completely different. Especially since they could not just drag him back to the Occultation village and raise him there where there would be nothing working against them...

It had been worrying to find out Dragon was a prince in a nation of one of their greatest enemies. If they stole him away there would be an entire nation after them... and the royal leaders might remember enough of their heritage to awake the water dragon god who might awaken their allies. Eclipse was not too worried. He said he was just waiting for a moment when it was certain that the king and queen would not care about the boy being in danger. When Drake got ill not very long ago, Marina showed she still did care.

Ellipsis... obeyed Eclipse. He had to. He was a Lesser, Eclipse was a Pure and a high-ranking one at that; one of the top and had only gone up after finding Drake.

However... when Eclipse wasn't around, Ellipsis rarely felt the need to order Drake around... sometimes he felt the kid needed a break from the constant fear Eclipse caused, so he let him do whatever he wanted, mostly.

“Fine, whatever. Have fun, don’t get killed, don’t kill anyone…” He finally replied. Drake always came back, and at least he wouldn't be causing trouble around the palace and Ellipsis could get some much desired rest.

“Grand.” Drake got up and headed back upstairs, swiftly.

Ellipsis shook his head and went back into his room.

Moments later Drake returned carrying a whole mess of swords.

 

Ellipsis came out of his room once again, for he had heard the horrible clunking sound coming down the stairs. “What now- What the hell are you doing with all those swords? You can't need all those for hunting!... You don't even use swords for hunting!” He objected. There were enough swords there to arm a medium-sized army.

 

So many questions! So few he really wanted honest answers to, Drake knew. He hardly understood why Ellipsis bothered. If he gave an honest answer, what good would it do? ‘I’m using them for practice’ would lead to ‘practice for what? The worlds only flaming sword swallowing completion?’ which would force him to answer, ‘No, but I will get back to you on that.’ And then Ellipsis would simply say, ‘well then what for?’ And Drake would have to answer honestly ‘In my quest for redemption for all the pain and suffering my creation, departure, sleep, awakening, and life has caused I have decided to kill Eclipse due to his hand in just about every single aspect of that pain and misery. I need these swords to practice so that when I go to fight he doesn’t just laugh and knock me down in a single blow. I want it to at least take several hits.’ And that would just lead to stares and gawks and ‘you…what… hu?’s and Drake didn’t want to deal with that.

“… Would you believe I am building a fort?” Drake asked, tipping his head to the side, slightly.

 

Ellipsis quickly opened his mouth to answer but stopped. Then he thought for a moment, apparently changing his mind in the process.

“...Yes. Yes I would,” he finally answered.

 

Drake almost smiled, but he stopped himself. “Then I am building a fort,” he replied.

 

“Really?” Ellipsis asked.

 

Drake thought about that for a second, then shrugged. “Sure… that could be fun.”

Then he thought about it. Wait… I’m a prince! Why am I explaining my actions? That’s other people’s job! “Bye!”

He turned and trotted out the door. He picked a horse and took off.

 

“Whatever...” Ellipsis grumbled, went back into his room and closed the door behind him, already too frustrated to properly enjoy the newfound peace and quiet.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away on a completely different planet, Zidane closed a door too. He was in one of the rooms that they had managed to clear. Everything was still a terrible mess on Terra and he had to admit a lot of the materials and technology baffled him completely. However now he stood in front of one of the few working machines.

It was about the size of a desk, made from the same dark metal that was pretty common on Terra and had a chair for someone to sit down, a lot of buttons and knobs too. There was also a couple of monitors, currently they were dark and blank.

Normally Zidane would have had no idea what to do with it and just pressed random buttons. But Mikoto had shown him how to use this one. He sat down in the chair that felt just a little too uncomfortable, but had no adjustment controls that he could find.

“Alright, this switch, then that button...” he muttered to himself as he recalled his sister's instructions and carried them out. The monitors came to life and some other lights on the machine flicked on. One monitor was filled with a lot of data written in a form of the Terran language that Zidane had trouble understanding, but the other monitor, the one that mattered, had been converted slightly by Mikoto to make it easier for him.

He surveyed the panel. 'Damn! What now? Oh yeah...' he thought to himself and then started to key in a sequence on a keypad. Now he just had to press the last button.

“Was it the red one or the blue one?” He asked himself aloud, his mind drawing a blank. How could he have forgotten the last step? Oh well, there was just one thing to do. He guessed. After all, it probably wouldn't make the machine explode if he was wrong, right?

He pressed the red one. He was rewarded with a strange recurring beeping sound that reminded him of a phone ringing, but was distinctly different. “Yes!” He exclaimed triumphantly and then sat back in the chair and waited...

 

 

 

Drake looked around, what was that annoying noise? Then he remembered his cell phone. “And praise to the gods for having no one around to have seen that…” He muttered and picked up the phone, turning it on. “Business or pleasure?”

 

“If you answer the phone to Garnet like that, I'll break your face.” Zidane replied as he sat back in his chair. So the machine really did work!

 

“Ah, hello Zidane.” Drake smirked, “I have answered the phone like that when Princess Garnet has called.” He felt that he needed to remind Zidane, grinning wider.

 

“Bastard!” Zidane growled and started to push random buttons. This thing was advanced technology, damnit! There had to be an 'Electrocute the Gaian on the other end of the line' button!

However, the best he could do was find a button that seemed to send what sounded like a sonic boom down the line.

 

Drake held the phone away from him till the noise stopped, and then he put it back to his ear. “Stop that, you have more important things to be doing.” He reminded, “We need to practice this fight or you will end up dead.”

 

Zidane sighed. Drake was right. There was plenty of opportunity to break Drake's smug face later. “I guess so,” he replied, “but where? It would be hard to get you to Terra without my brother kill—… no, let’s be honest, mocking you enough that you’ll kill him...And I can't come there for obvious reasons… can I?”

 

“Come to Daguerreo. There’s an old fort behind South Mountain. Eclipse is gone, so you’ll be safe.” Drake provided, glancing around.

 

“See you in about an hour then,” he added and then pressed the button to disconnect the call.

 

Drake hung up and waited… while he waited, he decided to see if it were possible to really build a fort out of the swords.

It was, but he doubted anyone would want to go into it… “Heard you coming.”

 

“Dammit. I was being so sneaky, too.” Zidane said, walking over. “… What are you doing?”

 

“I’m building a fort.” Drake explained, eyeing the creation.

If it were a horse, it would be shot. “That took longer than an hour,” he pointed out.

 

“But...why?” Zidane had to ask. Had this been the most constructive thing he could think to do while he waited? Plus, where did all these swords come from? Did he bring them? Why?

 

“I did not want to lie… and I was fairly bored.” Drake explained, glancing back at Zidane. “And to be honest, before you called my plans for the day was to practice to see which one I liked best anyway.”

He grabbed a sword, which caused the rest of the tower to collapse and swung it, testing its weight.

 

“So what do we practice first?” Zidane asked. He hadn't properly had time to talk to Drake about this Eclipse guy. What could he do? How would they need to beat him? Last time Zidane had saved the world, he had just gone with it and monsters from around the world had thrown themselves at him and given him some pretty effective training. He'd had more companions too...

 

“Anything we can,” Drake explained simply. “Sparing might be effective… this is going to be very difficult.” He got quiet for a moment before turning fully and looking at Zidane. “You saved existence once, yet I can assure you this battle will be harder than anything you have ever faced before. I have certain… talents… and yet I cannot even imagine winning a battle against him on my own, and to be honest, I have my doubts that even the both of us combined can defeat him.”

 

Zidane stared at the prince for a while, before smirking a bit. “That was a lot of words just to say 'I don't know’. Doesn't he have a weakness we can exploit?”

 

Drake thought about that, long and hard. “… No.”

 

“… What, really? …Nothing? I mean…. The tree monster inside the Iifa Tree died if you used a Phoenix down on it…”

 

“Yeah…” Drake raised an eyebrow, “That’s not going to work on Eclipse.”

 

“Well there has to be something… Petrified monsters can be killed with Softs, Life or healing for undead…”

 

“Not going to work on Eclipse.”

 

“… Well, we beat Ozma.” Zidane shrugged, glancing around.

 

“What was so hard about that?” Drake asked, looking bored.

 

Zidane stared at him. “Well… for starters, Ozma has a few strong attacks that will kill your entire party… then, just for kicks, he has some less powerful attacks that’ll also probably kill your whole team. Can’t forget his annoying habit of ignoring the ‘turns’ rule and taking two or three turns at a time and is fast enough he can attack after each team member goes if he wants—rather than waiting for all four of us to have a go. He’s got Death, Berserk, L5 Death, MP Absorb, Star Flare, Mini, Doomsday, Curse, Flare, Holy, and, oh yeah Meteor! Which, if he uses is pretty much a guarantee that you’re screwed. His HP is 65535, he doesn’t run out of MP it seems, since he’s got 9999. Oh, and just to laugh at you, he cures himself!”

 

“And as I’ve heard, takes a great deal of damage if you use Dark Matter on it.” Drake said, his tone showing how unimpressed he was. “Holy can be guarded, doomsday can be absorbed, both death and berserk can miss their target and they’re fairly easy to handle regardless. Gysahl Greens are cheap and they cure berserk easily. If you have Auto-Raise you’re pretty safe from Curse, too. Use reflect. It’s not that hard if you know the tricks and prepare well; most of the time it can be as simple as strategy and what armor and weapons you equip. Pumice Piece can absorb Holy and a Chimera Armlet can nullify it. Plus, in HP battles you have Auto-Life.”

 

“… Hey, we impressed Hades by beating Ozma.”

 

“Yet you don’t impress me.” Drake replied, still looking bored

 

“Ozma was harder than any of the end bosses. Harder than Necron.” Zidane pointed out, flicking his tail. “We had to learn skills, get the right equipment, level—,”

 

“None of that will matter!” Drake interrupted.

 

Zidane was taken aback by that, he almost took a step back. “What do you mean it won’t matter?”

 

“I mean it Won’t. Matter.” Drake cleared, raising his voice, slightly. “You think Eclipse is going to waste his time on pounding away on HP? No! He’s going to butcher you till you bleed to death or are in too many pieces to continue life.”

 

“What, so you’re saying… what? We can’t immobilize him by going for his HP?” Zidane questioned. “Even if he goes for blood, can’t we go for his HP and paralyze him?”

 

“No.”

 

Zidane had expected Drake to need more time thinking about that over, but his answer had been rather fast. “… Why?”

 

Drake shook his head, shifting his weight in the desire to move. “There are two main battle schemes; HP and Blood.”

 

“Yeah, I know… Blood is rarely taught, though and weapons for it aren’t even openly sold to the public. They say those that learn to go for blood already have to have mastered HP fighting and techniques before they’ll learn attacks that deal with—…”

 

“Uh hu,” Drake nodded.

 

“… You’ve mastered all your HP spells?” Zidane stared, hard.

 

“Before I was five.”

 

“… Why?”

 

Drake stared back at him. “Can we move on?”

 

“I just…. What about Eclipse?’

 

“Oh, for the love of…” Drake growled. “I can guarantee you Eclipse knows them both! He probably has HP techniques that would melt Ozma in one move. The only possible way to defeat him is to actually kill him and going for his HP is just wasting time. He won’t even take the fight seriously and we’ll get to die with him laughing at us.”

 

“I can’t knock out his HP and then have you go for Blood?”

 

“He’ll kill us before we can—… … you don’t know how to go for blood, do you?”

 

“Yes, I do!” Zidane argued.

 

Drake shook his head, losing his patience.

 

“… There are some things I don’t understand, but we’ll do it! Just… tell me what we’re up against.” Zidane advised, seeing this was going nowhere fast.

 

“He’s a monster…”

 

“Yeah, you mentioned that… his actions are pretty bad.” Zidane nodded, giving a slight shrug.

 

“No.” Drake groaned, “It’s not what he does. He isn’t human.”

 

Zidane… had a few comebacks for that, but… he himself was not human, so who was he to judge? “Alright… so, what is he?”

 

“He’s a… he’s an Occultation.” Drake replied, “A human dragon.”

 

“He’s a dragon…?”

 

Drake shook his head again. “No, he’s part dragon. Or… Dragon-Human. I don’t really know.”

 

“… Huh. And he really has no weaknesses?”

 

“Really… and you’re going to need massive pain killers, preferably ones designed for headaches, but I imagine anything will help.” Drake shrugged, “What? Did you think I was jesting when I said this was going to be suicide?”

 

“Actually...yes. Yes I did.” Zidane replied with a slight smirk. The only way that they had beaten Kuja and Garland was by not giving up. Besides, for Zidane, they were going to kill him anyway. He was sure of it. At least this way there was a very, very, very slight chance things might go back to 'normal'.

He had to fight. He had to save the remaining Genomes. Had to stop Brahne getting her hands on the secrets of Terra and trying to take over the world again. Had to find out if Garnet's mind really was being controlled... It all was adding up to something monstrous, so… it made sense that he’d be up against a monster.

“Wait, what was that about headaches?” He asked. Wondering what Drake could possibly mean.

 

Drake shuddered. “Just be prepared for them… I’m not completely sure what Eclipse’s powers are… I know he can make storms, barriers, and cause massive amounts of pain. He can also change his form.”

 

“Alright, well… what does this other form look like?”

 

“Think of the scariest, evilest, most demonic being ever!”

 

“Got it.”

 

“Now magnify it, turn it gray, give it shadow minions for wings, and you’ll have the form Eclipse will use to attack us.” Drake explained, “But he has other forms… the form he has now isn’t him. Its—,” Drake took a second to think that over.

Did he want Zidane to know about Ellipsis? Or would that cause more problems? “… Someone else. He’s had many forms. If he sees one he wants, he takes it and lives with that body till he grows old of it. I’ve never seen him age, but I know he’s old. Possibly by a few thousand years.”

 

“What… How is that possible? I mean… didn’t Garland spend all that time eliminating beings with superpowers like that? I still don’t get it, what is he?” Zidane asked.

 

“He’s an Occultation… A human-dragon. That’s all I really know. Comes from an island out in the middle of the Gods-Know-Where. He’s very high ranking and only really takes orders from Cináed… As far as I know, he isn’t afraid of anything. Who he is, exactly, I don’t know. He’s Master Eclipse Lunair, he’s the scariest man alive, he has an unusual interest in skull candles I fear used to be employees at the palace.” Drake picked up another sword and dropped it quickly, not liking it. He chose another. “He’s strong, and he’s evil, and… You are the only one I trust to be strong enough to be of any help to me.”