Chapter Twelve: Bhunivelze

For once, Lightning and Caius actually showed up exactly where they planned to. Just outside one of the main cities of Bhunivelze. Far enough away from civilization that their appearance wasn't noticed, but close enough that they could reach the city very quickly. And judging by the prosperity of it all, she assumed that they arrived in the correct year.

"This is it," Lightning breathed, looking at the lively city. This city had one of the gravity core centers. The five centers were spread out strategically across the planet, so they'd have to hit each one quickly in order to hurry to the next one. She predicted that she would steal some cars and Caius would turn into Chaos Bahamut and scare the crap out of anyone who was looking up at the sky and saw him. But it didn't matter, not today. Today they needed to save the world.

"Okay," she said after a moment. She quickly turned her gaze to Caius, seeing his also land on her. "I'll go here. You head to the west."

"And then I'll head towards the city north of that one," he stated with a nod. "I understand."

"We'll meet up at the fifth one. We need to do whatever we can to stop this from happening." If they didn't, the Gravity Core computers would be reprogrammed and the planet would go drifting towards an active volcano and cause an apocalypse. No way were they about to let that happen. "Just don't kill anybody important and don't destroy anything."

"Right," Caius agreed, nodding firmly. Lightning knew that though Caius once wished to destroy everything, he wouldn't do that today. Today he was going to be a savior, and so was she. It was time they both did something other than destroy.

"Caius." Lightning lifted her hand, outstretching it towards her ally. "Good luck."

Caius accepted her hand, grasping it firmly as he nodded in response. "To you as well."

They both stared into each other's eyes for another moment before they took back their hands and ran off in their separate directions. Today depended on a lot. They had to trust that the other would accomplish what needed to be done. But they also had to realize the danger of this. They had no idea who these terrorists were that they were going to face or how harmful they could be. This could be their last stand, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Lightning sprinted into the city, desperately wishing that she could still summon Odin and ride on his back. But he betrayed her by being more loyal to the goddess than to Lightning. She reached the outskirts of the town and saw a car, which was unlocked. The poor sap wouldn't know what hit them. She snuck into it, hotwired it, and then sped off into the city to reach her destination.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Caius had turned into Chaos Bahamut in order to fly to the other city. Once he reached it, he turned into himself again and ran into it, ducking into dark alleyways until he reached the building that was shown in the history book. That was the place where one of the Gravity Cores was being kept. Lightning was right in her assumption that there would be security around the area, but she was also correct in believing that it wasn't as heavy as it should have been. Today they were going to be victim to a terrorist attack.

Or an attempt at an attack. I cannot believe I'm actually doing this, he thought as he ducked into the building, past some guards. I'm actually being the savior to humanity. The irony is killing me. He who once was set out to destroy all things was now saving it all, and alongside the person he once considered to be his greatest adversary. Fate is toying with me.

Whether it was toying with him or not, he still had the same task today. And he would not fail. Up ahead of him, he saw the center of the compound. It was amazing how easily he slipped past the guards.

Apparently somebody else had no trouble getting by the guards as well. A figure in all black was standing before the computer, so immersed in it that he didn't notice Caius in the same room as him. All the better for Caius. He approached quickly and silently, not bothering to take his hefty sword off of his back. If he wielded the weapon and caused major damage to anything but the person, the computer could malfunction.

The figure turned around just as soon as Caius was behind him. His face met Caius's fist, and there was enough force behind that one punch to send him falling towards the ground. "Easy enough," Caius grunted. But now he wanted to see who this person was. He knelt down and turned the figure over, glancing at his face. Shockingly, he knew him. That was the last thing that he wanted.

Caius stood up and kicked him out of the way so that he could look at the computer. Everything was still in order; the hacker hadn't had the chance to do any damage. But he feared that they wouldn't be able to reach the other stations quickly enough.

For that reason, he pushed the red button to the right of the keyboard and triggered an alarm. "That ought to attract guards to all the stations," he said to himself, hearing the alarm blaring. Glancing back at the computer, he saw a message. "All Gravity Core Stations in lockdown. See superior for override code." Perfect. Now there's only one more matter to take care of…

A voice suddenly sounded from the computer. "Caius?"

Caius smirked faintly to himself. "On the same page once again," he muttered at Lightning's voice. The fact that she was trying to communicate with him meant that she was at her first station. He pressed a button on the computer, turning on a microphone. "Yes," he said.

"Did you just set off an alarm?" Lightning asked.

"I did," he confirmed. "I thought it would make our jobs easier. We can leave it to the Academy now."

"I don't trust them completely. It looks like there's still something going on at the Delta Core Reactor."

"How can you tell?"

"I got into a program on the computer before you triggered the alarm, and I was able to see that station is more vulnerable than the others. That or the perpetrator was just further along. Either way, I think we should check it out."

"Alright," he agreed. "We'll meet there. Don't get yourself arrested."

"Hmph," Lightning hummed in brief amusement. "You too."

That was all the communication that was needed. Caius glanced at the hacker one more time, only to realize that he was gone. He grunted, eyes darting around the room. The sound of rushing feet entered his ears. Distant, and in great number. It wasn't the trouble maker; it was the army, coming to see what the alarm went off for.

He ducked into the shadows the same way that he entered and fled the area, knowing that he couldn't get caught. He had a bad feeling about whoever waited for them at the final reactor.

*…*…*…*…*…*

It wasn't easy for Lightning to slip past all the soldiers that were rushing into the reactor that she was at, but she managed to escape them unnoticed. Heck, she even managed to slip into the car she stole at the start of all this and drive away from the scene without bringing any attention to herself. Now all that she could do was hope that Caius had the same luck. Or skill, rather, since she wasn't a big believer in luck. Fang always thought she saw Lady Luck in the past, but if anything, it was Lady BadLuck, as Sazh used to say. The random thought of her friends surprised her, but she shoved away the thoughts in favor of the battle at hand as she sped through the skies in the hover car.

Sneaking into her first center was easy enough, and so was taking down the goon. One punch to the face did the job. But he had been wearing a mask and she hadn't bothered to take it off and see who he was in the rush of things. All that mattered was that he was going to be apprehended by the government and taken care of so that he could never threaten Bhunivelze again. And the same went for the other four who were trying to hack the other computers. If they were smart, they would flee and abandon their mission before the guards reached them.

Maybe they would, but Lightning just had a bad feeling in her gut about this last reactor that she was speeding towards. The skies were empty and the car travelled much faster than any device she had ever driven before. Already she was out of the first city and flying north towards the final reactor. Hopefully she beat the man who was trying to hack the computer there. He was further along, closer to causing the serious damage. If Lightning didn't make it in time, hopefully Caius did. He'd do what was necessary.

After what felt like a very long time, Lightning lowered the hover car right outside the main Gravity Core complex. The area was deathly silent. Something's wrong.

Throwing caution to the wind, Lightning rushed inside the building and ran down the main hallway. Her concerns were right on, because the sight that greeted her wasn't a pleasant one. This perpetrator didn't sneak past the guards; he killed them. All of them. He must have been the leader of the group if he was able to show off this kind of strength. Lightning skidded to a halt by one of the dead guards, blinking when she noticed something lying on the ground.

A broken arrow.

"Who would use a bow and arrow when technology is this advanced?" she muttered in confusion.

She chose not to dwell on the idea for long. Standing back up, she sprinted down the hall again in the direction she needed to go. Whoever this person was, she'd discover it when she reached the main core and its computer. If she wasn't too late. She prayed to some kind of good force in the world that she wouldn't be. She and Caius couldn't fail Bhunivelze like they failed Serah and Yeul…They couldn't. That heartbreak would be unbearable.

Lightning still didn't bother being stealthy as she entered the computer room, which was a huge circular room with the computer sitting in front of a large machine that held the Gravity Core. Just like the place that she had been to earlier. Only this time, there was nobody standing in front of the computer.

"No," she panted, rushing forward to the computer. Her eyes darted over the screen, and though she expected the screen to show that the Gravity Core had been hacked and reprogrammed, it didn't. Everything was as it should have been. She sighed heavily in relief, shaking her head. She made it in time. Caius had been right to set off the alarm; that was probably what stopped this person from hacking the system further. His quick thinking had saved the planet.

And now her quick thinking was about to save her. Not a single sound was made, but she sensed another person in the room who wasn't an ally. She spun around just as an arrow was sent flying at her, and with reflexes that took years to perfect, she yanked out her sword and protected not only herself, but the computer. The arrow bounced off the gunblade, dropping to the ground. Though she could have shot back at the person, her blue eyes only glared at the figure in all black and had the mask on his face.

"Who are you?" she asked lowly, pointing her gun at him.

He didn't answer.

"You and your men have failed," Lightning stated confidently. "The police have surely arrested them all by now. Unlike you, they only snuck by security instead of killing them. Which makes you special. You must be the leader if you've given yourself the authority to kill everyone who stood in your way."

"Intelligent," the man responded.

"Inductive reasoning. The only thing that I can't figure out is who you are." She nodded faintly, motioning to him with her sword. "Take off the ski-mask."

"Gladly." He lowered his bow down to his side, lifting his free hand to his face as he took off the black ski mask that had previously kept his face hidden from her.

As soon as she saw his face, her eyes widened. Smooth blond hair, pulled back in a ponytail. Eyes bright and green, a well chiseled jaw, and a furrowed brow. She had met him before. "You…" she started, surprised. He was the chief of the village of New Paddra! Averia's husband. What was his name-?

"Corin," a new voice growled lowly. Caius stepped out of the shadows, having just arrived there. "What brings you so far away from home?"

"You mean to a city instead of the village?" Corin responded evenly.

"You know exactly what I mean," Caius said menacingly, his hefty sword in his hand as he glared at Corin.

"Ah, you're wondering how I am in a time where I was not yet even born," Corin figured, though he knew all along what it was that Caius and Lightning wanted to know. "The goddess has blessed us."

"Blessed?" Lightning repeated. Normally Etro's "blessings" are curses. What did she "bless" him and his men with?

"Yes. The goddess knew that her Guardian Caius betrayed her, so she gifted those who are loyal to her with great power. Including the power to jump through time to stop those who stand against her."

"So this is the force Etro has raised against us," Caius laughed. "Pitiful that a goddess would get so desperate to recruit men such as you."

"I was weak before the goddess touched me," Corin confessed as he glared down at the ground. "I was not strong enough to save my wife when that day came, and I was not strong enough to see you as the monster that you are. You did away with Yeul-"

"He was set up!" Lightning interrupted, angry. She stared down at Corin as several yards remained between them, her gunblade raised. "Caius protected Yeul with every fiber of his being, only to have the goddess wipe her out of existence."

"Lies! The goddess would never dispel her servants like that!"

"Wake up and smell the chocobo dung!" she continued to scold. "Is any god or goddess actually good? Have you read up on your history at all? All the gods and goddesses want to destroy humanity! Etro even sent you here today to do that."

"The goddess sent me and my men here to carry out her divine will," Corin said lowly, calmer than Lightning now. "She has a reason for all things, even this. I will carry out her will no matter what. It is for that reason that she chose me as her servant. She knows I will not fail her."

"Well, you already have," Caius inserted. "You and your men failed twice in a row now."

"Twice?"

"Today, you failed to send Bhunivelze towards the volcano today and you also failed to hurt us in the other Academia.

That was them? Lightning thought, eyes narrowing further as she glared at Corin. She should have known.

"I am not surprised you figured it out, Caius ballad," Corin said with a smirk. "However, it matters not."

"If you believe that you will eventually complete your goal you are wrong. You won't be gaining any second chances."

"We don't need a second chance. Only time."

"Time for what?"

"Time for the goddess to destroy the world as it was originally intended to die."

Caius grunted. He knew what this meant.

"Caius?" Lightning asked, shifting her eyes to him while keeping her gun aimed at Corin. What was he referring to?

"Remember how we kept going to time periods with dragons?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well we're now in a time period with five of them."

Lightning grunted. Five dragons, in one time period. This was how Bhunivelze was originally going to be destroyed? By dragons?

"They'll burn this world to a crisp," Corin laughed. "The remaining Gravity Core ashes will spread with the ashes of the world and cause sickness to all. Only the strong will survive."

Like fifteen percent of the population, Lightning thought bitterly. That was how many were supposed to survive this day.

"I dare you to try and stop them," Corin continued with a snicker. "The dragons all are hovering by the Tebros Mountain. Surely they will come to destroy this world soon, but perhaps the goddess will smile upon you and allow you to try and stop the inevitable."

"You mean she'll let the dragons kill us instead of letting you do it," Lightning spat.

"I wish that she would give me the pleasure, but the dragons will do the job just as well. And now, I bid you farewell."

Corin was suddenly swallowed by an orange and black rift, disappearing from this time. Lightning didn't bother thinking about it. "Caius," she said quickly, looking over at him as she put her weapon back in its case. "We need to stop them, right away."

"We can plan as we run," he grunted, putting away his weapon as well. "Let's go."

Lightning and Caius both exited the way that they came in, not saying a word to each other. The first step in planning was brainstorming the basics. Lightning had a history of strategizing in the army; her sharp wit made her earn favor rather quickly in the eyes of her superiors. She knew that wit wouldn't fail her today. Five dragons. Circling a mountain. Probably in the air, so either Caius and I fight from the ground or we take to the skies as well. But if we take to the skies, how do we fight? My gunblade can't do serious damage…And Caius can't do all the fighting. Not against five of them. How the heck are we supposed to do this?

One thing was for certain: if they faced all five of the dragons head on, it would be suicide. That was what Etro, Corin, and their other allies wanted. They needed to be sneaky about this somehow. Take out one dragon at a time.

"Caius," Lightning panted as they ran outside the building. "Get in the car."

"Forget it," he grunted. "I can fly much more quickly."

"But we haven't had time to strategize."

"The dragons will be flying, so we need to strike from the air," he assumed, his thinking the same as Lightning's. "I'll fly and you attack."

"With what?"

"My sword, Ragnarok."

"Wait, what?" she said in confusion. His sword?

"My sword does not have to vanish when I transform into Chaos Bahamut," he explained, stopping Lightning from running further by putting a hand on her shoulder. He stopped, staring at her as he continued speaking his thoughts. "Use my sword and if we do this right, we can knock them out one by one."

"You'll fly close to them and I'll slit them open with your sword?"

"Do as you please," he said simply. "Just as long as it does not create a ruckus and bring the other dragons' attention to us."

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's get this show on the road." It was a good thing that she had wielded his sword before and done so well with it. She would need to utilize that skill today and defeat the dragons. If she and Caius failed at this, the world was over. Literally. Etro would get her way and the deaths would allow her gate to open fully. The chaos would flow in and change this world to Valhalla instead of just having Valhalla's shadow lingering in the distance as an illusion.

Caius transformed into Chaos Bahamut and knelt down to that Lightning could jump onto his back easier. Once she grabbed the weapon that was lying on the ground next to Caius, she did just that. She climbed up onto his back, feeling very small and insignificant compared to him. But they both knew that she was anything but insignificant. Caius took to the skies and they were soaring towards their destination. Lightning clung to his back, teeth clenched at the cold air biting at her skin. Her comfort hardly mattered at this point, or ever. Comfort and happiness were two luxuries she could not afford.

They were quickly out of that city and flying out to the wilderness, where fields turned into forests and forests turned into mountains. It wasn't hard to see a few specks flying in the air from the distance. Those were some of the dragons, and they were simply flying around, waiting for something within them to snap and tell them to destroy all of humanity.

"I see two on this side of the mountain," Lightning said lowly to Caius, moving herself a little closer to his head so she didn't have to speak loudly. Dragons had a good sense of hearing. "If you fly above the clouds, I can drop down on one of them and destroy them right away. You take care of the other one and catch me when you're done."

A low growl from Caius—one of agreement—was her response.

"Okay," she said. "Higher up."

Caius flew up higher, vanishing into the white clouds of the sky. Lightning shivered when the moisture of the clouds touched her already freezing skin. But her eyes burned with intensity despite the cold. Glaring down through the white fog of the clouds, she tried to pinpoint the two dragons that were on this side of the mountain. One was closer than the other, nearly directly below.

"Alright," she mumbled to Caius. It was time that they did their ambush. "Now!" She released him as she rose to her feet, jumping off his back and falling headfirst towards her target. He soared another direction, towards the other dragon that they needed to take down. Her focus was on herself; she trusted that he would be able to do the job.

As she neared the dragon that was flying directly below her, it noticed her. He turned his head up to look at her but it was too late. Lightning gripped Ragnarok with both hands, flipping herself in midair as she brought down the weapon. With a mighty battle cry, she stabbed the red dragon in the back. The dragon that she now stood on wasn't the only one who quaked and cried out in agony.

Caius did as well. Lightning grunted at the familiar cry, eyes darting upward as she tried to keep her balance on her dragon. He was dying slowly, starting to descend. This was the part where Caius was supposed to swoop in and catch her, but he failed to kill his own dragon. Instead, he was being pursued and attacked by four of them. One of them already put a nasty gash on his arm.

"Caius?" Lightning grunted in worry. But soon she had something else to worry about. The green dragon pursuing Caius suddenly drove off his path and soared for her, mouth wide open as he inhaled. He was gathering breath to breathe fire.

She had a split second to make her decision. Only a split second between life and death. Lightning yanked Ragnarok out of her dying dragon and jumped as the other dragon sent its fiery breath at where she had previously been standing. The flames licked at her, her skin prickling because of the heat. But she would rather fall than burn to death. Hopefully falling wouldn't cause her death either. She snapped her fingers to activate her Gravity Con device to soften her landing.

It didn't turn on. Somehow it was broken.

Looks like I'm falling to my death after all, she thought in panic.

She was only a hundred feet away from the ground when she suddenly impacted something that she hadn't seen coming. She landed on her stomach roughly, grunting as she fought to keep her grip on Ragnarok. Something just swooped in and caught her. The young woman opened her eyes, seeing the dark skin of the beast beneath her. Caius saved the day.

Lightning couldn't even find her breath to give him thanks. He flew higher up in the sky, forcing her to hold on more tightly as he shifted the angle of his body. Glancing behind, she saw three dragons in pursuit. The remains of two dragons laid on the ground.

"Two down, three to go," she panted mostly to herself. "Caius, are you alright?"

He gave off a low moan. He was wounded.

"Stay with me," she said, grasping Ragnarok more tightly as she focused on her healing abilities. Heal what has been hurt, she prayed silently, feeling warmth and strength leave her as she sent multiple spells towards the beast that saved her. She hoped that they did some good. She did all that she felt she could do before she glanced back at the pursuing dragons once again. "Fly above them if you can," she advised. "I'll jump on one." It didn't matter if she drew attention to herself or not. This was a serious situation, so risks needed to be taken.

Though Caius secretly worried, he obeyed because he had the same logic as Lightning. He suddenly changed course, veering higher and higher into the sky before flying horizontally in circles. The other dragons, though confused, followed suit below him.

Okay. Lightning grunted, throwing herself off of Caius again. She flew directly at one of the dragons, who was unprepared. She swung the blade at his neck, slicing it deeply as she continued falling further in the sky. Shockingly, another jade dragon was in her path. She grunted, pulling back Ragnarok and slicing at its forehead. With a mighty screech, the dragon roared in pain. Using the last of its strength, it swung its claw at Lightning and struck her hard.

The ex soldier cried out in pain, also being launched downwards toward the ground. She wouldn't land in the forest on rocks; she was sent to the very edge of the mountain, where it met with the sand and the ocean. She landed in the sand without anything to soften the blow, knocking her head hard against the ground. Ragnarok dropped out of her hand as she lay on her stomach, writhing in pain. "No," she grunted, squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't give into the wounds and pass out!

A roar in the sky echoed in her ears, one that urged her to lift her head and gaze up yonder. She saw Caius and the remaining yellow dragon, swinging at it mercilessly with his glowing claw. But the dragon had a move as well. The yellow dragon extended his claw and scratched the front of Caius, digging in deep and bringing a roar out of Lightning's friend. Worry for her own health faded at his cry of pain. Caius…

Caius regained control. He opened his mouth and sent out a beam, piercing that final dragon and causing his death immediately. The yellow dragon fluttered to the ground, his remains landing near the edge of the forest.

Bahamut, however, flew closer to the sandy shore and landed not so gracefully there. A cloud of darkness surrounded him as he transformed into his true self, a human. The human being that was Caius stood only a few yards away from Lightning when he landed, so he stumbled the remaining steps over to her before he fell onto his back, panting and wounded.

"Are you alright?" he panted in pain, glancing over at Lightning.

"Yeah," she managed, though she wasn't sure. "You?"

"Yes."

It was a lie. She could tell that he was hurting just as badly as she was. His eyes were falling shut as he faded away from being conscious. Her eyes began to flicker shut as well.

"We did it, Caius," she said hoarsely, gazing at him as he fell into unconsciousness. "We did it." And then she joined him in the world of sleep.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Well that was an intense, action-packed chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it. ;3 I realized that last time I responded to some of the reviews, I forgot to answer some of the questions I was more looking forward to answering! So I'm gonna do that right now. :)

What first came to my mind when I first saw Lightning and Caius—I seriously thought they were going to be more personal rivals than what they were. I mean, standing back to back in that promo, with their hands so close to each others as if they could have been holding them at one point—Ugh, come on SE, they should have had a relationship or something to make the battle more personal than "Oh hey, I'm Caius, I wanna destroy the world" and "Oh hey, I'm Lightning, I wanna save the world. Seriously. On that note, I expected a lot more of Lightning than XIII-2 offered. I imagined Valhalla being an epic dungeon, but alas, they didn't do that. ): Those are my feels/thoughts/expectations that shattered as soon as I played the game.

Ok, onto this week's reviews:

Ballad Jr: You called me "Bro", but I'm actually a girl. xP And Lightning doesn't have to tell Caius her real name, because he already knows it (through the events that unfolded in that chapter and because he knows some details about Lightning already. He gathered some info to try and find a weakness in her.) Thanks, I will keep up the awesome work! xD

Jchongmeeluk: "How does Caius still have Bahamut but Lightning not have Odin?" Good question; I actually hadn't explained that at all. Basically, Caius IS Chaos Bahamut and Chaos Bahamut IS Caius. But in the case of Lightning, she isn't Odin and Odin isn't her. They weren't ever merged the way that Caius and Chaos Bahamut were so that Caius could transform into him. Does that make sense?

xxx- I look forward to seeing the fanart! I'm still in awe that my writing could inspire people to do something like that, so thanks for making me feel successful/special!

Hana-chan98- My username is indeed Peanut because I have a huge love of peanuts. xD Like, the food, not the Charlie Brown cartoons (though they are awesome too). One of the lead singers of my favorite band (Skillet) also has an obsession with peanuts. In the band podcasts, he just randomly cries out "I AM A PEANUT!" and it makes me laugh every time. xD So that is also a part of my name.

That's it for this week guys! I may start posting chapters a little more often at this point since I've worked very far ahead, but only if you guys promise to keep being awesome and review each chapter! I love you all!

Peanut