Tainted fal'Cie
A/N: Another chapter is up! Thanks everyone for your patience, reviews and support.
A huge thank you goes to EliteSky for being my beta reader.
I have once again made another Final Fantasy XIII video. This time, it's about the loveable Sazh! It's titled Kung Fu Sazh. You can find it here: www[dot]youtube[dot]com/watch?v=Afync1iOLHw
For the unsigned reviewers, my replies are below:
Riku91 – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. I did my best to throw in some comedy in there, despite not having the confidence about it being any good in the first place. Lol. As for Fang and Vanille's appearance, you're not the only one wondering about it. Some other reviewer have had questions about how they appeared and such. All I can say is that I left that part intentionally vague. In much later chapters, it will be expanded on and explained. For now however, just enjoy the things to come with these two back into the fray of things. Hehe.
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 21: Picking up the Pieces ~ ***
Etro sent her messengers to a chosen few
With their help, man knew what to do.
Restore the balance between the seen and unseen world
Before at the seams all life came unfurled.
- the Last Scroll of Etro
Muffled sounds pulled Lightning from her uneasy slumber. The bed was hard and rocky under her back. One hand was clenched between something warm and soft. And her head rested on something silky and smooth.
A faint ripple of laughter. And an accented chuckle.
Lightning's brows furled, the sounds around her increasing in volume, becoming less garbled.
"… she… alright?"
"… stop your… fine…"
… settle down… behemoth…"
Lightning groaned, partly in frustration at the incoherent conversations around her and partly due to the soreness running rampant through her body.
"… waking up!"
The corners of Lightning's eyes creased, her blue eyes opening slowly. An intense light drove invisible daggers into her eyes, the pink haired sergeant growling as she immediately closed them. The presences around her seemed to understand her plight and Lightning soon found her face shaded from the harsh afternoon sun.
"For someone with a name like Lightnin', she sure doesn't like the light too much, does she?" Another chuckle.
"If you think that's bad…" another voice said, this time a bit farther away. "Try waking her up in the morning."
"Oh? Is that a challenge old man?"
"Hey now! I'm not that old! Seriously!"
A tremble ran through her, the thing under Lightning's head rumbling to the sound of laughter. Lightning's expression scrunched up again, a mix of annoyance, irritation and frustration. Did they all have to be so loud? What did it take to get some sleep around here? Maker knows she, out of everyone, needed it the most. But seeing as how she wasn't going to rest in peace anymore, Lightning attempted to open her eyes again.
"Wakey, wakey Sunshine."
Lightning stiffened. Blue eyes blinked rapidly a few times, the muddled forms overhead finally sharpening into recognizable figures.
"Claire?" A hand reached across her vision and brushed some pink locks of hair from her eyes.
"Se…rah?" Lightning's voice croaked, her throat incredibly dry. There was such relief on Serah's face though, and Lightning realized it was her sister who held her hand tightly. The younger Farron knelt next to Lightning on her left.
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh she'll be as right as rain, this one. She's tough as a rock. And just as stubborn."
Lightning's gaze moved upwards to stare at the face closest to her. Emerald eyes glinted in delight.
"Hey Lightbug, did ya miss me?" A wink.
"Fang." Lightning's eyes went wide. But before she could shoot up from the Pulsian's lap, a strong hand held her shoulder down.
"Oh no ya don't! Not this time missy," Fang said grinning. "I don't fancy another head butt as a welcome back greetin.'"
A giggle erupted opposite Serah, and Lightning found herself staring at a familiar red head.
"Hiya Light!" Vanille waved, bubbly as ever. "Had a nice nap?" The younger Oerban tilted her head to the side and smiled.
"About damn time soldier."
Lightning's gaze moved over to Sazh, the older man standing a few steps behind Vanille. With his hands on his hips, Sazh bent forward, peering just past the younger girl's shoulder to look at her.
"For a moment there, we thought you had died again." Sazh shook his head, a very relieved expression on his face. "Stop pulling our legs like that, would you?"
A flush rose to Lightning's porcelain cheeks. So she almost died once. So what? What's the big deal? It seemed her family wasn't going to let her hear the end of that one.
"You had us worried there Light." Hope stood next to Serah, a look of both concern and relief also on his face.
"How long have I been out?" Lightning again moved to sit. This time Fang and Serah helped her as she slowly got her bearings back.
"Only about three hours." A tall shadow fell upon Lightning, booted feet walking up to her own. Lightning's gaze moved upwards noting a white trench coat, blonde hair and a black bandana.
"Three hours?" Lightning gaped at Snow. "Why didn't someone try to wake me up?"
The blonde sentinel shrugged. "The bad guys were beat and you seemed to need the sleep."
"Tch." Lightning scrambled to her feet. Well… not exactly scrambled. It was more like Lightning struggled and staggered to her feet, much to the protests of her family. But Lightning was stubborn. Stubborn like a chocobo. And when she wanted to get on her feet, even the fal'Cie couldn't stop her.
"What happened to Kokko?" Lightning immediately surveyed the scenery around them, ignoring the wobble in her stance.
"Co… Co…?" Sazh looked at her in confusion.
"The big nasty we just fought. Remember Sazh?" Vanille chuckled. "His name is Kokko. Koe-Koe." The red head slowly pronounced the Shadowed Four's name.
A steadying arm wrapped around her shoulders. Lightning flinched at the contact.
"Easy Sunshine," Fang murmured, so as not to draw attention to them. Sazh was currently being teased by the rest of the gang for getting old and losing his memory.
"No one's gonna hurt ya. Not with me around again."
Lightning reluctantly turned her head towards Fang. "You're real… right? I'm not… dreaming?"
Fang smiled softly, her gaze never leaving Sazh as the man now stamped his foot in frustration. That only made Vanille giggle more.
"As real as the air yer breathin' love. Oerba Yun Fang keeps her promises, yeah?"
A small smile crept up on Lightning's face. She relaxed under Fang's supportive arm. "Yeah…" she said quietly.
Lightning shifted her weight back and forth between her feet. Despite the immense happiness beating within her heart, for some reason, Lightning couldn't but feel uneasy. Like something was off, and she couldn't quite place it. It was like an itch she couldn't quite scratch hard enough. Maybe she was just tired.
"How's Cocoon?" Lightning inquired, her gaze inspecting the crystal tower.
"Captain Rydgea and some of the engineers from New Oerba arrived moments ago" Serah answered for her. "They're taking a look at it now."
Serah stood next to Lightning and Fang, having pulled away from the rest of the family who continued to tease Sazh about his age. Lightning felt Fang drop her arm from her shoulders, to allow Serah to snuggle up to her. The smaller Farron wrapped her arm around Lightning's and rested her head against the soldier's shoulder. "It doesn't look good…"
Lightning almost missed that last part, Serah having whispered it. Serah tightened the grip around Lightning's arm, all of them inspecting the damage left in the wake of the tainted l'Cies' attack.
The once beautiful crystal blue marvel was now in fragments. The crystal tower itself was fractured and cracked from top to bottom. Chunks of crystal that rivalled the size of Titan had broken off in more than a few places, collecting in heaps of shattered glass around the base.
Cocoon itself was fractured. The shifting from the broken pillar twisted the hollow ball in a few different directions at once, ripping it in multiple places. Every so often, a low groan rumbled through the quiet air, everyone tensing anxiously as they waited to see if Cocoon would further disintegrate. Thankfully it did not. Cocoon was in a limbo of sorts, between staying solid and collapsing completely.
"I'm no engineer…" Sazh said, the rest of the family coming together again around Lightning. "But even I can tell you that looks bad."
The group of former l'Cies stared at the crystal pillar, silently lost in their thoughts.
"Uh oh…" Everyone turned to Hope. "We've got trouble."
Six pairs of eyes followed Hope's gaze.
"That guy just doesn't learn, does he?" Sazh's voice held a hint of irritation.
"Seems like he's brought a few friends along this time too." Fang immediately reached for her spear strapped on her back and unhooked it.
"He?" Lightning narrowed her eyes at the oncoming mob of people. Well, she wouldn't call them a mob. It was a group of maybe fifteen people at most, one particular man leading them all towards them.
This particular man seemed to be shorter than the rest of the group he was leading. By about half a head. He was portly around the midsection, balding probably. Though that last part was more an assumption than an observation on Lightning's part. The way he swaggered towards them indicated he wasn't a fitness buff and probably didn't do much in terms of exercise aside from moving his mouth. Lightning's lips pressed into a fine line.
The sergeant had seen his type before. Much too often back on Cocoon. While soldiers like her were out in the field, getting hurt and possibly dying to protect the people, people like him were sitting in their offices, smoking cigars and wondering what kind of champagne to order with their lunch. A lunch big enough to feed three people. The fact that his eyes were beady and almost midnight black didn't help his cause either. Lightning had already made up her mind about the fellow, and she wouldn't be disappointed in her assessment of him.
"Back when you were still out, he stumbled across us," Hope said, standing just behind Lightning to her right. "When he figured out who we were, he started cursing us for bringing death upon us. Us being Cocoon survivors. Fang chased him off earlier."
"But now he's back," Lightning said, less than pleased. She didn't have time for this. Nor was she in any mood right now to deal with ignorant fools either.
"Filthy l'Cie!" the man in question spat.
Lightning couldn't stop the look of disgust from forming on her face as she watched spittle fly from the man's lips. He certainly looked worse for wear. Life on Gran Pulse was not in his favour apparently.
"Wasn't it enough you ruined our homes and cursed us to live in this hell!"
"And jus' what would ya know about hell lil' man?" Fang growled. As hard as it was to take someone two heads shorter than you seriously, the Pulsian warrior did not take kindly to her home being called hell.
The man ignored Fang and continued his rant. "How many more people must you kill before you are satisfied!"
"That thing was not our fault!" Snow interjected. Snow was used to this type of ignorant, misinformed people from the days the government lied to him back on Cocoon. But even so, he didn't appreciate being called a killer. Moreover, from someone who ran away at a moment's notice of danger, screaming like a girl. No offence to girls of course.
"Sure it wasn't," the man said, jeering at the group.
Scanning the rest of the faces of this anti-l'Cie group, Lightning noticed they too wore looks of disdain, and anger. All directed at them. But no matter how scary they tried to make themselves look, even waving those makeshift weapons they had in hand, they were still cowards. Lightning narrowed her eyes at the first one to lock gazes with her. She smirked inwardly as the man withered under her gaze. These were no fighters. No, they were just scared people looking for a scapegoat to blame all their worries on. And it just so happened that they, that being Lightning and the rest of the former l'Cies, were the first target of such things. How ridiculous.
"Why the primarch even let you live-"
Lightning was starting to wonder just how many spineless cowards lived on Cocoon. She was glad to have her eyes opened and to learn the truth. But these people, these fools, they seemed content in living a lie, having their every decision made for them. And when the time came for them to start living their own life, being the mindless automatons that they were, they didn't know what to do. Rather than live life and enjoy the freedom they now had, they instead chose to blame the very people who freed them from their slavery.
"The Purge was-"
Apparently the man continued to jabber on as Lightning pondered the whole absurdity of the situation they were in. Without even looking at those around her, Lightning could already tell the others were anxious and on edge. And surprisingly quiet. Especially Fang. Lightning sighed in annoyance.
No good would come of a brawl here. Not only would the former l'Cies win, having magic and all, it would only further this man's claim on how they were the Etro's demons and all that other nonsense. Lightning glanced over to Fang on her left. As quiet as the Pulsian warrior was, Fang looked ready to gut the man at a moment's notice. But not before Lightning did it herself first.
"Why you filth-"
"This is getting old," Lightning said, startling the man out of his rantings. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Her head was absolutely throbbing.
"H-how dare yo-"
"No," Lightning said firmly, not hiding the disgust in her voice. "How dare you! Rather than help the wounded and possibly save someone's life, here you are trying to put all of the blame on us for driving back those things and preventing the loss of more lives, including yours!"
The man looked at Lightning incredulously. The rest of her family looked at her, rather stunned as well.
"We brought down Cocoon, yes," Lightning admitted. "If you want to hate us for that, fine, hate us for that. Hate us for the fact we opened your eyes and revealed the lies being fed to you by the very people sworn to protect you. Hate us for showing you the truth. Hate us for giving you the chance to finally, finally make your own choices and live your own life instead of a life made of lies. But don't you dare blame us for the choices you have made since then and the outcomes that result from those choices! Not when we were fighting to save lives just now, while you were running away with your tail between your legs and did nothing!"
Lightning was breathing heavily now, her hands clenched tight into fists. She wanted nothing more than to wring this guy's neck with her bare hands and be done with it. How dare he! Lightning was furious. In all her years as a Guardian Corps soldier, she had had her fair share of political bureaucracy at its finest. All for what? Greed. Politics. Power. Was that all humanity was good for? After all this time, this man, these people, did they have nothing better to do than to hold this stupid grudge because they couldn't grow up, grow some balls, and take accountability for themselves for once?
Lightning was seething. Oh how she was seething. And the man gaped at her like a fish out of water, unable to accept that she actually told him off, pointing out the truth no less. But that was nothing compared to the reaction she got from her next few words.
"If I really wanted you dead, I could have killed you even before you opened that big mouth of yours."
There was such terror in the man's eyes, in all of their eyes, the man himself trembling while back pedaling away from her.
"Do you want me to? Name your poison. Fire? Thunder? Water? What will it be? I would gladly choose one for you if only to shut you up!"
Something clamped down hard on her wrist, and Lightning quickly found herself face to face with Fang.
"Lightnin', enough!" the Pulsian said, tightening her grip.
The dark Thundaga that had been forming in her hand fizzled out. Lightning blinked. "F-Fang?" When had she summoned a Thundaga?
The mob of people took that moment to run away from the former l'Cies, screaming. Fang's expression softened, the warrior and the rest of the gang breathed in relief. Lightning turned to look at the rest of her family and then back at her restrained hand. What just happened? Was she really about to use magic on a civilian?
"Ya had me worried there for a moment Sunshine," Fang said, her voice soft with concern.
"You weren't actually going to hurt them, were you, Light?" Vanille popped into view next to Fang. "I mean, you were just going to scare them away with that, right?" The red head bit her lip nervously.
"I…" Fang released Lightning's wrist, the soldier taking a step back.
"Claire?" Serah was right beside her, hands wrung in front of her tightly.
"I… don't know…" Lightning reluctantly admitted.
Sazh's brows furled, brown eyes moving back and forth between their leader and the fleeing mob of people that had confronted them. There was an uneasy tension in the air right now. No one had ever seen Lightning lose her cool like that before. Well, there was that one time she did against the fal'Cie Anima when Serah turned to crystal. And the sergeant did have a tendency to smash Snow in the face a lot with her fists. But she had never openly attacked people with the intent to kill before. Anima deserved that fate, and was a fal'Cie, so it didn't count.
"C'mon," Snow said wrapping an arm around Lightning's shoulders. She stiffened under the contact, but didn't make any move beyond that. She didn't even look at him or punch him. And that made the blonde frown more than he was already doing.
Snow shook off his current thoughts and continued. "We've all had a long day and could use some rest. How about we head back home and throw that huge party we promised when Fang and Vanille came back? Yeah?" Snow flashed his signature smile at the two long lost family members.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Vanille said jumping up in excitement. She was very grateful for the change in topic. "I call dibs on the flancakes!" The red head giggled.
"Flancakes?" Sazh just chuckled and shook his head. He too was thankful for the change in topic. "Kids and their sweets."
"Last one home has to clean up the dishes!" Hope darted off before anyone could react.
"Hope! That's not fair!" Vanille squealed chasing behind him.
Snow looked at Serah, and then back at Lightning, and then back to Serah. In one fluid motion, he scooped Serah off her feet, Serah squeaking in surprise. "We don't want to be cleaning dishes now, do we?" Snow grinned.
Snow looked back to Lightning. "I would have picked you up too Sis, but you run fast enough as it is. And I'm hungry!" Snow laughed and took off after the two youngsters with Serah in his arms.
Sazh shook his head. "I'm too old for this." And even he took off running after the rest of them.
Fang turned to Lightning. "Excited bunch, aren't they?" The Pulsian frowned when she received no response.
Lightning was staring at her hand.
The Oerban scratched the back of her head, her gaze wandering over the fleeting backs of her companions. Reaching over, she intertwined her fingers with Lightning's.
"Fang?" Lightning looked up at her, confusion in her eyes.
Fang gave her a grin. "C'mon Sunshine, we don't wanna be left behind now." Nodding forward, Fang took off sprinting with Lightning in tow.
The trip home was rather uneventful. Chocobos were secured, just outside the immediate area surrounding Cocoon and the gang made it back to New Oerban just as night fell. Lightning was especially quiet on the ride back home, both Vanille and Fang keeping a watchful eye over her much to the oblivion of the other team members. There were many things that still had yet to be said. That would be rectified soon, but first the gang faced a more immediate problem.
Upon arrival to New Oerban, nine Guardian Command soldiers blocked their path. "That's far enough," one of the soldiers said holding up his hand in a stopping motion.
"Something wrong, son?" Sazh hesitantly looked between the soldiers. The former l'Cies knew every one of the Guardian Command soldiers in town, but the men that stood before them now were completely new. Not to mention they had never been stopped like this before reaching town either.
"I'm sorry sir," the soldier who had spoken before said. "But we cannot allow you to enter the settlement."
"But we live here," Snow said in confusion. "Just let us pass and we'll be on our way." The blonde frowned. Something fishy was going on.
The soldier shook his head. "I'm sorry sir, but I'm under strict orders to prevent you from entering town until further notice."
"On whose orders?" Lightning demanded.
"Captain Rydgea's ma'am."
A/N: Now before anyone jumps up and down on me for Fang's use of 'love' with Light, I just want to clarify that she used it in a friendly manner and not in the sense of them being lovers. Fang and Vanille are lovers. Fang and Light are just really close friends.