Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

*

*

POWERLESS

*

*

chapter twenty-two

*

*

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a silky smooth voice whispered into Split/Dranos ear, his blade had been stopped before it could cut the frightened princess in half.

"W-Who..?" the Split/Dranos asked as his blade was let go and after he retreated back a few steps, in slight fear.

The new arrival wore a floor length dark red long sleeved trench coat, black pants with a flame pattern at the bottom, there were flames pattern on the coat as well along the edges of the collar, around the wrists, and at the bottom as well. He wore boots, the soles looking to actually be on fire. He wore a white sleeveless flak jacket over a black shirt, no flames. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye.

His facial feature were not obscured in any way. He had long black hair tied neatly into a loose ponytail. He had the greenest eyes anyone would ever find, and had a lightning bolt scar running down theleft side of his face, from his forehead all the way down to his chin.

"R-Ryoku? Is that you?" Lavina asked weakly as if she had been turned back into a child.

"I did promise to protect you from the bad man didn't I," he said while not taking his eyes off of his opponent.

"So you are Ryoku..impressive," Dranos said, fully taking over control of his body, "I had thought you were dead. No matter, you will die here."

"Nothing you can do can harm me," the voice in the mist said a moment later.

"I beg to differ," Ryoku said, then raised his wand, and pointed it at his opponent.

"A wand? Pathetic remnant and relic of Earth, how do you propose to defeat me with that?" his opponent asked, amusedly.

"As the Avatar of Aetas I shall battle with you Split, and defeat you," Ryoku said, taking out the Dagger of Time which was strapped to his back.

He then cut open a hole in space and time, from the tear a person walked out.

"In all of history of Aetas only one mortal has managed to defeat you, Dranos, only one," Ryoku said, as he prepared himself to do battle.

"I made the mistake of letting you live once," Sol said, "I will not be making that same mistake again."

King Sol had been pulled out of retirement in the afterlife, and had come back to correct a mistake he made years upon years ago. In one hand was a jeweled sword, engraved on the blade was the name Lady Felicity, and in the other hand he held a dagger, while not the Dagger of Time, it was still in the shape of the Dagger of Time.

"Let's dance," Sol said as he rushed the now mortal body of Dranos, while Ryoku burst into energy and flowed into the mists.

*

Everything had a soul, even an object, which is why it was possible for Tsukumogami to exist, it just takes their souls a hundred years to become aware. Even gods have souls, which was seen and explained to Ryoku when he made the defenses of his soul room.

Now he was on the outskirts of the soul room of Split and Dranos, they now shared one plane. Two for the price of one, Satus had done well. He had more or less merged the two beings. They now shared the same mortal body, and the same immortal soul, just halved to allow them to contnue to exist as they were.

It would take quite a lot to kill the two, as the fatal blow needed to be made at exactly the same time. Which was why Ryoku was not alone in this plane, he had Aetas with him, behind them were two armies, one was Ryoku's and the other was Aetas'.

Facing them on the other side of the soon-to-be field of battle was an army of perpetual darkness, even the soul could not be seen.

"So...what do we do..cousin?" Ryoku asked Aetas.

"Let us do battle," he said blandly, following that two long swords materialized in his hands. He and Ryoku looked like twins, both looking to be about twenty-seven, but Aetas wore his godly garb, which consisted of his cloak of the night sky, and his clothes of the day sky underneath.

"Lets," Ryoku agreed, then shouted, "Charge!"

He and Aetas led their armies in the charge, they were all on foot, but didn't really matter, they were in the Soul Realm.

Their rapidly moving army slammed into the stationary army of darkness. Jumping into the air, Aetas and Ryoku transformed into what they dubbed their animagus forms, for Aetas it was a phoenix his own creation, and for Ryoku it was the form of a Horntail, nothing Hungarian about it.

The Dagger of Time gripped firmly in one paw, Ryoku and Aetas flew to where they could sense the dual souls, and descended on the shocked duo.

Twin jets of the will of fire blasted out of their mouths, dragon's maw and bird's beak. Which were blocked by the sudden appearance of a shimmering silver shield saving the two-in-one soul.

Their enemy countered by sending out tendrils of fear, the emotion itself being powerful enough to send the two souls back.

From there it was a battle to best one another. The dragon breathed out jets of more and more flame, pounding the silver shield into the ground. While the phoenix flamed into the shield, and burnt his enemy, reverted to human form and attacked with his blades. His chosen enemy was Split.

With the conentration needed for the shield gone, the Dranos hald had to deal with Ryoku. Dranos transformed himself into an even larger dragons. He even had a blade of his own, it was the number five, which was the rank of the Nightmares among the Firsts, the handle was the top half of the number, while the curve was a scythe.

Ryoku and Dranos fought in the air, attempting to cause as much damage to the other as possible, and for some reason each was also trying to prolong the battle.

Fire raged against one another, blades clashed, and sparks sparked. They flew at each other, teeth, claws, tail, and blades, they used everything in their arsenals to try and harm the other.

Dranos being a being of Aetas had no access to magic, only his abilities as a Nightmare. While Ryoku had magic, lots of it.

Dranos lashed out with not just tendrils of fear but also of memories he had managed to pull out of Ryoku, most of which were the ones dealing with his torture. He was a Nightmare and as such could make sure memories real, very chillingly real.

Finding himself in pain once again, Ryoku had to force himself to remember that it had already passed, he had already healed, and that he would not allow himself to be beaten by such a cheap, to him, trick. He lashed out as well, bringing forth the only thing he knew would be able to drive away such memories. A herd of patronus burst from his form, in the lead was a dragon and a phoenix, followed by them was Prongs, larger than life, and whiter than snow. They charged the larger dragon, which allowed Ryoku to catch his breath for a few seconds before joing the fray, his blade whistling as he slashed at his opponents exposed belly.

Doing so also left him exposed to attack, as his made its mark, so did his opponent's.

Both of them crumbled to the ground, the pratronus guarding their master, and a mist of eternal torment and fear surrounding, embracing Dranos protectively.

They stayed on the ground, watching one another, waiting for the perfect time to strike, they were both in the form of great killers, master predators. There was no more time for game, one of them would have to cease to exist.

*

While Ryoku was dealing with Dranos, Aetas was dealing with a hellspawn of his own. Split was proving to be rather competent in comparision to the things he encountered on a day to day basis, which was not much. His opponent had been quick to catch on that the only way they could actually beat each other was to fight each other, blade for blade, soul for soul.

As they clashed each impact between blades caused the Soul Realm to shake and quake, and for part of it to actually shatter. It was after all a battle between two Supreme Beings, two forces of All.

They were tearing up the Soul Realm by simply being on opposing sides. It was a battle that many would have died to watch, would have bet their very existence just to catch a glimpse of. Ryoku and Dranos not being among them.

Aetas was already using more than two blades, he was up to nine at the moment, while his opponent was finally at two. Their fight was like a frighteningly choreographed dance. Each and every movement was perfect, there was no excess, everything was just perfect. There was no wasted movements, no wasted time. There was no taunting, just movement.

They were just the two of them in the void. Split couldn't figure out how, but Aetas kept adding a sword to his arsenal everytime he managed to land a hit. Soon from the nine blades, there were eighteen, then later still there were suddenly twenty-seven.

For some reason Split didn't catch the significance of the number, he was after all expecting more, but none came. So he continued fighting, desperately trying to win, but deep down in his cold black heart he knew that he was losing, he was losing fast.

What he didn't know was that he had already lost. By allowing Aetas to call forth twenty-seven blades, he had allowed Aetas to win. Twenty-seven was his number.

'NOW!' two voices echoed in two different minds, Aetas to Ryoku, and Ryoku to Aetas.

It was time to act.

Aetas rushed forward, all twenty-seven joining and becoming one, it was a mirror to Ryoku's blade.

Ryoku used the power of the Dagger of Time to move behind Dranos before he even realized that Ryoku had finally made his move.

Twin blades flashed, forming a visible arc, they moved so fast that not even Split with his enhanced senses as a Supreme Being could track the movement, until it was too late. The movement was so fluid, that it cleanly halved the soul orb into two, then to four, and just kept on being divided. The soul was being shred in the span of a matter of nano-seconds.

*

Sol had managed to thrust his dagger into the physical body's heart, just as Ryoku and Aetas rematerialized in the physical realm, Aetas in phoenix form.

Sol dropped to the ground as his nemesis faded into nothingness.

"It is done," Sol said as he collapsed from the intense battle he had for the second time in his existence.

"Go back to Crossworld Sol, and thank you for your assistance," Ryoku said.

"I was glad to help correct my and another's mistake all those years ago," Sol said.

'T'was not a mistake..for everything happens for a reason, I too thank you,' Aetas mentally told the Sol King.

Ryoku with his dagger opened up another tear in space and time, Sol walking into it before it closed back again.

"What happens now?" Ryoku asked Aetas, who was perched on his shoulder.

"We sever the final ties of all this," Aetas answered.

"Sever the ties?" Ryoku asked.

"Open a portal through time, to when Dranos suffered his first loss," Aetas instructed, and Ryoku did, "Now walk through the portal and we will grant Dranos the death he deserves, an honorable one."

Ryoku walked into the portal, and came out at the other end. It was nigh out, and they had arrived just outside of a tent the Nightmare coat of arms hanging as a flag outside it.

Aetas remained on Ryoku's shoulder as he walked into the tent, where he found Dranos.

"Dranos," Ryoku said.

"W-Who..?" Dranos asked as he spun around.

"I am Ryoku, Avatar of Aetas," Ryoku introduced himself.

"A-Avatar o-of A-Aetas?"

"Yes," Ryoku said, "I have been sent here to end your suffering."

"I lost and I can accept that...but to not be slain by mine enemy...it is disgraceful.." Dranos said, "Ending mine own life is not honorable..I wish to be free..I have sinned against the gods, and Lord Somnium does not answer my calls."

"I understand," Ryoku said, and lengthened his blade once more, "Kneel."

Dranos complied, and before Ryoku swung the blade, Aetas broke out into song, a song befitting the end of a King, of the Nightmare King.

Seconds later, Dranos was dead, his corpse fading into nothingness.

"What happens now?" Ryoku asked his companion.

"Now we return to the future, that future and this more desired future will begin to merge soon," Aetas said, "We must make haste, worry not for the Nightmares, Dranos had a son, one more honorable than he, and he will rule long and well."

Ryoku recreated the portal, and stepped through to the not yet altered future.

On the other side he saw Lavina on the ground, dazed, but holding onto something.

"See..I kept my promise," Ryoku said as he knelt down beside her.

"Yea, thanks for keeping your promise," she said, "Lady Tilata told us to give you this," she held out the First Seed.

"Thanks," he said, he got the seed and popped it into his mouth after Aetas told him to do so.

Another portal opened up behind him, this one beconing him to enter it. Aetas flew off his shoulder, and flamed away to who knows where, leaving the twin dagger in Ryoku's mind.

"You're going to leave again...aren't you?" Lavina asked him after seeing the portal appear.

"Yeah...no worries, I'm sure Satus'll protect you in my stead," he told her reassuringly, "Everything will be alright now..If I can, I'll visit."

"Ok..." she said, "I guess this is goodbye."

"How about see you later?" he asked as he stood up and moved to the portal.

"O-Ok...see you later...Ryoku," she said, wiping away a tear, "Thanks for what you've done."

"Your welcome," he said just before the portal engulfed him and he disappeared.

With him out of that future, the reality repaired itself until it was brand new, while the world changed into a better place, sure there had been wars, but no continent destruction or genocide. But some people were able to keep their memories of a life they did not live, but knew to be true.

#

"Ah, finally finished I see," Alex said as Ryoku dropped out of the portal.

"Yeah.."

"Well, after you rest up for a bit, I'll throw you out into another adventure," Alex said, "How's that sound?"

"Bring it on," Ryoku said before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

End of "Powerless".

TBC... in "Power"

hope it was enjoyable...