"Swarming like lokust's akross time and space..."

To tell the truth, Zell was doing anything but paying attention to the woman who was speaking. He was far too nervous and energetic to hear her words. He knew that she was the person they had come all this way to fight and he wanted to fight her right away, not wait for her to make long speechs. Zell was never one to listen to a long speech anyway and he longed for combat. He had never felt more ready.

He looked at his other team-mates, who all looked frightened or nervous or, in Squall's case, emotionless. Rinoa had, as usual, attached herself to Squall's arm, both Selphie and Quistis were twitching nervously, staring at the figure in front of them. The only one who didn't look nervous was Irvine, who was standing confidentally, waiting for their enemy to stop talking. Zell was relieved to find someone who wanted her to stop talking as badly as he did.

"I think I'll start with you three!"

Zell hadn't been listening to the majority of what the witch had said, but these words caught his attention. He crouched, waiting for the woman to attack them. She stood slowly, a pair of feathered wings rising from behind her and falling back dramatically. He looked around and found that the three females, Rinoa, Quistis, and Selphie, were moving forward. She had meant them when she had risen for the attack.

"We're not going to attack?" he heard Ifrit's voice speak to him. He wasn't surprised. He was connected deeply with the Guardian Force, as the two trusted eachother greatly. Ifrit would allow himself to be weilded by no one other then Zell, just as Zell would not allow anyone else to wield Ifrit but himself. Ifrit had always been one of his personal Guardian Forces, as Ifrit viewed Zell as his favorite human. The only other Guardian Force that came close in trust were Cactuar and the Brothers, who rarely had anything of importance to say. Cerberus, as it was, did not feel too close to him, as did Diablos. Ifrit was the one who mainly spoke with him. Zell answered within his mind.

"Don't worry, I think we're going to go next if those three fail."

"Good."

He turned to his other two companions, finding them both with their eyes closed. No doubt they were speaking with their own respective Guardian Forces. Zell knew who they were, the forces that had been attached to them. For Irvine went the ice and water types, Shiva, Siren, and three others, Carbuncle, Tonberry, and Durahan. All of them were greatly attached to Irvine, with the exception of Carbuncle and Tonberry, and they were, no doubt, speaking with him. Also connected to Irvine was the immensely powerful Eden, but Eden rarely spoke and Zell had the impression that he did not truly like anyone.

He looked at Squall, who was no doubt speaking with his lightning spirit, Quexacoatl. Zell could almost never remember nor pronounce the thunder birds name so he generally just called it Quex, although never to Squall's face. Also attached to Squall were Pandemonia, Bahamut, and Doomtrain. Doomtrain was not very attached to Squall, but Bahamut and Pandemonia could rival Quex for his devotion.

As soon as their inner conversations had ended, the turned to eachother. Zell could see the worry in Squall's eyes as Rinoa came out to fight. The three knew the outcome of the battle before it began. The three girls had always refused to take the Guardians from them, believing that it would physically harm the other three to remove what had become such a essential part of them. The three girls had trained physically for a great time, but the remaining three felt that, without the power of the Guardian Forces to protect the girls, there would only be one outcome.

Ultimecia slowly made her way from her raised dias, her wings flapping slowly, and she landed calmly in front of the three girls that waited to fight her. They readied themselves.

Zell noticed Squall's concern for Rinoa, and wished that he had someone to be as worried for. He didn't feel any strong connection to any of the girls, so he was left generally by himself. He kept himself ready, letting Ifrit calm him from within his mind.

The first to fall was Selphie. One of the Sorceress' more powerful attacks tore through her. Before their eyes, Selphie's body fractured into pieces, each of these floating away slowly. Although Zell had not heard the Sorceress explain what would happen to them when they lost, he had an idea. Selphie had been lost in another dimension.

Irvine moved forward to take her place. He held a hand forward, casting Triple upon himself. Zell knew that Irvine was, generally, the spellcaster of the group. He knew that he was preparing himself when both he and Squall would enter the fray. Squall sensed this, but his expression did not fade.

Just as Irvine entered the battle, Quistis fell as well. Another attack by the Sorceress was too much for her, and she fell to the ground, fracturing as Selphie had and disappearing. This time Zell moved forward to take her place, sensing that Squall would prefer to take Rinoa's place when she would inevitably fall.

Irvine did not cast any protective spells as it was, waiting for Squall to enter the battle himself. Zell gathered his power within himself.

"Ifrit, appear! We need your power!"

It was his customary call to the fire spirit, and Ifrit responded.

With a massive burst of fire, the creature appeared, snarling angrily at the woman in front of it. Summoning a giant ball of fire, Ifrit guided it upwards and slammed it down into the woman, who managed to raise a shield around herself at the last moment, preventing her from beind crushed completly. Zell knew he had injured her badly.

Irvine summoned Shiva next, who's massive sheets of ice slammed into the Sorceress, knocking her back. Angrily the Sorceress cast one of her more powerful spells, which was far too powerful for Rinoa. She fell to her knees.

"Squall..." she managed to say before she fractured into a million pieces and disappeared. Squall emotionlessly took her place.

Their team was complete. Irvine could finally cast the spells he had prepared himself for. He silently spoke words to himself, casting upon the three a magical barrier.

Squall summoned Quex, who's massive bolts of electricity almost fractured the ground beneath them. Ultimecia backed away slightly.

Zell was far too within the battling mood to understand what she was saying, but heard only a word.

"Griever!"

He turned to Squall in surprise, who for once showed some emotion. He was as shocked as Zell was. The battlefield around them warped and changed shape as the massive, lion-like creature burst from the ground, a razor like tail lashing back and forth.

"Squall, did you know about this?" Irvine turned to his companion.

Squall simply shook his head back and forth.

The creature seemed to notice the Guardian Forces around them. It smiled and began to attack them.

Irvine was hard-pressed casting recovery spells to help heal them from the massive amounts of damage they had recieved. He would have summoned Carbuncle to help reflect the spells back at their caster, but he knew that if he did so, he would not be able to cast his own recovery spells.

Zell continued to summon Ifrit as much as possible, although the Guardian Force was taking damage. Zell urged the spirit on, and it kept trying. When Irvine had the chance, he summoned Shiva, which seemed to hurt the creature badly. If he knew that he could have the chance, he would have summoned Eden, but he knew it would take a long time for the Guardian Force to respond to him, and that time would leave them all far too vulnerable.

"Listen, we aren't doing enough damage." Squall said, which seemed odd to the others as he rarely spoke at all. "Irvine, summon Tonberry. I'll try and summon Doomtrain. Zell, summon Diablos."

"But they won't listen to us right away! That'll leave us open!" Zell called to Squall. Squall again remained silent, and Zell sighed, looking at Irvine, who shrugged. He might as well listen, as he had no other ideas.

"Diablos, come forth! I need your help!"

"Why should I help you?" Diablos' dark voice spoke to him. Zell readied himself for the argument that always followed when something caught his attention.

"Griever, enough playing. Finish them!" Ultimecia's voice came from around them.

For the first time, Griever spoke.

"Shockwave Pulsar."

It's voice was sharp, angry, and low. The three, paralyzed as they were by the summoning they were trying, could not move and only watch.

They had never encountered such power before as they were raised into the air, watching the energy come for them. The three Guardian Forces, although resisting coming forth, had to take the damage for them. Despite their reluctance, they did have a inner loyalty to their respective vessels, and they refused to let them come to harm.

As the massive, seemingly planet-destroying energy wave hit them, Tonberry, Leviathan, and Diablos took the damage for them. The three instantly passed into unconsciousness, leaving the three panting with surprise. They turned to eachother, as if trying to tell whether the others had lost their Guardians as well, then turned back to Griever.

Griever seemed to be recuperating from the attack. The three, taking this opportunity, summoned their most loyal Guardians to attack the beast, which screamed in pain and fell, unable to fight.

The three stood awkwardly, bleeding from several places. Zell smiled happily, trying to regain some energy.

"We did it! We beat it!" He jumped half-heartedly.

"Of course. I knew we could." Irvine fixed his hat, which had fallen askew, and tried to smile confidentally. The two turned to Squall, who simply staring at Griever with no expression on his face. Griever screamed horribly again, falling off the platform where they had been battling.

"I won't lose! I'll join myself to you, Griever!" Ultimecia's voice came again. There was an ominous rumble.

"This is bad, right?" Zell turned to his companions. Irvine, although the moment was incredibly dramatic and serious, smacked Zell over the head.

"YES, THIS IS VERY BAD, ZELL!"

"Ow! No need to hit me." Zell held his head. He looked at Squall, who simply looked exasperated.

Griever writhed for a few moments, something happening to it's body.

The three watched as it transformed into some twisted creature, something that had both aspects of Griever and Ultimecia in it at some level. It roared loudly, shaking the platform beneath them.

The three stared at it silently.

"Okay, I think it's time for Eden. Summon it, Irvine!" Zell called to his friend. Irvine nodded.

"You guys have to watch yourselves while I'm doing this, okay? I can't heal you."

The two watched as Irvine closed his eyes and began to speak to himself. The creature in front of them raised one appendage. There was a bright flash of light and a scream of pain that unmistakably came from Eden. Irvine was brought back to the real world rather quickly.

"What happened?"

"Eden's gone! Something happened to it..."

"That thing killed it!" Zell was filled with anger at this. "Ifrit, come! Show this thing who's boss!"

The thing turned to Zell, again raising it's appendage. Ifrit screamed in pain, disappearing from Zell's mind.

"IFRIT!" Zell cried in distress. He turned to the creature with anger in his eyes. "I'll kill you!"

The thing was, at the moment, turning to Squall, who had hoped to summon Quexacoatl while it was not watching. The flash of light hit him as well, and the legendary thunder bird squawked sharply. Squall did not show any emotion.

"I guess we'll have to do this without our Guardian's help..." Irvine spoke under his breath. Shiva was still with him, but injured. He wasn't about to let anymore of his Guardians be hurt. He spread his hands. "Aura!"

Zell looked at his friend as the yellow light began to glow around the three. He smiled as he realized what he was planning.

"Squall, Renzokuken! Try and get Lionheart!"

Squall silently nodded, rushing forward. He went through the normal motions of Renzokuken, allowing his gunblade to move at blinding speed. Now came the critical moment. Would the gunblade choose to perform Lionheart?

Zell knew that the decision all came down to the gunblade, which was, in itself, endowed with some kind of powers. That was why it took so long to master.

In the end, it was not Lionheart. It was the Fated Circle, but the creature was injured badly by the attack.

Zell could feel his own inner strength rising as Aura took effect.

"Dual now, Zell!" Irvine closed his eyes, casting another healing spell as the Creature attempted to destroy them.

"Right!" Zell ran forward, happy to feel the strength surging within his body. He ran forward, kicking and punching wildly. Punch rush, Mach kick, Dolphin blow, Mach kick, Dolphin blow, Mach kick, Booya, Mach kick...Zell could feel his energy running low, and he eventually had to back away, unable to attack as furiously as he had before without resting slightly.

"What about you, Irvine? Aren't you going to attack?"

Irvine had his eyes closed again as he healed the damage that had occured as soon as Zell had backed off. "I can't take the chance...I have to keep healing."

The creature facing them backed away, almost as if retreating. This time Zell kept quiet, although he hoped that it was defeated. As it was, he felt sore all over. He was bleeding from several places and limping slightly, as he had kicked a rather sharp thing protruding from the beast's skin. His companions were just as bad, although Irvine wasn't quite as injured.

The creature extended what seemed like two arms, a long cord reaching out from them. The cords quickly vanished into the distance and Zell lost sight of them. He wasn't sure what the creature was doing.

"Irvine, cast some defensive spells. I have a bad feeling about this." Squall spoke again. Zell wondered at the fact that Squall was speaking at all. It seemed very odd to him. Irvine oblidged and Zell watched the glowing blue shield surround him. He kept his eyes open, but couldn't see any danger.

"Do you see that?" Irvine put a hand over his eyes.

"I don't see anything."

"I see something..." Irvine continued peering off to his right, past Zell's shoulder. Zell trusted Irvine on this, considering how long Irvine had been a sniper. "It's coming this way..."

Squall was looking to the left. Slowly a speck was becoming visible.

It was rushing quickly towards the group huddled on the platform.

"Is that..."

The cords from the creature withdrew back into it's hands and the specks continued to approach.

"I hope these shields hold, whatever those are." Zell was feeling nervous. The specks had grown as they approached and were still growing. Irvine reeled back suddenly.

"I know what they are, they're asteroids! They're heading directly for us!"

"There's one from over here, too." Squall's voice kept it's customary lack of emotion. "Brace yourselves."

Zell could not believe that the creature had actually done something so drastic to throw asteroids at it's adversaries. He backed off slightly as they continued to rush towards them at incredibly speed.

He placed his hands across his face, trying to protect himself as the two asteroids finally met at the center of the platform with a crash and shattering of stone. He hoped that Irvine's shield would hold.

In the end, it did. The three weren't crushed, but the flying shards of rock had caused great amounts of damage among them.

Irvine staggered to his feet, readying himself again for a healing spell.

The creature facing them seemed to grant them this respite, then turned to Squall. Squall was suffering the most from the attack and was badly wounded. Sensing that it was the weakest, it began to attack him viciously. Irvine tried as hard as he could to keep Squall's defense up, but the attacks kept coming. He felt the powers of triple fizzling away as he tried to heal again. The effort it took the focus the energy not on all of them, but on Squall, left an opening.

The creature stabbed a sharp spike laden limb into Squall's shoulder, forcing him to the ground. He didn't cry out in pain, only holding the bleeding place from outside his jacket. He fell to the ground, falling unconscious.

"Squall! Irvine, revive him!"

"I'm trying!" Irvine was trying to convert the energy that was originally intended for recovery into revival magic. Before he could cast the spell, Squall shattered into fragments, each fading away slowly.

"We lost him." Irvine seemed stunned with shock. Zell spoke quickly.

"It's not your fault, you tried. It's up to us now, Irvine! Let's take this thing down!"

Irvine nodded, his ponytail stained with the blood and dirt of the battle that seemed to keep going, no matter how hard they tried. His hat had fallen off into the void of space, but that was the least of his concerns. He cast triple on himself again, as a force of habit, and continued to cast his healing spells.

Zell continued to Duel with the creature until his entire body felt weak and ached. No matter how many times he kicked or punched the creature, it always seemed to have some more hidden reserves of strength. This was weighing heavily on his spirits. They were losing, they could both feel it as they kept going, getting weaker the further the battle went on. The beast's power was overwhelming them and they were eventually going to fall to it. The two knew this, but refused to give up. They knew they were the last hope, and they had to keep fighting.

Mach kick, Dolphin blow, Booya...

Aura, curaga, shell...

Zell felt weak physically and he knew that Irvine no doubt was under the most mental stress of his life to keep the spells coming as constantly as he did. Zell's leg was hurting him badly and it seemed like Curaga could never heal him fully. He tried to use his other leg for his moves, but soon this one was slashed as well. His fists were raw and bloody, his gloves being almost torn away from beating away at the creature's thick hide. He had never felt so tired, but he knew that he couldn't stop. He had to keep attacking and he had to keep going, because him and Irvine were the last, the only two remaining who had to save everyone. They couldn't afford to fail.

Irvine was, indeed, feeling the stress and weakness from casting so many spells. He had never cast this many spells at once and he felt as if he could barely stand. As the creature viewed him as the only one who kept Zell alive, he was targeted for some of the physical attacks. His trenchcoat had been ripped to shreds and blood marred most of his body, but he continued to cast because it was all he could do. The Guardians in his mind kept encouraging him, trying to keep his spirits, which were essential to the magic he was casting, high, but he was also feeling the incredible hopelessness of the battle. The victory that had once seemed so sure was now fading from sight, but he couldn't stop now.

He looked at Zell. He knew that even if he did stop healing and tried to attack, he couldn't do nearly as much damage as the shorter blond could. It was, as he thought of it, all up to Zell. He only had to keep the two of them alive long enough for Zell to defeat the creature with his attacks. He was glad that Zell was so strong, as it seemed that he was the only one who could defeat the creature now. He felt weak compared to him, standing and only casting recovery spells, but he tried to convince himself he was just as important as Zell was.

Zell looked at him. Zell was terrible at magic and knew it, too. He knew the only thing that he was capable of was physical attacks, so that was all he did. Without Irvine he'd be dead. He wished that he could cast the spells that Irvine seemed to use so easily. He wished he could have helped Squall before he faded off into oblivion. But all he could do was attack, so he continued. He knew that Irvine was truly the person who had helped him get this far.

He rushed forward, forcing his tired limbs to attack again. He kicked at the beast sharply, feeling something stab through his foot. Stifling his pain, he kept his sequence going, following it automatically although his foot caused him great pain. He kept attacking the creature as best as he could, although he felt in his heart that the entire battle had become pointless.

The creature raised a appendage and knocked him to the ground, causing him to cry out in pain. The appendage it had used, which Zell could find no better word for, as he was not sure whether it was an arm or a leg or a tentacle or some other thing, had been covered with the razorblades that had caused Squall to fall, and he felt his chest covered with deep slashes. He tried to stand, but found his weakened limbs would not respond.

Before Irvine could ready himself to heal again, the creature lashed out at Zell again, cutting into his chest with the blades.

He fell to one side, stifling the screams of pain. He found Irvine at his side.

"C'mon Zell, you can't stop now. I know we're at the end, I can feel it. Just hold out a little longer. Please, I can't do this alone..."

"We're...going to...lose..." Zell coughed weakly. "I...can feel it."

"No, we aren't!" Irvine secretly agreed with him, but knew he couldn't say so. "We have to win! Everyone is counting on us, Zell...everyone! Selphie, Squall, Rinoa, Quistis...your mother, Zell! Your mother!"

"I just can't...do this...I'm so tired..."

"Me too, but if we stay together, we can do it! Stay awake..."

Irvine tried to push Zell upwards, but found he had fallen, like Squall, into unconsciousness. Angrily he reached within his pocket.

"No, this won't happen again. I won't let it! You have to stay awake, Zell, I won't let you die!" He pulled a small red feather from his pocket and touched it to Zell's chest, where it faded into his skin.

Zell opened his eyes, panting weakly.

"I'm not dead?"

"Phoenix down."

"We only have a few of those! Why didn't you cast Life?"

"No time. Get up, we only have a little further to go."

Irvine cast Curaga as quickly as he could, just as the creature attacked them again. They reeled from the power of Ultima, trying to stay upwards.

Irvine focused his energy and cast Aura again, letting Zell move forward to attack the creature. He watched as Zell followed the same pattern of attacks as before, fighting the creature bravely. He fell back eventually, unable to attack anymore. Irvine let him lean on him as all of Zell's muscles failed him.

"I can't do this anymore..."

"Look, Zell! I think we did it!" Irvine watched the creature in front of them scream and writhe in what seemed to be it's death throes.

Zell watched happily through his blue eyes, blinking away blood that tried to run into them from the numerous cuts on his forehead. His scar was nearly covered with the dark fluid, as was the majority of Irvine's arms. Neither of them were aware of their injuries as they saw what seemed to be victory in sight.

"I'm sure that the others will be freed once this thing dies!" Zell tried to speak with enthusiasm, but the exhaustion in his voice was evident. He was still leaning heavily on Irvine, who could hardly support him, weak as he was.

"I sure hope so..."

A blinding flash of light lit the area, causing the two remaining members to cover their eyes. When they uncovered them, they found themselves to be floating in what seemed to be outerspace. The stared at the strange creature in front of them, who's cloak seemed to be absorbing the space around them.

"Who..." the two of them spoke at the same time.

"I am Ultimecia."

Both of them seemed to sag in despair. They had not won...there was only another form of their enemy for them to fight, and, weak as they were, they could not. Zell tried to stand on his own, but found his muscles wouldn't respond. Irvine steadied him silently.

"We'll kill you just like we killed the others!" Zell tried to sound brave, but his voice shook. "We won't lose!"

Irvine extended his hand, readying himself for another Curaga spell. "We won't lose..."

The creature fighting them did not respond, only casting Ultima as soon as Irvine's spell was finished. The two of them fell to their knees at the spell's power, but managed to survive. Irvine healed again, then felt triple fading as it had before.

"I can't do this anymore...there aren't any more triples..."

"Don't we have any doubles?"

"We converted them all into Triples..."

Zell clenched his fists, rushing forward. He tried to use all his strength, hoping that his attack would be enough to finish the creature. It was not. It cast another spell on them, leaving them both weak.

"Heal yourself, Irvine, I could probably still attack before it does..." Zell panted as he tried to keep himself upwards. His legs did not want to respond to his commands, they shook with effort as he stood. Irvine could not stand. He knelt on the ground, his hands in front of him. The band that held his hair was gone, apparently lost in the impact of the spells.

Zell could feel the power of Curaga around him and turned to Irvine quickly. "No! Not on me!"

The thing that called itself Ultimecia realized this and attacked Irvine quickly. He fell back, unable to fight as he was knocked into unconsciousness.

Zell ran over to him, not sure of what to do. He had no magic...but he did know of something...

He reached into Irvine's pockets, where the majority of items were stored, pulling out the last of the red feathers.

"I can't do this alone, Irvine. You have to help me! You can't die!"

The feather sank into Irvine's chest and his eyes opened again.

"That was the last one, wasn't it?"

"I can't do this!" Zell cried desperatly, feeling the entire hopelessness of the situation crash on him at once as Irvine stared at him. He could feel helpless tears in his eyes. "I can't do this anymore! I can't move!"

"I...I can't move either...I can't fight this anymore..."

Zell lifted Irvine upwards, letting him rest against him as support. Irvine's head layed against his bleeding chest, staining the brown hair, but neither of them cared at the moment. "But we're the last ones...we have to keep fighting...or everyone will die..."

Irvine tried to extend his arms forward to cast a spell, but found he couldn't move his arms. His muscles had stopped responding and he could hear and feel his Guardians trying to keep him moving, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't even feel the magic he normally could, as his mind was too tired to try and control the energy.

"We're going to die..." Irvine mumbled, staring at the creature in front of him. Zell looked at it as well, knowing that he was crying, but unable to stop himself.

"I know..."

He was going to die...he could see it as the creature in front of them raised one hand, collecting the energy for Ultima within it. He couldn't move at all, not to raise a hand to try and protect himself, not try and stand. He was trapped, his muscles having finally stopped. He was totally helpless. There was nothing he could do.

"We did try..." Irvine coughed gently, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. He closed his eyes, tears slowly flowing from them. "No one can say we didn't try, even after all hope was gone."

"Yeah..." Zell was unable to think of anything else to say. "Goodbye then, Irvine Kinneas."

"Goodbye to you too, Zell Dincht." Irvine managed to force his hand to move slightly, taking Zell's within it. "It was nice fighting with you."

"You too."

The two braced themselves together against the wave of magic that crashed over them, battering their weakened bodies. And together, they both sank into oblivion.