The Darkness From Below

A FINAL FANTASY II FANFIC
BY THE ANARKIST

1998

DISCLAIMER: Contains violent content, adult language, and some 
    nudity (which shouldn't bother anyone, since this is text
    anyway).  Not recommended for kids under 18 (like that's 
    gonna stop anyone, anyway).  You have been warned.

BASED UPON CHARACTERS & SITUATIONS CREATED BY
SQUARE SOFT, INC.
 
"One who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly 
in mind, by day and by night, from the morning he picks up his 
chopsticks  to eat his New Year's breakfast, to Old Year's night 
when he pays his yearly bills ...
"The fact that he has to die."
-Samurai Code of Honor

PROLOGUE
(Opening Theme-"Dragula" by Rob Zombie)

    "Cecil?"
    The Paladin set the report down, looking up at his wife.  
Rosa was every bit as beautiful as she had ever been, but the 
strain of the war with Hell had worn at her, lining her face 
prematurely.  She was no longer as cheerful as she had once 
been, and had become much more serious; like a diamond, she was
beautiful but hard.  "Yes?" he asked.
    "The lookouts say the demons are approaching.  What forces 
we've been able to muster have been set in defensive positions 
around the castle."
    Cecil nodded.  "And the cannons?  And these new 'Razorjack' 
weapons Cid has developed?"
    Rosa grimaced.  "We're only on half-capacity with the cannons, 
and the Razorjacks were made for close-quarters battles.  They 
might not be as effective in open air."
    "Well, if worse comes to worse, they're still equipped with 
Silver broadswords," Cecil replied, wiping some sweat off his 
forehead.  Ever since the demons had come, the heat had been 
explosive.  "And then there's always our secret weapon ..."
    Rosa gasped.  "But … Cid said that it was still in the 
development stages ..."
    "Not anymore.  Like they say, necessity is the mother of 
invention ..."
    The wall suddenly exploded outward in a shower of stones.  
Cecil cried out, instinctively covering Rosa with her body.  The 
Adamant armor he wore protected them from the worst of it, though 
small stones scraped at his face, digging shallow cuts into his skin.
    When the blast finally ended, he whirled, drawing the re-tempered 
Excalibur from its sheath.  The Adamant-laced blade twinkled in the 
dim candlelight.  Behind him, Rosa had already whipped out her bow 
and was notching one of her blessed White arrows.  As they turned as 
one, they gasped as one in the horror of what they saw.
    The thing that had exploded through the wall was Yang ... or at 
least, what was left of him.  Blood had poured from his mouth and nose; 
his ribs jutted out from his abdomen, obscenely white under a pinkish 
covering of gore.  Thankfully, he was very dead.
    Cecil and his wife looked into the dust-filled darkness from which 
Yang had been thrown.  As it slowly cleared, a member of their palace 
guard walked in, his fist glowing with hellish energies.  His eyes 
were a macabre red, and he was grinning evilly.  As he walked, he slowly 
wavered, and began to change into something … else.  He grew a full 
foot in height, huge muscles appearing all over his body, busting out 
of his armor.  The flesh became a dark purple shade, and two enormous, 
batlike wings sprouted from his black.
    "Oni," the two whispered.
    The leader of the Demon Army smiled.  "Good to see you remember me.  
Because after this, you will not around to remember anything … ever 
again ..."