Swan Song

All Along The Watchtower Part 3

Lock, wielding the power of Samael, and Vanitas, using Ozzie's body as his puppet, met in the skies, in the center of Halloville.

"Samael," Vanitas said, smiling, "it's been a while."

"Wrong guy," Lock replied, surprising the fallen angel.

"He hasn't taken over completely?"

"No."

"Then, I guess it would only be polite of me to introduce myself to my nemesis. I'm Vanitas, and I'll be murdering you in a few."

Lock's power flared, filling the skies with darkness. "I don't see that happening. Now, get out of my brother."

"I don't see that happening," Vanitas replied, smiling softly.

The darkness of Samael surged forward, completely encasing the Fallen Earl. It solidified around him, creating a black sphere.

Then, Lock heard chuckling coming from it as cracks started appearing all over it.

"Did you think we'd have a grand battle or something?" Vanitas mocked, the darkness crumbling away like sawdust, revealing him to be unharmed. "Sorry to say, but dear old Sammy doesn't have the power to pull me from my host. You aren't willing to harm your brother, if that display of pathetic attack power is anything to go by, but I am still capable of hurting you."

Lock backed away slightly. "I'll find a way to beat you."

"You're actually gonna run away?" the fallen angel said, laughing. "You're gonna leave your brother behind?"

"For now," the boy answered, looking angry. "Like you said; I can't beat him. If I die now, he's yours forever. I will be back for my brother. Keep that in mind."

Green electricity stated coming out of the tips of Vanitas' fingers, and he threw his arm forward. The lightning came out, blasting Lock away. "That would be the smart thing to do. You see, I lied just then. I actually can't do you any serious harm.

"Oh yeah?" Lock winced. "And why is that?"

"Because then Sam would just find a new host. I intend to get rid of him for good. To manage that, I need him confined. I'll let you live for now. No telling where you'll end up, of course.

Lock blinked. "What do you mean?"

A different kind of darkness started covering the skies. Whereas Samael's was liquid, Vanitas' was more like black smoke. It came down from the skies, and whatever it touched vanished.

"My seal has been broken, so Pandora is all out of uses."

"I thought it was created to keep the remaining realms together."

"One of the reasons. The thing that really kept them together was the seal holding me inside the void dimension that's just shy of being within Pandora. With my release, this whole place is disappearing."

Panic crept up Lock's spine. "And the people?"

Vanitas smiled. "They'll be quite alright. My guess is we'll all be randomly distributed among the remaining realms. I've already made sure it's possible. I couldn't, after all - and I've said this before - let you be killed. Sammy would've gone back to his kingdom among the dead, and the debt would have remained unpaid.

"What debt?" Lock asked. "What are you talking about?"

"In due time, my good sir. All signs point to you being the 'chosen one', so there's no doubt in my mind we'll meet again. When we do, it'll be a whole new board game." Smoke appeared around Vanitas, and he vanished, leaving Lock to face the darkness in the skies.

"A whole new game, huh?"" he said, and was spirited away. "I'm gonna win."

Vanitas reappeared on the ground, taking in the ruins around him. Lying on the ground, beaten and bloody, was Chris. He was holding the golden scepter, but his grip on it was weak. There was a rock shard embedded into his abdomen, and the injury was severe.

"Master," a weak voice whispered, making the angel turn toward it. "I knew you'd come."

It was Abaddon. She was crawling toward him. Half of her face was made of stone, and she was missing an arm and a leg, as well as a good portion of her chest and shoulder.

"He really did a number on you, huh?" Vanitas said, kneeling down. "You did well, my girl."

She smiled at him weakly. "I-I don't have the strength to heal all this."

"No," the angel replied, "I suppose you don't."

Without another look at her, he walked over to Chris, then ripped the scepter out of his hands. "It's been far too long since I last held this." He looked down at the silent boy, who was glaring daggers at him. "Yes."

Chris blinked. "What?"

"I answered the question burned into your mind right now." Vanitas smiled with glee. "Yes, you are going to die here." Then, he turned around and started walking, the remains of Pandora getting consumed even further.

"Master," croaked Abaddon, no longer crawling. "Please, help me."

He looked down at her indifferently, then walked into the oncoming darkness.

"Why!?" she cried after him, cracks appearing on her face, where the petrification from her previous clash with Chris had set in. "I was loyal! I did everything you asked!" She was dry-heaving. "Please!"

Vanitas didn't listen, and disappeared.

"Why!?" Abaddon screamed again, her eyes wide. "Balder! BALDER!"

Her remaining leg crumbled into several smaller rocks. The results of the battle caught up with Abby, and her heart stopped.

With her dying breath, she whispered, "Papa."

Chris was unable to will his limbs to move, no matter how hard he tried, and he knew what Vanitas had told him was true; He was dying.

Lily, Ted, he thought. I'm sorry. I hope you got away.

The only remaining part of Pandora was the spot he was lying on. Everything else had been encased in the swirling, smoky darkness of the Fallen Earl.

A bright light appeared in front of Chris, and he walked straight into it, all his pain leaving him.

"I'll wait for you."

Then, the entirety of Pandora disappeared, and all that was left was darkness.

Oz found himself sitting in the corner of a dark room. Only the faint light of a single candle illuminated it - not that he had much to see. A shadow in the shape of a snake crawled toward him.

"Please," the boy whimpered. "Go away."

The serpent hissed. "I need more."

Oz tried to back further away, but the walls prevented it. "Stop!"

"That's the stuff," Vanitas said, the shadow growing larger. "More!"

"I said stop!" Oz screamed. "Don't come near me, father!"

His eyes were clouded and confused, and he barely seemed to even notice the snake was there.

"Give me your fear, vessel," the fallen angel continued. "Let me grow even stronger. I have such a daunting task in front of me, after all. It's not everyday you remake the universe."