Final Battle: Prelude

Ulrich woke up in Ayana's bed. Which was good, considering that he fell asleep in it. He got the bed, Lainey and Zeb got Shin's old room, and Dominic and Ayana took the couch Ayana hated, for some reason. He checked the black electric clock in her room.

5:45. The nap was pretty unsatisfying, probably due to the jeans he was wearing all night. He just didn't feel comfortable stripping down to his underwear in a girl's bed. But still, he probably wasn't gonna get any more sleep. And staring at the deep purple walls was just making him disoriented, so he got up to wander around the room for a while. He checked her bookshelf, that seemed to have some comics on it. The spines were mostly Japanese, but there was one with english words. 'Teacher Lover'

Ulrich opened it up. Some high school looking kid and his teacher, the teacher helped him with his homework, and there were about six pages of the two dudes just staring into each other's eyes. Then the kid gets into his teachers car, goes to his house…

Ulrich immediately shut the book. He was certainly awake, but at what cost? He considered going back to sleep, but with that in his head he probably couldn't. Not really having any other ideas, he decided to crawl out of her window. Maybe to watch the sunrise? He didn't really know, but he didn't have any other ways to pass the time. He leaned against the window like some kind of TV bad boy. One leg along the window, the other in the house. It was pretty uncomfortable considering how narrow the window was. Probably a learned art, all those TV bad boys.

"Hey…what are you doing?"

Ulrich hit his head against the end of the window frame before tumbling out of the window, landing on his face. He checked his nose for blood, and then looked up to see Zeb looking at him with amused confusion.

"Not much. You?" Ulrich replied nervously, dusting himself off.

"Couldn't sleep. So I guess I'm watching the sunrise now.”

Ulrich sat down next to her, silently looking at the sun break through the clouds. The skys usual sunrise mix of orange and purple hues, like a painter drunkenly dropping his materials on a page and still making something good. He never really thought about this kind of thing. But now…it was pretty good. He looked over at the sun, until it got fully on front of the clouds to look at him. A friendship that unfortunately led to Ulrich getting a beam of sunshine in his face.

"Man, it has been years since I saw one of those." Zeb sighed, lying on the grass. Ulrich also lay on the grass, trying to blink the tears from the solar assault away.

"How long, exactly?"

"I don't know…about five hundred years, give or take."

"Damn, how old are you?"

"Literally? Over two thousand. But I died when I was twenty-two, so use whichever you like."

"Wait, died?"

"Yep. Died, went to the afterlife, signed up for the immortals program under Hades, was assigned to this place."

"Wait, like…the Greek god, Hades?"

"The correct term is Chthonic, but the same guy. And before you ask, Halford is working for Yahweh."

"Wait, so the religions are true? All of them? Like, Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology, all that?"

"Never heard of that last one, but the others are accurate. All of the major gods have mortals who become messengers through the immortal program, who are then tasked to take control of timelines like this."

"Timelines?"

"This planet, or space you live in. This is a timeline. And there are probably billions more."

"Do the gods make them?"

"Nope, they just kind of pop up sometimes. But they always have humanity show up, and somebody is sent to guide them."

"And you didn't do anything because of a truce, right?"

"Basically. But today we're getting this timeline."

"So…what now? Are we talking strategy?"

"Sounds good." Zeb replied, getting off the ground. "It's a five on five, right? So I'll take on the other immortal."

"And I'll be fighting Vivian." Ulrich said.

"Yeah…about her." Her face got slightly more contorted.

"Something up?"

"What can she do, exactly?"

"Shoot ice? Heal stuff? Making light portals?"

Zeb's eyes shrank in fear for a second, before turning to Ulrich.

"There are others, right? How long has Halford known them?" Her voice dripping with fear.

"About a week and a half, roughly?"

"Okay, okay." She breathed in and her voice became less panicked.

"Why?"

"Well, when I knew her, she was purely an ice elemental."

"Wait, what?" Ulrich asked, shooting up from the grass. "When you knew her?"

"You remember the truce, right?"

"No fighting for five hundred years or something, right?"

"Well, another part was that we could give a mortal immortality and have them as a right hand. I chose Komo…and he chose Vivian."

"Wait, immortal? How, exactly?" Ulrich asked.

"Took him to the afterlife. Someone there was interested and made them immortal behind the others backs."

"But the issue stands." Zeb continued. "I was there when Vivian was made immortal. So what did he do?"

"I'll think of it. But as for the others, Dominic is fighting the tuxedo guy, Lainey is fighting the tall lady, and Ayana is fighting the blonde guy." Ulrich added. "Any objections?"

"Hey, you know them." She replied with a soft smile. "I think I can trust you. And if this goes well, maybe you can…" stopping before the last few words.

"I can what?" Ulrich asked, inching away a small bit.

"Hm? Oh, we can discuss that later." She answered with a hand wave. And once Ulrich got a good look at the back of her hand, he noticed what looked like a tattoo on the back of her hand. It looked like a capital A.

“Hey, what’s with the tattoos?” Ulrich asked.

“Oh, these?” Zeb replied, showing the back of her hands. On her other hand was a capital B. “It’s just the first two letters of your language, right? So I got them to remind myself of the new beginning, I suppose.”

"I see.” Ulrich nodded. “So…what happens if we lose?"

"I'll have to leave. Find another timeline, and you'll be under Halford's control."

"And that's bad?"

"Well, he's an extension of Yahweh, so it'll be a world according to his call. And yes, they can go really bad really fast."

"And…you?"

"Hades. Agent of the dead. My job is pretty much to ensure a safe passing. And even then I'll show restraint."

Ulrich nodded at what could happen. Lainey would punch him if he even thought about defending a fully Christian universe. But before he could finish his sentence, he heard something from the window.

"Yo, Ulrich. Zeb. Where you at?"

It was Lainey.

"I'm here!" He yelled back.

"Alright, cool. You rested?"

"As rested as I'll ever be." Ulrich sighed, swinging his arm in an attempt to loosen up.

"And you, Zeb?"

"Sleep is for the mortal." She replied, shooting her finger guns.

"Cool, when we leaving?" Lainey asked.

Once the two went back inside through Ayana's window, they moved to the living room with Lainey. Yuna was drinking a glass of apple juice, while Dominic was tying his old shirt over his neck. Ayana was giving him a thumbs up as he managed to get his cape right.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked.

"Making a cape." Dominic replied calmly.

"Why?"

"I'm fighting a guy in a tuxedo, man. I need more style points. And capes are cool, therefore cape."

"The logic is sound." Ayana chimed in.

"It appears you're well rested, anyway." Zeb said. "You ready to go?"

"You know it!" Dominic yelled, putting his left hand on his chest and stretching out his right hand.

"And the kid?" Lainey asked.

"Well, I assume I'll be fighting with my portals, so we can't exactly leave her in those. Guess we'll leave her here?" Zeb replied, slightly uneasy.

Ayana started talking to Yuna, who nodded along with what she was saying.

"I'll leave her with my neighbours."

Ayana came back after a few minutes without Yuna, giving a thumbs up and a quick "Ready to go."

Zeb gave a nod, and the five of them were enveloped in a purple cloud.

"So, this is where everyone was held, huh?" Dominic asked.

"Yes." Zeb replied calmly.

The scenery of unending indigo didn't change, but Ulrich felt the world spin around him. After a few seconds, he got dizzy.

"Hey, how long is this gonna last?" Lainey asked, the purple contrasted by her green face.

"We're done." Zeb replied.

"Oh thank god." Lainey yelled back, exhausted. "Or you. Whichever."

Zeb opened a portal up to a bustling city, and Lainey stepped out, throwing up out of view of anyone else. The sky was black with stars underneath it, in a small patch of grass outside of a large city.

"Wait, what time is it?" Ulrich asked, clutching his head, looking at the sky to try to get rid of the headache creeping into the back of his skull.

"Hey, what time is it?" Dominic asked a local man, hoping he spoke English.

"One in the morning." The man in a blue shirt replied, looking at the four behind him. "Do you need water, or a taxi…or?"

"No, it's cool." Dominic replied, standing in front of the bush Lainey was vomiting in.

"So the others are probably sleeping. If they're even here." Ayana moaned, also trying her brain to adjust to reality.

"They are."

A calming voice appeared behind the five. Ulrich instantly recognised it as Vivian's.

"How did you find us?" He asked frantically.

"Saw you pop into existence from the top of the building." She responded calmly. "Now, would you like to come into our residence?"

Without waiting for an answer, Vivian wrapped the five of them in a white light, and they were suddenly in a calm house. White walls, a window that provided a view of the city with a small TV.

"You've been staying here?" Asked Dominic, surprised. "Damn."

"It's amazing what can be acheived with teleportation." Vivian replied.

"How long were you on that building, anyway?" Lainey asked.

"About…a day, I'd say."

"Do you need to sleep?" Ulrich asked slightly fearfully. He knew he probably knew the answer, but he wanted confirmation.

"I've trained." Vivian responded calmly. "I won't need to sleep for another three days. Now, who left the lights on?"

She peered through the hallway, and there was Sapphire, casually walking through the hallways with her hands through her pockets.

"What are you doing?" Vivian asked aggressively.

"Can't sleep" Sapphire replied calmly. "I was just on my way to get some juice."

"We don't…have juice." Vivian replied coldly.

"We don't? Guess I'll get some water."

"What about the others? How are they doing?"

"Gene and Bartholomew? Sleeping in their rooms, I'm guessing."

Vivian tried to open the door. And it didn't move. She tried again, nothing. She tried a third time, and the door just seemed intensely focused on pissing her off.

"What happened to the door?" Vivian asked Sapphire.

"Gene found a key in the bathroom." Sapphire replied, backing away slightly.

Vivian muttered something under the breath, and strolled away, trying to look calm, and failing miserably, as when she bumped into Lainey through the doorframe, she had a look in her eyes like she was going to snap.

"Go to sleep!" She yelled out as she passed her.

Lainey decided to ignore her, instead going up to Sapphire.

"H-how you doing?" Lainey asked, winking to hide the nervousness settling into her body.

"Alright, I suppose." Sapphire replied, winking back. "You ready for tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah. It's five against five, so…are we fighting?"

"Yeah, I think we are." Sapphire sighed, adjusting the blue sports bra she was wearing.

"So, anywhere I shouldn't hit? Considering the lightning strike?"

"Oh, the scars?" Sapphire asked, turning her back to Lainey, showing a couple red lines stretched across her back. "Just don't hit it with ice, and we should be good."

"Cool, cool." Lainey replied, not telling her about her own powers. "So…where are you sleeping?"

"Pretty normal bed. Wanna see?"

"Yeah. Room for two?"

"I'd guess so." Sapphire smiled.

"So…no matter what happens, we're still getting that coffee, right?"

"For sure." Sapphire nodded.