Sanctuary II

In the old Crystech Industries Lab, in Ishtall, the moment had finally arrived for the Crystalla transfusion. Deux Wynd had walked Atlas through the procedure, and took him to a large lab room, with two separate 'tables' in the middle of the room, with large interconnected pipes and wires.

Deux sighed and turned to Atlas.

"Well, I guess this will be goodbye, old friend" Deux smiled slightly.

"Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?" Atlas asked, looking at the tables.

"This form doesn't belong to me, this was always a fleeting return. I am grateful for the time I have been able to spend living once more, but, it is time for me to lay down my old hat, and hand it over to my Charlotte" Deux nodded. Atlas sighed and nodded back.

"Farewell, Deux" Atlas said, as he hugged Deux.

"Goodbye, Atlas, take good care of my Charlotte for me" Deux hugged Atlas back. The hug lasted a few moments, before the silently nodded and laid down at the tables. Assistants to the lab hooked both Atlas and Deux up to the cables and tubes.

"Procedure will now initiate. Goodbye, Headmaster" A voice echoed over the loudspeaker.

"Goodbye, Nisha" Deux said quietly as he smiled and closed his eyes. Atlas looked up to a viewing window of the control room, Ariel was watching, she gave Atlas an anxious smile.

A loud whirring began, as the mechanisms began activating, Deux let out a grunt as energy began to flow from his veins into Atlas, who also began to grunt, after a few moments, Deux fell unconscious as Atlas' eyes momentarily glowed green.

"Crystal transfer stage now complete, second soul detected, soul confirmed as Charlotte Wynd. Crystalla Acceleration will now begin" The woman, presumably Nisha, announced. The machine noise began whirring even louder. Atlas gazed over at Deux, to see him looking back, he was smiling.

"Goodbye, old friend" He said weakly, as he slowly began to fade away.

"Deux!" Atlas gasped, within seconds he had disappeared, smiling until the last moment. The whirring began to fade. Atlas suddenly sat forward, holding his head.

"Argh! My head!" Atlas yelled, his eyes glowed green, and the room was engulfed in a green glow. The light lasted a few seconds before fading.

Lotte was knelt on the floor in the middle of the lab, she looked up at Atlas and smiled.

"I'm back!" She grinned, before running over and hugging him. Atlas hugged her back tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Lotte" He cried.

"For what? Because of you, I'm here" She said, as she wiped his tears away.

"I... failed to protect you..." Atlas sighed.

"It was my fault, I was too reckless" Lotte smiled. "How am I here, anyway?" She asked, looking around the room. "Where even am I? This doesn't look like the Sanctuary labs" She continued, as she looked around the large white room.

"Oh... we're in Ishtall" Atlas grinned.

"How? I thought it was blocked off by the Guardian?" Lotte asked.

"Well... the Guardian gave itself up, to resurrect you" Atlas began.

"Me?! What, why?" Lotte asked, angry and confused.

"Because you're the Crystalla of Wind" Atlas smiled softly. "Like Dex is the Crystalla of Fire" He explained. Lotte took a few seconds to process the information.

"I'm a Crystalla? What even is that?" Lotte asked.

"You're apparently very instrumental in saving the world" Atlas smiled.

"Huh..." Lotte scratched her head. "I'm kinda hungry" She chuckled.

"Let's get you some food then" Atlas smiled, as he took Lotte by the hand, and wrapped a towel around her, then the two of them headed out of the room, chatting to each other.

The skies above Ishtall began to grow even clearer. Then, the darkness that had loomed close to the city was pushed back, unveiling the decimated landscapes beyond, the darkness was pushed back further and further, just before it came to a stop near to what was once Rivenlake. The landscape looked barren and the fiends ran back into the darkness just beyond their lands.

Though the light didn't reach Sanctuary itself, the sky there lightened noticeably...