Delita just crouched there, heaving, exhausted. It had been a long, hard, battle; even if it only lasted a few moments. The Black Knight in him was finally dead, he knew this for certain.
Finally, he stood up and put his sword back in his sheath. He felt the warm presence of the woman before, and he turned to look into her face.
And for the first time in many years, he cried in joy.
"......Teta....."
The woman was young and lively like he had always remembered her. Always the model sister. Loving and kind, innocent and supportive of anything he did, even when they were orphans. He was the leader, and she, she was moral support in any situation.
"She was the one.....who said I should go into Garland Officer Academy..."
A smile appeared on her face as for the first time in many years she embraced her only brother. The fact she could still embrace him boggled his mind, but he still accepted it.
It had been many years since she died, and now, being in this world, it was the only fitting thing left to him to reunite with her.
"Brother....we must go help the others, they're still battling their dark selves.."
"Alright, we go save them, but first, let me ask you a question."
"Yes?"
"You exist in this world, yet I remember you died....does that mean you're soul only exists in reality in this place, and if so, how can you be a brave?"
"....this is something that will take time to explain, Delita, you see, my light as a Brave, that is the light in my heart that lights up this stone.....allows me to follow you and your allies on this pilgrimage to defeat Altima."
"...oh....so once we defeat her...we...all go back home....to where we belong...."
"Don't be sad, brother, I exist outside of time, and if we defeat Altima....that just might change certain courses of events."
"Outside of time....you mean you can go to any point in your past life? Is that what your saying...?"
"I'm not certain....but it is a hope. But we've talked too much....come, let's help the others."
With that she took off quickly and it was all Delita could do to keep up with her. He hadn't known her, even when they were kids to be this athletic, this shocked him.. She definitely seemed to know where she was going, even for being inside a Zone Eater's stomach.
They found Ramza wrestling with the dark evil version of himself, the only problem was that they couldn't tell which one was the real Ramza.
"Which one is it?" Delita asked.
"There's no way to tell with your eyes..." Teta explained, "Use your stone, it has the power to see through deceptions."
Delita thought for a moment and it came to him that his Serpentaurius--Deceiver, had represented his life, but it gave him the ability to see through deceptions to the truth.
Pulling the green stone out of a side pouch, Delita could see the truth, that in fact, it was not a double of Ramza battling him, but an Ultima Demon fighting him. His eyes cleared, he concentrated on the demon. At first, due to the rolling around, it was difficult to get a good thrust into the demon. But using his Legend sword, he pierced the demon through the heart without hurting Ramza in the process.
A little shaken, Ramza stood up, and wiped the slime off his armor and was about to thank Delita for the assist...that is until he saw Teta....and became speechless.
"Ramza; I'm going to have a hard enough time trying to explain this to the others; so I'll just say it as quick as I can to you; she's the 12th Brave and I'm the 13th....officially." He held out his Serpentaurius stone.
"Teta....I thought you were......," Ramza began.
She shook her head, "No time to explain the why of it; we have to rescue the other braves."
Running through the oddly shaped tunnels, it appeared as if Teta had spent a great deal of time in this Zone Eater's belly.
And she seemed to know exactly where all the braves were.
That's when they found Alma.
She was unconscious, with her duplicate standing over her, thinking her to be carrion. It was all but two quick thrusts and the evil Alma was dispatched.
With two quick light slaps from Teta, Alma was awake.
"...no.......Teta...? You.....alive?"
Ramza spoke honestly to Delita, "She's too weak to help us for now, you and Teta go ahead and get rid of the rest of those demons."
Running down tunnels that appeared to be dried-up blood vessels, and a few clashes with the demons, they had picked up Reis, Beowulf, and Agrias, still shaken, but willing to help in the current crisis. Incidentally, they found Zidane had managed to kill his duplicate and was proudly waiting for their arrival.
"Hey guys, you'll never believe who I just killed..."
"Believe me, we know." Delita grimly smiled.
Teta leading the way, while Delita defended her position, was an odd feeling to him, but it seemed she'd changed when he'd last seen her, she seemed....stronger, more combat ready, stable like Agrias, thinking like Alma, yet kind like Aeris, but also seeming to be soft-spoken like...Garnet, yet strong-willed like Reis.
He hadn't realized it at the time, but he had missed his sister for so long, that she had become more part of his life than he could possibly have imagined.
Finding Garnet wasn't that hard, she had slumped over in a corner, weeping. Zidane was the first to get to her.
"Are you alright, Garnet?"
Through sniffs and tears she replied, "Y-yes.."
The look in her eyes said that she had been mentally violated, all her secrets taken from her, all her hopes and dreams shattered. Zidane, seeing this, began to scowl like Cloud.
"Where are you monster! Come out and torture me like you tortured her, why don't you?"
The shadow seemed to appear at his calling, but took the form of Garnet, then slowly sauntered up to him, as if she were about to kiss him. Mesmerized by her form, he seemed paralyzed.
"So you like my form, eh? You know I can take any form you wish me to, I'm a million times more powerful than that little girl cowering in the corner over there. I love you Zidane, my feelings are true, unlike hers, she's fickle, I've decided, I'm yours, now and forever."
The remaining party seemed to fade in the background as this new Garnet seemed to hypnotize Zidane, and she was about to kiss him when, a single, solitary tear fell from his cheek.
"What's wrong? Why are you sad?"
His face was like iron, something no one had ever seen on his face before.
"Because......I had to kill a woman."
She looked down and noticed that his Tower had run full-length into her chest and out the other side. Her eyes went wide, blood spewed out her mouth, and she fell.
"You're not the woman I love." he said, bowed his head in brief grief, then turn around and faced the real Garnet.
"You did the right thing," she said to him, eyes now a soft shimmer.
They embraced and Zidane spoke under his breath, "Not a knight, my ass, evil-me!"
Stunned at what they just saw, the party kept silent about it. For the first time, Zidane actually resisted the thought of going after a woman.
The march slowed down a bit, as they had trouble finding where Aeris, Cloud, and Sephiroth had gone. But they did see a few sword marks on a wall which they thought was from Cloud or Sephiroth, until Beowulf admitted to having carved that himself, Reis slightly giggled to herself that he had actually gotten angry.
