Undying
I'm not dead, guys! I'm back, with Chapter 11 if Undying. Hope it can tide you guys over for now.
Anyway, R7R and enjoy!
Word Count: 2659
Disclaimer: Square Enix owns the rights and priveliges to Final Fantasy XIII, as well as the characters therein. I own a copy of the game though. Does that count?... Didn't think so...
Chapter 11: Syphax, the Insidious
The flight to Mah'habara was uneventful for Lightning. She was sitting on the edge of a fairly comfortable couch, Fang resting next to her, sleeping lightly. Vanille was still recovering from her injuries while Serah helped her. Lightning herself was finding it hard to stay awake, the last fight with Geiseric leaving her particularly drained.
However, the guys were chatting up a storm. They had gathered in the fairly large cockpit of the ship, talking about the past fight. They were able to laugh about it now, but at the time it wasn't so easily dismissed.
After a short conversation, Hope and Snow moved towards the back of the airship, seating themselves at a small table mounted to the floor. Snow looked up and sighed heavily. He was exhausted. He cast a sideways glace at Hope, who was watching Vanille carefully, as if checking her for any injuries.
"So, see you've found yourself a girlfriend." Snow joked, his voice low enough to not be heard by the women. Hope jumped at first, but relaxed after a second. He saw no point in hiding it now. "Hey, I'm happy for ya, Hope. I mean, Vanille's a nice kid. And you obviously care for her." Snow pointed out, and Hope nodded.
"Yeah, but, I'm not old enough. I'm 15, and she's what, 18, 19?" Hope shook his head. "I like her. I really do. It's just that we're to far apart, age wise." Hope felt Snow's hand grip his shoulder.
"Don't worry about that. When the time comes for you to make your move, you'll know." Snow smiled goofily at Hope. "Just be patient. It'll work out." Hope returned the smile and nodded. As he did, Gamenern approached them.
"Sazh is gonna land us in the Springs and we'll take Atomos inside the mines." He then looked back towards a shelf. "From what I've read from the Analects, Syphax is known to hide deep inside the caves. I've been looking at historic and modern maps of the place, and only one area has stayed the same the entire time. We'll try there first." Snow nodded when the Pulsian finished, then looked over to the women.
"Hm, seems almost a shame to have to wake them up, huh?" Snow remarked. Lightning had succumbed to her sleep, resting her head on Fang's, which was resting on Light's shoulder. They seemed to share breaths. Each time Light would inhale, so would Fang. And they would exhale at the same time, silent and soft. It was almost cute. Almost.
"So, um, I don't know about you, but I ain't gonna be the one to wake those two up." Snow continued, walking towards the cockpit. "I like my head on my shoulders, thank you." Hope and Gamenern agreed, then followed him to the front. Vanille pouted.
"Big wimps, I tell ya…" She sighed, turning to face the sleeping couple. "Hey, wake up. We're almost there." It didn't take much to wake the pair. Lightning seemed only half asleep, and Fang was just barely from deep sleep, so they woke without much coercing. "Hi!" Vanille waved madly at the pair. Fang cocked an eyebrow.
"Cause that's the first thing I wanna see after wakin' up…" She muttered, removing her head from Light's shoulder to stretch. Lightning did the same, and when they stood up, Sazh landed the ship, fairly roughly.
"Sorry!" They heard Gamenern yell through the door closing the room off. Lightning shook her head and grabbed her Blazefire.
xXxXx
The group had a fairly cramped ride on Atomos. Before, only six people had to ride on the fal'Cie, and even then it was a tight fit. With eight people now trying to cram into the small space, it was safe to say that the ride was anything but comfortable. But they made it to Mah'habara without any other problems.
Gamenern took the lead, taking them to the deepest part of the mines. It was the only place that had remained untouched over the last 500 years, so Gamenern had guessed that it was as good a place to start as any.
The few rust pudding they had to fight were not a problem, though it seemed that Fang and Lightning were having a silent competition between the two of them to see who could kill the most. When Gamenern seemed slightly amused by the whole event, Vanille filled him in on what had happened when they were looking for ingredients for the salve. Gamenern chuckled, knowing that Fang was always fiercely competitive.
When the group heard a noise that wasn't the sound of shuffling goop, it caught their attention. Instantly, Fang and Lightning were at the ready, weapons drawn and aimed at the source. Gamenern approached it slowly, noticing the sound getting louder. It sounded like metal clanging on the ground, as if something was messing with a pile of junk.
Gamenern nodded, then shot around the corner. The action was followed by a shriek and the sound of a lot of metal crashing to the ground. "Maqui? What are you doing here?" Gamenern shot, picking the kid off the ground and putting his axe on his back. The others also sheathed their weapons, Snow and Serah stepping forward.
"I was here trying to rebuild a few control panels." He said, pointing at what he was working on. "I mean, some of this stuff needed to be controlled 500 years ago, right? So, I figured that if I could get at least one of these control panels working, we could start using some of Pulse's machinery to aid the army or go to places that people can't normally go." He paused, then looked at the man. "What are you doing here?"
"We're hunting a Cie'th that lives here." Snow spoke, motioning to the back of the caves. "It's not something you guys can get involved in, though. These guys are tough." Snow then nodded to the small blond. "Why don't you head back to Oerba for now? We'll stop by after we finish up here." Maqui nodded slightly, then gathered his equipment and ran off to the exit.
xXxXx
The group arrived at the end of a long corridor that looked like a small warehouse. Normally, theses large stables house either Juggernauts and Tyrants, but this one seemed empty and abandoned. Sazh sighed.
"Why can't they just tell you to 'go here, kill the monster, go to next one'?" He ranted, sitting down on a fallen column. Everyone chuckled, though some of them were tired. Gamenern sighed heavily, deep in thought.
That was when Hope saw something fluttering in the air, just behind one of the lights. It wasn't very large, but it looked like some of the Chonchon Cie'th that fly around Taejin's Tower. He only saw it for a few seconds before it hid again.
"Hey, Gamenern, what did you say Syphax looked like?" Hope asked, still looking at where the flying thing was. Gamenern quirked an eyebrow, then nodded.
"He's supposed to look like the Chonchons in Taejin's Tower. Why?" Gamenern followed Hope's line of sight and nodded. "He's here, alright." He concluded, drawing his axe.
Suddenly, several bat-like Cie'th came from practically nowhere to charge the group. Vanille shrieked as she saw the horde, jumping back and crawling away, trying to get away. Fang and Lightning instantly ran in, Blitzing the swarm before they could hurt the girl. Hope, Snow and Serah and all gathered around Vanille, while Sazh ran to join Gamenern in aiding Fang and Lightning.
Just as soon as they destroyed the first wave, a second swarm of Cie'th came after them. "These must be the Numidia that Syphax controls!" Gamenern yelled to the group. "Kill all of these and Syphax will have to face us." The group then began the process of destroying the several flying Numidia that came after them.
Once the second swarm was killed, the l'Cie let their guard down for only a few seconds. That was all that was needed. More Numidia came from nowhere, this time aided by a larger one that had a tail. This was most likely Syphax, their leader and the strongest of these winged Cie'th.
The beasts saw Snow, Hope, Serah and Vanille huddled in a tight group and went after them. Two Mediguard defenses went up at Snow and Vanille's discretion, while Hope and Serah settled into an Entrench guard, their only reliable source of defense, but they knew this was going to hurt, a lot.
The swarm engulfed the four, surrounding them and trying to rip their skin. As soon as he saw an opening, Hope unleashed his Last Resort, pushing several of the Numidia back, but barely affecting Syphax. Fortunately, as soon as they were free, the three other l'Cie were able to counterattack, pushing them back with magic.
Gamenern lunged straight at Syphax, hacking at the bat-like Cie'th, but the monster dodged. "Focus on Syphax and the other's will fall." He spoke, lunging at the beast again. Sazh started varying his assaults on the Cie'th, from Flamestrike to regular attack to Ruin. Fang and Vanille began throwing whatever debuffs they could get to land on the beast, while Hope and Serah started supporting the group with various enhancements.
Lightning and Gamenern were the first two to begin a sizable offense. As soon as they had enough enhancements, they charged the beast, though even with Haste speeding their attacks, they still couldn't land an attack on the beast. Syphax was still summoning his reinforcements, forcing the l'Cie to fight defensively.
Hope lobbed a Ruinga at the beast, detonating it in midair after the Cie'th already dodged it. It was enough to cause a small opening to appear, allowing Lightning to strike. As soon as she saw it, she charged, hitting it's tail and severing it. She followed that up with another slash that hit the creature's wing, ripping it down the middle, then she finally impaled it through it's back. It went limp after a few seconds of squirming, before fading away into a light like Geiseric before him, his minions following suit.
xXxXx
When the Cie'th Marker appeared, Gamenern caught it and held it up. Another screen appeared, showing more Pulsian scrawl.
A, kokatsuna yobidashi o anata gata o kiita hito.
Pasu ga mada haruka ni nakunatte iru koto o shitte iru.
Sono sairento tangan chaimu no oto
De oto sa rete iru ron o, sagashidasu.
Or, in Cocoon…
"Oh, ye who heard the Insidious call.
Know that the path is still far gone.
Seek out the Lone, whose silent pleas
Are answered by the sound of chimes."
Gamenern sighed after reading it for a good few minutes. "Nothing." Everyone frowned.
"They said chimes, right?" Serah asked, getting a nod from Vanille. "Where's a place that has chimes?"
A few long, hard seconds of thought were had before Vanille looked up. "Taejin's Tower. It's elevator plays a musical scale every time you go up or down." She shook her head. "By it isn't a chime. It's almost like a music box."
Gamenern stood up. "Well, it's worth taking a look. Besides, we gotta go past the tower to get back to Oerba, so we might as well stop there." Everyone nodded, and the group began the long trek back to the airship.
As they got inside the Trickster, the group took a small break. It took a while to wander through the caves, especially when you let Vanille lead the group back. Vanille was like another little sister to Lightning, but she found the girl's permanent optimism to be downright annoying. How Fang ever put up with it was beyond her. Still, they got back in time to have an early dinner.
It wasn't much. Like the last time the whole group stayed here in Sulyya, it was a simple fish dinner, but there were several other additions to that meal. Fang had brought plenty of salt, as usual. Gamenern had packed some behemoth meat and some chocobo down so he could make the regular stew. Other than that, it was a fairly simple meal.
It was shared in relative silence. Snow was talking with Serah, Hope and Sazh about nothing in general, while Vanille, Gamenern and Fang were caught up in a nostalgic conversation about the past. Lightning had opted to lay down. She had been tired since Geiseric for some reason, but she couldn't figure out why.
Try as she might, Lightning could not stay awake. Her eyes closed themselves and she felt unconsciousness swallow her into it's blackness.
"Lightning…" Fang sang into the sleeping woman's ear. It had been several hours since the group headed out to scout Taejin's Tower, looking for clues to Mithridates's location. Fang opted to stay behind and keep the ex-soldier company, though Fang had become restless.
When Lightning didn't respond, Fang nudged her. "Oy, sleepy, wake up." Fang spoke this slightly forcibly, but the soldier still slept. "Oh, Etro…"
Fang then something rash. Using her index finger only, she moved it to Lightning's exposed armpit and tickled it. The soldier squirmed for a few seconds, a smile drawn on her unconscious face, before her cerulean eyes shot open.
"Welcome back!" Fang said, her hand still near Lightning's armpit. Lightning looked at the limb groggily, then at Fang.
"You tickled me?" Lightning spoke, though her voice wasn't angry. She seemed amused, truthfully. "Why?"
Fang grinned. "You weren't waking up. I had to do something." Fang's grin got eviler. Lightning saw the plan in Fang's eyes before it actually happened.
"Fang, no…" But by time Lightning spoke the words, Fang was already on top of her, the warrior's hands trying to find any sensitive area to tickle.
Lightning was trying to keep her arms closed, but Fang's strength made it hard. The soldier squealed (as much as Lightning would, of course) as Fang's index finger reclaimed it's spot in Lightning's armpit, making the pinkette writhe, trying to escape the action.
Fang's laughs were more controlled than Lightning's hysterical, uncontrollable giggling. Her other hand had found the other armpit, doubling the amount of tickling that Lightning was receiving. Her face had become red from the laughing. She was failing at getting a counterattack against Fang. Either she wasn't ticklish or she could control it a lot better.
"Okay, okay. I give!" Lightning got out, still laughing. Fang smirked, stopping her assault on Lightning as the soldier caught her breath.
"You know, you should laugh more often." Fang stated, her hands now resting on either side of Lightning's chest. The soldier smiled, still laughing slightly from the tickling attack.
The pair met locked eyes a moment after that. Silently, several conversations were exchanged in only a moment's time. Before either side could react, their lips had crashed together, a fierce, passionate kiss being exchanged. Fang's hands moved from Light's sides to her chest plate, looking for the clasps. Lightning was fiddling with Fang's sash, frantically trying to undo it.
The two had been undressed in little time, exploring the familiar curves and crevices of their lover's body, long since committed to memory. Silent moans and deafening screams could be heard inside the cabin, the temperature raising from the contact and friction of the pair's naked bodies. Sweat poured from the duo as if they were running across the Steppe in the middle of a summer day, a byproduct of the constant heat and arousal of sex.
Once the pair had settled down from their escapade, they had opted to lay in each other's arms, not sleeping but not fully awake. Content with just holding the other like this.
"I love you." Fang spoke after a few moments of relative silence. Lightning nuzzled closer to Fang's neck, her curves synching with Fang's.
"I love you too." She replied, her voice heavy laden with sleep. And, not a minute after she said it, she was asleep. Fang chuckled.
"Hope no one shows up here soon…"
Well, that was a good change at the end, I think! Well, till next time!
