Above and Below


Legal Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Final Fantasy series.


Dear Readers,

A great many thanks for all of the reviews last time; the feedback is deeply appreciated. Here is Ch. 7 of the story, a small interlude adventure of sorts that I have wanted to write for some time. There is good news and bad news that comes with it. The good news is that not only did I get this chapter out on time, but it is also is a significantly longer chapter than normal (lucky you). The bad news is, enjoy the length of it while you can, because my ability to put up more chapters from now until about half way through November will be severely random and limited. My competitive season for rugby has just started, which means outside of my normal work and my training, I'll be doing a lot of cross-country travel for matches. I will try to update as I can, but I can't make any kind of promises. I apologize ahead of time.

But for the moment, please enjoy! And as per usual, reviews are very welcome!

~Logos Minus Pity

Ch. 7. Interlude

She had long since gotten her own apartment—namely because she was just eager to be out of the standard barracks housing for new arrivals and recruits. Her apartment was simple but functional, everything that she needed it to be. That said, she was interested in buying a plot of land to own for herself, and with the way land was quickly being taken up and developed, she was afraid if she didn't move now, the chance would pass her by. Which was how she found herself before Rygdea, asking for him to forward her next paycheck so that she could put down a starting payment if that much credit was needed.

"The one on the waterfront in the Historical District, right? Gorgeous view there, if I recall correctly."

"Yes, that's it." She was getting mildly annoyed. She just wanted to be done here. Unless… "It's not already been bought up by someone, has it?"

"No, no," he responded. "Though I imagine the land will be soon. Bulldozed to build some new modern housing and attract more residents here. But since you're interested in it—"

"How much will I need to put down?"

"Not necessary—the plot is yours."

Lightning's eyes flashed dangerously. Rygdea groaned when he realized how she had taken his words.

"I don't want any of yours or anyone else's pity money." The statement was made with a deceptively soft voice, bellying the icy anger that lay beneath the surface.

"Oh, goddamit, Farron, don't insult me by calling it pity money. It's a fraction of what you deserve, if not for all of the hell that you were put through, then for all of the hell that you continue to put yourself through working the hours that you do for the Frontier Corps. And like I said, the area would have been bulldozed anyway. So stop being a prude and just accept a gift when it's given to you."


The armored boot of Lightning Farron, Lieutenant-Commander of the Oerba Tactical Scout Team, roughly prodded the massive frame of what was now a very dead humbaba. It was good that Rygdea had sent them out to second the New Haerii T.S.T. in clearing the Chulurian Pass. Once cleared, the canyon passages would provide a direct ground route from the burgeoning metropolis of New Haerii to the cities on Oerba's side of the Taejin Tower rift—without having to navigate the Subterra. Already Atomos' old passageways were steadily being reclaimed by crystal mining operations, making it that much harder for merchants and travelers to make their way through.

The Chulurian Pass had been more than enough work for two well-equipped scout teams, though. Even the Oerba squad, which was already widely considered to produce the most effective and well-trained lance-corporals under her leadership, had suffered fare casualties in the cleanup of the pass, though thankfully no fatalities.

"By Divine Etro herself, Light, I don't know what we would have done without your squad!"

Light turned to meet Alexi Murdoch's gaze. Though her former classmate sounded light-hearted, she caught the serious undertones there as easily as anyone else. This mission would have been a disaster had either squad been operating on their own. Even with their units combined, it had been hard enough. Now that they had cleared the vast majority of the monsters that inhabited the pass, they were able to set up a temporary base camp to handle the injuries that had been incurred while smaller, three-person strike teams had been sent out to finish mapping the web of side passages that defined the gorge.

Murdoch started walked back toward their makeshift medic tent, nodding at Lightning to come with her. Light quickly matched strides with the taller woman.

"Hey, your squad will be staying New Haerii until tomorrow, right? How about I take you out for drinks at my favorite place tonight? My treat—I haven't seen you in what feels like forever, and I can't wait to trade stories about what both of us have been up to."

Lightning was taken aback by the request. She hadn't ever been known for her social outings; it was a facet of her personality that always remained through and through. But Murdoch was, well…Murdoch. And it really did feel like forever since Lightning had been able to sit down and talk with the women. She was marginally surprised to realize how much she looked forward to the opportunity already.

"Alright."

A bright smile broke out across Murdoch's face, making her eyes twinkle in merriment. "Great! I can't wait to show the place and introduce you to—"

Murdoch was cut off when one of the Oerban unit entered base camp by himself and jogged to the two operative commanders. Everyone in the clearing snapped to attention, as if sensing the urgency in the soldier's gait.

"Commander Farron! We've encountered some unknown creature!"

Lightning's hand was already gripping her gunblade hilt. "Where is it? Has it attacked your unit? Casualties?"

"Ma'm, no. Not yet. We think it's a Cie'th of some sort, about a quarter mile south, southwest of here, in one of the side gorges close to New Haerii. I have the men holding their positions currently. Orders? Should I have them pull back?"

"No, I want to check it out."

"As do I," interjected Murdoch. She, too, had her hand on her assault rifle, and had already signaled an escort of three of her lance-corporals over to them. "If it's close to New Haerii, then it's even more of my concern than yours."

They moved out quickly, following the sergeant through the winding ravines until they came close to the area in question. Two soldiers were posted by a rocky outcropping that both hid them and marked a path that led down to a clearing below. One of the soldiers had his rifle flawlessly trained on a target in said clearing. The other soldier turned toward them and raised his hand, giving off two quick signals with his fingers to indicate that they should approach quietly. Lightning and the others kneeled beside the lance-corporal, Lightning using his binoculars to spy down at the target. When she laid eyes on the Cie'th in question, she could have laughed with relief. Murdoch must have seen somewhat of that on her face, and asked.

"Light?"

"Oh…No, no. Everyone at ease. This thing won't harm anyone."

She replaced her weapon back into its holster and walked confidently down to the clearing and up to the "creature". Murdoch strode at her side, confident, but still curious. The other soldiers filed out behind them, also obviously curious, but a bit more cautious than their superiors.

"With all due respect, Commander, what in the Trickster's name is this thing if isn't a Cie'th?"

Lightning nodded her head to her sergeant, understanding his confusion now that they were so close to the bizarre floating crystal figure.

"You're half right, Gibbs. It's a Cie'th stone. It used to be a Cie'th, but it at some point, even that ended, so it became a stone, still crying out for its focus to be completed by other l'Cie."

"Huh…" Now completely certain that the foreign object posed them no harm, Murdoch approached the Cie'th stone, running a gloved hand over it as she studied the impeccably perfect crystal form with curious eyes. She stepped back after a minute. "Interesting. I've never seen one of these before. What happens to them? I mean, do they just stay here like this?"

Lightning shrugged her shoulders. "As far as I know…at least until someone decides to complete their focus for them. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. There used to be a lot of these around the Archylte Steppes, but we…ah…we completed all of the ones we could find during the War of Revelations."

The Haerii Scout Captain nodded, satisfied with Light's response. "As long as it's not a danger to our people, then I'm fine with that."

Lightning had meanwhile approached the stone herself, curious to see if she could still communicate with them at all now that she had completed her own focus. She reached out to brush her fingers against the softly luminescent crystal structure, and, without warning the world around her ceased to exist.

Images. Words. Knowledge. The dream of a focus and the frantic cry of its original l'Cie carrier formed a whirlwind in her mind, fragments flying about in a crazed pattern.

The Undying. But not simply one of the few. Vartamuth, the Eternal, the Insatiable. For centuries he has made his home in the Ira Mountains, neither living nor dead, caught between two worlds as he spreads his acrid hatred of all creatures that walk across the blessed Maker's world.

It is too much! Too much to ask of any one person. He is sealed, is that not enough? Madness. No—death. Certain death.

A wave of despair and sorrow overwhelmed her, and then she knew no more.


It had become something of a pastime for her, almost a ritual really. Upon finishing a shift, or returning home from a field mission, she would set to work on building the house with whatever daylight there was left before returning home to her own working apartment. It was a tedious and slow-moving task, accomplished week by week, stone by stone. Given their technological capabilities, Rygdea had quickly offered the services of a licensed construction company that could completely build a working complex in a matter of days, but that ran counter to her point. Lightning was never big on sentimental antics, but the plot of land with its decrepit and half-demolished old buildings meant more than simply razing it over and having a contractor build a new look from the ground up. This place deserved more.

And so, nearly every day, or at least as much as she could spare, she worked to build a new house over the old site. She already had all of the major foundations laid out, so now much of the real work of building would begin. It was a learning experience for her. Doubtless it was also leading to a more eccentric reputation with her among the soldiers. Not that she cared. If anyone truly cared to understand her, then they could actually ask, instead of whispering behind her back when they thought she didn't hear them. And it wasn't as though she worked on it all the time. Some days, she just liked to sit in front of the lake and stare at the calm waters or Cocoon as the orange sky slowly sank and twilight passed over. She wondered what it used to be like here, but she supposed that was something she would never know.


Lightning opened her eyes to find herself lying in the medical wing of what had to be the New Haerii military complex. Machines beeped close by her bedside as they continued to read her vital stats. Huffing in disgust, she began ripping off the sensors when the footsteps echoed down the hallway.

The chief medic entered her room with Murdoch and several other soldiers in tow. Despite her protest that she felt completely normal, the medic insisted on taking all of her vitals, finally giving a clear when he was satisfied and leaving Murdoch to talk with Lightning in private. Lightning spoke first.

"What exactly happened?" she asked.

"That's what I was going to ask you," replied Murdoch, raising her pale eyebrows. "One moment, you were standing there just fine. The next, you barely touch that Cie'th stone of yours and your entire body went rigid for maybe a fraction of a second, and then you just collapsed to the ground, out cold for the past two hours. Care to share your side of the story?"

Lightning looked out of the window, recalling the mental barrage of disorganized information the stone had thrown at her. She thought very carefully before reaching her decision.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think we should call Rygdea in before I try to explain it."

To her surprise, Murdoch nodded as if she had expected this. "Good. We already sent him a message while you were still down and out. He should be landing here in about four hours with an escort squad."

Murdoch glanced up at the clock. "And I unfortunately have business that needs attending before that. Sorry, Light. Looks we'll have to wait another day for those drinks I promised you. Your squad's being housed in the north wing. I'll grab you when Lieutenant-General Rygdea's shuttle is approaching."

Lightning felt a small twinge of disappointment in her gut. She would have liked to have gone out with Alexi. Unfortunately, there were now far more pressing issues at hand.

Ready to leave the medical wing as soon as possible, she began changing out of the field armor suit she was still wearing and into standard base clothes. However, her hands froze when the zipper was not even halfway down her torso, disbelief and the beginnings of panic rising in her chest as she gazed at herself. It was back. Her brand was back, fully drawn and for the most part the same frosted white that Fang's had once been. But at the edges of the jagged lines it was as black as the day the tattoo had first been inked upon her skin. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced her mind to be calm. Panic never did anyone good.

Think, Claire, think.

She had never heard of something like this happening before. Then again, she'd never heard of a Cie'th stone forcibly bestowing its original focus on someone either. She bit down on her lip nervously. As much as hated to admit it, she honestly had no idea what was going on. Looking up at the clock, she considered her options. It was not even after noon yet, and she had several hours until Rygdea arrived. That was enough time for her to get more answers for the meeting, enough time for her to go back to the Cie'th stone and see if it couldn't tell her anything more coherent.

Re-donning her field armor, Lightning exited the medical bay, heading for clearance gate that lead out of the military base rather than the north wing of the barracks. It was easy enough to get a velocycle and leave the compound. Despite being from a different squad, her officer clearance was high enough that the guards on duty, if they even thought anything strange about it, chose to say nothing. In less than a half hour, she was back where she had been earlier in the morning, standing in from of the glowing Cie'th stone, in a back alley of the Chulurian Pass.

The stone looked no different than before—floating in place, an inner light glowing softly from the crystallized figurine. Sighing in exasperation, Lightning placed her hands on the stone for a second time, opening her mind for a potential flood of information to stream into her again.

Instead, she felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand up as an uncomfortable tingle of energy ran through her body, and realized a second too late what was about to happen. In a flash of blue-white light, her entire body vaporized as the Cie'th stone teleported her away.

Moments later, she was blinking white spots out of her vision as her feet touched down on a new, distinctly harder and colder surface. The blinking also gave her time to swallow down the temporary wave nausea that she exclusively seemed to experience whenever she used Cie'th stones to transport herself. After the first few times Lightning had become violently ill when using the stones, Vanille had reassured the then-rogue soldier that teleportation nausea was a normal condition, just one that only a small fraction of people ever seemed to succumb to. The consistent unpleasantness of teleporting combined with the sheer embarrassment of having even Snow of all people have to hold her hair back on one occasion had thus effectively kept Lightning's use of the Cie'th stones to an absolute minimum. The fact that she had to unexpectedly deal with it now already put everything off to an even worse footing.

After a silent period of close-eyed focusing, Lightning finally opened her eyes to take in her surroundings, the sickness now dissipated.

She stood on the rocky edge of a mountain side, no doubt the one showed to her in the vision by the Cie'th stone before. She was at least several thousand feet above the plains below her, and saw, much to her amazement, the bright metal of buildings of New Haerii and other settlements in the valleys and plains below reflecting the noon-day sun. She could even see the misty outline of Taejin's Tower and Cocoon in the far distance. This was not good. She twisted back around.

The Cie'th stone that she had been transported to was a weatherworn, half-eroded crystalline rock, only the vague impression of arm and a head left. More importantly, the stone had effectively gone silent; there was no brightly radiant inner light marking it as an active stone for teleportation. It was as though it had done its job of letting her through and had now gone back into hibernation. Lovely.

She was effectively trapped on the mountain, presumably until she finished her task, or failed it. She fought back the urge to touch her brand. It would do no good now. And this Cie'th, however feared it may have been, was a threat to the new inhabitants of Pulse that she could not risk ignoring. A bitterly cold wind roared around the mountain, almost as if it were urging her to follow the path onward. Always pragmatic, Lightning checked that her gunblade was still with her, and began following the ages old path farther up the mountain, only to stop when she noticed something else.

A strange, white substance covered much of the way. Curious, Lightning knelt down, clutching a handful of it to examine more closely.

Snow? The thought ran through her mind dumbly. It was that oaf of a man's namesake.

Lightning knew what snow was—hell, everyone knew what snow was—but Cocoon was temperate. She'd heard of the fal'Cie artificially creating snow in Eden or Nautilus every once in a while for special occasions or parades, but no one ever just happened upon snow! Unable to help herself for examining the tiny flakes more closely, Lightning swiftly decided that they were nothing like Snow. She wanted to scoff at the namesake now. Snow was a big, clumsy, lumbering wreck of a man who had no proper sense of manners (though she would grudgingly admit that he was nonetheless a good man). But this…this snow was light and delicate, and unbelievably beautiful.

And cold, her hand reminded her. This was no time to dawdle about like a child. She shivered as another blast of wind buffeted her, and continued moving quickly up the mountain.

After climbing upward for some time, Lightning rounded a corner of the path, and nearly jumped at the sight before her. Here the path ended before a vast cliff wall of granite cut out of the mountain side, a single entrance marking the way to proceed. But it was not the cave itself that caught Lightning's eye. The rocky mantle above the entrance was covered with a plethora of crystal statues. Men, women, old, young…all transformed into brilliant blue crystal and locked into an eternal sleep. They decorated the sheer cliff wall there like a bizarre, beautiful sculpture, so many to count that they nearly blotted out the granite of the mountain behind them. The cave entrance was also unlike anything she had ever seen as well. A brilliant blue curtain of light covered the entire entry way. A seal…to seal away those that have taken the once Cavern of the fal'Cie Solaris. She frowned at the sudden information that her brain supplied her. Another nugget from the Cie'th stone, no doubt.

Drawing close, she reached out to touch the barrier. The light fluttered against her fingers, as first giving a feeling of strong resistance, but then rapidly relenting, allowing her to push through and step into the cave. Once inside, the barrier shielded her from the wind and the cold the pummeled the mountain outside. The cave was warm, and littered with crystal growth all about the walls, ceilings, and floors, the primarily blue stones providing a minimum glow to light the corridors. It was eerily silent here by the entrance, and she would be lying if she said it didn't unnerve her.

A swarm of Chonchon Cie'th attacked her when she was barely a half-minute's walk into the cave. The flying creatures were more of a nuisance than anything, and Lightning was able to easily dispose of them. After that, she noticed that most of the Cie'th she continued to encounter were far stronger, and usually solitary, though the occasional small movement in the shadowy passages off to her sides indicated the continued presence of the weaker Seekers and Chonchons. It only served to reinforce the sickly feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. Cie'th never shied away from fights in her experience. It didn't matter the strength, the numbers, anything. They were generally mindless beings that attacked anything on site. So why the difference now?

As she continued toward the epicenter of the cavern, she could not help but notice the increasing frequency of crystal statue remains. Usually it was a crystal limb scattered on the floor, or a remnant torso still protruding from a wall. But none of them were whole. And all looked as though they had been violently destroyed.

Finally, Lightning reached a great door. Above the door, words were written in Old Pulsian, but many had been scratched and defaced. Nonetheless, she could still make out the word "Solaris" in the bunch. She swallowed once and the pushed the door open. Lightning Farron did not back down from a fight.

This room marked the back of the cave. It was a large, open room, with high ceilings and more crystal light than anywhere else. There were countless amounts of crystal remains scattered here, and everything seemed covered in a think, crystal dust, including the vast, shattered remnants in the back of what she unequivocally knew to have once been the Pulsian fal'Cie Solaris. A few Cie'th shambled and flew in the far back of the room, all of them well behind a single, solitary figure that sat atop the corpse of Solaris.

Throughout all of her travels and experiences, Lightning had seen quite the range of Cie'th. Flying, walking, shambling…purple, blue, white…both bizarrely captivating and grotesque. But never had she seen any such like Vartamuth. By and far, his was the most humanoid of any Cie'th, even more than what Cid Raines had become. The crystals covered the whole of his form like a second skin, smooth and glossy except for where they streamed off along his major joints into ornate flowing patterns, like some kind of bionic armor. And the color…it was a deep glossy black, like burnished volcanic glass, unbroken except for the single glowing red brand on his right hip—the very source of the crystallization itself. Even his head was a continuous plane of crystal, with only vague indentations for features but no eyes or other orifices to be seen. Despite that, she had no doubt that its full attention was now currently fixed on her.

Ah, a scathing voice rumbled through her head. After so many years of silence, the fal'Cie scum have yet again sent forth a champion. Do they really think me so pitifully weak?

She could have gaped. It talked? And not was it simply babbling, it was talking with a frightening coherency.

He stood up. Look at you. A pig readied for the slaughter. Or perhaps for the greater sacrifice?

He laughed, a cutting, sharp, and cruel sound. It was unnatural, and reminded Lightning of the way that Barthandalus would laugh. She shuddered for a moment, fighting back the memory of the despair the Cie'th stone had felt over its task. What monster was this that stood before her?

Poor, stupid, little l'Cie. I see your anger. You think yourself a match for me? I sense that you have completed a focus before. But how old are you, little lamb? A score of years? For over seven hundred years I have been locked in this cave. Locked here because even the mighty fal'Cie feared that I would make them follow Solaris if I were free.

That's right. The voice was filled with a malicious glee now. I slew Solaris myself, and for countless years I was free to counter the fal'Cie reign on the open cities and plains below us.

Then, in their fear, they sealed me into the accursed cavern, that unholy barrier preventing me or any of my Cie'th army from escaping. They sent l'Cie after l'Cie to me, and each one I took and devoured, each one granting me more strength…but it is not enough!

With a yell of anger and something else, he moved, faster than Lightning had seen anyone ever move. But he didn't attack her. One hand flew out, snatching a Chonchon from the air before it even had time to evade. The other hand pierced the Chonchon's brand, ripping out a small crystal from within the creature. Bereft of the crystal, the Cie'th petrified and crumbled into crystal ash within seconds, disintegrating through Vartamuth's claw-like fingers. Lightning watched, perplexed as to why he would attack his own kind.

A line suddenly split his face, stretching into a gaping maw complete with sharp, pointed teeth. He then quickly and viciously bit down on the crystal gem, masticating it in what could only be described as an animalistic fashion. He stilled after swallowing, as if savoring the taste of the meal. Lightning realized with revulsion that he was digesting. After a few seconds, a wave of blue light pulsed out from the brand, running across his black form. Once the color had passed through him, a tiny, blade-like crystal abruptly grew out of his head, simply adding on to the mass of growth that was already there.

It is not enough. He repeated, his voice significantly more subdued this time. Not even my entire army can give me the power I need. But you…you have so much will in you. Even now, you say nothing, but you refuse to stand down. I have not had such a pleasure in many, many years. And you are still l'Cie

He walked a few steps forward. With you, it would be enough. Enough for me to break this frozen prison and set fire to plains below again. Who sent you? Which fal'Cie has given me my salvation? To which one will I give the thanks of death? Was it Titan? No, it could not have been; he never makes l'Cie. What about Averion? No? Tell me, you must tell me!"

Lightning licked her lips to speak. Her eyes were hard as gems as she responded to the abomination before her. "I slew my maker as well, though it was out of defense and not malice. And in the name of Etro and those I protect, I slew Barthandalus and Orphan, and thus every fal'Cie on Cocoon. So I will tell you this now, Undying. Death comes for everyone, fal'Cie and Cie'th alike, and just as with Anima, you don't scare me."

Anima's get! You pit viper of the floating moon! The voice howled in her head, making her very bones rattle in pain. I will pull the heart from your living chest!

They moved simultaneously. As he tore forward, movingly blindingly fast, Lightning pushed off to her right, dodging the slashing blow from his claws.

Give it to me! He screamed. Give it to me now!

As Lightning evaded another cutting chop from the Cie'th, she countered back, throwing her hand out to cast a powerful thundara spell. The creature shook it off as though she had only flicked water droplets at him. Several more elemental spells and a blast of ruinaga proved only to have the same effect. Lightning shifted her attack and focused on disposing of the other Cie'th that occupied the room while evading Vartamuth and trying to think of a counter strategy. After leveling the playing field so that other Vartamuth remained, she realized that she had only one course of action to use. Casting haste and protect on herself, Lightning drew Omega Weapons and dove headlong into one-on-one physical combat.

Vartamuth possessed an terrifying unnatural strength and speed, even by Cie'th standards. Her only godsend was that he seemed to either scorn or be unable to cast spells. Lightning was able to land multiple blows on her foe, but even a direct strike to his head seemed to do little to faze him. The crystal skin of his was nearly as immune to her physical attacks as it was to magic.

A flurry of stabs and slashes quickly switched the tables on Lightning as the Cie'th pushed her back. She blocked what could have easily been a fatal blow, locking her gunblade in a contest of strength against Vartamuth's claws. He screamed in rage and then slammed his other arm down on hers. Unprepared for the sudden move, her right arm was caught completely taut, her gunblade still locked in its battle. A choked scream escaped her lips when the bone in her arm crunched and snapped under the force of the blow. Never one to stop fighting, though, she instinctively dove to the left as she crumpled, saving herself as he stabbed both arms down toward where her chest had been but a bare second earlier. Now forced to fight entirely left-handed, Lightning knew that if she couldn't manage to end the battle very soon, she would not make it out of this cave alive.

As Vartamuth charged her again, she reacted with a momentary fit of desperation, casting waterga not at the Cie'th itself, but at the cave floor below him. The creature slid on his new footing, his right arm flying up in an attempt to rebalance himself. Lightning dove in, readjusting the grip in her left hand.

Gunblades were peculiar weapons, their primary purpose to be used in close combat with the gun mode as longer-range back-up, allowing for strategic battle. Even so, the blade itself, with its broad, heavy metal, was designed almost exclusively for slashing and cutting attacks. Stabbing and ripostes were awkward at best because of the heft of the blade.

Nonetheless, seeing what was potentially her only opportunity to end the encounter in her favor, Lightning reacted instantaneously, slamming her Omega Weapon point first into Vartamuth's exposed right flank with as much force as she could muster. The blade sunk into his crimson brand, eliciting a death howl that shook the mountain.

He staggered back from her as the blade fell out, a light growing from his brand. It radiated outward, quickly growing almost too bright to bear looking at. When Lightning turned her head to finally shield her eyes, the light seemed to implode inward, a shock wave of air exploding outward in the same motion, causing a wave a crystal dust to erupt like ripples in a pond.

Lightning had to blink a few times to readjust her eyes after the flash-bang of light disappeared. Barely five feet away from her lay her gunblade. Of Vartamuth there was no sign. Instead, seated on the ground was a perfectly spherical crystal, larger than her fist and brilliantly polished a deep black.

The battle now finished, Lightning collapsed against wall of the cave, breathing heavily, and very, very grateful to be alive. A thought crossed her mind, and she scrambled to pull down the neck of her shirt, her heart beating rapidly. It was gone now, just as it had been before. Her brand had disappeared into her skin, no longer permanently inked in place with the mission of a focus to guide it. Relief couldn't even begin to describe how she felt.

When Light ultimately pushed to get back up from the ground, her right arm screamed in agony, reminding her of other things she had yet to take care of. She cradled the arm gently and tried to slow her breathing and heart rate, examining the damage,

The break had been nasty. She'd certainly seen worse in her time, but even so, while the skin hadn't been broken, it was stretched from the jagged edge of one half of her arm bone trying to poke through. She knew the bone had to be at least roughly reset before she could try healing it, though. Gritting her teeth, she laid the injured limb atop a relatively flat-faced boulder several paces away. Sweat beaded on her brow as she braced her elbow against the stone and her free hand against the broken forearm. She was only going to have one chance at this. Giving a mental count to three, she abruptly and forcefully slammed the broken bone back into place. There wasn't even time to cry out before the shock of pain overwhelmed her senses. Her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the floor like a stone.


Lightning sat up from where she lay on the dusty cave floor. She flexed her newly healed arm—it was back to normal strength, no problem. With that issue solved, she turned around to reclaim her weapon, and found herself face to face with a friend whom she had not seen in a very long time.

Odin stood behind her, in his standard, humanoid form. He bent down to grab the two objects on the floor. With one hand, he took Omega Weapon. With the other, he grasped the crystal orb that had been left behind by the Undying. Slowly, almost curiously, he raised that hand to the heavens above. The stone, which had been a perfect black before, glittered and glistened, bright beads of color erupting from beneath its shadowy surface. A large chunk of crystal simple broke off from one side of it, leaving a gaping hole, while larger blades of new crystals suddenly ruptured out of the other untouched areas, tendrils growing even over Odin's hand. Once fully extended into the air, the crystal caught and held the light of the starry night sky above and behind—for, Lightning realized, the cave had been completely replaced the skies of Gran Pulse, and the crystal that was being grasped so tightly in place in those skies was Cocoon itself.

Lightning tore her gaze away to look back down at Odin, only to find her own azure gaze staring back at her as she—or her obvious doppelganger—held Cocoon aloft

"You…" she spoke to herself, her voice almost embarrassingly hoarse.

The other "Lightning" gave a mischievous smile, and then, with a wink, released Cocoon.

"NO!"

She wanted to dart forward, to save Cocoon; she couldn't stand by and let it fall! But it was as though she was glued into place, unable to move her legs.

Much to her surprise, when her doppelganger had moved to release the orb, it had not fallen. Instead, her entire body had instantaneously crystallized into a statue, as if to forever hold up the floating world, and the vague outline of a woman—almost like a ghost or a bright shadow, had stepped out of the crystal figure. The apparition walked toward her, the curves of a gentle smile still marking its features. It stopped only when it was toe-to-toe with Lightning, speaking in her voice as it reached out to cover where her brand would lay with its hand.

"Faith, Claire Farron. Faith. Do not stop believing."


When Lightning came to, she was on the ground of the Solaris Cavern, in the exact same spot where she had presumably passed out from re-setting her broken arm. Remembering the injured limb, pain immediately flared back into existence in her mind. Her right arm, though now reset, was still unhealed, and complaining quite loudly about it. The swirling blue energy of a healing spell quickly dissipated that pain. With her arm now back to normal working order, Light mechanically cleaned and then sheathed her weapon into its holster. She tried not to grimace at the blade. The Cie'th crystal armor had been no joke; Omega Weapon's normally lethal edge was littered with chinks and divots across its length. It would require more than a simple polishing to get it back to standard condition.

The black crystal orb was no where to be found, try as she did to find it. Unsettled by that in combination with memories of a passing dream she had while unconscious, she decided to leave quickly.

Her return path through the ancient cavern was markedly uneventful. Perhaps the destruction of the Undying had triggered a similar death to the rest of the Cie'th that had wandered the cavernous vault. Regardless, Lightning had no encounters of any sort as she exited the caves, the muffled echoes of her trek giving her a calming sense of safety this time instead of anxiety.

Outside, more time had passed than what she thought. The orange sun was already rapidly sinking on the horizon line, with stars appearing in the twilight sky. She jogged back down the worn path, eager to remain on mountain no longer than necessary. Without hesitation, she reached out to the now activated Cie'th stone for teleportation. It was time to go home.


"You bloody fool!" roared Rygdea. "What the hell were you thinking going off on your own? I should court martial you now!"

Never had she witnessed Rygdea so truly angry before, and it took her a few a seconds before she understood why. He had been genuinely worried that she may have died. He knew how dangerous a l'Cie's focus could be, even if it was one received second-hand. And given the shaky condition she had returned in, it spoke volumes of just how close the battle had been.

"I'm sorry."

Rygdea looked at her in shell-shocked silence for a moment. Lightning never apologized so meekly.

"You're sor—"

"I didn't intend to run away from you on a personal death mission, Rygdea. That's the truth. I didn't understand what was going on, so I went back to the stone hoping I could get more answers before you arrived. I wasn't expecting it to send me on a one way trip to a Cie'th filled crystal cave."

Finally sitting back into his chair, Rygdea allowed Lightning to tell the entire story, beginning from the Cie'th stone in the Chulurian Pass to Lightning's fight against the Undying in the Solaris Cavern. After some consideration, she decided to tell him about her brand temporarily coming back, but not about her dream and the disappearance of the crystal. It even sounded crazy to her when said out loud.

For his part, the Lieutenant-General of the Oerba Frontier Corps looked deeply pensive once the story was finished. "And that was it? Your brand just went away again? Just like that?"

Lightning shrugged helplessly. She was at as much of a loss here as him. Rygdea cursed loudly and viciously.

"Dammit…I don't anyone who can make head or tails of any of this, and it just pisses me off! You said it yourself, Farron, this entire incident breaks every rule that you knew when you were here as a l'Cie. So why the exception now? Was this a one time thing? Or could this happen again? And not just to you; could this happen to anyone? Even with all we've done, we understand so goddamned little!" He made a sound of frustration. Then, schooling his emotions, he turned toward Lightning again. "Did you know that while you were out slaying legendary demons or whatever, there was a Class 3 incident on Cocoon?"

Lightning felt the blood drain from her face. Why hadn't anyone told her anything? What if…Serah…

Rygdea cut off her panic before it could manifest. "Easy there, kiddo. Nothing actually serious happened. In fact, we don't know what happened at all. At about 1750 hours, the entire crystal structure from the base all the way up to the top of Cocoon started pulsing with light. Only lasted for maybe a minute and then stopped. No tremors, no new crystal growth, nothing. Just some light shows, and then back to normal. But what it means…your guess is as good as mine." He shook his head. "Not get out of here. We'll be leaving back to Oerba tomorrow at 0800. And I don't care that your Cie'th adventure today was accidental or not, you're grounded to base duty for the next two weeks, so get ready to catch up on paperwork. That's about all you'll be doing until I clear you again."

Lightning took her leave from her commanding officer. This entire ordeal had left far too many questions in her mind, and just the prospect of paperwork was giving her a sizeable headache. She needed to go find Murdoch, and preferably some heavy drinks for the both of them.