The flight was slow-going at first, but they managed to get a bird's eye view of Alexandria. Garnet looked across the land she knew with sadness.
"I will avenge your destruction, Alexandria…I promise.."
Zidane put a hand on her shoulder, "As do I…"
As they reached the former Hyral Castle, they noted two things, one, that the castle itself was standing, two, another airship was there.
As they pulled up alongside it they recognized familiar faces.
"Ahoy, Baku!!" Zidane yelled, "How are ya, ya fat oversized tub a lard?"
The yell was replied in turn, "Good to see you too, you young fool!! We're staking out the castle!"
Now it was Delita's turn to be surprised, "Gildenstern? Is that you?!"
"Yes sir," the mage saluted, "we've been expecting an attack, but none came."
"What attack?" Delita asked, "What are you talking about?"
"You didn't know?" he said, "Altima has taken over as Queen of your Castle!"
"She's HERE!?!"
"We think so, so as soon as she comes out, we nail her with Baku's secret weapon!!"
"I really don't think that's going to work…" Ramza said, "She would probably know you were out waiting for her. And she's probably never coming out."
"So, I'm afraid, we'll have to go in after her, Gildenstern,"
"As you wish, sir, we trust in your judgements."
"Yeah, so don't screw up!!" Baku jibed at Zidane.
The party's ship landed, and they stepped cautiously over to the castle. The gate was completely sealed off, but not something they couldn't bust into.
"Good thing you have me around, brother!" Teta said, and with a flick of her hands, she cast a Demi spell on the gate, its crushing force ten times that of any battering ram.
"Whoa!" Zidane yelped. "Nice entrance."
Crossing the bridge and through the gate, the party seemed to feel the sensation that no one was even in the castle.
"She might still be here," Delita said, "so we keep looking."
"Well she better be here," Seifer said, "cause I'm getting bored really quickly."
"We can't let our guards down for even a second," Sephiroth warned, "she might play a mind trick on us while we're in here."
All of a sudden the lights of the castle went black.
"We're going to have to use magic to see." Delita said, "She's trying to wear us down."
So at that point, Teta cast Fire, Alma cast Holy, and Delita just raised his sword.
"There, at least now we can see."
There are many things that change, when a group of people are in the dark.
Looking about, Garnet noticed some gargoyle - like statues, and their eyes seemed to be glowing red, staring at them from the dark, "I don't think I like this very much."
Ramza commented, "Demons fear holy, even if Altima controls them, they won't bother us."
"Who says these are regular demons?" Alma said, "She might have created these just to guard the castle and kill anyone in it?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm eager to kill some demons!" Cloud said drawing his sword.
At the sign of trouble, the former statues unfolded their wings and swooped down for an attack. Cloud already saw this coming, and with a quick thrust and leap, his Climhazzard cut one being in half nicely.
Meanwhile, the remaining pack of gargoyles flew away in terror, luckily Alma mangaged to catch them in a Holy Spell and they disintegrated.
"These gargoyles might just have been the first wave…" Sephiroth warned, "We don't know what kind of monsters are in here."
"I can't believe they did this to my castle." Delita said, "Altima has much to answer for."
As Delita led them into the throne room, they noticed something different, there was light in the room, but not from their spells, the light came from what appeared to be a massive portal into some odd, dark world.
Before they could examine the portal any further, several knight armor statues came marching down the hall, but no one was in them.
"Dullahans….spirits inhabiting the suits of war…" Alma said, "We can't kill them, we'll just have to slow them down."
Taking his gunblade and slicing it in a quick motion, Seifer yelled, "Fated Circle!!" the energy wave that erupted from his gunblade knocked all the armor to the ground.
"I'm thinking she's herding us into that portal…" Agrias said, "You think that may be where she is?"
"We've been everywhere else…," Reis said, "It has to be…"
"Then it's settled," Delita said, "We portal jump, even if it's in another time."
Each warrior held their stones tightly, illuminating the portal further.
The gateway, upon recieving the light from the Zodiac Stones, seemed to react by swallowing the Braves whole.
Silence.
All that could be seen was perfect darkness, the only illumination they saw was a small object off in the distance.
The silence was deafening, but as they marched, slowly onward, the small object got larger and larger, till what it was could be visible.
It was a throne.
With Altima sitting upon it.
"I knew you braves would face me, you have bested the likes of all my fiends and now you wander all this way just to be destroyed."
"…Why…?" Delita asked half enraged half in confusion, "Why have you tortured our lives so…? What has mankind ever done to you…?"
"The stench that is you and your friends has bothered me since the day God himself created you. I merely wished to rule earth, I hadn't even threatened God, but he seemed to disagree with me, and cast me into this place." Uncrossing her legs, and stretching her bat-like wings, she seemed to be at some point beautiful in her existence, "So the only way I could obtain power was through time itself. But if I interfered with time, I knew you would come and try to destroy me. So I had to…interfere with your time-lines."
"What!?" Ramza said as he drew his sword, "The only time I ever saw you was when I faced you in Murond Death City."
"That was but a fluke, all you saw there was my spectral self awakening into the physical, when I had asked for more power from the underworld, it was not to destroy you, but.."
"…to allow you to manipulate our eras, the Lion War, manipulating Jenova, Sephiroth, and Cloud, killing Aeris, the Lunar Cries, all of it…..you..."
"Yes, it was me, but somehow all of you managed to bend time despite my interference, and it is about time I rectified those 'mistakes.'"
Delita drew his sword, "Those 'mistakes' were human lives you demented monster!!"
"What does it matter to me? I'm not human, so I don't really care!!"
"I may have been a king at some point and that may be my throne," at this comment Altima reclined lazily upon the throne, as if she wasn't planning on leaving it for quite a while. "but the past doesn't matter, I and my friends will free time from your grasp, forever!"
"Tell me, Braves, why do you fight, what do you fight for that you're so willing to die at my hand?"
At this moment all Thirteen Braves responded in an erupting power through their stones.
Aries - Warrior: "I fight for the lonely heart; the wandering souls and those who fight for any cause they deem worthy."
Tauros - Strength: "I fight for the weak, those who have the heart to stand up against evil, but not the power. Those who seek strength, but have not the will."
Gemini - Balance: "I fight for the spirit of equality, no power should ever oppress the weak, nor the rich oppress the poor. I seek to balance time."
Cancer - Resilience: "I fight for the peace of past and present, those who would sacrifice their lives for peace, and those who would endure hardships to obtain it."
Leo - Courage: "I fight for the fearful, the innocent, and those scarred by war; and those who seek nothing but peace."
Virgo - Beauty: "I fight for the sake of Nature, the serenity of the land, and the peace of all time."
Libra - Judgement: "I fight to cease pain, to end suffering, and for God; I come to judge the wicked and those who embrace death as their false god."
Scorpio - Chivalry: "I fight for honor and justice, kindness and peace, those who would do evil will fall, and those who would be unrighteous will be undone."
Sagittarius - Grace: "I fight for Life, the sanctity and peace of all living things, and by the Fire of the Phoenix you shall be destroyed."
Capricorn - Generosity: "I fight to aid my friends, even if I fall, my life will not have been in vain."
Aquarius - Sincerity: "I fight for the Earth, my people, and those who gave their lives for the Lifestream."
Pisces - Love: "I fight for my kingdom, and those innocent people who strive for peace there."
Orpheucus - Avatar: "I fight you for the sake of Light and the Peace of all Time, we, the Braves of the Zodiac will destroy your Darkness here Forevermore!!"
"Such noble ways to die, I'm impressed, but this comes to naught: Know you not that you are fighting the powers of Heaven itself?"
"Even if we had to face a Legion of Angels, Altima, we would still defeat you."
