Prisoner of War
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A/N: I apologize for my late update, I don't really have an excuse seeing as I wasn't ready on the deadline date I set, then I got sick which obviously set things back further...
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Their group consisted of a total ten people—including Lloyd and Sheena. First off, it was a miracle that their dinghy held all of them without fail, and a blessing that the seas had been clam for their travel. So far everything had been going well, even with Kuchinawa's episode of sea-sickness and the minimal elbow room.
Once they reached land, four of their accomplices stayed at the entrance to ensure no one would disturb the process; that was the last thing they needed. Orochi and Kuchinawa escorted Sheena as the main 'body guards' (even though they all knew Sheena could defend herself better than she could be defended) along with one more, Genki, who specialized in more healing and replenishing than actual combat. Their other group member, Kitsu—but everyone called him 'Kitsune', meaning 'fox' for his cleverness—served as a strategist to help them navigate through the puzzles and traps that filled the Temple.
...And then there was Lloyd.
He was more of a stowaway-freeloader than anything else—of course, he could hold his own just as well as anyone—but was a welcome addition to their group, nonetheless. They seemed to appreciate his upbeat and free spirited out look. Even Sheena, known to be a die-hard pessimist, seemed to be continuously smiling in his presence. Orochi went as far to comment, "It looks like Lloyd is the hero who has rescued Sheena the Cheerful from the evil Sheena the Grouchy!"
Everyone was too busy laughing to see the blush that crept its way across her face. "What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned playfully. Lloyd looked over at her in time to see the last of the blush before it completely disappeared; he just smiled and kept quiet.
In the meanwhile, Kuchinawa had gone slightly ahead of the group and was observing the large blocks that obstructed their path. "Oi, Kitsune! What're these for?" he asked, motioning to the blocks.
"Careful!" he warned, "They're filled with an electrical current. If you touch them directly, you'll be electrocuted." (Kuchinawa squelched a peep of discomfort and considerably distanced himself.)
"So then, what do we do it get past them?" Orochi said, looking to Kitsune for an answer while visually inspecting the blocks.
Genki shrugged, "Why don't we just clear'em?" he suggested, going on. "I know that I, for one, have certainly hurdled over objects far more challenging then these scrawny things," Their guess as to why he studied medicine in the first place was because of his reckless nature, what with him always hurting himself carelessly.
Kistune grabbed the back of his apparel before Genki could launch himself over the blocks and instead proposed, "Why don't we look for a more suitable—less dangerous—route around or through this situation, hm?"
"Like what?"
"Well, give me a moment to think, and—"
"Okay then, while you're thinking, I'll try my idea,"
"Oho no you're not!"
Sheena sighed as the two continued to bicker. She knew that opposing forces were essential in life, that they supposedly keep the other in check. Though she really couldn't see how one with a reckless nature could keep someone with a cautious nature in check. Maybe to keep life from getting boring?
But speaking of reckless, she thought, looking around, where'd Lloyd run off to now?
By the time she laid eyes on him, he was already reaching the top of a nearby flight of stairs. "Lloyd!" she called out to him, causing him to startle and trip on the top step. All hushed in awe and terror as a huge pillar of lightning fell from the artificial sky and struck an object only a few feet from where their stowaway lay. He yelped and threw his hands over his head.
Once the danger had passed, Sheena rushed over to Lloyd. "Are you alright?" she panted.
Though thoroughly shaken, he replied, "Y-Yeah..."
"Good," she let herself sound relieved before unleashing her resentment, "What the hell were you thinking? You could've gotten killed!" she said as she chidingly—but gently—helped him to his feet.
"I have an idea," he answered simply, wriggling his arm free from her hold. "Justa sec,"
With poise, he leapt over the trigger and reached the object that was previously struck with no worries. He circled the object curiously. Then, he brought his foot back and gave the object a nice boot. It buzzed in response; the rod topping it swiftly retreating back into the ground like a turtle into its shell.
"Look out," he warned before jumping over the trigger and landing awkwardly on the second stair down, next to Sheena. He flashed her one of his goofy smiles and dashed down the stairs.
Slowing to a cautious walk at the pathway to her left, he looked around in a reassuring manner. "Sheena. Get away from there, just in case!" he shouted; she had her skeptical side, but returned to the bottom of the flight without hesitation.
"Does he know what he's doing?" Kuchinawa whispered to his brother. Orochi just shrugged and said, "We'll soon find out,"
Assertively, Lloyd thrust his foot onto the button beneath him. As he'd predicted, another strong bolt rained down from above, striking the mechanism ahead of him. It absorbed the shock, transforming the energy into a smaller sphere of condensed electricity spiraling outward and eventually hitting and shattering a nearby block.
"Over here," Lloyd summoned to them, grinning ear-to-ear since his plan didn't explode in his face like before.
Kitsune couldn't help muttering "Wow," to himself, surprised that he hadn't thought of something so elementary in the first place. After all, he was supposed to be the smart one.
"What is it?" Sheena asked, pointing to the small strata before them. It wasn't like the others they had encountered; in fact, it seemed almost out of place amidst the mysterious and forlorn architecture surrounding them.
"Well, I don't really know," he replied, "but last time I saw one of these, it gave me this." He pulled out of his pocket an incandescent ring, adorned with a single large, fiery jewel.
"...A ring?" Kuchinawa blinked, "How would that help us?"
"Last time I used it was in that one old temple-church place out by the decoy village. It had the ability to shoot out fire and deactivate traps and such, so I thought it might be useful here, too. It's worth a shot," he added with a shrug.
"It shoots... fire? Really," Genki put in disbelievingly.
To demonstrate, he slid the ring on and shot a small fireball into the distance, then turned back to the glowing altar (but only after flickering Genki a triumphant 'I-told-you-so' look). He inserted his ringed hand into the glowing abyss, the light intensifying in response. Four invisible bells chimed, and swirling sparkles swarmed the jewel adorning the band. When the light dimmed, the passionate red was gone, replaced with an energetic, vibrant purple that crackled with electrical prowess.
Sheena seemed almost rapt by the new color, "What does it do now?"
Lloyd, too, was preoccupied with the change, though absently he shot a beam of violet electrical energy past Orochi. It flickered briefly until it faded from sight.
One and all were almost mesmerized by the Sorcerer's Ring, except for Kistune. He kept studying the ring, then glancing back to the blocks. Putting two and two together, he instructed, "Lloyd, try using that ring's power on those blocks back there."
"Huh? Oh, okay,"
"If I'm right," he started, "that should destroy the blue ones at the least..."
"And the others?" Genki asked inquisitively.
He gave it a moment of thought before answering, "There are probably other altars that change the ring to correspond to the red and yellow blocks as well." Going on, his voice added in a hint of anticipation, "We just have to find 'em."
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"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," Kuchinawa admitted with a laugh, "But I'm glad you stowed away in that crate, Lloyd. If not for you and the Sorcerer's Ring, we'd probably have thought it hopeless by now."
He grinned, "Then I guess its okay to break the rules every once in a while if it comes back to aid you in the end,"
Sheena shook her head in mocking disgust. "Honestly Lloyd, is there a rule you haven't broken at one point or another?"
"Well, I'm still working on gravity," he said jokingly.
"No—what about that last fall?" Kitsune pointed out, "Normally people don't trip up the stairs,"
As they continued to talk, Sheena couldn't help but smile inwardly to herself. Here they were, about to face something that could potentially take their lives with great ease and yet they were chatting and joking like old friends. Lloyd's carefree and easy going demeanor really lightened the mood, making it seem so easy to smile at what could become the doorway to death.
No, she thought, it won't become a doorway to death or anything like that. I'm going to make sure of it. I may be the only Summoner, and it may be my job to carry the power of a Summon Spirit—a god, almost—on my own, but I know I'll never really be alone.
They trekked onward. A while passed and Lloyd noticed Sheena had become increasingly despondent. Even if there was a small beam plastered on her face, her eyes seemed glazed as she stared into nothingness; maybe something was secretly bothering her. He lagged back a bit to find out.
"You're awfully quiet," he stated without breaking his grin. "Is something bothering you?"
She blinked and the glazed, absent look was flushed from her eyes. "No," she said sweetly, "...I'm just... glad you're all here,"
"Sheena," Genki mock gasped, "bashful?"
She sent a glare his way. "I am not being bashful! ...Just honest, that's all."
"But you're bashful about being honest,"
Suddenly, Lloyd stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. The others stopped and waited for an explanation in a confused silence. Frightfully, he hissed, "Did... did you hear that?"
They listened intently for any unfamiliar sounds, but failed to hear anything over the booming thunder coming from the surrounding rooms. After a while, Kuchinawa whispered, "I didn't hear anything,"
"What did you hear?" Sheena questioned uneasily, her buoyant mood swept away by a cold rush of apprehension.
He paused, trying to find the right words to phrase what he heard—or what he thought he had heard. "It sounded like... almost like a violent gust of wind,"
Kitsune shrugged, "Then maybe it was just that. The weather wasn't supposed to be perfect today, anyway..."
"I don't know..."
"Well, at any rate," Orochi commanded their attention with the sheer icy tone, no one had any doubts that he was anything but dead serious.
"Right," Lloyd agreed, pointing the Sorcerer's Ring at the last block that sat atop Volt's platform. As it shattered, lightning strikes rained down, narrowly missing them all. Neither noticed, but Lloyd and Sheena had slowly been inching their way towards each other.
When the hail of lightning died, Volt appeared before them. His eyes—if that's what they even were—were hard, cold slits, unyielding and mirthless. They instilled a deep fear in Sheena, but she knew she had to be strong, or at least act it, anyway.
She stepped forward, speaking with authority. "I am Sheena! I seek a pact with the Summon Spirit, Volt!"
When he did not respond, she began to feel panicky. "Well?" she asked impatiently.
"Sheena, be quiet." Kitsune hissed, staring intently at the lightning entity. After a while, he said, "He says, 'I am already bound by a pact',"
"Does he speak telepathically or something? 'Cause I don't hear anything," Genki blurted.
Ignoring Genki, she looked keenly to the Summon Spirit. She had a bad feeling about this... "Then I ask that thou annulst thy pact and establish a new pact with me!"
Volt began to glow with extraordinary power, but just when they had all gotten poised to strike, his glowing ceased. Puzzled, they turned to Kitsune.
"...'The previous pact is invalid, but I no longer seek a pact',"
"But Volt, we need your power! You can't just deny—"
"Sheena, look out!"
Before she could react, Lloyd had jumped in front of her and parried an otherwise lethal lightning bolt, thunder cackling in its wake. The two could do nothing but watch as two more bolts hit Genki and Kitsune, striking them dead in an instant.
Sheena gasped in horror at the merciless murder of her kinsmen. She had no idea above her head a storm of lightning brewed, growing in might by the second.
"Sheena, Orochi, Lloyd; run!" Kuchinawa cried out, jumping over the side of the ledge and hightailing it out of the temple.
Orochi cursed at his brother's cowardice but agreed it was the only way they could come out of this alive. He took one last glance at the fallen beside him and followed Kuchinawa's path, muttering a prayer for them under his breath as he went.
The remaining two were too horror stricken to move. The storm above them flashed brilliantly, unleashing its wrath of electrical prowess, but at the last second, he raised his sword high in the air, defiant.
Sheena had covered herself as best she could with her hands, fully expecting to be swept away and shattered by the blow.Butwhen none came, she cracked open her eyes to see Lloyd, radiant as the electricity soared through him.
"Lloyd!" She cried, running towards him despite the waves that attempted to paralyze her. She didn't care if she got hurt, she didn't want to see anymore people die from her mistakes. She embraced him, held him in her arms as tight as she could, sharing the scorching agony of well over a thousand storms.
The onslaught finally ceased, and the couple crumpled to the ground. Weakly, she managed to sit up with her arms still wrapped around the swordsman. "Lloyd..." she whispered with difficulty, hot tears welling in her eyes. "Lloyd, wake up. Please, give me some sort of sign you're alright... please... wake up..."
Through the paralysis that began to set in, she desperately searched the area around her. A life bottle, an apple gel, orange gel; anything! She found nothing. The only thing she could rely on now was her own strength, and even that was diminishing rapidly.
She tried to heave herself up, to no avail. The only thing she could manage as she held her dear friend's corpse in her own arms, was to still glare at Voltwith all her defiance and valor.
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, and in an instant, everything was black.
...And for the first time, there was no comforting pulse in the darkness.