Note: For those of you who know that I've been thinking about going on hiatus and discontinuing posting entirely after I finish up "Reconstruction", I've decided to go ahead and continue on with this little anthology for the moment, although posting might become more sporadic. "Reconstruction" will be posted regardless, but this is only going to be updated if/when I feel like posting.

"Fallen" isn't a super fancy word, but I was pleased with finding a scene where I could very neatly fit three different characters into three different definitions of the same word.

Fallen

1. lying on the ground, after falling down

2. subject to sin or depravity

3. (of a soldier) killed in battle; defeated

Lyon was the only one who went over the cliff with Racer, but all three of them fell.

Lyon pulled himself to his feet with no little difficulty, swaying unsteadily as he threw one last glance at Racer and then turned to regard Sherry as she came running over. Damn, luring that bastard so far and taking so many hits had really taken a lot out of him.

"Lyon-sama!" Sherry cried. She slid to a stop in front of him and ran her eyes over his injuries. "Are you alright?"

"Of course," he said with more bravado than he felt. "No big deal."

He gave their defeated foe a look of vicious satisfaction, and Sherry smiled brightly.

"You were amazing! Although I really did think that you and Gray were fighting!"

In another time and place, they might have been. Still, it made a quiet, hopeful feeling spark in Lyon's chest, knowing that he had worked together again with Gray after so long. Maybe, just maybe, it was the start of something bright and new.

A sound rustled in the surrounding forest, and Lyon looked over to see Gray hurry out of the trees. The kid was fast, Lyon had to admit. It was a fair distance from where Gray had shot the arrow to here, where Lyon had lured Racer away until the younger ice mage was outside the radius of his magic.

"You guys alright?" Gray asked gruffly as he strolled over at a more restrained pace and gave their collapsed opponent a wary once-over.

Ah, Gray. He never could let himself sound as if he cared too much. Some things hadn't changed so very much after all.

"Fine," Lyon said. "He's down for the count, though."

"Yeah. Thanks for helping out. It was clever how you figured him out."

Lyon's eyebrows jumped upward of their own accord. The words were delivered in a terse, reluctant tone, but they were still a compliment. Gray didn't really do compliments with people he considered rivals and had always been careful to mask them around Lyon, so it was a big deal if he let one slip.

This was still shaky ground, too. Gray had changed since they were children even if some things seemed very much the same, and the two of them had last met as enemies. It was an awkward dance they were performing, even if neither had really acknowledged it yet.

"Of course," said Lyon, puffing out his chest. "It's understandable if the younger student sometimes needs help and instruction from the elder."

"What?" Gray demanded. Indignant anger flashed across his face, but then he hesitated and deflated. "Whatever."

Lyon eyed him in surprise. That was an unexpectedly mild reaction. But Gray looked exhausted, even if he was putting on a good show. He'd seemed drained right from the beginning, when he'd stumbled across Lyon and asked—demanded—for help. Lyon wondered how much magic he had used up even before that point to tire him out so much.

"You did well," Lyon conceded finally. "That was a good shot."

Gray blinked at him blankly, but then flushed and looked away. "I don't need your approval," he growled.

And Lyon was taken by surprise again as he saw the embarrassed blush belying the scowl and indignant irritation. Hm. There was something to take note of and file away. He hadn't realized how much Gray did, in fact, crave his approval and acceptance even after all these years.

Lyon hid a smile. Stupid little brat. It felt strangely good to have him here again, the two of them against the world instead of against each other. Theirs was a broken road and troubled relationship, but maybe they were finally ready to start rebuilding.

"You know–"

"You can't defeat me!" Racer interrupted. Lyon startled and whipped around to see the enemy mage stagger to his feet and rip off his shirt to expose the device strapped to his chest. "I'll take you all down with me!"

Explosive lacrima? Lyon cursed as Racer rushed toward them. Gray bit out a curse of his own, while Sherry said something in a frightened, high-pitched voice.

There was a moment where time froze and Lyon just watched the oncoming train wreck. But with Gray and Sherry behind him and all of them running low on magic, there was no time to waste.

Lyon was moving half a second before he registered what he was about to do. He charged forward and slammed into Racer's chest, sending them both lurching back. And then they were tumbling over the cliff, Lyon and Racer and the bomb that could have killed them all.

"Lyon-sama!"

"Lyon!"

The voices were piercing despite the wind whistling in his ears, and Lyon managed to catch one last glimpse of his friends' horrified faces as he fell. Gray's panicked, grief-stricken expression and heartrending cry would be forever etched into his memory.

"The things I do for you, younger pupil," Lyon sighed to the wind.

The lacrima exploded.

Up above, Gray and Sherry stared down in horror, desperately searching the rubble far below for any sign of their fallen savior.

It wasn't possible. Not Lyon-sama. Sherry couldn't believe that he was dead, but how could anyone have survived such a violent explosion? Her heart was breaking as she stared down at the rubble strewn about the base of the cliff, thrown by the explosion. Was Lyon-sama buried somewhere beneath all that, his body battered and broken?

"Come on!" Gray snapped, whipping around and running away from the cliff's edge. "Let's go find him."

Sherry followed almost automatically, her body moving of its own accord while her mind reeled in shock and disbelief and grief. Lyon-sama could not…

Gray raced through the trees and stumbled down the mountainside, seeming almost as panicked as Sherry. He couldn't be, though, because Sherry loved Lyon-sama more than anyone. What right did Gray have to act so horrified? He had hurt Lyon-sama, hadn't even seen him in years. Sherry had been by Lyon-sama's side the whole time, had loved him and helped him along with all his plans. She was the one who was grieving.

Reaching the base of the mountain and circling around to beneath the cliff, Gray began frantically searching through the wreckage, heaving up stones and throwing them aside.

"Lyon!" he called. "Lyon, where are you?"

It felt like they searched forever, but Lyon-sama was nowhere to be found. Sherry paused finally, the last shred of hope in her heart slipping through her fingers and evaporating. Lyon-sama, her Lyon-sama, was dead.

Something was slithering around inside her now, beating against her ribcage and filling up the gaping hole where her heart had been. Something oily and dark. She hovered on the very edge, one wrong step away from losing her balance and tumbling into the abyss.

Lyon-sama was dead, and someone would pay. Who? Who was to blame?

"Lyon! Where are you, you idiot?"

Sherry's gaze fixed on Gray, still fruitlessly scrabbling in the rocks. Something clicked into place and her heart went cold. Him. Who else was to blame but Gray? Gray who had killed Lyon-sama's master and hurt him, Gray who had dragged Lyon-sama into his fight, Gray who should have been the one killed instead.

Her focus locked on her prey as the darkness sunk its bitter tendrils around her heart and squeezed. She would avenge Lyon-sama.

She knew what she had to do, this fallen angel.

He had to be here somewhere. Gray shoved aside another chunk of rock and paused for a moment, panting with exertion. His magic was depleted and his body battered and bruised from all the fighting, and his hands were raw and bleeding from scraping against the rocks. He trembled on the brink of collapse.

But then he shook his head and got back to work, frantically digging through the monstrous pile of rubble. Lyon had to be here somewhere. He had to be alive. He was too stubborn to die.

Please let him be alive.

He couldn't be dead, not now. He had just come back, and Gray had just begun daring to hope that maybe they would be able to work on mending their relationship. Lyon couldn't die, not when Gray still loved him so much. Not when he had sacrificed himself for Gray in much the same way Ur had.

Don't you dare die. Not for me. Don't you die for me.

"Lyon! Lyon, where–?"

Gray broke off with a gasp as something wrapped around his chest and squeezed until his ribs creaked. He flailed desperately, but the tendrils lifted him into the air and bound his limbs. The air escaped his lips in a startled cry, and the vines tightened relentlessly to fill in the new space. When Gray tried to take a breath, his lungs couldn't expand far enough to get any air in.

If only he could free his hands…

"This is your fault. You will die with Lyon-sama."

Spots danced across Gray's vision, blackness eating away at the edges, but he caught a glimpse of Sherry's face, somehow distorted and unnatural. Something was wrong, something was–

Bone splintered, sending stabbing pain searing through his body. He closed his eyes and desperately tried to pull in a breath, his lungs burning. Everything was a ball of agony, slowly constricting until he broke. He couldn't breathe, couldn't–

Sherry didn't smile as she watched Gray's head fall back and his eyes close, his body snared in her most punishing vines. Lyon-sama was still dead, and she still had more work to do. She turned away to hunt down everyone else who must die as vengeance for her love's death, leaving behind the fallen warrior.

Note: For the record, this was specifically written to be canon compliant with Oración Seis...although I for sure hinted that it could go a lot darker. I like it ambiguous enough that it could go either way, depending on my mood.

emmahoshi: Well, this is canon compliant, remember? The thing with Sherry had to do with Nirvana messing with her head, way back from Oración Seis. It's really just a retelling of canon events from different angles and with different implications and with hints of a darker story underneath if we choose to diverge from canon. So...Lyon and Gray are still both technically alive, although I left it open so that one or both could be dead if we break off from canon. I have some great AUs with Gray dying here and Lyon, Sherry, and FT dealing with the aftermath X) I have way too much fun retelling canon events in a way just ambiguous enough to create a much darker story lol