Tainted fal'Cie
A/N: Thanks everyone for your patience and support. And the reviews and feedback too. The next exciting chapter is up! And it sure won't disappoint. XD
WARNING: This chapter contains some scenes of the graphic nature. Close your browser now if you wish not to read it. You have been warned!
A huge thank you goes to Lily for being my beta reader.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
*** ~ Chapter 10: The Tainted's l'Cie ~ ***
The Tainted fal'Cie doth take beasts for l'Cie
For easier they were to control darkened fury.
But when tainted l'Cie becometh of man
One would rise up and against Tainted fal'Cie stand.
- the Lost Text
"What did you just say?" The blonde grabbed the captain by the arm and spun him around to face him.
"Snow, we-"
"Tell me what you just said!"
There was a panic in those blue eyes that Rydgea had never seen before. Snow looked rather pale too, but the captain attributed that to hearing the grim news just moments ago. "He wants Lightning."
"No, before that!"
Rydgea paused a moment, lost in thought. "He's holed himself up in the medical center and-"
"We have to charge into the medical centre right now!" Snow was shaking, his grip on Rydgea's arm tightening.
"We will Snow. I've already sent men ahead." Rydgea nodded in the direction of the New Oerban Medical Centre seen on the horizon. A few small figures in the distance could be seen setting up a perimeter around the building. The captain of the New Oerban Guardian Command pushed down the urge to punch the distraught man in front of him. The longer they lingered here, the worse it would get. But one of them had to keep their heads and it seemed like Rydgea would be it. "They await further orders. I need you to-"
"No! No! No! No! No! You don't understand!" Snow shouted, his voice a few pitches higher than normal. "We have to get there right this instant!"
"Snow, calm do-"
"Listen to me! Serah was going to take Lightning to the medical center this morning! They're probably there right now!"
Blue eyes widened. "WHAT!"
"Holland! Explain yourself!" Ice blue eyes revealed a turmoil of emotions. Anger. Shock. Confusion. But most of all, fear.
Crimson decorated the floors. It decorated the walls. It decorated the ceiling. Bodies too. On the floors that is. Amongst other things splashed along the hallway. Mostly things you'd normally find inside the human body.
A blood splattered Holland stood at one end of the hallway, his rifle pointed at a familiar spikey haired blonde with goggles and dark haired female. On the other end of the hallway stood Lightning, rigid in a low defensive stance, a cowering Serah half hidden behind her. Holland's mouth twisted into a distorted smile.
"Sergeant!" Holland said, green eyes creasing in glee. "You came! I just knew they'd send you once I started shooting people."
The two hostages glanced at each other and then back at the soldier with the rifle. The way he addressed Lightning was a complete turnaround from how he was regarding them, before the pink haired soldier appeared. Like night and day. Literally.
Serah buried her face in the back of Lightning's shoulder, white knuckled fists clutching to her sister's jacket. The younger girl knew of the monstrosities of the world. People killed people. Sometimes over something as trivial as a comment. Or a look. Or a material thing. But the closest she had ever gotten to such things was through datalogs. It wasn't until recently that she'd started to experience these things in person. But even so, none of the instances before now had been so… graphic…
Lightning forced herself to swallow, her throat feeling sandpaper dry. The feeling in her stomach, though not as strong as when they faced the twisted beasts before, was making the soldier sweat and half gasp for breath. He was like them. The AWOL soldier in front of her, a soldier she had trained herself just months ago, a mere boy who could barely hold a rifle when he had first met her, was now like those twisted beasts they had been fighting just to survive. And it wasn't just by the fluttering in her stomach that Lightning knew this.
Shredded remains of a hospital gown and bloodied bandages hung loosely in dregs over Holland's exposed left shoulder. Flesh was blackened, hardened and jagged like stone. A few spires of teeth like rock jutted from the joint, Holland apparently in the midst of morphing from human into something similar to those twisted beasts from before. His left arm was also bent at an unusual, gut wrenching angle. Had Lightning not seen the tainted flesh herself, she would have assumed it to be a very badly broken arm with a dislocated shoulder. But she could see the twisted flesh as clear as day, and Holland was in far worse shape than a broken arm and dislocated shoulder.
"Put the rifle down Holland and let's talk about this." Lightning swallowed again, her right hand twitching slightly over the handle of her holstered gunblade. "Let them go."
The spikey blonde lad turned his head to the left slightly. Light blue eyes darted to his companion's back, where the bump of a concealed pistol was vaguely visible.
"Don't!" Lebreau hissed quietly, knowing full well what the younger boy's intentions were.
"I can reach it…" Maqui murmured while the crazy soldier's attention was focused on Lightning. "I can do it…"
"Not with a god damn rifle in your face!" Lebreau bit her lip nervously, her words coming out louder than she intended. Thankfully Holland didn't seem to notice.
"I won't shoot you, don't worry" Holland said, his grotesque smile deepening.
Lightning gritted her teeth as she tried to suppress a shiver from running through her. Serah felt it despite her best efforts and whimpered softly. Serah had not seen Holland's twisted smile, the younger Farron's eyes closed tightly with her face against Lightning's back. But with the shiver that ran through her sister, Serah knew things were not looking good. "C-Claire…"
"Thanks" Lightning replied gruffly, releasing a breath through clenched teeth.
"Everyone else however…" Holland continued. "They're nothing but… sacrifices..." Green eyes turned to the two held at gunpoint. Holland's expression dropped, his face holding no emotion aside from a face splitting grin. His twisted trigger finger slowly curled back on the trigger.
Cobalt eyes went wide.
Hope's glove squeaked as the grip on his weapon went even tighter. The silver haired boy raised his boomerang higher. The leader of the distorted creatures snarled at him and charged.
Sacrifice!
Hope's breath caught in his throat as he was roughly yanked in behind Lightning. Serah yelped as Lightning had pulled the younger Farron behind her as well. The charging twisted fiend skidded to a halt, distorted clawed feet kicking up a small dust cloud. Lightning swallowed, the distance between them and the leader of the four, a mere arm's length now. Lightning nudged the two younger ones behind her to back up a few steps.
Sacrifice? Milky white eyes searched widened blue ones for an explanation.
"T-that's right!" Lightning exclaimed. "They are sacrifices! The Tainted deserves nothing less!" Lightning cursed herself mentally for not taking those negotiation courses offered to her before the whole purge started.
Holland's head snapped back to face her. His grin expanded further, halfway up his face if that was possible. Lightning shivered again, the green eyes dancing in excitement, focused specifically on her, giving her the chills.
"I knew you would understand! Finally someone who understands what I'm talking about!"
Lebreau and Maqui stared at Lightning, their eyes demanding to know what the hell she was doing. Both of them were thankful to the pink haired sergeant, Lightning having saved them both from receiving a bullet to the head, but still. Lightning was playing a dangerous game right now. They knew it. She knew it. But Lightning was way too deep in this now. She could not falter. Lives were at stake. The lives of her friends and family. She would not lose any more of them.
Lightning didn't take her eyes off of the crazed Holland. The moment she did, this crazy half man, half… whatever he was, would… who knows what he'd do. Her number one priority right now was to take this man down and prevent anymore deaths. If only this blasted fluttering in her stomach would stop! She could barely focus on the situation at hand with that feeling distracting her.
"C-Claire?" Serah opened her eyes to stare at the back of Lightning's head. Her head had snapped up the moment Lightning referred to 'the Tainted.' What was going on? The first time she had heard that term, Snow was the one who said it. But Snow couldn't have possibly understood the implications of using that word. So Serah had brushed it off. But now, Lightning had said it too. And the meaning behind it seemed so… horrifying… Just what the hell was going on? What was she talking about? What was that crazy soldier talking about? Was there something that she was missing?
"Those foolish beasts couldn't do anything right" Holland said shaking his head. "Just trying to massacre anyone they saw. Someone was bound to take notice and hunt them down. Sergeant! Thank you, for putting them out of their misery!" Holland saluted Lightning with his right hand.
"Foolish… beasts…?" Lightning slowly moved her hand towards her gunblade handle. She had to keep him talking. She had to keep his attention solely on her. With Holland's attention kept on her, maybe Lebreau and Maqui could inch away to safety without him noticing. At the very least, they could put enough space between them and Holland, giving Lightning a clean shot at him. Lightning could only hope that the two NORA members thought the same way she did. Unfortunately for Lightning, that was not the case.
"You know, those things that rampaged through town a few days ago" Holland rambled on. "The Tainted's l'Cie."
"Oh…" Lightning replied. So that's what they are. She chanced a quick glance at the two held hostage. Lightning's breath caught in her throat. Maqui! No!
With the crazy soldier's attention focused on Lightning, Maqui lunged at Lebreau, his hand darting for the pistol hidden under the back of her shirt. When Lebreau wasn't with her beloved rifle, she had a pistol with her. Now that they had settled on Gran Pulse with monsters were practically everywhere, the former bartender never left the house without some form of self protection on her, pistol or otherwise.
Lebreau yelped, a look of absolute horror on her face as she lost her balance, feeling the spikey blonde reach for her gun. Maqui knew the risks. He knew he could die. Hell, he was shaking like a leaf right now, being rattled by a strong wind. But he was a hero. Like Snow. And heroes always protected the beautiful ladies. And there were three beautiful ladies with him right now, being threatened by a psychopathic soldier. This he would not stand for. No matter how much his life was in danger. Snow wouldn't. And neither would he.
Rata-tat-tat!
"MAQUI!"
Maqui gasped, his vision going white as he watched the ground race towards him. Searing pain arced across his body, his chest feeling as if burning hot pokers were stabbing through him. The boy hit the ground with a thud, unable to scream as a copper taste filled his mouth before everything went black. He never did get a grip on Lebreau's gun.
"MAKER NO!"
BANG!
Holland's rifle clanked to the ground before he could let off another round of shots at Lebreau.
"Holland! This ends now!" Lightning fired another round of bullets at the corrupted solider, zipping towards the tainted l'Cie using her signature speed.
Lebreau crouched over Maqui's unmoving form, frantically checking her pockets for the potions she always kept with her. "You idiot!" she cursed, voice cracking, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her hands shook as she checked another pocket and finally found the vials she was looking for. She had to move quickly. Maqui's shirt was quickly turning red and a trickle of crimson rolled down his chin.
TWANG!
Lightning gritted her teeth as Holland's twisted stone flesh arm blocked her strike. When her bullets failed to hit their target, Holland dancing around them with a surprising speed of his own, Lightning immediately flicked her gunblade into sword form to finish things once and for all. Or so she planned to.
Lightning immediately flipped backwards to narrowly miss a jab from the tainted l'Cie's stone twisted arm, Holland's movements suddenly faster than they had ever been before. Was it an effect from the Tainted's corruption? He had never displayed such speed or prowess in training before. The laugh from Holland that followed after the next exchange of blows between them made Lightning growl. He was mocking her!
"This is fantastic! Fantastic!" he ranted, his whole body shaking in laughter. The gleam in his green eyes froze Lightning in her spot. "This is fantastic!" he exclaimed once again. Then he took off running down the adjoining hallway and out of sight before Lightning even could blink. Had it not been for her trained soldier eyes, Lightning would have missed the movement.
"Why you little-"
"Damnit Maqui! Don't you die on me now! I'll never forgive you if you do!"
Lebreau's frantic cries snapped Lightning out of her moment of rage. "Serah! Take care of them!" The pink hair sergeant dashed off in pursuit of the AWOL soldier.
"C-Claire! Wait!" Serah ran after Lightning, tip toeing around bodies of fallen doctors and nurses awkwardly in her pursuit. One hand clamped over her mouth, and the other helped her balance against the wall to avoid faltering. The overwhelming smell of blood made her sick to her stomach. She had been witness to it a few times before when Lightning had come home injured from patrol, but never quite in this quantity. In the end, Serah managed to stumble up to Lebreau, her legs giving out just next to the dark haired girl. Lebreau didn't even realize she was there.
"Maqui! Come on now! Stay with me!" the gunner ripped the cork from the vial with her teeth, holding the blonde boy's head in one hand, the potion in the other. "Drink this Maqui! Come on! Drink it! Maqui!"
Lebreau was sobbing at this point. No matter how many times she tried, the potion would not go down and ended up rolling off of Maqui's lips and chin. Serah could only watch wide-eyed as Lebreau tried another potion and another potion and another potion. All attempts resulted in the same outcome. Lebreau whimpered.
"MAQUI!"
With her last potion in hand, Lebreau flipped back her head and tossed the potion back. Not swallowing, the dark haired girl clamped a hand over Maqui's nose, opened his mouth with her other hand and pressed her lips to his. Serah brought up her hands to her mouth, the pink haired girl holding her breath as she watched Lebreau's last attempt to revive their friend.
After a few seconds, Lebreau sat back on her heels, brown eyes glued to Maqui's still face. Nothing happened. Serah turned to Lebreau, tears streaming down her face. The older girl's shoulders drooped forward, Lebreau hanging her head. Tears splashed down on Maqui's cheeks. "Maqui…"
Serah reached out and hugged Lebreau around the shoulders. The gunner shuddered, unable to hold back the sobs and cried. "Maqui you-"
The sound of coughing interrupted Lebreau's scream, the girl's head snapping up to see a sputtering Maqui. "Maqui!"
Serah released her hold on Lebreau, the older girl immediately rolling Maqui on his side to cough up the blood that had collected in his throat. The moment his coughing fit ended, Lebreau hugged his head to her chest ignoring the smears of red now staining her shirt.
"H-hey Lebreau…" Maqui said weekly, cheeks flushing a soft pink. "Did I get him?"
"You idiot!" Lebreau scolded, but her voice held no malice. "The next time you pull a stunt like that, you're on your own for healing!" Lebreau held the blonde tighter.
"Need… air… Lebreau…" Maqui grabbed at Lebreau's arm trying to pry himself out of her grip.
Serah giggled at the affectionate display between team NORA members. With one disaster averted, Serah turned back to look at the hallway that Lightning disappeared down. Was her sister alright?
"This is magnificent! Magnificent!" Holland's voice echoed throughout the hallways, the tainted l'Cie always a few steps ahead of Lightning no matter how fast she ran.
A blur of motion disappeared around the next corner, Lightning with gunblade in hand slid to a halt around the corner. The pink haired soldier swallowed back the lump in her throat, the feeling in her stomach magnifying threefold. The hallway before her was dark, the ceiling lights having been shot out. Fallen bodies of what Lightning assumed to be more doctors and nurses littered the floor, a strong and suffocating copper smell lingering in the air. A window at the end of the hallway provided minimal light, just enough for Lightning to see the vague outlines of the fallen figures lining the walls.
She had been chasing the tainted Holland all over the New Oerban Medical Centre for who knows how long at this point. Over and over again he kept repeating how fantastic or magnificent this was. Lightning had no idea what the heck he referred to, but she could only assume it wasn't a good thing. With a flick of her wrist, Lightning's gunblade transformed into its gun mode.
Slosh. Slosh. Slosh.
Lightning slowly manoeuvred around the fallen forms, her weapon held tightly in her grasp. Crouching down next to the first body, she pressed two fingers against the usual pulse point on the person's neck. No heart beat. Blue eyes darted left and right, the soldier's breaths coming out in shaky rasps, Lightning's heart beating abnormally fast as she stood up.
The sergeant's left foot slipped, Lightning flailing temporarily before her back smashed back hard into the wall that was originally to her right. She released a breath she didn't even know she was holding, only realizing now how wet the floor was. Wet with blood. Meaning all these people had been shot less than an hour ago.
"Tch." Lightning bit her lip in frustration. Had she and Serah come earlier, could all of this mindless bloodshed been avoided? Lightning pushed off the wall with her elbow, continuing her slow creeping down the hallway.
Lightning's muscles were rigid with tension, her hands starting to ache at how hard she held her coveted weapon. Ever since she came across this one particular hallway, an overwhelming sense of dread took hold of her. Goosebumps covered her arms. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. This darkened pathway reminded her very much of those dark alleyways the main characters came across in horror movies. You just knew something was going to jump out at them and no matter how much you wanted to warn them not to go down the creepy path, they always did and ended up dead.
Lightning shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking of these things. She'd only get herself killed with such distractions. Yet even so, Lightning couldn't but feel something terribly wrong was about to happen. Taking a deep breath, Lightning wandered up to the first closed door in the hallway. Counting down from three, she kicked the door open, rushed in and scanned the room, gun at the ready.
It was empty with the exception of a bed and a small adjoining washroom. There was no sign that Holland had even stepped foot in this place. Taking a quick look around the room once again, Lightning moved back into the hallway and continued down her path. Holland had surprisingly fallen silent since she chased him here. Could he have set a trap for her? Lightning pursed her lips together into a fine line as she found herself in front of the second door along the hallway. Counting down from three again, she kicked open the door and charged in again. Nothing. Again.
Lightning repeated this process over and over again, until all of the doors along the hallway had been kicked in, the rooms searched. All except one. On this last door, big white letters spelled 'Exit to the Roof.' Lightning's brow furled. He escaped to the roof? That seemed rather pointless. There would be no place for the tainted l'Cie to go. Unless he intended to fall more than thirty feet down, the New Oerban Medical Center being one of the few buildings in town built over two storeys high. Questioning the likelihood of this being a trap, Lightning failed to notice one of the fallen bodies in the hallway rise to its feet.
SPLASH!
Blue eyes widened, Lightning spinning around to face the sound, her rifle releasing a spray of bullets. That action was too little, too late, as the shadowed figure rushed her and everything went black.
Maqui now sat up against the wall, Lebreau force feeding him his third potion much to Maqui's displeasure. Lebreau had stumbled across the nurse's station a few doors down from their current location, and raided the potions cabinet.
"Lebreau!" Maqui said, chocking down yet another potion. "I told you I'm fine now! You don't need to keep giving me these things!"
"Like hell you're fine! Just a few minutes ago, Serah and I were ready to bury you six feet under!"
Maqui shrunk back under Lebreau's scolding. Serah smiled at him, silently thanking the Maker for the miracle they were given. Maqui was one of her precious friends. They had survived a lot together. She didn't know what she'd do if he actually died. But Maqui's miracle did little to calm the growing anxiety forming in the pit of her stomach. Lightning hadn't returned yet. And that worried her to no end.
"But Lebreau!" Maqui whined as a fifth potion was shoved at him.
"Lebreau, I'm going after Claire" Serah said as she hastily rose to her feet. "I'll be right back."
"Maqui! I just-wait, what? Serah?" Lebreau turned around, but Serah was already gone.
White shoes squeaked on the blood covered floors as Serah dashed through hallway upon hallway upon hallway. Her face half buried by her arm in the hopes of blocking out the smell of death, blue eyes followed the bloodied and smeared footprints zig zagging around the New Oerban Medical Centre. Claire…
Gunshots a few hallways away startled the younger Farron causing her to stumble and crash to her knees on the floor, hands over her ears, eyes clenched shut. Serah shivered, her breaths coming out in ragged gasps as the hallway went silent once again. After a few seconds, the pink haired girl cracked an eye open and then two, and rose to her feet shakily. She continued down the hallway, albeit at a slower pace now, sticking close to the walls in a stealthily fashion.
The tracks in red curved around the next corner, Serah stopping just short of it. Back pressed to the wall, the younger girl held her breath before taking a reluctant peek beyond the edge of the wall. The hallway was dark, with a dim light filtering in from a window at the end of the hallway. Serah jerked back, back pressed against her cover again, hands over her mouth, eyes wide. There were more bodies in that hallway.
Serah gulped, telling herself she had to find Claire before something bad happened. She would never forgive herself if something happened to her older sibling and there was something she could have done to help. So with a trembling resolve, Serah dragged herself through the darkened hallway, forcing her eyes to remain on the window at the end.
Through her peripherals, Serah noticed empty rooms pass by her on either side, a noticeable dent in the doors that once sealed them. Putting the pieces together, she knew Lightning had come through this way. The bloodied footprints went this way. The gunshots came from this direction. The dent on the doors could only have been made by Lightning's leather boots. Though from what Snow had told her, Lightning's boots might as well have been steel toed ones. She certainly kicked hard enough!
A partially ajar door caught her attention. Blue eyes narrowed slightly at the door at the end of the hallway. From the dim light, Serah could just make out something metallic stuck between the door and frame keeping it open. Taking a quick glance left and then right with a final glance over her shoulder, Serah briskly walked over to the item in question and gasped. She'd recognize this gunblade anywhere! Claire!
Serah half pushed, half rammed open the door to the roof with her shoulder, snatching her sister's gunblade off the floor. Looking down at her feet, there were several streak marks in blood indicating something or someone was being dragged. The trail of blood continued into the stairwell and up the stairs leading to the roof. Serah's heart sank.
Not wasting another moment, Serah barrelled up the stairs, Lightning's gunblade heavy in her hands, and proceeded to the roof. Nearly to the outer door, voices were heard but were too muffled to make out. Had Serah been in her rightful, calm mind, she would have stopped at the top of the stairs and pressed an ear against the outer door to assess whether or not it was safe to exit.
But right now, all Serah could think about was Lightning. For all she knew, her sister lay bleeding and broken, being towered over by some psychotic soldier laughing insanely. And so she kicked open the door, like she had see Lightning do many times before, ignoring the pain that rumbled through her foot and raced up her leg as she limped onto the roof.
"Clai-"
"Sacrifice!"
Serah lost her voice, taking a reluctant step backwards as the twisted and grinning Holland dashed towards her howling maniacally.
"SERAH!"
The younger Farron flinched as a strong wind zipped past her, along with the sounds of a struggle. Something inhuman shrieked, Lightning roared, and there then was the stumbling of feet and a yell. Serah's head whipped up, blue eyes snapping open and darting to her right. She didn't even know when she had shut them, but that mattered little as she watched a tangle of limbs and pink hair tumble over the side of the roof.
"CLAIRE!"
A/N: I realize that Lebreau's clothes has no pockets in the game (at least not that I know of), but for the sake of this chapter, it does now. XD
I wasn't too sure how to describe the sound one made when walking through shallow puddles of liquid, so if 'slosh' isn't the right word, my apologies. ^^;;;
Thanks to everyone for your reviews and comments. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Look forward to many more exciting chapters to come.