A/N: After another long wait, I finally bring you chapter XX. It was hard, in part because of university, as always, and I hardly could find time to keep writing. With this chapter, we leave behind Yusnaan's arc in second part of WoL.
This was also complicated because I wanted to do my best with Pandaemonium's way of speech. I wanted it to have an unique feel, and that wasn't easy. I don't know if it ended up the same way in English; some things get lost in translation despite my efforts. In any case, I hope you like it.
Wings of Light
| XX |
Demon
«Answer me, outsiders», that thunderous and mechanical voice repeated, echoing in the darkness. «Who are you? What have you come for?»
Lightning, Hope and Serah took several seconds to react. They looked around, but they found no sign of whoever spoke to them. The room was quite dimly lit, and they couldn't see any other person, or creature, in there.
Tension could be felt in the air: the three soon realized it wasn't just their impression. Little shiny particles started to float around them, and when Hope studied them more closely, he found out it was crystal.
"I feel as if electricity is coursing through inside me", the angel thought, surprised. "The ambience is charged with magic… Is this crystal a consequence of the abnormal concentration?"
Before he could keep thinking, Lightning broke the silence, in a somewhat hesitant voice Hope had never heard coming from her:
"We come in peace… We're looking for the fal'Cie that the tales say sleeps under the Palace of Yusnaan."
There was a pause. Then the monotonous voice spoke again:
«I am the fal'Cie that dwells in prison you call the Palace of Yusnaan», it imperiously said. «Pandaemonium is what they call me. Now let me see you.»
The lighting became stronger, but not because of the torches, but of something floating in the middle of the room. Something that gave off a bright red glow that contrasted with the blue torches in the walls.
«Come», the voice of fal'Cie Pandaemonium commanded. Lightning, Hope and Serah looked around in bewilderment; they saw nothing in there that looked like a fal'Cie, then again neither could say they knew how those beings were supposed to look like. According to the legends, they could take many forms.
Despite their suspiciousness, the trio walked toward the center of the room, from which the scarlet glow came. As they drew closer, they found out it was a huge red crystal hovering over a pedestal, marked with the same symbol the l'Cie brands of Lightning and Serah had.
"You're fal'Cie Pandaemonium?", Serah asked in awe. "This crystal?"
Lightning and Hope looked up at the crystal when Serah asked that question. "The fal'Cie is a crystal?", Hope was amazed. He'd expected some kind of giant mechanical creature; at least that was how he thought its kin physically manifested.
«You look surprised, human», the fal'Cie replied, and its voice seemed to echo in every corner of the room. «So it is. I have been this way for many centuries, a shadow of what I once was, to escape the gaze of the eyes of God. Imprisoned in this chrysalis, my power is much more difficult to detect.»
Hope was the most shocked by this revelation. So Pandaemonium had taken a form that God couldn't trace… or rather, that he couldn't. "So this is why I never detected any sign of fal'Cie magic on the surface. And I couldn't sense it while we were in Yusnaan, either."
«You know who I am», Pandaemonium said then, with a hint of suspicion. «Yet I do not know who you are. You say you come in peace, yet you have crossed through the angelic seal.»
There was again an awkward pause. Lightning and Serah looked sideways at Hope, who was in tension. It wasn't the first time they had warned him that Pandaemonium could take not pretty well that the angel of Bhunivelze, from who it had been hiding for millennia, found his way into its hideout.
"We're l'Cie, fal'Cie Pandaemonium", Lightning finally said, cautiously. "My name is Lightning, and this is my sister Serah. It's an honor to be in your presence."
Pandaemonium said nothing. It just shone with more intensity as the Farron sisters felt as if something studied them carefully.
«I see», the fal'Cie replied. «It seems your race still survives the Purge of God. However, you are not the only ones in my presence. Who is the young man who comes with you? His aura is unknown to me.»
Lightning and Serah hesitated again. Hope shifted uncomfortably; now he knew what he had felt seconds before, as if a huge eye was fixed on him. "Was it probing my aura?"
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium, this is who allowed us to come to you", Serah said; he turned to her, uneasy, but the younger Farron gave him a reassuring nod. "He's an angel. It's him who opened the angelic seal."
«An angel?», now there was no doubt that Pandaemonium's monotone tone was tinged with curiosity, besides its sudden brightness. «I understood that angels left Nova Chrysalia to never return after the fall of the Rising Star. In addition, you are different from the ones I remember. What are you in truth?»
The fal'Cie's question was strange, but it was also a risky one to answer. Hope was well aware of it, but as an angel he couldn't lie. And Pandaemonium most likely knew it.
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium–", Lightning began, but it cut her off:
«I want him to be the one who answers me. Speak, young creature.»
There was no choice, and Hope was forced to indulge.
"I am an angel, fal'Cie Pandaemonium. I was created by God and for thousands of years I have served him", he replied, bowing his head in respect. "But I disobeyed his orders and as punishment he ripped my wings off and banished me to the surface. Now I have given my word to these Eternals of assisting them in anything I am able to."
Pandaemonium's bright became stronger, which made Lightning and Serah slip their hands to their weapons' handle just in case the fal'Cie raged at the revelation. Hope didn't move, but stood still, head bowed, waiting for its reaction.
«Your words would be hard to believe if not because you are an angel», Pandaemonium finally said, a certain hardness in its voice, but at least it didn't seem to be hostile. «I have been hiding from your master for millennia. Yet what you say makes sense. Now I know you are an angel, I recognize your aura. Although it is different from other angels.»
"Different?", Serah said, intrigued. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you mean he doesn't have wings?"
Pandaemonium didn't answer right away. It was still shining brightly, and Hope hadn't stopped sensing it was scrutinizing him with great interest and a bit of distrust. "What does it find so interesting about me?", the angel wondered uneasily.
«An angel without wings is certainly a very unusual circumstance. To date, I have not seen throughout my long life any of them lacking wings», the fal'Cie said. «Yet I did not mean that. Your aura is different from the other angels I have met, perhaps by the fact you were made by God instead of my kin.»
"Does that really matter?", Lightning wanted to know; they had come to meet the fal'Cie in order to ask it about other more important questions, but now that Hope's nature had been brought up, she felt curious. "You fal'Cie created the angels, according to the tales. You sure know a lot about them."
«In the same way I created the Eternal race», Pandaemonium replied, «another of my kind gave birth to even more powerful servants. Although it shared its discovery with all my kin, only it, fal'Cie Eden from House of Lindzei, knew the real secrets behind the creation of angels.»
"Fal'Cie Eden created the angels in the first place?", Serah was surprised. "I've heard of it. Wasn't it the leader of House of Lindzei's fal'Cie?"
«At the time it was. Yet it was betrayed and killed prior to our alliance with humans to protect Nova Chrysalia. So fal'Cie Phoenix was who represented House of Lindzei in the covenant.»
Serah made as if she wanted to ask more, but Lightning beat her; she knew how much her sister was fascinated by the alliance between humans and fal'Cie's story, but they were sidetracking a lot from the reason that brought them there.
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium", the young woman said, "I assure you this angel no longer serves Bhunivelze. You can trust him, he won't betray us."
«It is indeed true his circumstances are unusual», the fal'Cie replied, «yet an angel is always bound to his or her master in one way or another, young Eternal.»
"But–"
«However, he is a unique case, having been banished by God», Pandaemonium went on, shining intrigued. «Long time nothing awakened my curiosity. Tell me, young angel, what is your name?»
Hope didn't know what to answer at first. He wasn't sure about what he should say. How come a fal'Cie was asking him his name? "Angels don't have names… Why is it asking me about mine?"
"Forgive him, fal'Cie Pandaemonium, he's a bit shy", Serah said then. "He's called Hope."
«Hope?», the fal'Cie repeated. «It is not an angelic name. Was that the name God gave you?»
The Farron sisters turned to Hope in bewilderment, but the truth was the angel was the most puzzled of all.
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium, 'Hope' is the name the Eternals who took me in gave me after my descent", Hope replied after a long hesitation. "God never gave me any name. He told me angels don't have names. We are just servants whose only purpose is to serve our master, and that's our only identity."
«Strange», Pandaemonium flashed intensely a few times. «Ever since they were born, fal'Cie always gave name to our angels. It is true they were meant to brand them as our servants, yet each one had his or her own identity and their names held their own meaning.»
"What?", Hope couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Fal'Cie, are you telling me… the angels did actually have names? Did all of them…?"
«So it is. I wonder why God refused to give yours to you, young angel. The name of angels held a very important meaning for us. They were our servants, yet that does not mean we did not worry about them. An unnamed angel would be a shame: it would imply him or her lacks self-consciousness, nothing more than a mere puppet.»
Hope stepped back, paler than usual and his eyes wide. If what Pandaemonium said was true, then… why Bhunivelze didn't give him a name? Would that mean it was his will that he lacked his own identity? "Is that what he wanted me to be?", the angel was shocked. "A mere… puppet? A creature without will?"
He felt then Serah's hand rest on his shoulder and he saw her looking at him with pity, but also trying to ease him. Lightning, too, gave him a comforting look, and that's when Hope remembered that, even though it wasn't the name meant for him, it had been the sisters who gave him one. Now he realized how relevant the gesture had been: from then on, the angel began to develop self-awareness.
«God has always been a mysterious figure for us», Pandaemonium said. «He never got involved in the war that shattered Nova Chrysalia. His children were those who tried to destroy the world they once entrusted to our kin. Yet the Order of Salvation claims to speak on his behalf and it is his will we should be destroyed for denying him. So it is no wonder that if he did create an angel, he would deprive him of his will. A servant unable to revolt, as Eternals and angels once did.»
"You don't look to like the idea of anyone denying their will to angels", Lightning noted; it was true, the fal'Cie sounded annoyed. "And you fal'Cie were who repressed the l'Cie and human rebellion."
«Those were different times», Pandaemonium shone strongly. «We thought humans were failed, imperfect creatures, and under our guidance and authority our kin thought we could give them a place in the world and use them to fulfill the task the Twin Gods burdened us with. Yet we never deprived them of what they needed to live. We ruled over humans and although they served us, we never denied them their identity. I was the fal'Cie who more insisted on giving your race the power to fend for herself. That is why I gave birth to Eternals, and I was the first of my kin who supported the rebellion against the Twin Gods. In the eyes of the gods perhaps that was what made me be remembered as the demon who led to their fall when it shared its power with humans.»
"Was it you who supported the rebellion?", Serah asked, quite interested. "Wasn't fal'Cie Fenrir who represented House of Pulse?"
«Fal'Cie Fenrir was the leader of House of Pulse, but this does not mean it was the first one who decided to take part», Pandaemonium explained. «I was the one who insisted. I sent my own servant to answer the call of goddess Etro.»
"Goddess Etro?", Hope looked up, a bit more composed after the shock of the previous revelation, and he turned to Lightning and Serah. "She is God's third daughter. What does she mean in all this? I don't remember you told me she took part in the war."
"So we didn't tell you?", Lightning crossed her arms. "Goddess Etro watched over the cycle of souls and the flow of Cosmic Chaos. When Pulse and Lindzei decided to destroy the world, Etro opposed her siblings and summoned the angels of all fal'Cie to help protect Nova Chrysalia. You could say they represented the goddess in the alliance."
"But it didn't last long", Serah sadly intervened, "because when they heard about it, Pulse and Lindzei sent their most loyal fal'Cie to kill her, and they succeeded."
Hope blinked in surprise.
"They killed the goddess?"
«So it is. Fal'Cie Barthandelus from House of Lindzei was responsible. It is also believed it was the Deceiver who killed fal'Cie Eden as well when it proposed an alliance with humans to defeat the Twin Gods», Pandaemonium said. «Following that vile murder, the balance of Nova Chrysalia was forever damaged without the supervision of the goddess.»
"In any case, you can't kill a deity just like that", Lightning noted. "That's why Pulse and Lindzei only could be sealed. You remember, Hope? Same thing with Etro: she was reduced to a crystal, in deep sleep and with just a fraction of her power."
"So you supported angelic intervention, fal'Cie Pandaemonium?", the angel asked. It was hard to believe so, coming from a demon.
The fal'Cie gave off an intense reddish glow. By now, Lightning, Hope and Serah had already figured that was its way of expressing what it felt, if a being like it could experience any kind of real emotion.
«Ever since the first moment the goddess demanded the angels to take part. It was my former servant, Abdiel, who delivered the Angelic Pledge in front of the leaders of the rebellion as representative of angels», Pandaemonium revealed. «She became the symbol of freedom for her people, and when the rest of my kin was destroyed or turned to crystal, I was the only one left alive to honor the covenant of fal'Cie. We both fought for freedom of our races and we face the consequences with dignity.»
"Abdiel? That was your angel's name?", Serah's face showed how curious she felt about the story, and she couldn't be blamed; not every day they could talk to the only fal'Cie left in the world, who had seen those events for itself. "So she was the legendary angel who represented all of them?"
«Yes. Yet her efforts granted freedom to her kin, she could never see the fruits of it», Pandaemonium's bright faded a bit, as if it was saddened. «Many angels were those who fell in war. Abdiel was one of them. In her name I decided to represent my kin as the last fal'Cie who would remain after our sacrifice. The bond between our angels and us was strong. Abdiel was a good servant and she fell with honor fighting for freedom.»
Lightning, Serah and Hope shared a look. They'd have never imagined fal'Cie could feel such appreciation for their servants, if they could actually feel anything. Well known was they lacked a heart and therefore they couldn't have feelings. And for Hope, that made him realize how different his life serving Bhunivelze had been from other angels. While Pandaemonium had honored its fallen servant as a representative of the covenant, God abandoned him in the mortal world without wings at the slightest hint of free will.
Then Pandaemonium spoke again:
«For such reason you are strange to me, young angel. You are very different from the rest of your kind I have met. Not only because of your aura, for your circumstances as well. An angel created by God, with no name nor wings. And after the angels left, you are the only one who walked Nova Chrysalia in more than 3000 years. Perhaps your coming is a sign that it is time that what was once hidden out has to see the light once more.»
At these words, Lightning suddenly looked up, remembering what had brought them to meet the fal'Cie. They had already lost a lot of time talking with it, and they couldn't keep chatting about history with Pandaemonium.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your thoughts, fal'Cie Pandaemonium, but we haven't come to you to chat about Hope", the young woman said; Serah frowned at her, but she said nothing. "Now that you mention what was hidden out, that's precisely what brings us here."
«I understand», the fal'Cie replied. «I gather that you seek to break the angelic seals that were left behind concealing the greatest secrets that remain untouched in our world.»
"Well, not exactly", Serah intervened. "I don't deny we might need to open some of these seals to find what we're looking for… But what brings us to your presence is the legendary artifact that's supposed to be able to grant its owner's deepest desires. I'm sure you've heard of the Heart of Bhunivelze."
A long silence. Pandaemonium issued a brief flicker, as if it was surprised, and then its red glow intensified, lightening up the l'Cie and the angel's faces.
«Indeed I know the story about the Heart of Cosmic Light», the fal'Cie said after that. «It is an ancient legend from time immemorial. For generations it was believed its owner would be chosen to liberate the lesser races from the yoke of gods, yet when our alliance defeated Pulse and Lindzei the legend was forgotten, nothing more than a myth.»
"But now our races are again under that dominion. The legend may not refer to the war against Pulse and Lindzei, but our current situation", Lightning remarked with a fierce gleam in her eyes. "If we get the Heart, we can bring back King Mikhail, and then we'll save our people when he claims what's rightfully his."
Pandaemonium shone at those words. Hope felt its interest, and then sensed the fal'Cie turning its attention to him again. He felt uncomfortable with its constant scrutiny.
«And for such reason you brought the young angel with you», Pandaemonium observed. «Only an angel can lead the legitimate owner of the Heart of Cosmic Light to its whereabouts. So reads the prophecy, and not without reason. Only an angel can open the seals of his kin left on the way.»
Lightning and Serah looked up at the fal'Cie at the same time. Unlike Hope, who stared at it without truly understanding what it meant, the Farron sisters got it immediately.
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium", Serah said with wide eyes, "so you know where the Heart is? Does it really exist?"
«I do not know such detail», was the fal'Cie's answer. «Yet I do know angels were the guardians of all secrets revolving around the Heart of Cosmic Light. In its day it was not given greater importance since it was just an old tale predicting the coming of a messiah that was no longer needed. In the aftermath of the Fallen Star's disappearance and the Purge the Order of Salvation carried out in the name of God, angels left the world through a portal and took the secret with them, away from evil hands.»
Lightning couldn't hide her disappointment. She'd expected Pandaemonium to know where the Heart of Bhunivelze was hidden. By its words, she understood it knew of its whereabouts… but if what it said was true, only the angels could answer her questions. And besides Hope, an angel who hadn't even known about the existence of more like him until recently, all the rest left Nova Chrysalia, and who knows in which dimension they'd be. "We've come all this way for nothing", she lamented, clenching her fists in frustration, desolated. "If even Pandaemonium doesn't know where the Heart could be, how will we find it? How can I bring Mikhail back, if I ever do?"
And in that moment, Hope broke the silence:
"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium, please let me ask you something. That portal you say the angels crossed to leave this world… Do you know where it was opened?"
Lightning and Serah turned to him, their expression puzzled. Even Pandaemonium seemed surprised by the question, judging by its brief flicker.
"Why are you asking that, Hope?", Serah wanted to know.
"Magic always leaves traces behind", he replied, not understanding why they were so surprised. "Specially powerful magic, and a lot of energy is required to open a portal. If we knew where that portal was opened, and if it was made by angelic magic, perhaps I could track its space-time coordinates and reactivate it."
The Farron sisters gave Hope a stunned look. Amazement came seconds later, and in Lightning's case, a renewed breath of hope in her heart, and she gripped the angel's arms and shook him vigorously:
"You can really do that?! Could you actually reactivate the portal, Hope?!"
"… I can try", Hope replied, somewhat taken aback by the enthusiastic reaction from the usually stoic Lightning, "but I can't guarantee you that I succeed."
"It's more than nothing!", Serah noted, exultant, and she turned to Pandaemonium. "Fal'Cie Pandaemonium, do you know where the angels opened the portal?"
The fal'Cie didn't answer right away.
«Angels left secretly. I cannot say I know for sure where they opened their portal», it replied at last. However, before despair flooded Lightning's heart for the second time, it added: «Yet as the nameless angel said, the magic of his kin leaves traces. I am more bound to magic than other fal'Cie, and I have been sensing for a long time the trail of angelic forces north of the Wildlands.»
Lightning and Serah gasped at the same time, unlike Hope who looked at them blankly, as usual. All the angel understood was that Pandaemonium's hint could lead them wherever the rest of his race had gone. And despite his limited emotional range, he felt a slight stirring inside at the idea. Or so he thought.
"In the Wildlands? Really?", Serah was genuinely surprised.
"Of course! You remember what the spirits told Vanille?", Lightning said, her eyes wide-open. "I know you weren't there, Serah, but Hope has to remember because he heard them too. Do you remember? Near the sea, the north winds… If it wasn't Yusnaan, it had to be the Wildlands!"
"And north of the Wildlands…", Serah mused. "That has to be quite close to Poltae. If so, we've spent years hanging around and the idea never even crossed our minds."
"What is Poltae?", Hope asked.
"It's a village. We'll tell you later."
«I am glad to hear the Haven still stands», Pandaemonium said. «If it is true you have asked the spirits of nature, and they have guided you to the same place, then follow their guide and go there. Perhaps you shall be able to find the exiled angels after more than three millennia. They may answer all the enigmas you are eager to unravel.»
Lightning was going to reply, but in that moment Hope suddenly raised his head and turned to the room's entrance, his eyes gleaming. The Farron sisters had already seen the angel's sixth sense in action more than once, and identified the symptoms: whenever Hope tensed, that generally meant 'danger'.
"What's wrong, Hope?", Serah asked him, alarmed. He briefly closed his eyes, focusing, and brought two fingers to his temple.
"I sense humans… They're drawing close. They are coming, and I think they don't have good intentions."
Lightning and Serah paled, and even Pandaemonium's bright seemed to fade. But Hope couldn't lie, and if he said people were coming for them, then it had to be true. As unlikely as the possibility was.
"What?!", Lightning could exclaim in disbelief after a shocked silence. "That's impossible! This place's supposed to be sealed and hidden by angelic magic! It should be undetectable!"
«The seal of this chamber is not like the seals conjured by the magic of Eternals you have come across with so far», Pandaemonium said then. «These seals close on their own once the threshold is crossed. Yet this one has to be closed manually each time you enter and exit it, since my power causes interference in the normal flow of angelic magic. Should I assume when you crossed the threshold you did not seal the barrier behind you?»
The two l'Cie and the angel looked at each other. The Farron sisters were livid in horror, and Hope, despite his usual marble-like expression, showed a spark of fear in his eyes.
«I see that is so», the fal'Cie gave off a strong glow. «Therefore they have detected our presence. Through the gap has leaked my power, without protection it is not difficult to sense. They may not know what is hidden here, yet once they find out, they shall not hesitate in destroying us all.»
"Damn!", no one knew better than Lightning what fal'Cie Pandaemonium's fall would mean; the young woman unsheathed her electric sword and made a brusque gesture to her sister and Hope. "We've got to get out of here and seal the gate before it's too late!"
Hope nodded, and Serah drew her daggers too before turning to Pandaemonium:
"We're sorry to leave you this way, fal'Cie Pandaemonium. We didn't really want to cause you any trouble! We'll protect you, we swear we won't allow any Secutor get in here!"
«You had no way of knowing about the seal», Pandaemonium replied, its bright fading to the point it almost extinguished. «Leave hastily, young creatures. I will enter stasis so the nameless angel can seal the threshold with no interference.»
Serah and Hope were quick to follow Lightning, who had started to run toward the chamber's entrance without stopping to bid farewell to the fal'Cie. Behind them, Pandaemonium's light completely faded, just like the supernatural fire from the torches, leaving them in total darkness, but by then the trio entered the corridor that would lead them to the antechamber where the sealed wall was… only that, as the fal'Cie said, it was no longer sealed. A mistake that could be fatal if they didn't get to it on time. "You idiot! Why didn't we make sure the entrance was sealed after we crossed it?", Lightning chided herself, furious; she'd been so eager to enter the fal'Cie's chamber so it would finally reveal her where the Heart of Bhunivelze was she overlooked that detail.
At last they saw a faint light in the distance, the gate they crossed before, and as they came closer, they noticed a soft golden glow in its boundaries; it was the open seal, and to the trio's horror, they also heard unknown distant voices.
When they got to the room of magic jails, the voices drew closer and closer. Her nerves to the skin, Lightning turned to Hope:
"Seal it! Quick, Hope!, what are you waiting for?!"
The angel shot her a look full of fear and insecurity.
"I… I don't know how, Light! Never… I've never done so!"
"Hell, I know you've never done so! But if you don't, we're all doomed! So do it now!"
"Calm down, Hope", Serah had noted the angel's unusual nervousness, and even though they couldn't blame him given the situation, that wouldn't help him. "Do you remember how you opened it? Just do the same! I'm sure you can think about something. Come on, try it!"
Hope wasn't so convinced, and kept glancing sideways at Lightning and around, undoubtedly sensing all the Secutors drawing closer. But he nodded and put a hand on the wall. It took him several seconds during which he had to slowly breathe to calm himself down, but at last the wall gave off an intense golden glow and the gap closed as it never existed before.
It was really on time, because in the moment the threshold was sealed, a group of Secutors, wearing the black uniforms of the Yusnaan division of the Order, went downstairs and reached that room, the deepest in the palace.
"Intruders!", one of them shouted, and all of them raised their bayonets. "Stop them!"
Lightning swore to herself. She cast as fast as she could a Protect spell to protect Serah and Hope from the burst of bullets that rained on them, and they bounced against the green barrier that appeared before them. Seizing the opportunity her sister gave her, Serah cast a Fira spell on the Secutors; two of them were caught on fire, and the others stopped the attack in surprise.
"They're mages!", one Secutor warned, a hint of panic in his voice, muffled under his helmet.
"No mage is so powerful to cast those spells so easily!", the one who seemed to be their leader replied. "They have to be l'Cie! And you know what we must do to those demons!"
"Damn it!", Lightning thought, pale. She hadn't stopped to think about the consequences of using magic before the Order's soldiers. It wasn't the same as when she faced those mercenaries in Luxerion's alleys: they probably didn't know to tell a powerful mage from a l'Cie, something the Order's members did know, since they were trained specifically for it, both soldiers and priests.
"Kill them!", the leader of the Secutors yelled. The soldiers got ready to strike again, but by then Lightning had already pounced on them, wielding her electric sword with a war cry. In mere five seconds, she killed three of the Secutors in a chain of quick and deadly accurate slashes.
"Let's go!", Serah touched Hope in his arm and ran to where her sister was dealing with the Secutors. The angel hesitated, but he finally shook his head and went to them.
The Secutors fired their weapons fast and furiously, but they had no chance against the two sisters fighting together. They both were perfectly coordinated, knowing each move from each other and eliminating anyone who dared stand before them, with their magic and sword and daggers. In only five minutes, Lightning and Serah had slain most of the group, and they were swiftly moving between the fallen Secutors' bodies.
Lightning had plunged her sword in one of the soldiers' belly when all of a sudden the last remaining one pointed his bayonet at her back. Serah shouted a warning, but she knew she'd not get in time to protect her sister…
And then, just when the Secutor fired, a green barrier appeared between Lightning and him, so the bullet bounced on the Protect spell directly towards the one who fired them. The soldier fell to the ground crying in pain when the bullet hit him in the leg; Lightning didn't hesitate a single second as she turned and killed him with a single stroke of her sword.
Serah turned to Hope, whose hand still was outstretched towards where he cast his Protect spell. It hadn't been as spectacular as before, during the fight against the Cyclops, but it certainly was stronger that any Protect Lightning and Serah could conjure.
"Thank you, Hope", Lightning sighed, nailing the sword in the ground, her hands slightly shaking because of the tension. "Though you could've helped us a bit earlier, don't you think?"
Hope glanced to the circle of corpses littered on the floor and the blood staining the ground. His expression was harder than usual, and she remembered how much the angel hated violence and bloodshed.
"I won't raise my hand against the lives I was entrusted to protect", he replied in a low voice. "I won't take the life from living things, but I can prevent you from being hurt. I know we have to kill them, but I won't. Sorry about that."
"Don't be sorry", Serah reassured him with a smile that belied her bloodied daggers. "Don't you worry, Hope. We'll do the fighting, and we'll do better if you protect us."
"Anyway, Serah, don't push yourself more than necessary. You know what's at stake", Lightning replied, and stood once again she regained her breath. "We've got to get out of here. I don't know if we killed all of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them slipped away to give the warning. And if the word that we're l'Cie spreads… you can imagine what comes next."
"They're coming", Hope said, his fingers on his temples. "There are many of them, and they want to hurt us."
"We can't kill them all, sis. If we do that, we'll get too much attention, and no one would doubt we're l'Cie", Serah intervened. "Not to mention these magical jails. They interfere with our magic, you know."
Lightning snorted. She hadn't thought of that. Now she had no choice: without their magic at full capacity, confronting all those Secutors was suicide. And, as her sister pointed out, killing so many would draw too much attention from the Order, and that could bring Snow a lot of trouble.
"Right", she finally said, "we'll find a solution to this. If we go to the upper floors, we'll find the supply railways to the monorail. We'll escape from them."
"Why don't we escape from where we came in?", Hope asked.
"You really think we have time to find that one? It's loads easier to find the railways. Besides, that's a secret passage. We're not going to lead those bastard Secutors in there."
And without waiting for any reply, Lightning gestured to them and ran upstairs. With no choice, Serah and Hope followed her, leaving behind the circle of Secutor corpses.
They didn't get too far, despite Lightning's rush. In the next room, when they were about to reach the stairs that would get them to an upper floor, another group of soldiers came down, guns drawn.
Lightning, Serah and Hope were forced to stop in their tracks and prepare to fight. In case they needed more confirmation, by the time it was clear it wasn't going to be easy getting out of that prison.
"But I won't stop", Lightning thought, fierce determination in her blue eyes as she raised her sword. "You're not gonna stop me now that I know where I have to go."
And if she had to break through all those solders… so be it.
"Slay the demons!"