Miitopia 2: Rise of the Shadow Queen

Chapter 29: Only Half the Threat

We're wrapping this up, people! Now I don't have to have this sitting untouched on my plate anymore. Please don't kill me. 

Miitopia belongs to Nintendo, enjoy! No comments!

In the ensuing calm that followed the storm of that bright flash, a portion of the world had been restored. Some areas still looked broken up, but that could be repaired. Somehow...

But as Akira looked at the group who celebrated their victory, something didn't settle with him. Not only was a sizable chunk of the world still distorted, but there was one person who had not yet appeared to congratulate them. And can you guess who that person was?

"Janice?" 

He glanced around at the area, but there was no sign of her. The other members replied that they couldn't catch a glimpse of her before they were transported back, and looking in the place they last saw her only revealed the guardian's amulet...

...which Janice always wore...

...so if she wasn't here, the amulet was left, and they defeated The Eternal... killing that spirit would mean they had also killed...

Shaking his head in denial, Akira whirled around to face the others, who all looked equally concerned. "Where IS she?!" he demanded, and a frantic search was conducted by all but the descendants of The Elite. Horace was the first to speak up. 

"Oh, come off it! Can you not see?" the prince asked, frustrated. "She is no more! Janice and The Eternal were one and the same, so killing one also vanquished the other! Don't bother searching!"

"Horace, don't say that," Charlotte said quietly, but in her heart she knew nothing but the awful truth. Looking up at the sky, which had turned a pale pink with the sunset, she placed both hands over her chest with a faint whisper. "John... everyone we lost in the attack... why have they not returned?"

"Perhaps the surge of power was..." Aria trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence without breaking any hearts. "I... I don't know what has become of them. I can sense that most of the lost have been restored, but your husband is... not among those, I'm afraid."

"So are you saying..." Ambre spoke in a voice far from her usual tone, quiet and fearful rather than boisterous and bold. "Are you saying we... failed?"

"What she is saying," Abitha responded, "is that we must not dwell on what we have lost. Instead, we must march ahead and salvage what has been returned to us."

"Yes." Harmoni gripped her staff, trying to hide her pain at this revelation... the one she was destined to protect had died, and at her hands, no less. Yet somehow, a shimmer of hope lingered in her being, hope that by some miracle, all of these wrongs would somehow be righted. 

Akira took those words to heart and tightly shut his eyes, holding the amulet that now held a dull shine. It seemed to have been drained of its power, but thanks to his training with Harmoni, he could sense that it still held the guardian inside it. Though unable to directly communicate with them, the spirit heard every word they were saying and expressed some form of sympathy. 

"...I never got the chance to tell her..." He looked up at the blood red moon that remained in the pale sky, despair evident on his face, "...how much I care for her."

...

All was silent.

Janice wasn't sure where she was, or what happened to The Eternal. She couldn't feel her presence anywhere, but at the same time, she could tell that the spirit had not been destroyed. What was worse, the guardian's amulet was missing...

"Did you truly think that pathetic stage play could defeat me?" The Eternal couldn't be seen, but she was there. Janice could feel it. "I will let your little friends live for now... besides, you and I have much to discuss."

"What do you mean?" Janice asked, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer. "I thought..."

"That you could destroy me with the power of 'teamwork'?" The sarcasm in her other half's voice stung like a knife to her chest, and at last The Eternal appeared. Her expression was as blank as it was when they first met, but the question that left her lips caused Janice only silent bewilderment.

"Tell me, girl...do you wish to know what really happened to you?"

Welp, Janice is dead. To the heroes, anyway. I know you guys are going to hound me for that, but I did not go through and edit a bazillion versions of this scene for nothing. My brain hurts...

Anyhoo, only the epilogue is left until the second installment in my Miitopia AU comes to a close. Yes, it's way shorter than the original, but there's a lot of excitement coming in the third one... when I get to it. I still have to work out what I'm going to do for the main plotline. 

Peace out! No comments!