GuiltyRed's Into The Nexus

~ D ~

Legend shall speak
Of sacrifice at world’s end

“Freedom is worth the cost.”

Weiss’ words echoed emptily as Nero contemplated the body count. First had been Restrictor, the 14^th Unit. A bitter rebellion had left a hundred troopers and a score of officers dead – and Weiss at death’s door.

The resurrection plan had added hundreds, nearly a thousand dead – civilians, mostly. Something had not set well with him, some nameless thing that tainted Weiss’ eyes an unholy shade of mad.

Something that made their mental link fall silent.

Nero had suspected that things had gotten out of control, but he was too far committed to back out; if his brother had any hope of continued survival, he had to see this through.

The cost of freedom…is high.

Vincent Valentine, or the WEAPON inside him, had destroyed Azul and Rosso. The two SOLDIERs had died as free as they ever could have been; Nero did not mourn their passing.

But now…

Nero looked down at the hand embedded in his chest as physical shock began to hit. I knew it. We have been betrayed again, but I swear, I will not let him keep you, brother.

Moments tangled together as the dark rose up, pulling him into its warm embrace. Nero went willingly, letting the perfect darkness remove his flesh and the pain that lived within it.

When he next looked at Weiss, he Saw the truth. His brother, mortal and wounded, huddled within himself, overshadowed by the replica of a madman and the essence of…something huge.

Something that reminded Nero of Chaos.

So this is what the end of the world looks like.

Wearing the darkness like a new skin, Nero willed himself to reform. He strode toward his brother, reached out to him, pulled him close.

With a thought, he banished the madman from Weiss’ body, watching with disinterest as the one called Hojo dissolved into a digital flicker and was gone. Brother, I’ve come for you.

Weiss’ voice, when it came, was weak and distant. Nero?

I have no body, and your essence is damaged, Nero thought/spoke. Let us become one. Let us come together, so that none may ever tear us apart.

Weiss surrendered everything to his brother, welcoming him. Yes. Let us... Weiss paused, as if debating something; then: Let us go join him.

Nero sank into his brother’s flesh, felt his will fuse with nerves and muscle as though waking to his own body. Weiss...don’t leave me, he whispered, suddenly bitterly afraid. Would he displace Weiss, destroy him? In that, the price of freedom would be far too high.

Nero... Weiss seemed to draw strength from Nero’s presence. As if fighting his way up from desperate dreams, he lurched to his feet. Staggering slightly, Weiss/Nero followed the beacon that had burned so brightly in their dreams for years.

Below this chamber waited a cavern.

Their time among mortals at an end, Weiss/Nero reached the edge and did not hesitate.