The feet of the chocobos flew swiftly across the dusty earth, their squawks and cries being drowned by the painfully loud groan of the awakened Adamantoise.
Every moment they approached, Chrome could only watch in awe at the mountainous tortoises' movements. Her lips barely closed, always hanging about the top row of her teeth, clenching them tight with each roar it produced.
The Adamantoise must have been in pain. There was very little sense to why a monster sleeping for hundreds or thousands of years would suddenly reveal itself to the world…it was a foreboding sign of things to come. Her face matched those of her brothers in arms, grave concern for the upcoming fight.
Pressure was swelling inside Chrome's head almost as if something was cutting at her brain stem. She knew much of the result of the battle would rely on her skills as a Beastmaster. While she did not wish for the death of such an ancient and mysterious creature, it was entirely a possibility. She cursed herself slightly for not training Prompto in her ways, or the prince. She was so busying idolizing Cindy and Ignis that her focus was parted from what was important.
The sky sparkled with stars, hundreds of eyes staring at the intense scene about to unfold. Chrome swayed her large bird over to the prince. He noticed her and yelled, "What's up?"
"I think I am going to try to tame it."
"What?" Prompto yelled, protectively closing in on her, "You're joking right?"
"No!" She shook her head, "I at least need to try. There's a reason it's awake…but I'm not sure why. I'm gonna use the chocobo for leverage and then climb up to its head. If for some reason I start having problems with it, you do what you can to stop it. While I'm climbing, make sure you start looking for weak spots on it just in case I can't lull it back to the ground."
"Signal us with this." Gladio offered as he threw her a flare gun. She saluted with it in hand and concentrated on her riding.
"Don't go overboard with this." Ignis warned, "We would prefer to have you back on the ground in one piece."
"Will do." Her left eyelid shut and she rushed on ahead, spurring the bird to its limit. The chocobo was nervous but she did well to keep it on the path she intended. Carefully, she maneuvered her footing underneath her between the prongs of the saddle. With much mental preparation, she stood tall while balancing. The beast was within reach, and she held her breath, leaping towards it.
The bird instantly retreated, leaving its owner clinging to the breast of a mountain. Chrome shakily looked down and slapped her cheek lightly to own a sense of confidence. She motioned her body up and down, preparing to climb the rocky surface. She found a slit to stuff her foot into a few feet above and scrambled. She did the same for the next step. Each ledge was a challenge to overcome, and some were much steeper than she initially intended. Hand grip, foot move, hand grip, foot move. Her strength was starting to give way. Sweat drenched each inch of her skin, her white tank top sticking to every dip of her body. She was grateful that her baggy green pants were not doing the same. She faced the ground and gripped onto the monster's body from behind as she started to become exhausted in motion after motion. The head was still distant…it felt like all her work had been for very little payoff still. She chuckled to herself, cursing the prince for his brilliant skill at magic and envious of his instant teleportation.
She grasped for the elixir in her pocket and broke the capsule in her fist hard, feeling the energy surge within her veins. Her heart started to rapidly beat. She let a breath out from her nostrils and closed her eyes. She thought about the four below her and their wisdom, she thought of Cindy and Cid's kindness, she grew excited at the thought of meeting the other Crownsguard and getting her new clothes. The sun was beginning to paint the horizon. Her determination returned and allowed her to turn back around and start climbing once more.
The shoulder was coming into view. The slope of rocky shell led from where its neck met its body. Chrome examined the potential opening. She was becoming desperate. Her hands moved quicker to find more suitable ledges, her feet shuffled smoother and seemed to almost grip against the mountain harder. A beastly instinct was stirring within and she was releasing it in any means she could. Her knuckles were constantly white, blisters opening and bleeding. She ignored all pain, wiping her blood onto the white of her shirt. There were only a few leaps left. She used all her muscles to guide herself to jump the vertical surface, clawing and digging into whatever crevices she found. As the sun started to reach the center of the sky, she cried out and dangled from the edge of the beast's massive shell. Chrome could feel her eyes becoming heavy, slamming another elixir on the edge of her temples. Ferocity replaced exhaustion. With every ounce of will and strength left in her, she pulled her torso on the plateau of the shoulder and managed to roll her entire being onto it.
She gazed to the sky, unbelieving at the feat she had just managed. Giddy filled her. She leaped onto all fours, nearly running like the monsters she tamed towards the neck of the monster. She jumped onto the curve of scales and within moments she stood on the end of its horn, gazing onto the earth below.
Without hesitation, she dangled before its massive eye and placed the whistle into her dry lips. She blew a few trilling notes, recalling the song that most reptilian beasts succumbed to.
It seemed to catch its attention for only a moment before the monster started to roar and shake its head about. She clutched onto it tightly, returning to the horn. She huffed and tried the other eye, with much of the same results.
She felt a flush of frustration and embarrassment. She growled in her last attempt, going to its nostrils and repeating her charms. Her fingers pointed, her whistle screamed, her sweat dripped but to no avail. The creature slightly focused on her for a moment, and calmed its breathing.
Hope finally was starting to dawn. She pet its nose with vigor, knowing deep down it couldn't possibly perceive her touch. She didn't glance down at what she was pulling from her pocket, and nature had gotten the best of her. Her fingers kissed the flare gun, and then grabbed it hard. She hardly had time to notice herself pointing it in the air, and threw it like a rope. The trigger was set and the signal spurted onto the monster's horn. It yelled out with fear.
Noctis below, who had been tirelessly working to find the soft spots in armor, noticed the signal before anyone else. He grabbed at his chest and clenched his jaws together.
Chrome could almost feel her spirit leave her as a mass of clouds burst suddenly from the sky. They were dark with thunder and lightning. Emerging from the curtain of storm was a man of massive proportions. She recognized this from her teachings, even the Empire knew and educated her on the Six. Before her very eyes was the god Ramuh, an ancient being with not a hair on his head but a silvery beard that flowed gracefully from the end of his lips and covered his chest. Two small protrusions sat atop his skull. His robe was a deep turquoise with a gold wide-lip at the collar, rising above his ears. His eyes glinted, holding the very power of lightning within them.
He grasped at the massive spear that seemed to emerge from the forming tornadoes about him. She witness the bolt being tossed by the godly being, only to enter and pierce the hide of the monster.
Gravity clutched her body tightly, leaving the safety of the beast's form. She grabbed at anything as she began to fall, facing the clouds fading away into the atmosphere. She saw the jaws of the monster reaching towards her, closing her eyes. She felt an intense, sharp pain clamp down and lost all feeling to her left knee. She could only look in horror as she dangled from a leg that was barely holding together.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she saw blood start to pour from her pant leg. She could feel vomit forming in her throat. "Please…" She begged softly, trying anything to get the creature from letting go, "Please not like this…"
Adrenline would not allow her to pass out, even though with every second the jaws were closing in tighter. A look of desperation filled the Adamantoise's gaze. Every part of her felt remorse for it. It was trying to help despite its pain.
Something gave way. Her heart stopped, almost hearing a snap of bone. She couldn't even scream as her body fell away from the mouth of the beast. Every part of her was numb, she wasn't quite sure which was up and which was down. All she knew was that she was breathing, and the edges of her vision were becoming blurry.
When her senses came back, she heard muffled voices commanding one another in the distance. They became more and more clear. A burning sensation woke her fully. She instantly looked down at her left leg…or what was left of it. She wasn't sure what to do, staring at the burnt stump below her knee. She just laughed, biting her lip and looking to her twin brother who was fanning something flat at her. His eyes were full of tears, his face caked with blood and dirt.
Gladio noticed that she was awake. His lips were moving but the words took time to process. "Chrome! Drink this!"
She took the straw in question into her mouth, gingerly taking in the tasteless liquid offered.
"We have to move her to the car…"
She blinked, dazed at the corpse of the Adamantoise, its form sunken and returning to the earth from where it came. She saw the prince desperately looking for something.
"Her leg…" Noctis was breathless, standing by the head of the fallen monster.
"Forget it!" Ignis barked, "We have to get her somewhere where she can be medically treated."
"Cid…he has stuff…" Noctis recalled, "My dad always went to him when something like this happened."
"Chrome!" Ignis shouted and she focused on him, although it was difficult when there were two of him next to one another. She blinked in response. "What is your blood type?"
"A-positive why…?" She really knew the reason why, she wasn't sure how long she was out. The throbbing pain was returning. She attempted to fold her left foot under herself in order to stand up but nearly panicked that it wasn't there. Her eyes shot open and she yelled out with panic, despite not feeling much pain. "It's gone!" She screamed, grabbing at his coat with a claw-shaped grasp.
"Calm down…" Gladio mumbled, trying to carefully pluck her up. Her chest rapidly fluttered, nostrils flaring. They placed her lying down in the back of the Regalia, driving rapidly down the road back to Hammerhead.
Within seconds they had arrived, the mechanics awaiting with supplies prepared. Cindy had rushed out with a wheelchair, "We didn't have a stretcher…" She admitted as she watched the survivalist pluck up her student and place her within the wheeled seat.
"What…" Chrome tried to place her focus elsewhere but every moment she gripped her thigh with agony, "What are we going to do?"
Cid took her free arm and inspected it carefully, "Well first we gotta pump you full of fluid. I got the stuff here luckily from a donation a few weeks ago." He kneeled down and tightly bound the upper part of her arm with a rubbery string. After carefully washing the area with an alcohol soaked pad, a sharp needle stung into her thick vein. He pulled a bag of dark red blood from his pack and held it above her head. "We gotta lay you down for a bit."
They rushed her to Cindy's room. The whole place was covered with stuffed animals of various kinds. The walls were yellow, the carpet a plush white. The bed was covered with disposable sheets, and a strange hook-like device dangled from a nearby pole.
"Noctis…you healed her as much as you could right?"
"Yeah…" He gulped, standing still with fear.
"That's all we can really do for now. The wound's been cauterized to stop the bleeding…which was smart on your end. Magic can only go so far. We'll need some of those elixirs and other healy-bobbies at hand. So long as they've got the essence of your spells in em, they should be good to go even if yer gone." The old mechanic looked at his granddaughter's student with dismay, "What happened out there?"
"I pulled out the flare gun instead of my rope…something in me just told me to shoot." She held her forehead, pressing the skin of her palm into her eyes. She threw her arms out to the side and bit her lip, "And if not for that…we might have been able to keep it alive."
"Chrome…the beast had a massive wound on its underside. It was dying…" Ignis reassured. "It was trying to protect something."
"Protect…?" She questioned. Ignis only observed her with concern, the light of the moon reflecting against his glasses.
Prompto shakily brought out his camera. Even in the heat of panic and exhaustion, he had managed to snap a blurry photo. Chrome took the object and looked at the screen closely. She gasped, lifting her head to them, "It has eggs…"
"Yeah…" Gladio rubbed the back of his black mane, "I've offered to bring them here so you can take care of the one that is left."
"Thank you…"
Noctis gave a defeated expression. His fists were clenched tightly, lips stretched to a thin frown and eyes watery. His shoulders rose to his earlobes as he gulped and whimpered, "I feel like this is all my fault."
"No…I should have just let you guys taken care of it." Chrome admitted, rolling slightly to face towards him, "But I let my wild dreams get in the way. I'm just angry at myself…I feel like if anything I failed you guys."
Ignis finally spoke up, "We had faith in your ability. The circumstances were not in our favor."
She was silent, her emotions brewing between anger for her situation and shame for her state of being. But her green orbs scanned the scene, taking everything in. The smell of the plastic tubing that carried blood to her veins, the wan expressions of the four young men, her mechanical mentor and the elderly caregiver all watching her carefully.
Chrome weakly spoke, and against everything she refused to let her tone waver with the anxiety she carried, "I'm still seeing you off tomorrow, like it or not. You can't stop me."
"Well actually…" Cindy offered, "I was thinking. Paw-paw had a bunch of fancy crutches from when he got hurt. Never thought he was gonna walk again. Maybe we could suit em up and fit em fer ya after the boat sets off?"
"That would be alright by me." Cid nodded.
Gladio crossed his arms in thought, "And actually…before this whole debacle happened with the giant turtle I was going to ask you for a favor."
"You still can. I'll take it." Fire was set in her expression, burning him down with just a glance.
He furrowed his brow, "I want you to see that Iris continues her training. We might be gone for a while. And if that's the case I won't be around to make sure she stays on the right path. So for a while, could you be my sister's mentor?"
She was taken aback by the request, and parted her hair from her forehead. "Really? Seriously? Me of all people?" She gazed to her freshly removed stump of a leg and sniffed, "Well if she's willing to help me get back on my feet…foot?" She shrugged, "Sure. I just don't want to be flung around like a sack of potatoes anymore."
Cid cleared his throat, "Well boys…Cidny, Chrome…I think we all need a good rest. Yer gonna need a day to at least make sure yer stable little lady. We can leave in the evening and pop that IV outta ya. We'll have to stop by the city to git you in a real doc's office."
Chrome nodded with understanding. Gladio pat her shoulder, still scarring from their adventure with the behemoth. Prompto tightly hugged her, Ignis planted a small kiss on her forehead. Cindy gave her another embrace.
Only the prince remained, frozen in a state of shock. His eyes were still wide, gazing at her new form. She stared back. "Noctis…what's wrong?"
It took him some time to process the question, finally relaxing his shoulders. "I've been really badly hurt before…" He admitted. "Someone close to me was killed by a daemon and I lost a lot of blood. I had to stay in a wheelchair for a while. I just…had hoped it would never happen to someone I knew and cared about again."
"Noctis…" She pouted, "I'm still here. It hurts but it will get better in time."
"But…you might not be able to walk normally again."
She pressed her knuckles into her cheek and sighed, "It's the risk I took once I swore loyalty to you as a Crownsguard." She sat as straight as she could, squaring her shoulders to him, "I am proud to work alongside you and your comrades."
He scoffed, "Chrome would you relax? You keep doing that?"
"Sorry. Instinct I guess." She flopped back into the pillow and gazed to the ceiling, "And you know what? It's better than being with these jerks." She pointed to the tattoo of the empire's symbol on her cheek.
"Are you ever going to cover that?"
"No. Like I said when we first met, it's a mark of pride at this point. I got away." She flashed her toothy grin to him, holding out her hand. "It's good to be with you Noct."
He held her hand tight and shook it slightly, then sauntered to the lights. "Hope you sleep well."
"You too Noct."
She rolled over onto her side, trying to make sure she was positioned enough to sink inside the cushions. The smell of perfume and motor oil mixed in with laundry detergent, and made a strange concoction placing the beast tamer into a lulled slumber.
The sun was an unwelcome glare for once. The pain stabbing her missing foot was starting to burn. She fingered the top of a potion nearby, pressing the top firmly. It dissipated after breaking and covered her body with healing magic. To her surprise, the IV was gone for now.
She sighed with relief and struggled to sit up. She dangled each of her extremities over the side of the bed and stared down to her now one foot. She grumbled, staring down the wheelchair from across the bed.
Chrome reached far, grasping the frame of it within her index finger. She wheeled in close and locked the wheels tightly. With slight hesitation, she rose…attempting to act normal. It wasn't working the way she intended…everything felt unbalanced and unaligned.
She clawed desperately at the frame, managing to find the right angle to sit down into. She hissed as she sat on her stump, unveiling the mass wrapped endlessly with thick white bandage.
A knock startled her and she straightened herself out. The door squeaked open and Prompto's face smooshed between the door frame. He glanced inside, making sure she was dressed and then gently moved forward. "Hey…" He mumbled, sleep still grasping at his eyes. "You got up by yourself…that's awesome!"
She weakly smiled at him and noticed something within his grasp. His jacket was missing, exposing freckled shoulders. He handed them over and she unfolded it.
He moved around to her back and she pushed her arms through the sleeves. She shuffled herself around its form, letting it drape over her upper torso, as he held both of her shoulders. "Prompto…"
He moved back to face her, "We uh…never did manage to get the Crownsguard uniform for you made. So I thought I would offer part of mine. I have another so it's not a huge deal…" He leaned against the wall. "They're made different than usual clothing. They have the magic of the king himself embedded into them…I think?" He scratched his cheek in thought, gazing to his sister. "I just don't know what else to say or do. I'm sorry."
"About this?" She lifted her amputated stump and scoffed, "It's…gonna take a while. A long time. I'm upset but I know it will be okay. I'm alive at the very least, and I have friends that are close to me now. I can handle myself…you worry about protecting the prince…king…without him none of this would be happening."
"Yeah…" He told with an admiring tone. Chrome pointed her thumb at the frame of her chair, "Now would you at least help me get outside?"
"No problem!" Prompto grasped the handlebars and carefully guided her outside into the shortening daylight to start facing the dawn of a changing life…and of a changing world. She glanced at the other three men standing side by side, Cid and Cindy. She gave an exasperated sigh and nodded, "I'm ready when you are."
