A/N: So now that papa's back in the game, let me say that the plot has just begun, and although the war is about to get nasty, the twists have only just started. I would like to say that my hiatus did end with a bang, however, because as I checked the stats of the last chapter, (11) I had found that it was the longest chapter I had written in this story. This is my most successful story, and it has gotten six times the hits than my second best, so I would like to thank you all for reading, and most of all, I'd like to thank those of you who review. It encourages an author to see the reactions of his or her fans, so sit back and enjoy as I continue our most beloved character's struggles for freedom, justice, and love in Crimson Tales: Final Fantasy XII.
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The flames of the city were spreading, and all any of the six onlookers coud see from Larsa's office was the destruction of the surrounding buildings and the people running below, trying to escape with their lives. Ashe looked from Gabranth, who had grabbed her arm to keep her from falling when Shiva had blasted away the wall, to Balthier, who was staring down into the flames with intense concentration. There was something different in him, in his eyes; they weren't his eyes. Not at all. They were changed, harder, and fierce with a blaze, and surrounded by an orange haze. Gabranth, Ashe, and Denz looked down to the lower part of burning Archades and searched for the Goddess and the mysterious girl that only Denz seemed to notice. And then, just like that, A blue blur of light shot out of the fire like a comet and flew toward the sky. However, the light was stopped suddenly when someone grabbed the Ice Queen's ankle, stopping her in full force.
"Release me!" Shiva belowed, and this blonde opposer seemed to disregard the comment, pulling Shiva down by her grip on her lower leg. The platinum girl spun the Goddess around, grabbed her shoulders and kicked her dead center of her back, sending her flying down toward the stone pavement. And in the flicker of an eye, she became a blur, and appeared on the ground. When Shiva came flying toward her, she thrust her palm into the ice blue being's core, and stopped her with ground shattering force. She held her up like a trophy, displaying her power. She then grabbed her by her silver hair, and starting a run at intense speed, thrusting Shiva's head into the stone ground and grinding her face hard as she kicked up stones in her wake. Finally Shiva had been flung into the air by her hair and then with the same speed as before, this girl kicked her hard into the ground.
Shiva stood and saw her arm dangling at her side, barely hanging on by a thread of flesh. She looked down in fury, and took hold of the sagging flesh, ripping it from her socket and tossing it aside. "You," she said, as another arm shot from the gaping hole, fresh and anew. She flexed her fingers, and one by one they cracked. "You have returned from the dead."
"I had to." Penelo said, her eyes glowing a slight golden luminescance. Shiva frowned deeply, and then held out her right hand, where a long and shimmering partisan shoot from the palm of her hand. She charged with blinding speed and swung the spear at Penelo. Penelo blocked with the metal covering her arms, the right, the left, then the right. She then parried the attack with the shin of her right leg, and bringing her left leg up into a surprisingly powerful kick to Shiva's head, sending her flying through the base of the nearby building. The crowd of people running for their lives had begun to run even faster, trampeling over those that fell. "Do you hear me Shiva? I had to come back and stop you!" Penelo called out, awaiting the demon-Goddess' next move.
Suddenly she heard a crash from up above, and she saw the tall tower of a building slice in half and falling right down toward her. It crumbled as it fell, into a hundred pieces of gigantic rubble. Penelo braced herself as she saw the first thick, flat piece of building heading right for her, and when it was upon her she thrust her legs and fist up, shattering the concrete like thin glass. She then began to jump from debris to debris, rising higher into the air. Suddenlt with a slicing flash, the building across from this one was falling as well. Penelo kicked hard and broke the pieces that threatened her ascendence and used the others as platforms. The wind rushed past her ears, and then she saw a flash of blue before her. Shiva had thrust her knee into the girl's neck, smashing her body against the wall she had just lept from. When Penelo landed on another slab of stone, she landed on the girl's shoulders, wrapped her legs around her upper body, and then thrust her back, flipping her so that her head smashed hard into this solid piece as well.
"Foolish girl, if you wish to fight against me then I will show you no mercy!" Shiva seethed, the words leaving her teeth like venom from a serpent. They landed on another large flat ton of brick and Penelo wasted no time in flinging her arms down in a spiraling twirl around her body, spinning forth as Shiva blocked the twisted punches. Penelo added her legs to the tornado equation and Shiva grabbed her leg, stopping her completely, and swung her like a club around her head, around and around and finally into the ground. She then thrust her heels into Penelo's back and jumped from the spot into the air. "Where did such a weak human gain such power?" Shiva called to her, her voice echoing as she screeched.
Penelo pushed herself up with her arms and thrust from the large slab of building as hard as she could before it smashed into the ground with tons of force. She landed on the solid ground and looked around. "I was given this power to defeat you. You're not wanted here, Shiva; go back!"
Penelo then felt an iron clutch grab her ankle. Shiva's fist had emerged from the ground and she held Penelo there. Shiva lept from the ground, tearing up the asphalt and rubble, and flew into the air, Penelo's ankle in her grip. They soared high into the night air, higher than the lower buildings, out of the flames, and then higher above the entire city. Shiva was flying so high that Penelo felt the world grow colder. Shiva then swung Penelo around as she had done before, swinging her round and round, round and round. Penelo thought she would die of the vomiting sensation growing in her stomache, and then Shiva threw her as hard as she could to the ground. Penelo soared back into the city, hitting the pieces of rock and stone that had not fallen to the ground yet due to their unrealmly speed, and she hit the ground with such a force that the buildings around her in every direction cam crumbling down upon their shattered foundation.
"Penelo!" Ashe called out, and Gabranth held her from jumping right out of the building. Balthier seemed to have snapped out of his trance, and he ran to the edge, looking down into the smoke and rubble.
"Damn it, Penelo," he said under his breath. "Do not try to get yourself killed over being brave, not again."
"Where is she?" Vaan asked, searching for her fervently. Meanwhile, Shiva was high above the City of Archades with a smirk upon her lips. She lifted her hand, and all around her, clouds darkened the sky, and blotted out the moon. She gathered all of the mist she could summon in the palm of her hand, and then cast down a great force that proved Nethicite was not the most powerful source to reckon with. The power shock crushed the ground, and all of the buildings in the central area had been blasted away. The clunks of buildings that had been tossed out form the explosion had been crashing through the towers away from the site, and thus bringing down more of the city. Shiva lifted her other arm, about to bring the city down completely, when she heard a voice echoing through her ears. That is enough! Come to me, my companion, and let us continue with the search! the voice told her. She looked to the edge of the forest where it had come from, and with her Goddess sight, she could see the old hut on the skirts. She lowered her hand, and flashed to the hut where the beckoning voice called.
Down below, in the heat of the destruction, a gloved fist burst out from the rockand rubble. Penelo struggled to climb out, breathing the thick air as she did. She crawled onto her knees, and then stood on her own two feet, looking around. Stalks of fire, and tall pillars of smoke was all the eye could see. Now Penelo fully understood why she had been given this power; if she did not stop Shiva from achieving her mission, this would be the future. For her, for her friends, for the world.
In the distance, she saw something emerging from the ground. A small boy, maybe ten or eleven years of age. Penelo stumbled her way over to his aid, and took his hand, pulling him up and out of the gravel. He coughed, and heaved, trying to breath in the heat of the atmosphere. He rubbed the dirt from his eyes, and then he looked up into the face of the angel who had saved him from the monsterous demon.
"Please, the others, I don't know where they are." he told her, coughing into his fist. Penelo frowned, looking around. They could be anywhere in this mess if they fell from the demolished senate palace. They could even be...
"We'll find them." Penelo told him, offering him a smile that he took, though did not return.
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"Alright everybody! There are still survivors; men, women and children inside of the city! I want a team of volunteers to go and see how many can be rescued!" Tomaj said, looking to the group of men before him. They were all people, nobles and the unfortunate alike, who had just escaped the city. They all just shifted from foot to foot, looking around awkwardly at one another. "Is there no one amongst you brave enough to go back? For your neighbors? For your families? I traveled with my friend from Rabanastre and she is still in there! Will no one come with me?"
"I will go." said a brave young man in the crowd. His friend chimed his volunter and so did the woman standing beside them.
"Aye, as will I!" said another brave soul. A man clad in Imperial armor stepped forward and walked up to Tomaj.
"I am Captain Cecil. My squad, The Deep Eyes, are still inside of the city. If you will help me find them, my men will help you rescue until every soul is safely evacuated; no rest, no sleep." The man assured him. Tomaj smirked, and patted the Captain on his shoulder.
"Good man." he said. The Captain nodded lightly, and then stepped back into the crowd to stand next to his fellow volunteers. "Everyone wait here where it is safe, and we will-"
"What is that?" An elderly woman exclaimed. She was looking out onto the horizon, into the fields, and beyond the hills. Tomaj glanced over his shoulder where he could see something in the near distance. He couldn't make out what it was exactly, it was like water slowly taking over the land. Captain Cecil stepped forth, peering through a pair of monocular he happened to have on his person.
"Excuse me, young man, but I think you may want to have a look at thise." Cecil said, handing Tomaj the pair and dropping his arm to his side, hand resting on the hilt of his iron sword. Tomaj lifted the monocular and looked through into the black shadow taking over the hills. He was shocked.
hundreds of men, all clad in armor and marching toward them. It was an army. Whoever had planned this attack had done it with such intricate coordination that left little chance of avoiding. He saw the Rozzarion flag hoisted high upon one of the chocobo's, and a man with a black smokey shadow looming over him, which Tomaj recognized to be one of the Margrace kin, though which one he could not say. "Great... Just what we need. When did Rozzaria decide to invade!? I thought that was all settled two years ago. Vayne, dead, ringing any bells?" he said, handing the monocular back to the Captain.
"Any chance that they just happened to be in the neighborhod and decided to come help us out?" One of the volunteers asked the two. Tomaj shook his head and laughed, while the Captain glanced down at the man in disbelief.
"Not likely." Cecil snapped, and turned heel. "We must lead them back into the city. If they are an invading army, then they will not be safe here."
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A ringed hand emerged from the dirt and dust, thrusting up into the air, and then slamming into the ground, cluthing at whatever it could grab. Its brother soon joined the moment, and together they pushed upward, pulling their master from the ground. He used all the strength his shoulders could give him, and pushed himself out of this hole, freeing one leg and then the other to stand on. Balthier patted all manner of objects off of his shirt and vest, and ran a hand through his smooth hair, a long, low whistle escaping his lips at the sight of the damage the battle had wrought.
"And I thought The Bahamut had layed some wrecked..." he said under his breath, looking around. In the distance, he saw her. Not the fearsome Ice Demon the world feared, nor the beautiful angel who was somehow miraculously able to fight off said being. No, this face was graceful, beautiful, and most of all, alive. As Balthier walked closer to where she stood, he could see that this was no mirage.
"You haven't fleed yet; isn't that what a Sky Pirate does?" Fran mocked him, looking all about her as she did. The smoke had blocked the sky from view as they stood amongst the gargantuan flames. Windows and all matter of glass was shattering around then in random placed due to the intensity of the heat.
"You're alive." Balthier said, suddenly catching her off guard by taking her in his arms and holding her. She blinked a few times, and then smiled, bringing her arms around him in return. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"After all this time, it was better to leave you to your life." She told him. "But now I see that without me, you've all lost yourselves. I leave you alone for five minutes and already the city of Archades is falling all arounf you." She told him, smiling with a wink as he let go and began to pace.
"Lost ourselves... no better way to say it, is there?" He said, fingers on his chin.
"It has been two years since we all fought, side by side. Somehow we all lost something within us; something that ignited the spark to battle on, and do what is just. If we were still in any shape or form as we used to be, this wouldn't have happened." She told him, looking around them. Balthier kicked a stone out of his path, and sighed.
"I suppose there's naught we can do about that..." he said, shaking his head. She was absolutely right. When trouble had found them, they stood there and watched instead of fighting. They fought when they ought to have negotiated. "Maybe there's no going back to that point after so long."
"Perhaps you're right." Fran frown, looking about his face. He had changed so much since they last saw eachother, though he still looked exactly the same. It was quite a contradiction. "Have we lost what was between us? Our connection?"
"Never." he said, glancing over and smirking to the beautiful angel that made his heart ache with a lung crushing force. "The leading man needs a cohort, after all." He said, holding out his fist. Fran brought her fist down on his and the two were back into the old flow of things, just like days past.
"Balthier!" they heard. "Fran!" Ashe yelled as she made her way across the uneven and awkward ground made up of the broken towers. Her heels made if difficult to balance on slanted pieces of rock and iron, but she made it to them, tripping at the last minute. Balthier caught her, and she stood up, nodding her thanks and taking in a deep breath. "Penelo - did you see her?"
"I did." Fran said, furrowing her brows in concentration. "Penelo has been given the power to stop Shiva, but she cannot do this alone. Perhaps that is why they did not let me fade..." Fran thought aloud.
"They?" Ashe asked her. "Who gave Penelo power? What are you talking about?"
"It does not matter now, what is important is that we find Penelo, as well as everyone else. Only when we are all together again can we begin to fight back." Balthier said, spotting someone else emerge from the shadows. "Which shouldn't be too hard. Seems like you're all drawn to be. I don't blame you, of course, I am quite the charismatic fellow these days."
"Don't flatter yourself." Basch said as he stepped up to the group.
"Who else is going to do it for me?" Balthier smirked.
"Shiva... How do we fight such a being?" Ashe asked them. Fran looked away with a frown, having no answer. Balthier sighed, and Basch brought his brows together in frustration.
"It seems near impossible. Not while she possesses this sort of power." Basch said, looking about them.
"No it's not!" they heard from off in the darkness. Suddenly from in between the group, a blonde head poked out of the ground, looking dazed and confused. Vaan began to crawl out the the ground, Basch grabbing his elbow to help him. "We just - argh- have to -ugh!- know that we can - how do you climb out of here!?" he said, trying to free his legs. Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Everyone laughed. In the midst of the ash and death, they laughed lightheartedly at his attempt. "There. You see? We haven't lost what we had before, we just had to find it within our hearts again." Vaan said, looking around into each of their eyes.
"What we had was the light. Our friendship, laughing together when things got really heavy." he said, and placed his hands on his hips. "We just have to know that we can do this and somehow we will."
"The world must be nice from your eyes' point of view." Balthier smirked. Ashe smiled, taking a break from her stern glances, and then she looked to Basch, who was staring at her. She walked past him, squeezing his shoulder to comfort him as she did, wandering off a bit while the group discussed what course of action to take next. She glanced over her shoulder, where Basch was staring at her as she walked off. He then strode over to where she stood, looking down at her hand.
"I've seen you staring at me." she said boldly, looking at the ring on the finger next to her pinky. Basch shifted his stance slightly, glancing around.
"For how long?" he smiled, wondering where she was going with this sudden approach. She drew in a deep breath, and then look the ring off of her finger, leaving only the one on her middle finger.
"Ever since you came back to tell Larsa of your doings in Mt. Bur-Omisace." she told him, smiling as she examined the ring between her fingers. She then looked up to his face, and directly into his eyes. His heart stopped exactly where it was in his chest, and he tried to avert his eyes, tried to pull them away, but he couldn't. "Why?" she asked. He fell silent, and lowered his head
"For your protection... It is an instinct I am acustomed to, looking after you that is. From the days when I was your protector." he told her. She frown, and looked to the ground.
"Is that all, then?"
"I..." he began, but then snapped his mouth shut. He shook his head, and looked up and into the round, beautiful face of his once Lady Ashelia. "I do not know." She seemed unhappy with his final word, and then she took his left hand in her own. She placed the ring in his palm, and closed his fist around the small silver object.
"If I were to tell you that I have need of no protector, how then would you look at me?" she countered, pressing him on. He frowned deeper, his mouth sealed with words he refused to say. "Then do me the favor of holding onto this for me." she told him, walking around him back to the group. "Do not give it back to me until you have your answer." she called over her shoulder. He looked down to the ring in his palm, and watched it reflect the fires of the world around him. He then curled his fingers into a fist again, and held it close to his chest, against his armor. As Ashe rejoined the group, they all looked over to the same direction as though someone had called them.
"Look! Over there!" Vaan pointed. Out of the flames walked a girl, lithe and curved with a dance to her step, holding the hand of a young boy. "Penelo!"
Each of them felt a strong feeling within themselves grow as she took step after step, closing the distance between them all. As if by her presence, the final piece of their shattered bond was whole again, and now they were finally themselves once more, if only in this moment alone.
"Penelo! You're okay!" Vaan said as he thrust himself around her. She smiled, and nearly cried when he held her, and held him back tightly. Suddenly everyone in the group was greeted with a bone shattering hug from the girl as she held them to make sure they were real and she was truly alive. Ashe was next, and she smiled tenderly as the blonde girl hugged her waist, snuggling into her dress. Then Basch, though due to his armor he was lucky enough to survive the squeezing. Then Fran laughed as the girl took hold of the Viera who had sacrificed herself for her well being. And then she looked to Balthier, and smiled, blushing slightly. She didn't touch him, and although he wondered why, he wasn't going to press it; he enjoyed his ribs in one piece.
"We're all together again." She said, looking around her. "And Fran, you're..."
"Has anyone seen Ms. Quistius?" The Boy chimed in. Everyone looked down to the delivery boy, who had yet to be introduced to them.
"Right, the delivery boy. What did you say your name was?" Balthier said, lifting an inquisitive brow.
"I didn't." The boy replied, looking up into each of their faces. "My name is Denz." he said.
"Ah, well good to see you alive then, Denz." Basch said, offering him a light smile. "I am Judge Magister Gabranth, this is her Lady Ashelia, Queen of Dalmasca. The kind lass who brought you to us is Penelo." he told him, lifting his hand in Penelo's direction. She smiled and waved. "The beautiful Viera is Fran, the young boy there is Vaan, and the blasted scum of a sky-pirate is Balthier." Basch smirked.
"Say," Balthier eyed Basch in mock anger, "I resemble that remark." he smirked. The group lightly laughed, and Denz looked up into their faces in wonder.
"Don't worry," Ashe told him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You're in good hands." she smiled. She then stood, and looked around to the once familiar faces. "I believe it is time for us to fight once more, even if we do not quite understand what Shiva's goal is."
"Whatever it is, it can't be good. She must be stopped, and we can start by finding Larsa." Balthier said. "Even if he didn't get the chance to fight beside us much before, he is still as much a part of this team as any other. And I believe it is time for a change of uniform, m'lady." Balthier told Ashe, looking her over from head to toe. "Fighting in a dress won't do us much good now will it?"
"I have to agree. It is time to take up The Sword Of Kings, and my Treaty Blade once more." she nodded.
"Hey!" They all heard, and turned to the direction the voice had called from. It was Tomaj, running toward them.
"Exactly how many people are going to keep popping out of the rubble?" Balthier said, flailing his arms about.
"Tomaj!" Penelo said, "What is it?" she asked him as he caught up to them, bending over to catch his breath.
"Am I ever glad to see you... We have... a situation..." he said, heaving in and out as he spoke.
"I can only assume that he means a troublesome situation." Ashe frowned, and Balthier chortled.
"What other kind of situation would we ever run into?" he smirked.
"I don't know if it's the smoke or the fumes I've been breathing in, but... I think I just saw an army of dead corpses marhing toward the city." He said, looking from face to face, knowing that they would think him insane. "I'm only relaying what I saw..."
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A/N: Thank you for reading thus far, and of course I'd like to personally thank Zaz9-Zaa0 for being the first to review. Like I said before, reviews keep an author motivated, so thank you so much. This chapter was possible because of you and all the others who've reviewed :)
