After the Fall

Thousands of years later, Clyde Kusanagi finally awoke from his slumber. The time crystal cracked all around him and in a violent display of flames and anger, a roar erupted through the ruins of Ivalice.

"Nooooooooo!!!" A loud yell echoed throughout the destroyed lands of the once peaceful Kusanagi land. Clyde was at the center of it and his power seemed to flair up, like a phoenix coming back from its own ashes. However, this boy wasn't a phoenix. He was just a weak remnant of the once powerful clan. "Mom, dad!" He yelled out and attempted to walk. He fell straight to the ground.

The ground all around him was charged and sizzled beneath his hands. He laid on the ground and tears streamed from his eyes. He was completely alone. His parents, friends, and everyone else he knew was dead. No one was left alive, except for him, and his beating heart for the clan he once proudly served.

Clyde stopped crying after a few minutes and stood himself up. The young man dusted any ashes off of his clothing and took note of the fact he had claw-weapons attached to his arms. He didn't remember being encased with them, so the fact that he had them startled him.

"Did somebody...?" He thought to himself, but figured it was impossible, since he would have woken up earlier if that were the case. Another thought hit him and realized what time WAS he in? There was no definite way to tell. He was among the ruined remains of the old world and didn't know a damn thing of what was going on. He fought the urge to just give up and trudged along the ruined path of the once grand city of Ivalice. His claw weapons gently scratched at the ground, as he walked.

Reiji walked among the rubble of the city with his hands in his pockets. He let out a deep sigh and gazed around at the destruction that had no doubt claimed many lives. He could feel the power of Kusanagi and Ivalice within the land there, but it was faint. As if it were just another place caught up in their feud. He saw a sign that read Nemesis City, and he wondered what type of place it could've been before it's downfall. He jumped up to the top of a destroyed city bus and looked around, slightly admiring how some of the sky scrapers kept their integrity and giving nod to those that served as burial grounds for those who could not escape when they collapsed. There were many sink holes in the city too, showing underground rail ways and sewers.

"But not a single Ice Cream shop." He sighed and dropped down from the destroyed vehicle. It was then he felt an influx of power surge from somewhere else in the city. His eyes widened as it felt like that of another Kusanagi, one that was not apart of his immediate family. "What the hell?"

He would waste no time in rushing towards the power source. Hearing scraping sounds, He would round corner after corner until he came face to face with Clyde, only half a block away.

Clyde was immediately faced with the image of a person who eerily looked like Kyosuke, the past heir of the Kusanagi Zaibatsu. Clyde didn't want to believe it, but the person before him looked exactly like that man, if not a bit younger. A sweltering rage built-up in Clyde and he began to chuckle to himself.

"Are you serious? The first thing I wake up to, is having to fight this fucking bozo?" Clyde gritted his teeth and spread out his arms quickly, allowing his claws to glint in the light. "Kyo Kusanagi! I'm going to kill you!" He yelled out angrily.

Clyde would coat his entire body within his own flames and quickly spun into that of a wheel-like movement. Moments later, he was in a full force charge towards the man who he thought was Kyo. The flames that surrounded him cut through the ground easily, leaving behind a fiery trail. He aimed to cleave the guy in two with the fierce charge.

"He-" Before Reiji could call out to the person, he screamed something about killing his father and started attacking. Reiji narrowed his eyes and activated his byakugan immediately, not sure of what was going on.

As Clyde decided to come rushing in, Reiji would jump up and send himself soaring skyward with his Gale Whirlwind spell. The wind from his take off would blow into Clyde too, slowing him down and Reiji would spin and stick to the side of the thirty story building they were next to. 'He must think I'm my father, or at least the Kyo from this timeline. I wonder what happened for him to have this much hatred for him.'

Reiji decided not to give Clyde that information in hopes to see how deep his hatred for his 'father' ran. Instead he would smirk condescendingly and motion for Clyde to join him on the side of the building. "You really think you can kill me, kid? I'm Kyo Kusanagi! A lesser fire user like you has no hope of winning!"

Clyde was effectively slowed down by the quick escape used by Reiji. He jumped out of his Burning Wheel and looked in the direction of where the voice called out to him. Clyde's anger filled eyes met the eyes of his opponent and he saw just how different they had became. Clyde took note of this, but his thought process was quickly scrambled, when Reiji insulted his skill, and even claimed that he was indeed Kyo Kusanagi.

"Don't you dare talk down to me, you murderous bastard!" He yelled and flung his claws outward. They'd dig into the side of the building and allowed Clyde to launch himself off of the ground. He landed on the same side Reiji did, but kept his distance now that they were on this vertical angle.

Clyde retracted his claws back into place and quickly continued his offensive. He swiped his claws against the building fiercely and that let loose six large waves of lightning energy towards Reiji. They traveled quickly and aimed to slice into the man as he stood on the building side.

Reiji smirked as Clyde followed him up the building. This was getting interesting. He shouted about him being a murderous bastard and Reiji's insides tightened. His father had told him that other renditions of himself were evil, but he never really thought about how evil. On the outside though, Reiji still held his smirk as if Clyde's words didn't mean a thing to him.

As the lightning waves soared towards Reiji he would once again use his Gale Whirlwind jutsu, this time to rip apart the waves into static. With the wind still building he would flare through a few hand signs before unleashing a large dragon made of fire, the Koryuendan, or fire dragon jutsu! The dragon would seem blaze larger than what it really was due to the wind of the Gale Whirlwind and would seem to flicker due to Clyde's own static that coursed around it. The Dragon swirled away from the building before attempting to smash into Clyde and send him into the inside of the building.

"Murderous bastard? Sorry, I can't remember all of the fodder that dies by me? What, did I sautee' your whole family? I wonder? You seem like a Kusanagi to me." Reiji spoke with a dark undertone, going from cocky to slightly angered towards the end. It would seem as if he were getting serious and intending on fixing his mistake of leaving Clyde alive...to any outside viewers.

"It won't be that easy, you scum!" Clyde spoke to himself and quickly split apart all six lightning waves, into 24 smaller waves in total. Nearly half of them were reduced to static, but Clyde redirected the others to travel around the building, giving them the appearance that he had misfired and that the winds had redirected them elsewhere.

Clyde watched as a giant fire dragon was summoned and flew around the building, before it came in to smash Clyde into the building. The Kusanagi allowed himself to get sent into the building, but this was to hide the fact that he absorbed the flames of the dragon to weaken it's maximum power output and to increase his own power in the process. He shook off some of the rubble and did so in time to hear what Reiji said about his family. That was the final straw.

Clyde didn't say anything, in fact, he tossed up 20 small balls of fire through the cracks in the floors of the building. While this was going on, Clyde redirected his smaller waves to travel to the bottom of the building, as he began to detonate all 20 of the fire balls at once. The fireballs detonated with the force of a multitude of cluster bombs going off and they lit up the area brightly. The way they were placed, made it so that the spot where Reiji was standing and above, would all get blown to smithereens and potentially blind the murderous man in the process.

Reiji would see both the static be split as well as Clyde absorb some of the fire with his byakugan. Peering into the building through the walls, he would see Clyde attempting to blow up most of the building. The flash effects of the attack would be useless to the byakugan user and instead of following Clyde into the building like he had planned, he instead jumped off to the building across the street, which just so happened to be a gas station.

"That struck a nerve. I think I've learned all I will from him for now. I guess we just have some fun now." Reiji spoke to himself as he watched the fireworks from the Gas Station roof top. He stood with his arms folded as he awaited Clyde to realize that he wasn't in the vicinity of his attack any longer. He still kept his eyes out for the lingering electricity that Clyde was trying to hide.

Clyde exited the building through the hole that he had made, when the dragon pushed him through it. He watched as his destruction of the building yielded no results in his attempt to blow up the Kusanagi. Clyde felt his presence elsewhere and directed his lightning waves to come back to him and coat his claws in their energy. The waves had just enough power to grant him full usage of his Thor's Embrace.

After he coated his weapons, Clyde used the vantage point he had, to find and locate Reiji who stood on a gas station roof just across the street. Clyde quickly focused on the gasoline pumps and swiped his hands horizontally. Soon enough, Reiji would be able to see a swathe of flames rush over the gasoline pumps, before it erupted into an explosion, which triggered an even larger explosion of the other pumps. This would more than likely light the entire are into a giant fireball and probably even catch Reiji in its own destruction.

Clyde would use his claws to drop himself to the ground floor and he looked at the destruction he caused.

The explosion would engulf Reiji and it would look like Clyde's attack had worked completely. After a few moments, though, from the smoke and fire, Reiji would be seen walking out with his hands in his pockets. His eyes were emitting what looked like wisp of airy fire. A bored look was upon his face. "Words are no longer needed." Was all he would say as a wall of black fire would burn behind him and then on his sides. It would burn over the ground and then around and behind Clyde. It literally left a straight path between him and Reiji on the ground, meaning the only direction for either participant to go was forward. It was Reiji's Road of the Black Flame technique.

'He's not just a Kusanagi. I can tell he has some Ivalice blood in his veins too. So fighting him with normal fire just isn't gonna cut it. But I can't use the Chrono Ignition very well anymore for some reason, so the Black Flame is all I've got left.' He was thinking in terms of how his father would fight. His father always liked to use fire against other fire users just to prove that he held the strongest flame in existence. Reiji used his wind more than his flames usually, but in this case, he would make an exception.

With a swift kick forward. Reiji cleared the distance across the street in less than the blink of an eye, a small whirlwind surrounding his body as he moved. He spun and thrust forward with a kick backed by the powerful wind of another Gale Whirlwind Jutsu. If it hit or was blocked, it would still have enough force to knock Clyde backwards into the wall of black flames behind him.

"Tch... Tough son of a bitch. I expected no less from a murderer, however." He said to himself and watched as Reiji came through the flames completely unharmed. Clyde didn't expect for him to retort so soon, as Reiji crafted some sort of path of black flames all around. The Kusanagi didn't have time to inspect the surroundings much long after, due to Reiji coming in with a extremely fast kick.

Clyde's eyes widened, but he stood his ground. He reached into his own bloodline and accessed the Chronos Trigger within him. He used his influence over time, to quickly slow down time within the entire battlefield. Clyde would then perform a front-flip over the hopefully slowed Reiji and while he was in mid-air, would wave his arms in a dance like manner. After landing behind the man, a bolt of lightning would crash down from the sky and attempted to slam into Reiji, while he was slowed and in the middle of his kick. Should it hit, he would take a bit of damage, and could even be left paralyzed.

Reiji could see Clyde's chakra and he knew for a fact that he was a Kusanagi as he attempted to use the Chrono Trigger. Reiji, for all of a fraction of a second would be slowed down. However, it would not be nearly enough time for Clyde to completely leap out of the way. Even if he had, the force of the Gale Whirlwind would have most definitely blown Clyde backwards as soon as his feet would have left the ground. In short, Clyde was done. Whether it was the kick that knocked him backwards or the wind itself that would blast him backwards, Clyde would find himself suddenly whipped through a wall of black flames.

When the wall of black flames would clear from Clyde's view, he would find himself on a small wooden row boat lying on his back. All around him he would hear the terrifying and anguished screams of tormented demons and souls. If he leaned up and looked around, he would see a glimpse of a sight that would haunt his nightmares from that day forward. So inexplicable would be the sights that recalling them in detail would bring about bouts of extreme terror in even the most vicious of people. It would only lasts for 5 seconds before the flames of the blood river he sailed on exploded around him, burning him intensely. There should be absolutely no way for Clyde to remain conscious after such a thing.

"D-Dammit!" Clyde managed out a swear, before he was sent flying backwards by the powerful wind. He was pushed into the black wall of flames and seemingly teleported to some other area. "What the hell...?" He asked himself.

Clyde leaned up from the rowboat and rubbed his head. His heart jumped as he heard the screams and anguish of what seemed to be demons all around him. Not only that, but he seemed to be in a place that couldn't be explained in words not even he could muster up to describe. Clyde closed his eyes, placed his hands over his ears, and yelled out to just out the images and noises. However long it lasted, the sounds and images came to an end, as he found himself caught in an explosion, and was being burned intensely. He let the explosion take him, but figured he'd try to absorb the flames in some way, just to lessen the pain, and survive in some small way. Nonetheless, his vision slipped from him and he began to be knocked unconscious from the pain.

Reiji would sigh as Clyde was taken in by the Genjutsu of the Black Flames. Within a few seconds, he would resend them, making them vanish as not to harm him too bad. If Clyde would have tried to absorb them during the genjutsu, it would have blown him up from the inside out, utilizing the chaos nature.

"He's good. He'd definitely be a challenge if he was calm and in his right state of mind." Reiji would kneel next to the unconscious Clyde and place a hand on his chest. He would begin to heal him utilizing his harmony nature as well as the Embodiment of Flame. Due to their same blood lines, the Embodiment would have a massive effect on Clyde and revive him with damn near full strength. Reiji would keep his hand pressed against Clyde's chest to prevent him from moving too. If he tried anything, Reiji would easily be able to stop the chakra flow to his heart instantly.

"Whoa there! Calm down, bro. There needs to be a little explanation before I let you up. My name's not Kyo Kusanagi. It's Reiji. Kyo is my father, but I don't think he's the one you're after. I can tell that you're a Kusanagi too, so why don't you explain to me what happened with you?"

Clyde's eyes would have immediately snapped open and he gasped out from being revived so suddenly. He tried to move but found that he couldn't and saw that the man who he thought was Kyo, have a hold over his body. Clyde cursed under his breath and laughed slightly as well. He looked away from Reiji and spit.

"With all due respect, 'bro,' fuck you. At the moment, I could give two less shits about who you are at the moment. After all of that, plus the shit you said, I'm a little bit more inclined to believe you're as close to that asshole Kyo as one can be. No wonder the resemblance is so thick." He said and shot a venomous gaze towards Reiji. However, Reiji would be able to see that Clyde retracted a bit of his anger when looking into his eyes. "Anyways, I'll give you the short story. Your father and grandmother killed everybody in Ivalice. My parents were with me at the last moment, before they trapped me in time, to prevent from being obliterated along with them. I'm pretty fucking sure that the man I'm after, is your fucking father!" He said, as he felt as though he was dead on the money. Clyde didn't want to hear any type of bullshit at the moment. He wanted the honest truth.

Reiji didn't blame Clyde for his anger and after he heard his story, he would see Reiji's eyes face light up with anger. He would feel Reiji's anger through the embodiment rendition, which would probably make his own anger grow too. However, it would also place a small bit of understanding in Clyde that Reiji wasn't happy about what he was saying.

"Hate to break it to you, but it couldn't have been my father. We're not from this dimension. If you're a Kusanagi, then you know all about the Kusanagi having the ability to travel through space, time, and reality. Our dimension was destroyed by a war between the Kusanagi Zaibatsu and Ivalice clan. I take it that didn't happen in this universe. Can you tell me what did happen?" Reiji wasn't keen on their grandmother. She was a nice woman who moved on to the spirit realm when she grew tired of the living realm. Kokonoe Ivalice...

Clyde felt even more anger burn within him suddenly, yet the understanding gained from Reiji's own anger, allowed him to keep it under wraps for a bit. Strangely enough, the anger allowed him to recall some of the events that lead up to the destruction of Ivalice, the Phoenix Clan, and the Kusanagi clan. Either case, Clyde listened to Reiji explain himself, and remembered that simple fact about the Kusanagi and their ability to traverse time freely. It made sense.

"Right... Guess you're telling the truth." Clyde said and a bit of his anger started to settle. "Let get you up to speed. There was trouble stirring in the Kusanagi Zaibatsu. Apparently some drama occurred between the family who headed the whole organization and there was lots of death... Kokonoe Ivalice, she razed the entirety of the city and killed off the entire Kusanagi Clan. My parents entrapped me within a time crystal and before I eventually succumbed to slumber, I watched as Kokonoe and Kyo Kusanagi fight each other. After that, everything else is just darkness..." He explained and let out a deep sigh. Recalling all of the facts reminded him that this was all a reality. His friends, family, and clan were all dead. He was literally the only surviving member of the Kusanagi Clan in this world.

The explanation made Reiji raise an eyebrow. It seemed Clyde didn't have the entire story, but the gist was there. He wished he wouldn't have lost his powers or he would have been able to look back in time to see exactly what happened. At that point, he'd have to rely on his mother or father. However, his father didn't appear to be in the time line yet and his mother's powerful energy felt like it was thousands of miles away, on an entirely different continent. His sisters were close, on the same continent at least, but as far as he could sense, neither of them were any stronger than he was.

"I don't understand. If Kokonoe was the one to kill everybody and my fa...Kyo tried to stop her, why do you hate Kyo?" Reiji asked as he lifted his hand from Clyde's chest and sat next to him at the base of the partially destroyed building.

Once Clyde felt his movement come back to him, he sat up and hugged his knees close to him. He understood that the withholding of information wasn't good for either of them. Clyde closed his eyes and tears streamed from them. Even though he was feeling relatively calmed at this point, his heart still felt heavy with the anguish and the sadness of having to go back and experience all of that.

"Kokonoe tried to reason with her son and husband about the ethics in which they were carrying out the Kusanagi name. She wanted peace to return to the land, due to the fact that the Phoenix Clan and the Kusanagi Clan began a war with one another. Kokonoe managed to talk Ookami into disbanding the Zaibatsu, but that didn't go well with Kyo. Apparently, he used his ability to manipulate time, to burn away all resistance from his mother, and twisted her into a killing machine. Kyo's father tried to flee through the planes of time, which made the insane Kokonoe believed he was abandoning her. She taught a lesson to not only him, but to the rest of the Kusanagi Clan, and all of Ivalice. She burned away literally everybody, except for me of course." Clyde paused for a second to catch his breath. He nearly let out a choked cry. "After that, Kyo had a change of heart for the moment and fought his own mother. But what was the point of that? He couldn't stop her from killing off everybody, including his own father, so why not just destroy the rest of the world along with her? In any case, they fought and Kokonoe split the continent in two. The crazy bitch soon fell after and Kyo was never heard from again..." Clyde looked up from his knees and peered at the destruction of the land. His heart sank a bit. "I blame Kyo for everything, because it was his abuse of his own powers, that lead to the destruction of the clans in the first place. If you weren't with him, you were against him. Looked how that all turned out." He finished solemnly and looked towards Reiji, wondering how he was taking all of the information.

Of course Reiji wasn't happy with what he was hearing. Now he completely understood why Clyde hated Kyo. The entire situation made Reiji hate the bastard too. He looked straight ahead with a dark look, but hatred was clearly in his eyes. "What about mom...Hinata? Hinata Kusanagi? She was supposed to be Kyo's wife. The matriarch of an ancient Hyuga clan. Or..." Reiji paused and felt his heart drop. A look of shock would appear on his face and a single tear would slide down his cheek that Clyde would be able to see.

"He killed her..." Reiji whispered. He remembered his mother and father telling them of how they met. Kyo was supposed to go back in time and kill Hinata for some bull shit first assassination deal. The two were supposed to fall in love which would in turn lead to the birth of him and his sisters. If Kyo had done things the way he did...that meant he had killed her. He had essentially killed Reiji's mother.

"Thank you, you've said enough." Reiji stood up with puffs of fire emitting from his body, his fist clenched tightly. The heat in the area intensified and the building they were next too groaned from having its base all but melted. "...I don't know where he is, but I know this Kyo you are talking about is still alive. I don't have the power, and neither do you apparently, to beat him if he was able to kill Grandma Kokonoe. My mother, Hinata Kusanagi is alive somewhere here, along with my two younger sisters."

Reiji turned to Clyde, a tear still on his face. Not only did he feel the pain of knowing his mother was killed, even if it was in a different timeline, but he felt Clyde's pain deep within his heart due to the Embodiment of Flame. "You are not alone. You are a Kusanagi and so are me and my family. For whatever it's worth, we will kill Kyo. Because we all are family."

The flames of gas station behind Reiji would seem like burning wings and aura around him from Clyde's position. It would truly be a sight to see.

Clyde shook his head when asked about who Hinata Kusanagi was. He didn't know if such a woman existed, not even as a wife towards Kyo, who was presumed to be single before the calamity occurred. Clyde felt bad knowing that Reiji lost family too and felt a bit guilty for lashing out at him like that earlier.

Reiji stood up some moments later and began to speak. Listening to the man, Clyde felt his fire rekindle in his soul. He realized that the only way forward now was the future. Clyde had to carry on his clan's will and bloodline, for now he was truly the last one of this time's Kusanagi Clan. Reiji said that they would kill the one he deemed Evil Kyo, and said that it's possible to get more help, meaning that they needed the help of Hinata Kusanagi, along with Reiji's younger sisters.

Reiji reached out to Clyde on a deeper level and told him that even if they're not from the same family directly, that they're still family through the clan. Clyde smiled a bit and stood up next to Reiji. He watched as the man looked like a phoenix among the flames of the burning gas station.

"Pfft... I'm still cooler." He said, letting the real him surface a bit. "Yeah, thanks for that. I'm Clyde, by the way. Clyde Kusanagi. I'll be more than happy to help the remnants of our clan kill that bastard, Kyo." Clyde introduced himself and showed his resolve. Because he was a vanguard of the old clan, he used this fight and the history as a harsh lesson. He needed to get stronger.

To be continued....