And here we go! This is going to be a LONG chapter- it's the true final battle of Dark Moon. Consider previous chapters trials to over come (or run the hell away from in Palom's case). This is told from Golbez's view. I still suck at battles so..bear with me. ^^; I'm trying to tie up some loose ends in this one...

When the black wizard had resisted the attempt to draw him into a dream, I had thought he would be easily eliminated. Wasn't it the nature of the paladin and his allies to seek to help one another, even in the face of such odds? Cecil himself had done so once...When one of my incarnations confronted him with Kain. It had been a hopeless battle- but he had still fought in hopes of awakening the Dragoon.

In some ways- it had been no little sad. While I had no regrets towards the future death of the Paladin- the girl had been here because of me. I had brought her and Palom here evidently, rather than Cecil... Her dying this time is to be purely on my hands. She had not even understood why she and all the others MUST die.

When existance ends and then begins once more- will what remains of my soul remember that? I hope not...guilt is something new to me- and hardly something I wish to carry into my next existance without even being able to remember why.

So absorbed am I in my thoughts- and so certain that Palom will meet his fate by his friend and sibling's hands- I did not hear him approaching...even at such a rapid pace. Thus it's with no little surprise I find him standing behind me. That...certainly hadn't gone as intended...And even like this, panting and afraid- he STILL has enough bluster to shout out-

"What the hell are you do-"

"Palom? How did you-"

I start to turn towards him, snapping out my own question- and then his dagger soars, albeit clumsily, towards me. Annoying brat. I had tried to end it quickly for him- but at every turn here, it seems, nothing has worked right where he's concerned. The black mage, it seems, is quite immune to the powers of this place- I had thought it only myself spared it, but it seems any user of the black magery is. No matter. The throw is easily dodged, coming from such an inexpert hand, and retaliation quickly released. The bane spell visibly burns into him, setting a sickly fever-poison sure to kill loose within his form..he'll be dead soon. He must know it, as loudly as he screams for his companions...

"Cecil! Porom!!"

Useless gesture...that's what that scream should be. But the steadily advancing steps of the Paladin and White mage suddenly hesitate...and then break into an outright run. Cecil reaches the room first, flying past Palom, who should have been his target and is instead heading directly for me. His eyes are clear of the spell- and as I duck out of the sword's reach, I can see why.

The dagger...it hadn't ever been intended to strike me. Instead, it had landed where my spell had been anchored- disturbing the patterns lain there. With the disruption and the scream- the spells had shattered. Porom is at her brother's side, healing him as Cecil presses his attack- so that'show this was going to end. I had tried to give them all quiet, peaceful ways out, so they need not suffer. This hateful task could have been carried out swiftly.

Instead, they wanted to fight- go to their end screaming and suffering. So be it then.

"Well...no further need for this charade then, is there...?"

Cecil dives in for another attack- and finds his sword locked with the one I 'took' from him in that spell. Crystaline and pure as his own, but black as midnight as his is noonbright- he still didn't understand. So long as he wanted to end things this way- he'd never win. Fate itself would see to it I had the upper hand- a means to match and surpass him no matter what he may try...

Shock passes through his eyes and those of the twin mages- but the real game has only just now started. The walls of the old temple fall away, revealing this graveyard of eternity in all it's despairing glory- the ice pulled from the forms so that all, even the black mage, can see what lies beneath them. Themselves, their friends, those they promised to protect, those they never knew and never would...

"If you think a fight will end this for you, then I'll TRULY end it with this. You, your world, and existance as it stands!"

If they think me wrong- they don't understand this place's nature. The blackness of the moon's confines begins to descend on us, centered on myself even as Cecil stubbornly attacks again- though the twins continue to hang back and hesitate. Crystal blade clatters against crystal blade, even as the world is revealed beneath us- a glowing orb of blue, green and white- that begins to darken and rot with every blow against me.

Every strike against what was meant to be is ripping the world he so loves apart- and his own blind sense of what MUST BE keeps him from seeing this....

Cecil continues to throw himself against my blade- he has no hope of winning and I have not even truly begun to fight. I don't need to- he will do the job for me. Like all others- he thinks only battle will solve things in the end- that no matter how much he detests it- it is a necessary evil..an ending that must happen...

This is the end as it has always come about. His sword drives against mine, pushing it back against my throat and forcing both blades against skin- but the pain is not mine. A spell throws him back easily enough- he doesn't know enough to counter me. He doesn't understand what he is- what WE are...

And still the twins only watch, not stepping in, not raising a hand to aid Cecil. Stunned to silence? Or has the hopelessness of this finally occured to them? They are truly watching the world below our feet- watching it's death...

Another attack, and another- sword sometimes combatting sword or spell. As all those times before- I do not seek to win. This is what he does not understand. I will give him what he wants, just as all my past selves did. I had offered him another route- I had offered them all such- and they had instead abandoned it for the same course of all the others. Their precious world may have lived a bit longer if they had simply died and I lived awhile yet...

The Paladin did ever long for the end of Darkness...and when it truly ends in it's final incarnation, at the hand of it's sibling, Light....that is when all reality will fall and begin again....

What will it be like, an existance without Dark or Light? Can something like that truly be? It's of no matter. As I am now- I will not be there to see it. For everything- for everyone- to start again, they must first end...

A shattering...the sword I had conjured twin to his is broken, the shards falling through the floor and to the world below. As expected- when it came to swords, he was by far and away my superior. But even as he raises his sword, the last stray wisps of darkness have gathered within me, awaiting the final strike......

Did the Paladin ever understand in the past that he was the one who had ended it all he claimed he wanted to save? You can't have one without the other...if you destroy one, everything must return to the point of beginning.

He raises his crystaline blade to strike-

"CECIL DON'T!"

A joint cry- The twins have taken action. Porom is holding onto Cecil, desperately grabbing at his arms in an attempt to keep the sword aloft, and Palom stands before me, arms spread... if the sword does fall, it will find it's lodging in the mage, not myself.

"What are you two doing?! Porom, Palom! Move!"

"NO!" Palom keeps his place- but Porom moves now to stand before her brother, back practically to his chest- her arms also spread to offer both he and us shelter. What are they doing- "Look below you, Cecil. Look what's happening every time you strike!"

His uncertainty is plain- but he allows his eyes to wander downward....to look at that world and the damage now done. It is barely being kept together...One more blow, the very blow he had been about to make- and it would have ended....

"Finish it Cecil!"

"Shut up, Golbez!"

Palom turns to me- still keeping his arms spread- keeping Cecil and myself from attacking one another. Between the two of them- spells and swords both are effectively blocked. Cecil will not kill Porom, not even for aiding me- and Palom keeps me from getting a clear shot at Cecil. This battle was ONLY between the Champions..if they did not attack me- I had no reason to attack them. Or so I'd thought. I was beginning to re-evaluate that thought- far too late. In this condition...even the twins could take us both down. Cecil and I had torn into each other quite well, as I'd intended...

"For being the wizard of the two, you're being a damned idiot!" Palom steps forward then, careful to keep himself between us- and just glowers down at me with his arms crossed.."Maybe I'm an idiot who's just now realizing what you were babbling about all this time- but I don't think you understood it either. If you wanted to die from the moment we got here- you wouldn't have played those games with us. If you really wanted things to end- you wouldn't have offered us all those chances to back down. And we DID have them, didn't we?"

The boy was smarter than I'd thought- but it makes no difference now. Things are already at their end. What does he possibly think he can do NOW? I start to stand- and get a hand firmly pushed on my shoulder to keep me down, the wizard's eyes narrow..but it's Porom who continues.

"You brought us here..Even though all you needed was Cecil. Back before we came to the moon, you were doing everything in your power to stop what's happening. We've always known there are two champions- it's been that why since time immemorable even if the forms have changed and the numbers have. Your sending us through all those books showed us THAT-"

"And your demand that Rosa stay behind if Rydia couldn't come that was the real key we missed, wasn't it Golbez? You knew from the start no amount of fighting was really going to end this..." Palom then offers a very odd smile- it half way looks like he's trying to mock one of my expressions. "So why are you being so stupid and complacent now? You fought like hell down there to stop this from happening- now you're just being a puppet and doing whatever you're told. Is that really what you want, Golbez?"

"And is that what YOU want, Cecil? To just be another puppet?" Now Porom's attention is all for Cecil again..the twins have dropped their defensive postures- but they still remain between us- a barricade neither of us can cross. Of all the people I had expected to use reason in this battle, the loud mouthed wizard and his demure sister were not among them. "Look at the world below and tell me that's what you both want to have happen."

The paladin is simply staring....his will to fight visibly fading as he looks at the torn, burned continents, the darkened skies. His sword falls from his hand to clatter against the "ground", eyes wide and staring at the destruction below.

"But why...we were.."

"Damned stupid." And the black mage declares THAT with such authority, no one can argue with him. Palom and Porom finally step from between us, gesturing. "Take a good look at yourselves. Every time one was hurt- the world suffered. That should clue you in. You're tied to each other AND to it. Cecil....if you kill Golbez...then that world dies too. We ALL die. The same if you die at this point, Cecil...we put EVERYTHING on a fight that didn't have to happen..."

"You once said yourself, Cecil, that fighting couldn't solve everything. Or at least not get the desirable solution. So come on...lets find a better one...One something else DIDN'T hand us. I don't know about you two...but I'm tired of this whole mess...I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of hurting, and I'm tired of seeing the same thing happen over and over again..." Porom holds her hand out to Cecil- even as Palom holds his out to me.

"C'mon- lets see how smart you REALLY are at figuring out answers that aren't just written down or being given to you somehow. Cuz I swear- if I catch you two taking swords to each other AGAIN as a solution, I'm going to just blast the both of you until you come to your senses!"

Such a pathetic threat from such a weak wizard. I shove him away even as Cecil accepts Porom's help in keeping his balance- The twins were right. By this point- it didn't matter which of us died- if one did, it was over. The conjured blade returns to my hand at this final call- one strike is all I need- I can make it last for one more blow.... I still have that much strength left in me.

Which never finds Cecil. The blade sinks into soft flesh and Palom's eyes widen, despite having knowingly stepped to intercept the blade. He HAD to've. The sword fades even as the boy collapses and shadows begin to fall around us again..

A failed final blow and the battle is over. My strength is gone. For the first time, they have won- but it's a cry of despair that rises from their throats, not one of victory....

And around us, the world falls apart...

(Continued in: Requiem of the Dark Moon)

;_; this made no sense did it? I'm open to suggestions if enough think it should be re-written.