A/N:
Last time on The Pulse of Life...
Staying back, I watched with sadness at the situation unfolding in front of my eyes.
Suddenly, Serah started to rise on her own, a blue light glowing from the brand on her body. Realizing what was happening, my eyes widened and my breath ceased as I stared at her rising higher, higher….
Then, crystal quickly covered her body, encapsulating her within seconds. Like that, it was finished.
Serah had completed her focus.
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Where Serah Farron had laid, a large crystal floated in her place. The light shimmering in my eyes, I couldn't move my vision away from the girl nor could I form any coherent thought in my mind about the moment. She truly….did it.
"Sweet Dreams?" Lightning snarled, pushing Sazh aside and snapping me from my stupor. "She's not sleeping!" she yelled, grabbing Snow's trench coat by the collar. "She's…" It was incredible to see Lightning release Snow, and look down on the brink of tears.
"She's alive!" the NORA leader finished, snapping the soldier's attention back to him. "The legend! Remember the legend!" he reminded. "L'cie who fulfill their focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! She's not dead!" he reasoned, pacing around before stopping right in front of Lightning.
"Serah's my bride to be," he continued. "I promised to be hers forever. I don't care how many years I have to wait-"
Lightning promptly silenced him with a solid punch to the face that sent him flying to the ground. "It's over!" she declared. "Open your eyes and face reality!"
Looking at the two, I really didn't know what to feel. On one hand, I knew that Snow's hope would be the key to everyone continuing on, but in that moment, everything just seemed drenched by sorrow and despair. Without thinking, I started to move towards Serah's crystalline body before a blast force shook me off balance.
"The army!" Sazh yelled, reminding us of the efforts to blow the Vestige to pieces. Quickly, we all assumed positions trying to protect our heads from the falling debris. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Lightning and Snow cover Serah.
After a couple moments, the tremors stopped and the ceiling stopped collapsing. Looking up, the door ahead immediately grabbed my attention, glowing a weird black and red symbol before it disappeared and opened, revealing a long hallway. Wondering what we should do next, Snow stepped forward, only to be questioned by Sazh.
"Hey, Trench Coat! Where are you going?" the clear elder said.
"Date with the Fal'cie. Got some things to talk about."
"Uh…..you got some screws loose?" I retorted, walking up to him. "That thing ain't gonna welcome ya with some hot tea."
"Well, what should I do then!?" he snapped at me, clearly just as lost as I was.
"..." With nothing to say, I sighed before walking past Snow.
"Now where are you going?" Snow asked me.
"Talk with the Fal'cie," I mocked. "The pot done already started stinkin', so might as well deal with it," I said tiredly, with my full Southern drawl showing.
"What does that even mean? And why do you sound like that?" the blonde interrogated.
"It's called an accent," I said as a small crowd of Cie'th made their way over to us. "Learn it," I said before taking out Aurorus. With a scoff of disbelief, Snow joined me, followed by Lightning and everyone else in suit.
The first two Cie'th gave a horrific shriek when they arrived, making my ears hurt. Now further annoyed, I ran forward and slashed the thing on its face, forcing it back. Pushing forward, I stabbed Aurorus into its stomach and rammed it to the ground.
Somewhat satisfied, I took the sword out and watched the beast quiver in agony before going still. Looking up, I saw a flying one coming right toward me. Hastily preparing myself, I stood at the ready until a mass of rods came from nowhere and clasped around the Cie'th. Ensnared, the monster struggled until it got smashed into the wall, followed by the ground.
It, too, tried to get up after that beating, but failed as per two bullets from Sazh's guns. With those bothers done, we advanced towards the hall, beating back the occasional Cie'th.
Before long, we arrived to the entryway of the Fal'cie's lair. Walking down, we all looked around, amazed as small crystal lights glittered in the air around us. Curious, I reached out for one, only for it to seemingly fade away in my hand, like a small snowflake melting on contact.
Looking forward, a large metallic looking thing took all my attention away. It had symbols on it and many wires attached on the main body, and I could feel something emanating from it.
"The Fal'cie…" I said to myself, hardly a whisper. Getting a closer look, I walked closer, though not too close in case it would try anything.
"Serah's a crystal, now," Snow started, going even closer to the thing. "You gave her a focus, and she did it! You got what you wanted! So let her go!" he tried to bargain. The sight became pitiful as nothing in the room moved a muscle, especially the seemingly lifeless Fal'cie. For the longest time, silence plagued the room until Snow dropped to his knees and groveled. "Please," he begged. "Turn her back! I'll be your L'cie instead!" he offered, making me try very hard not to smack him upside the head.
Sighing rather loudly, I started playing with my hand until Lightning decided to cut into the conversation. "Keep begging if you want," she told the blonde, reaching for her gunblade. "Like this thing gives a damn what we want!" she yelled, bursting in anger and slicing at the Fal'cie. Her gunblade produced nothing but sparks from the being, even as the force of her blows forced herself to recoil back.
"Hey now," I called, feeling a need to get her temper in reign before she did something crazier.
"It's this thing's fault the Purge started," she explained. "It's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon," she told Snow, although the message resonated something in all of us. "That means this thing need to die!"
Just then, the floor lit with a bright yellow blaze. Not but a few seconds later, the entire room lit up and the Fal'cie started to emerge from a light coming through a crack. Two arm-like structures came out of the holes to the side, and the light in the crack strengthened immensely, to the point where we all had to cover our eyes.
When the light faded, we looked to see the Fal'cie Anima in all its glory. With a Pulse L'cie tattoo branded above its purple crystal, the….thing had a menacing feel to it, as if it wanted to do something with us.
Hearing footsteps, I looked back to see Hope running away. "Go get him," I told Vanille, who nodded and went after the silver-haired boy. Meanwhile, I pulled Aurorus out of its sheathe, preparing for the upcoming battle.
Snow began the fight by running up to the Fal'cie's crystal and attempting to punch it. He got one hit in, however a metal claw shoved him back away. Before he could renew an assault, one of the "arms" attacked us, spinning around like a mixer before slamming into the ground. "Let's get rid of these things first!" I called, attacking the arm. Thankfully, Lightning joined me in the assault, making quick work of it. A few seconds later, Sazh and Snow took out the other arm.
"Let's go!" Lightning called, rushing forward and delivering strikes to the now defenseless Fal'cie. All of us followed her lead, peppering the cause of all this mess with blow after blow. Eventually, the Fal'cie released a powerful energy it had been building up. Both of its mechanical arms reformed, and the claw forced us back. Getting slightly frustrated we couldn't take it out in one go, I attacked the left arm with reckless abandon, only for it to charge something. Remembering what was coming, I quickly ran back, only getting slight damage from its magical attack. After it finished, Snow and I double teamed it, slicing the arm down to size. Going to the other one, we quickly destroyed it before it could do that magic crap, too.
With those out the way again, we attacked the glowing jewel, which seemed to be growing cracks under the pressure of our assault. Right when it seemed we were finished, the arms came back again, making my temper go through the roof for the first time in a while.
"I'm not dealing with this bull again!" I yelled, running forward and smashing Aurorus on the jewel. It whirred in a whining sort of fashion, making me run back just in case. Instead of attacking, a bright flash emerged, blinding all of us.
When the light went away, I saw a GIANT….thing standing over all of us. Before I could even begin to get my bearings straight, aura-like tendrils lashed out, grabbing all of us. I struggled with everything I had, but couldn't break free. Helpless, I watched another tendril touch my leg. Something burned, causing me immense pain, before everything went black.
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A/N: That's the end of that! Now….considering most of this was written out in July, I really have no excuse for finishing this late…..I just have to do better, which I'm resolving to do with this upcoming New Years. With that, chao~
Blizzard, out!