I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.
"It looks like a piece of Pulse" said Vanille, inspecting the new area more closely with her natural curiosity.
"Pulse?" asked Sazh incredibly "What, you mean like the Bodhum Vestige?" He blew a whistle of both impression and revulsion "Something like that, this close to Eden?"
"Yeah, well, what I don't understand is after the Purge and all of that l'Cie paranoia, why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?" asked Fang meditatively, placing her hands on her hips.
Hope clapped his hands and turned to the group: "Is this what the Primarch wanted us to see?"
Lightning remembered back to what that psychopath had told them when the vivid memory hit her like a red hot iron: "A place for l'Cie to accept their fate."
"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?"
"You mean become Ragnarok?" questioned Vanille, earning a nod from Hope.
"Destroy the Fal'Cie Eden and shatter Cocoon, that's what the vision told us more or less" replied Sazh methodically "Well it looks like we're back to square one: out of luck."
Lightning stared at him incredibly; though she could tell from his expression that he didn't really believe Dysley (no, Dysley wasn't real) Barthandelus, prediction but even she couldn't deny that he was right about them being out of luck.
"It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true; I mean he sure didn't mind explaining it" said Hope putting a thoughtful finger to his lips. Sazh and Fang nodded.
"But that doesn't make sense" said Vanille "I don't get it: why would a Cocoon Fal'Cie want to destroy Cocoon?"
"Perhaps it's a Fal'Cie thing, you know what I mean?" said Hope ponderingly "Some grand design we just don't understand."
Lightning thought hard on the boys words; it would not have been the first time that people blindly followed the orders of god. Then again, looking towards the group, she could easily tell that none of them believed that his purpose was that deluded.
"Hey Snow, nothing from you?" called Fang, to which she received no answer.
"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!" said Vanille as though she were calling someone faraway. Lightning wheeled around to find the leader of NORA, leaned against the wall with a glassy expression on his face; it didn't take a genius to tell that he was still reeling from Barthandelus words.
"Come on" said Sazh "Nowhere else to go but forward, right?" As the group moved away, Lightning turned back towards Snow, putting a hand on his shoulder and began guiding him forward. The six of them moved forward in silence, some pondering the Fal'Cie's words, others were still dealing with the present situation.
"Hey, uh, I've got to apologize…it looks like I was wrong" came a small voice that was alien to Lightning; she kept her face stony but was disconcerted to hear the voice come from Snow.
"About Serah's Focus? It's not like you to second guess yourself" she asked calmly; she knew full well what he was apologizing for but she also knew that Snow did not deserve to shoulder any blame for Barthandelus lies.
"Well, even heroes make mistakes."
"What about your plan to protect Cocoon?" Lightning said, attempting to keep Snow's morale up. "Either way, your faith in Serah was strong and that strength got you this far."
"It was all wrong" Snow shot dejectedly
"Yeah: you tried so hard to convince us that you even fooled yourself, you've been a total idiot! But still: it saved me. You trusted Serah, so let that faith drive you! It even made me want to believe."
Lightning didn't have to look at Snow to see the enormous look of surprise on his face. The fact was, everything she'd said was true: Cloud's wisdom and Snow's optimism had both been factors in keeping her own morale up. Now, she wasn't about to let the one who had saved her fall into despair!
Moving up a nearby flight of stairs, the group entered into a new area, giving Lightning full blast of the strange place. Looking even more like a train station, the gargantuan room expanded in all directions, vision blockaded only by mammoth walls and mountainous stairs.
"I can't believe we're still on Cocoon" said Hope, his eyes all over the place; Lightning nodded, for something from the "primitive" Pulse, the architecture certainly was reminiscent from that of Cocoon.
"It's kind of creepy" said Sazh, wearing a face of both fear and disgust.
Lightning followed Vanille up the stairs, reminded of her last curious escaped back in Lake Bresha.
"This place, it must be an Ark" she mused aloud, staring all around. Lightning stared at her:
"An Ark?"
"That's what they call them" said Fang, tromping slowly up the stairs "Long ago, the Fal'Cie who made their home on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside. As part of their battle preparations they created an army of living weapons and they stored those weapons in Arks and they hid them all over the world."
"So this is basically a Pulse armory" said Lightning in a hush, shifting her gaze from the bronze-skinned woman and back to the area. If this was what the people of Cocoon feared, she shuttered but allowed a private grin to emerge, how would they react if they knew that one was only a few feet from their front doors.
"Right under our noses; that's some secret they kept!" said Sazh in the same quiet voice, however, he turned suddenly "Those Sanctum guys, what are they up to?"
"The story's not over" said Vanille, uncharacteristically impatient "They say the Arks had a more practical purpose: to force l'Cie to master their new powers."
"Okay, I get it" said Lightning, the anger in her stomach flaring up "Barthandelus' goal is to forge us into stronger weapons, right? Not Cie'th but monsters all the same."
"Think of it as training…" said Hope; everyone stared at him "…for the fight ahead." Lightning nodded, though let out a disdainful moan as Vanille cheered.
The building, referred to as an Ark, trembled fiercely; the group stiffened, even in the moments after the quake ended, so it was Sazh that asked: "What was that?"
There was a loud hiss (the group turned sharply) only to find that a couple of doors at the far end of the room had slid open and out stepped a pair of automatons, their clinking metal bodies echoing throughout the room. Lightning scanned the room, a fight was the last thing they needed right now! And then she saw it: half way between them and the machines, was a pathway.
"Over there!" she ordered, charging forward; easily moving past the slowly moving robots, Lightning led the five l'Cie down the path, as quickly as her legs could take her, however, much like the Palamecia the ark was an invariable maze. Adding insult to injury, every wrong turn she made only increased the number of robots that pursued the six of them; pushing into a powerful jump, Lightning forwent the stairs before her and found an entrance back into the subway-like catacombs.
"Down the stairs!" she ordered, leading them down the stairs with the thunderous echo of footfalls. Turning her gaze back up, she found to her relief that the small army of robots had halted at the top of the stairs, unable to traverse down the stairs.
With the danger out of the way and nowhere to go but forward, Lightning moved off of the platform and down the tunnel.
"Hey Lightning?" came the voice of Vanille, drawing Lightning's gaze but not halting her pace. "Hope told us about what happened in Palumpolum, are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" replied Lightning haughtily, though her gaze moved towards her feet.
"Well I noticed how close the two of you seemed to be, so I assumed-Well you assumed wrong!" Lightning barked, continuing on her way.
"Well you can lie about it all you want!" cried Vanille both hopefully and scornfully "But you can't deny your feelings for Cloud!"
Lightning's eyes widened; did she have feelings for Cloud? For the longest time she'd never considered letting anyone near her emotionally, but somehow he'd gotten passed her defenses, he'd gotten her to open up (and on the first day they'd met, no less!) Light sighed, that was the one thing about him that made her skin crawl: he could read her like a book, but she couldn't reciprocate!
Returning back from her thoughts, in time to keep from traipsing off of a length of long metal pipe, Lightning continued into an impressive granite-hallway. She paused, sensing the others around her freeze as well; Light stared around, this hallway was in no way Pulsian: it was completely Cocoonian! Something was wrong here, why would a Pulse training ground contain something from Cocoon and something completely irrelevant at that!
Lightning took off at a run, forcing her legs to take her down the hall as fast as possible, her hand gripping Blazefire tightly; barging into the next chamber, she drew her weapon expecting a powerful Cie'th. Instead, she found something that she was not quite expecting: standing in the center of the room, slowly making his way towards them, was Brigadier General Cid Raines!
"Raines?" Snow spewed incredibly; Raines said nothing but continued towards the group. "Easy guys it's all right" said Snow towards Sazh and Vanille "Raines is a Sanctum officer, he's been helping us out-Why are you here?" barked Fang, immediately silencing Snow. Again, Raines didn't answer, but the answer was quite plain.
"YOU TRAITOR!" Lightning roared charging towards the snowy clad man. Raising her blade above her head, Lightning swung down with all of her strength but Raines stepped to the side, evading her angry attack. Spinning around, she swung Blazefire in a flurry of aggravated attacks, however, Raines blocked each attack with only his hand. Taking a hold of her wrist with a hand like a vice-grip, dark-haired soldier flicked his wrist and Lightning entered into a chaotic stumble before crashing to the ground. She gasped, fighting the pain to regain her ability to breath.
"I put you on the path: that was my Focus!" said Raines forcefully, masterfully wielding the captured gunblade with a broad flourish.
"YOU'RE A L'CIE?" Fang screamed, taking a hold of her weapon; Raines sighed patiently:
"Since long before we met.
"I did my best to assist you as bid by the Sanctum Fal'Cie, now do you understand? The Fal'Cie have watched over you guiding your every step; the luck that 'saved' you time and again was a deliberate machination! Why you may ask?"
"Oh do tell" hissed Lightning frigidly, waiting for the opportunity to take back her weapon.
"The Primarch-or should I say Barthandelus-is crafting you into the instruments of Cocoon's demise" Raines continued, agitating Lightning further by beginning to pace and using Blazefire as a walking stick.
"We've been played for fools" Fang growled angrily; Sazh stepped forward, his face angry but his voice was curious.
"A Cocoon Fal'Cie, why? It doesn't make sense!"
Raines, pausing in his movement, stared hypnotically into the steel of Blazefire's blade, "Why? To restore the Maker: the entity responsible for creating both Humans and Fal'Cie" he said simply. Lightning stared at him, incredulously, as he paused for a moment before speaking again:
"Long ago, the Maker departed this world, leaving the two races behind. In a sense, Humans and Fal'Cie are brothers, orphaned by the same parent; as for the humans, they forgot the order imposed by the Maker and they began to war amongst themselves for the first time in history. The Fal'Cie focused on recalling their false deity and return the world to its former glory, this purpose lies at the heart of all their actions.
"Calling back the Maker requires a fitting sacrifice" said Raines, finishing his story.
"Yeah, we've heard" spat Lightning angrily "The destruction of Cocoon!"
Raines nodded "The lives of the continent's entire populace in bloody tribute!" With a lightning-fast wave of his arm, Blazefire soared through the air; Lightning re-mastered her weapon with an equally fluid arm movement.
"I don't get it," said Hope slowly, "Why do they need us? Couldn't the Fal'Cie end Cocoon with just a thought?"
"Their creation is bound to the creation and maintenance of this floating shell" explained Raines calmly "It is their very nature that holds them in check."
"You mean: Cocoon Fal'Cie can't destroy Cocoon? They need tools" said Hope, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to click into place.
"If we can stop this by doing nothing… we'll do nothing!" said Vanille adamantly; Sazh nodded in concurrence.
"Noble, I expected as much" said Raines; Lightning eyed him curiously, his eyes gazed down at them like a hawk on its prey, but his tone was distant.
"You lied to us!" shouted Snow furiously "What happened to your dream of rebuilding Cocoon for the people? WAS IT ALL A LIE?"
Raines sighed sadly, "A shadow of a dream from when I was human. It was change that I craved and, once I'd built the influence to make things happen, there was change! I gained all the power I could hope for but was a puppet with no will to wield it; it was then that I realized, it wasn't the Fal'Cie who changed: it was me!"
Lightning grunted in shock as the Brigadier General began to burn a fiery green cloak, similar to the one that possessed Cloud in Palumpolum.
"I was made a l'Cie" ranted Raines, his voice hysterical "Tied to an inescapable Focus-a slave of destiny. I'd lost hope, given up on dreams of freedom."
"What are you saying" gasped Lightning
"I am here of my own accord, not by Fal'Cie order!" Raines proclamation was met by a conjoined gasp of shock and terror.
"Seeing you fight brought it all back, brought back the future that I once strove for. I too will challenge my fate! If I can defeat you here, the Fal'Cie's plan will fail!"
Raines snapped his fingers; there was a brilliant flash and the group was surrounded by a barrier of strange symbols.
"Wait, what's-Oh not this again!" Lightning turned sharply, only to find that Fang, Sazh and Vanille had been sealed on the outside of the barrier, leaving Snow, Hope and herself to contend with Raines.
"Easy guys" said Lightning pacifyingly, seeing the fear in Hope's eyes and the anger in Snow's.
"I will use all of my remaining power: I WILL SET YOU FREE!" cried Raines, the pique of his instability finally attained (Fang called out to him but to no avail). Raines crossed his arms, storing up the burning green fire into a tiny ball in the center of his chest; the energy burst forth in a blinding flash of light (causing the three l'Cie to shield their eyes). After a moment, Lightning lowered her arm and saw the gruesome transformation.
Raines had transformed into…Lightning wasn't quite sure what to make of it; the top portion of his clothes had ripped away to reveal a crystalline body, his dark hair had become dangerously spikey and his eyes had gone a vibrant green. Most fearsome, however, was that his right arm had been replaced by a single, massive claw!
"Alright Raines" growled Snow, popping his knuckles "Don't think that because I considered you a good guy that's going to stop me from-" Snow never finished his sentence; as he spoke, Raines flashed a bright, angry red aura and pounced like a hungry tiger, striking the tall warrior so hard that it blasted him off his feet, launching him several feet backwards. Tearing her eyes away from the impressive blow and back on the enemy l'Cie, Lightning was introduced to a world of hurt as she became lost in the flurry of kicks. A hard pressure planted itself in her chest, rocketing her backward; there was a bruise-inducing thud and a sharp 'Crack' as she skidded to a halt. Blinking the stars out of her eyes, the first thing that Lightning realized that she was laying on top of a great fleshy mound.
"Hey, er…Light? I don't mean to be rude but, I'm kind of promised to Serah so-" said Snow jokingly; Lightning returned to her feet but not before shooting him a look of annoyance. The two of them turned back-to-back, facing Raines who (oddly enough) returned to the ground bent onto one knee. Suddenly the horrific realization hit Lightning harder than any weapon or any spell, scanning the field she found no trace of Hope! Something heavy dropped from the sky, catching Light by the shoulder, dragging her down and forcing her to kiss the steel floor; "No more need to worry" she thought dryly "We found Hope!"
"WHAT ARE YOU LOT DOING?" roared Fang from the sidelines, along with several other choice words that mothers to recommend a mouth wash with soap.
"Get up! You've got to fight back!" cried Vanille worriedly; the three l'Cie each stood, moaning in pain.
"Easier said than done" thought Lightning harshly, rubbing her shoulder. Lightning returned to her battle stance and eyed Raines carefully. He'd caught them off guard and out of sync, but now was when they would shine!
"AGGRESSION!" Bellowed Lightning, however, Raines back boiled like hot water and then six spiny wings burst forth. Moving like a flash, the enemy l'Cie swung his left arm downward, banishing the pink-haired warrior to the ground; giving her head a good shake, Lightning turned upward only to find him batting Snow into a wall, using Hope's head as the bat. She watched angrily as he dropped the unconscious youth to ground, when suddenly, something Cloud said to her a while back swam before her eyes: we can't take these guys on our own…we need help! Putting a hand to her chest, shutting her eyes in concentration, she simultaneously felt the sturdiness of her crystal rose appear into the palm of her hand and she felt the sudden pain and the escape of saliva as Raines drove his clawed fist into Lightning's gut. She hit the ground hard, rolling to a halt, fighting for her breath; and what was worse, her crystal had slipped from her grasp and landed half way between her and Cid.
"Look at you" said Raines pitifully, moving slowly towards her; his boot unconsciously smashed the tiny pink stone as he moved (Lightning grinned victoriously). "You still believe you can win?" he cried incredibly "What can you possibly do?"
Lightning chuckled, despite the lack of wind in her lungs and the sharp pain in her rib cage; "I can't beat you myself Raines…" she gasped, holding up her index finger "…but he can!"
The look Raines gave her was quite unfathomable, though he twisted his neck curiously; staring at him with a murderous look in his eyes, stood the pale-skinned Eidolon: Odin! The warrior flourished his golden S-shaped blades before swinging widely, catching Cid in the side of the head and launching him across the room!
My lady… said Odin gently offering Lightning a hand …you've been busy I see. Lightning nodded but gazed murderously at Raines, who was beginning to return to his feet; Odin turned towards the enemy l'Cie with a look understanding on his face. Allow me.
Gripping her hand tightly and launching her into the air, Lightning watched as her Eidolon contorted into the unnatural angles until her rump collided heavily with the newly transformed summon.
"Alright Raines, you want to do this the hard way: then let's ride!"
Catching Odin's S-shaped blade and twirling it like a deadly baton, Lightning shot forth a storm of deadly winds. Raines dodged the first of the trio and then the second in a motion like a dance; however, he took the final razor-like gust square in the chest, knocking the powerful l'Cie into a wide stagger. Driving her heels into Odin's ribs and digging in her knees for stability, Lightning charged forth, splitting the sword into the dual blades. The horse spun and the pink-haired l'Cie swung the swords upward, launching the staggered Raines upward. Moving into a crouched position and then shooting herself into the air with a powerful thrust of her legs, Lightning gyrated like a deadly bladed whirlwind and hitting Cid with the full fury of the Zantetsuken. Crashing back to the ground with a muffled 'Thump', Lightning could feel the weight of the two swords disappear along with the phantasmal voice: Well done, my lady.
Lightning did not bother to watch as her enemy crashed back to the metal floor and his barrier dissipate with the tinkle of breaking glass, but turned her immediate attention towards her unconscious allies. Putting her middle and index fingers on each of their necks, Lightning found to her relief that both had a steady pulse; whipping out a tiny flashlight she flipped open each of their eyelids. Shining the tiny light in each of their eyes, she sighed in relief as both showed no signs of internal damage as both pairs were equally round and reactive to the light.
"LIGHT!" said a voice from behind; Lightning shifted her head slightly to find Vanille running towards them.
Shining into the familiar emerald green rings, Lightning began firing the soft orbs of gentle light on Snow (whilst Vanille tended to Hope). Both men's eyes flew open. There was a loud gurgle from behind causing Lightning to turn; Raines was writhing in agony on the floor, truly a pitiful sight for the general.
"Ironic, isn't it?" he called upon falling still "The only thing I wanted was a moment of triumph…but how it ends isn't important. J-just do what you know is right…trust yourselves!" There was a blinding but quick blast of light and Raines forever froze, now a captive of the crystal.
Lightning stared at his statue in utter astonishment; "W-What?" sputtered Sazh, being the first to regain his voice "Did he complete his Focus?"
"I don't think so" said Snow groggily, returning to his feet and moving over to their petrified enemy "All Raines did was try to save Cocoon in his own way!" With that, Snow turned in a great huff and vanished from the great room. Lightning turned back to Raines as the group followed after him: this was the fate that her sister had met and one that awaited her. Snow was right, he was no different from them: he just wanted to protect his home.
"Find peace, Cid" she said quietly. Lightning turned on her heel and left the crystalline statue inside the lonely room, never to be discovered again.
Lightning trailed behind the group, who had come to a halt behind Snow.
"Looks like a dead end" said Hope staring around the newest room of junk; Lightning observed around as well: true enough to the boys words, they stood alone on a concrete balcony overlooking the endless fields of nothingness before them. As much as she hated to admit it: they had reached the end of the road.
"I have had enough of this! WHERE IS THE WAY OUT?" Sazh bellowed, his voice echoing loudly throughout the empty room.
"Way out?" breathed Snow dubiously "Who said there was one?" Lightning stared at him as he turned around with his trademark grin on his face.
"My mind's made up: maybe I will end up a Cie'th but until that happens, I'm going to make Serah proud!" He fell silent for a moment, staring down at his hand (where her sister's crystal sat) sadly "I couldn't bring myself to admit that this tear meant good-bye and that's why I kept searching for her. But I didn't need to!
"Serah was here the whole time, right here watching over me" Snow placed the crystal over his heart "Now I get it: what this tear's been telling me is not to let our Focus win! It's not the Fal'Cie we should listen to, it's Serah and Raines! You know why? Because our Focus doesn't matter, what matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes! Who's with me?" Snow shot out his hand.
Lightning rolled her eyes and grinned privately as Vanille, Hope and the Chocobo chick threw their hands on Snows. She exchanged grins with Sazh and Fang. She smiled at another thought: Snow's fire had been reignited, however slightly, the same annoying spirit that even kept her own morale up was burning furiously once again.
"Look!" cried Vanille suddenly, "A path!" Looking past the red-head, Lightning saw a long ephemeral walkway, shining with the same silvery light as the moon (she took a moment to wonder how in the world they'd missed that before).
"Don't suppose you want to call that a sign of me being right?" said Snow good-naturedly "Listen: if we keep our eyes on the goal, we'll figure something out!" His own vigor restored, the tall, bandanna-clad warrior took off to lead them down the new path. Lightning followed, cautiously at first; she eyed the glowing pathway carefully before placing a foot on it. It rippled like water but surprisingly it held her weight with the sturdiness of stone. Keeping a vigilant eye on it, Lightning followed onward.
"Hey: LOOK AT THAT!" cried Vanille thrusting forth her ever curious finger; to Light's absolute astonishment, sitting amongst the mountainous piles of junk and rubble was an airship, waiting patiently on a launch pad.
"What? An airship?" cried Sazh incredulously, obviously done with all of the random surprises the loony bin of a training ground had to throw at them.
"I guess it was one of this Ark's weapons or something" said Vanille running over towards the machine. Lightning inspected the ship closer as well, for being in such an ancient place it was in astonishingly good condition without even so much as a fleck of rust on its dark paint-job.
"I-I don't believe it!" cried Fang causing Lightning to turn towards her; her friend was staring towards the roof, where an acid green portal sat at the end of the launch rail. "That—That's a gate to Gran Pulse!"
Staring up at the swirling vortex, Lightning folded her arms, "Could be one of Barthandelus traps" she said, opening the floor for discussion. Vanille turned to her, looking surprised:
"Well that's no good, do you think it might take us to Eden?"
"OH NO!" thundered Sazh, stepping forward with his chest puffed out "I'm doing the flying! No more of these ships taking charge of our travel plans! The only place this thing is taking us is where these boys tell it to!" He flexed his arms and massaged his muscles like a champion.
Fang laughed dubiously "Really? That is a Gran Pulse ship!"
"Really," relied Sazh coolly "Leave it to me!" he bumped his fist against his chest, though did so more forcefully than necessary causing him to double over coughing. Lightning let out an irritated sigh.
"Either way, we're on borrowed time" said Snow, taking point once again "Might as well go. If we get lucky: then maybe we'll turn up some way to get rid of these goofy tattoos."
"If nothing else, we know Cocoon is safe for the time being…I'd say it's worth going to take a look!" said Hope, the confidence ringing in his voice.
"What about your dad?" inquired Lightning gently.
"I made him a promise" replied Hope calmly "I promised him to keep going and do what I had to. He said only I would know what that was…the world's full of lies and there's no way of knowing what's right, so all we can do is believe in ourselves. I'm done with all of the Sanctum's lies…the Fal'Cie, this whole Focus thing! From here on I use my eyes, think and act; I might not make all the right choices but as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, then there's nothing to regret."
Lightning stared at him, overflowing with pride; if Hope really believed in his own words and trusted his gut that much, he'd Lightning completely sold.
"Well I'm with you, bad choices and all!" laughed Sazh, placing his hands on Hope's shoulders.
"Okay!" roared Snow jubilantly "Everybody in!" With that, the l'Cie clambered into the airship. However, what was big and glorious on the outside was not quite so on the inside; the interior was little more than several benches, laid out like church pews, and stocked so tightly together that even the air felt claustrophobic. Nevertheless, Lightning settled herself into the second bench and fastened the harness as Sazh familiarized himself with the controls. As the ship's engine whined and then rose a few feet into the air, Light took a moment to free the thought:
"Off to hell we go."
The ship took off like a bullet! Lightning gripped the sides of her seat as the vessel began to tremble violently. "HOLD ON BACK THERE!" bellowed Sazh of the roar of the engine, taking the ship straight on towards the ever expanding bulb of light in front of them. Suddenly, the trembling ceased and there was no more tunnel to block their way, but only open air and the blinding light of the sunset.
"YOU DID IT!" cheered Vanille; Sazh shot her the thumbs up. Lightning released a breath of reprieve, this had to have been the smoothest airship trip she'd taken in a long time! Almost as soon as she'd thought it, something soared passed the airship, the turbulence causing the ship to lurch and toss its passengers like popcorn.
"Playful critter isn't he?" said Fang sarcastically.
"Go play with someone else" said Lightning darkly, keeping her trained eyes on the worm-like beast that writhed in the sky. Faster than anything on Cocoon could have moved, the Pulse creature returned, scraping the side of the airship and ripping open a mammoth hole in it. Two very terrifying things happened at the same time: the first was that the nose of the ship began to fall, quickly losing altitude. The second: the suction of the depressurization had caused such a violent updraft that Vanille and Hope had been sucked out and began to the long fall to the world below.
Acting on instinct, Lightning gripped her gunblade and pitched herself out of the crashing vessel; looking to her right, she noticed that Fang had followed her. The bronze-skinned woman threw out her arm, ejaculating something small but very shiny; instinctually taking aim, Lightning squeezed Blazefire's trigger and fired a burst of three. The first bullet missed by several meters…the second nicked the tiny object, whilst the third shot smashed it like an egg. There was a brilliant flash of purplish light when a great, human-like bat shot forth from the radiance; staring at the great creature as it contorted into rocket-like dragon, Lightning could feel something grip her shoulder before another powerful updraft pulled her upwards again. Her back slammed against something very hard, however, she soon came to realize that this was only the bat-dragon from before: Fang's Eidolon.
"HANG ON!" screeched Fang over the howling wind; Lightning held on for dear life as the Pulsian woman directed her Eidolon into a kamikaze dive, gaining speed. There were two dull thumps from behind; Light shifted her gaze to find they'd been joined by the two gentlemen. Training her eyes forward again, she saw them: the youngest two of the group, lying flat as they fell but steadily growing larger as they neared them. Soaring past the children, Lightning shot out an arm and took hold of Hope's hand, pulling them both to safety. Looking out, the pink-haired l'Cie found the massive expanse of world that she never could have dreamed to exist; however, shifting her eyes, she found something even stranger: sever hundred yards away, in a blazing blue aura was something else was crashing down to the world below like a meteor.
Suddenly, her world was thrown in to total entropy as the Eidolon barrel-rolled and sending his passengers tumbling over the side. Fortunately, their fall wasn't that far and they hit the ground hard with a massive, consensual "OOF!" Lying in the heap of groaning bodies, Lightning did a personal body check, pleasantly finding no unbearable pain (aside from the one in her skull) and all parts involved were still functioning. Suddenly an alien tickle surged up her leg; Lightning strained her neck as she turned and bellowed:
"Alright! Whose foot is that?"
~o Cloud's POV o~
Cloud hit the grassy ground hard (his sword falling away), rolling to a halt as his chest tried to tear itself apart; the fire that enveloped his body ripped at him, wanted more than anything just to die. Suddenly the pain stopped, Cloud opened his mouth, gasping deeply, but several thin streams of deep crimson dripped out and staining his mouth with the coppery taste.
A sharp pain hit Cloud like a truck, he let out a scream; Pitiful, you really are worthless without me. Leaning against a rock, still twitching violently, the spikey haired warrior spit out a mouthful of hot blood before he was able to push past the pain to respond.
"S-Sephiroth…why are you here?"
He screamed again as another wave of agonizing fire struck him like white-hot swords stabbing his body. I am here to exact my vengeance came Sephiroth's silky voice, The more you fight the faster the Mako poisoning will kill you, the more you run the slower it will, either way: you will die!
"Spare me the: this is about revenge, crap" spat Cloud, still paralyzed by the pain "Why did you save me?"
Another glob of thick crimson burst from his mouth as the pain began to melt his very bones; I will have my revenge on you Cloud, but I cannot do this is you are dead!
Cloud gripped his chest ready to tear open his chest and claw out his heart to end the agony. He didn't want to listen anymore; he wanted it all to end. The fire conquered him, his senses dying in numbness; when he returned to the conscious world, it took him several moments before he realized that he was face down on the ground.
"So that's what this is?" replied Cloud to himself "You kept me alive so you could kill me yourself?"
The blinding pain that ensued was too much for Cloud too handle, he barely felt anything as he fell back into the darkness, the last words he would hear was: Yes and with you gone, there'll be no one to stop me again!
Cloud no longer felt anything, no fear, no pain, not even peace; he felt positively nothing as he moved towards a bright green light.
"Don't give up", said a soft, kindly voice that beckoned to Cloud from beyond; his eyes widened in surprise: he knew that voice!
"You can't let him win,"
"But I-I can't do this anymore-"
"You can do it…so many people believe in you; besides, you still need to see her again." The bright light began to fade, and Cloud felt again, only that he felt disbelief and confusion "Go back to her, Cloud!"
Cloud's first breath returned to him in a harsh rasp. He coughed at the sudden rattling he felt in his lungs, but his next breath came more smoothly as his heartbeat regained its usual rhythm. He lay there in the grass, inhaling deeply the damp air, and staring up at the sky; what was Lightning doing right now? Was she safe?
He smiled to himself: when had he started to care about them? He had only come to their homeland to abandon them with his death, but now he had come to consider each of them his friends. And then there was Lightning: she had become his closest friend on Cocoon and he couldn't deny that he'd come to have the same feelings for her that he used to have for Tifa.
A loud, ghostly howl echoed throughout the empty valley; pushing himself into a sitting position he could see, off in the distance, a familiar gray wolf sat on its haunches emitting the mournful sound. The wolf ended its natural dirge before averting its eyes downward and staring at him with brown orbs that appeared to pierce his very soul.
"What do you want?" he spat disgustedly, "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"
Pushing himself to his feet, a distant glow met his peripherals sharply, before a massive ball of flames jutted from his hand, but the force which he'd thrust the magic had dragged him down to his knees. There was a roar and an intense wave of heat and the area across from him erupted into a wild blaze, but with a startling lack of wolf. Cloud pounded his knee in anger and frustration, he was already tormented by the fact that he couldn't help anyone (let alone himself) why did the damn thing have to show up and rub it in?
"FREEZE!" came a loud voice from behind him; Cloud twisted his neck around to find himself staring at a platoon of darkly armored soldiers.
"Stay right where you are!" screamed a man with silver-hair and a black coat, stepping out of the crowd. Cloud reached for his weapon as a phantom recognition of Kadaj appeared before him.
"You're the guy from Palumpolum" he said intelligently, earning him a look of disdain from the man.
"Yes and I am also leader of the entire fleet that you single-handedly destroyed!" Cloud felt a sudden pang of guilt for actions that he had no control over. "I congratulate you" said the man frigidly "Your death has overtaken the importance of six l'Cie loose on this continent!"
Cloud laughed derisively, "I've been trying to die since I got here" he admitted "But it seems that I can't even do that properly." Cloud rose to his feet, propping himself up with Avenger and Ascalon, however, his legs gave way and he collapsed onto his knees. He could hear the priming of guns all around him.
Suddenly, a warm cloak of azure aura burst around him (he could hear the soldiers gasp in surprise), and Cloud could distantly hear the command: "FIRE AT WILL!"
Gunfire erupted all around him; Cloud sat there, helpless, waiting for the end to come only it didn't. Looking up, the spikey-haired man stared in surprise as the aura manifested as a giant, hexagonal shield, absorbing the force of the bullets and dropping them harmlessly to the ground. The shield charged forward!
It struck the soldiers, who screamed in terror, running for their lives, and they fell to the floor of the world, unmoving. Cloud sat there, watching and wondering what was happening; the shield suddenly shifted from the hexagonal shield into a more curious form: standing in the distance from Cloud that the soldiers once occupied, blazing its docile blue fire was a phantasmal creature in the form of a wolf.
The wolf dissipated into a shapeless blue mass and rushed towards the spikey-haired warrior; Cloud, too stunned from what he'd just seen, made no effort to defend himself. The aura engulfed him again; it felt like being caught in a torrential current, washing him off of his butt and spiriting him away to places unknown. He went higher and higher and higher until there was a tiny tinkle of something shattering. Cloud hung numbly in midair when, at last, his stomach lurched, symbolizing his very rapid descent!
He fell, faster and faster, his vision fuzzy from both the burning cloak and the inexplicable tiredness; from what he could see, Cloud saw a mammoth sphere growing smaller as he fell away. Turning his head, he found something even stranger: several hundred yards away, in a blazing cloak similar to his own, something else was crashing down to the world below like a meteor. Flipping over onto his stomach, he prepared himself for the inevitable crash but found himself unable to tense his muscles, caught in a comfortable warmth that rendered him paralyzed.
Cloud hit the ground with a muffled 'Crash' though his landing was not hard, rather it was more of a dull thump that met his tired muscles. Feeling the warmth of the aura disappear and cool sweat rolling off of his skin and onto the soft cushion of grass beneath him, Cloud found his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier with the rhythmic pattern of his pants.
"Okay…" he promised himself "…just-a few…minutes." Then all cut to black as Cloud lost consciousness on Terra Incognita.
Once again, I think I messed up on the POV a couple of times so if I did, I apologize. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this (just to let you guys know: the Cid Raines fight was a much needed, therapeutic ass-whooping fight). Personally I hope you guys liked my bit of comedy at the end of Lightning's POV; and be prepared: stuff's going to be going down in the next couple of chapters. Don't forget those reviews guys!