So hey guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of Revenant Wings!

I was super stoked to finish off this chapter today, despite the fact that I had to retype, well... all of it, because my laptop failed me once again. *sighs* But that's alright... really, I only cursed at it for about half an hour or so, because I got one of the most awesome reviews of my life last night for Nascent Requiem. I mean, a lot of them were really heartwarming, but this one... I could've cried. Someone actually went and did a recording for Chapter 1 of Nascent Requiem and gave me the link. *bawls* Thank you so much to hee7! o3o

But thank you and love go to: Mylaervain (and no worries—technology fails us all at some point *grumbles*), LawMan (and I'm in Pharmaceuticals n_n), That One Reviewee (yeah, that is actually true—didn't think of that!), GKMader (yes... they do. But unfortunately I'll be dangling "separation" over their heads for awhile longer... sadly), and Tager96 (thank you very much! :3). You guys are seriously awesome, and I can never thank all my supporters enough. ^w^

So anyways, enjoy as always! (:

Chapter 21: Artificial Life

Flicking her gaze upwards, Lightning kept her back pressed against the trunk of the gnarled tree as she had been for the last half hour or so, intently studying the structure of the stone temple and the behaviour of the Meurites that guarded it. There was only one way in—of that, she was sure. There has to be a way to sneak by them.

It would be stupid—and suicidal—of her to hope that she would be able to simply charge in and take on all the Meurites head on. Biting down on her bottom lip, she took in, once again, the sight of the six guards that were positioned in front of the dark entranceway and the four circling Meurites that flew above the stone structure. Lightning knew her capabilities—and current mental stability—well enough to know that that was a fight that would be lost before it had even begun. If there was someone else here, I'd ask them to go for a distraction; anything to draw them away from this area... even for fifteen minutes.

Suddenly sure of what she was going to do, she ducked under the wide expanse of leaves that the gnarled tree offered. Silently making her way through the forest, she paused under the branches of one of the taller ones perhaps five minutes later. It was less suited for climbing than the one she'd found last night... but she had no other choice. This is the only thing I think might work...and between charging straight into a horde of guards and a plan that might succeed... I'll take the latter. There was plenty for her to lose...but there was also a world for her to gain if it actually worked. Anything worth doing... has its risks.

Keeping that thought to heart, Lightning stabbed her omega weapon into the tough plant material, using the gunblade to pull herself upwards. It was slow going—the trunk was smooth and slippery and the branches she could've used as elevation were few and far between; it was nearly ten minutes later that she was precariously balanced on the highest branch that would support her weight. From her new vantage point, she could see straight across most of the other tree tops, right at the circling Meurites above the tip of the stone temple that was just visible above the tree line.

She would've liked to take the shot she was currently contemplating kneeling on one knee on the branch, hidden from immediate view by the dense foliage that the tree offered, but now that she was actually up here, Lightning could see that it wasn't really going to work: the leaves obstructed her view enough as it was, and standing was always the position in which she had the best accuracy. And I can't fuck up.

She was perfectly aware she had one chance to do this—if she indeed messed up somewhere in the next five minutes or so, she would be digging herself a deeper hole than the one she was already in. Gripping the leaves that grew in abundant bunches on the wide branch, she pulled herself into a standing position, flicking the omega weapon into gun mode.

Lightning wasn't really all that surprised to find that her fingers held a fine tremble to them that she couldn't control. As determined as she was to make sure she was doing everything she could to keep her inner wasteland under control, the sad truth was that she still couldn't shake off the clinging vestiges of last night's dream—and the memories it instantly brought up. Serah... Hope. I promised... I'd try to do the right thing this time around, I promised... Trying to shove those emotions underneath a calm and composed exterior was something she could no longer do—the fact that she was still shaking was tantamount to that.

But what pained her was that it was starting to eat into things that normally would've quelled those feelings: action—keeping herself focussed on a goal—was something that always pushed those feelings somewhere below her immediate consciousness, allowing her to concentrate. I know it's bad... when I can't even do that. It hadn't taken much more than a recurring nightmare to reinstill the same sense of defeated guilt inside. What's the point? How do I know anything that I do will help? How do I know that he's not...

She wanted to screech at herself to stop—thinking that way wasn't going to bring her closer to him in any way, shape, or form. But how do I know that this won't lead me back to... As much as she hated herself for thinking those thoughts, Lightning didn't find those particular painful memories far from her current state of mind: the Purge, the palace in the far northern reaches of Gran Pulse, the hospital... things from a past she couldn't put behind her. Hope...

Those same selfish, pathetically needy fingers were back, gripping her throat and chest in an infinitely tight vise-like hold. I wanted it to work out... but in reality... he deserves someone so much better. He deserves someone that can actually let go of her past.

Stop, she chastised herself angrily, You can't think about that now. You have a job to do, Farron... do it. Whether she wanted it to stop because she needed to concentrate, or whether that thought was just too painful for her to continue, Lightning didn't want to know. Taking a breath and willing it to calm the breathing and heartbeat that was much too rapid and uncontrolled for her liking, she refocussed her attention on the circling pattern of the Meurites just above the top of the temple. Her heartbeat was still pulsing through her throat, but the forced pattern of breaths she was making her body adopt gave her a illusory sense of control. Not ideal... but I'll take it.

Raising her omega weapon to shoulder height once again, she clenched her fingers around the handle—a little too tightly, but her right hand stopped shaking when she did it. Okay... calm down. This isn't supposed to be hard. On any other day, she might've had no qualms about the target she currently had in mind: it was nowhere out of range and she was in a relatively good position to do it. Stop, just stop, she commanded her body. I just want to do this without...

She had to cut herself off before that train of thought could continue.

Her index finger tightened on the trigger, waiting for the Meurite that she was currently targeting to make its way back to the side of the circle that would be closer to her tree. The moments seemed to stretch on in silence, and Lightning realized she felt as tense as she might've done on her first mission outside of the academy. It was ridiculous, of course—she hadn't been a rookie for the better part of seven years—and there was nothing about this particular shot that was supposed to be challenging: she didn't even have to hit the Meurite dead on. Just something to hopefully make them think there's an attack coming in this direction.

It was a steep bet, to be sure, but there was nothing else for it: it was the only thing she could attempt on her own and out of all the plans she'd mulled over back at that tree near the clearing, this one had the best chance of success. Of course, if it failed, then all of this could just be a giant waste of time, but Lightning wasn't going to let this opportunity—like she had so many others—slip through her fingers. There has to be something there that's important.

The shot caught the Meurite in question in the wing; she stayed put long enough to watch it spiral to the ground before leaping off the branch in one fluid motion. Dangerous, yes, but it was time that was essential to her now; she wasn't going to waste it by climbing down branch by precarious branch. Landing with her knees bent to absorb the impact, it only took her a few heartbeats to recover from the fifty-foot drop; she would've liked to have her Grav-Con unit with her for it, but the small item was one of the things she hadn't had the luxury of snagging from a military locker before their frantic flight from Eden.

Pushing her body into a sprint, Lightning was past caring about the amount of noise she might've been making—the screeches and yowls of the Meurites in the distance drowned out all sounds her feet might've made on the forest floor. Dark shadows swooshed overhead, momentarily darkening the sky above, and she could hear the crashing sound of loud footsteps about seventy yards to her right—not a distance they could spot her from with the vines and undergrowth that seemed abundant in this area of the humid forest.

Skidding to a halt at the edge of the clearing, she flicked her weapon into sword position: there were two Meurite guards left, anxiously prowling at the entrance of the temple. Slowly creeping forward, pressing each footstep into the grassy plain that surrounded the stone structure so as to ensure her progress was silent, the two guards didn't notice her until it was too late.

She buried a bullet into the back of the neck of the first before the two were even aware that someone was approaching them. The second swiped at her head with outstretched claws before she met its second blow with her weapon straight on. Locked into a standstill, Lightning narrowed her eyes—she knew perfectly well that it was physically stronger than her: she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

Thinking fast, she shoulder rolled to the side, ducking underneath the retaliatory strike the moment the pressure of her weapon was removed from its claws. But she had already won—even though the Meurite didn't know it yet, its clumsy attack had already created the opening she was looking for. Dragging the serrated edge of her gunblade up its side, the tip of her omega weapon met flesh... then bone.

The Meurite dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

Quickly stepping over it, Lightning set her gaze on the dark entrance to the stone temple; for some reason, the sight of the entrance made her think of the dark tunnels in their last journey that had seemed all too intent on swallowing them whole... literally and figuratively. I can't think about that now. Maybe... just maybe, if I do things right this time...

The thought was arbitrary... a result of her foolish hopes and dreams—she was under a time limit and this was certainly no time to be standing around the entrance dawdling—but as she cautiously made her way into the stone temple, Lightning could feel the familiar emptiness take over the slight flicker of hope that it created. Who am I kidding... for all I know, I could never make things right again.

Red-gold sunlight bounced in glaring arcs from the mountains opposite, as Hope opened his eyes for the third time after finally drifting to sleep. The first time, he'd been simply woken up by Snow's snoring that could be heard even above the howl of wind.

But the second time was the time he didn't want to think about—even after returning to an uneasy sleep, the nightmare still clung to him like a child clinging to its mother. Usually nightmares in themselves didn't bother him—the fears they presented were assuaged simply by waking up. A small flush of heat crept up his neck and throat at the thought: Usually... usually they have something to do with losing her. It's okay after I realize... she's still there. But in the light of recent events, that source of comfort was no longer there. It wasn't a surprise to him now that those nightmares spoke directly to his innermost fears, the ones he was struggling to hide beneath a normal disposition.

But I'm not... I'm not going to hide from them. That was a sentiment that was surprisingly easy to cling to, surprisingly easy to accept despite his earlier uncertainties. As disturbing as the nightmare had been, it had somehow reinforced the fact that he had to find her. I'm not going to let that happen, I'm not going to let that happen... Using the fear that the nightmare had instilled in him proved to be fuel instead of a weight that dragged back at his shoulders.

Suddenly desperate to get moving, Hope scrambled to his feet, shielding his eyes from the glare of the rosy morning sun. Peering over the snow stacks he'd made last night at the entrance to the small cavern, all he could see was a pristine, unbroken field of snow stretched over the treacherous mountain range. If Sazh and his chocobo had come sometime during the night, their tracks had been erased by the storm.

That particular thought was worrying, but Hope was painfully aware of the fact that he couldn't do anything about it now—he had no sense of direction to begin with... And they could've gone anywhere. He couldn't even see the wreck of the hoverplane from here; even though he had the feeling that they hadn't actually walked that far in the snow yesterday... there would be no point in looking for it: there was nothing else of value that would have survived both the fire and the ice.

Methodically checking that he still had his weapon and the last few manadrives, Hope cast a furtive glance back at Snow, who was still snoring by the coals of the dying fire. Deciding that this would be a good time to wake him up, he made his way cautiously over to the blond brawler, prodding him on the shoulder once.

It took some effort to wake Snow up—Hope suspected he'd spent the better part of fifteen minutes trying. But finally, the fighter rubbed his eyes against the morning sun, muttering under his breath. "S'morning already? I could sleep for the rest of my life."

Choosing not to respond to that comment, Hope wandered over to the entrance of the cavern with the intent to let Snow come to the rest of his senses by himself. Carefully testing the thick blanket of icy flakes with his foot, he wasn't surprised to find that the layer of snow was halfway up his calf before his foot hit something solid. It's going to be tough going anywhere...

While the brilliantly coloured sunbeams on snow was an infinitely more welcoming landscape than the one they'd walked out into the night before, it also highlighted to him just how far from anything they actually were. All Hope could see around him were mountains—but these weren't the mountains they easily scaled in the Pass of Paddra, or the Yaschas Massif. These were mountains in which he couldn't even see the bottom of from his vantage point—the turquoise ribbon of a river far beneath the peaks of the grey stone was no thicker than the width of a pencil. The sight of the tops of the surrounding mountains, highlighted in the rosy morning hues of pink and orange, struck him with an odd realization... of how insignificant he actually was in the face of things.

A dull crunch of boots on snow distracted him from those musings. "Bit bright, isn't it?" Snow was holding a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of sunlight as the blond brawler struggled through the snowdrifts to reach the edge of the mountain trail where Hope was standing. "Anything you see?"

Shaking his head, Hope scanned the area around them one more time; not finding a familiar sight in any of his surroundings, he cast a glance upwards to the peak of the mountain they were currently on. Snow was staring upwards as well, musing out loud. "Why don't we go up? See if we can see anything?"

Why can't we just go down? He didn't see the point of continuing to go up—Hope doubted there would be anything of value to them at the very peak—and it would inevitably turn out to be a giant waste of time. Besides... we could run into Sazh on the way down. He'd just been about to voice this particular thought when Snow's hand gripped him on the shoulder. "Look," he hissed.

Flicking his gaze up again, following the blond's, Hope caught the sight of wings against the periwinkle blue sky. Apprehension suddenly gripped his stomach in tight knots: he had absolutely no doubts as to what that was. Why are they here? He had a feeling it couldn't be anything good... But do I want to find out?

He didn't have a choice in the matter: Snow was already racing up the mountainside as fast as the thick snowbanks would allow. "W-wait!" he called after the fighter, even though he knew his shout had zero chance of making Snow stop: when Snow was in one of his determined moods, there was little anyone could do about it. And I can't really leave him alone...

Chasing after the brawler, Hope was infinitely glad for the fact that Snow had broken ground on the heavy snow that lay in their path—all he had to do was follow exactly in Snow's footprints and he himself wouldn't have much trouble climbing the mountainside after him. The only thing was... Snow made about two steps to every three of his—though the prints made it easier for Hope to follow, it was a struggle to keep up with Snow's pace.

I just hope whatever's up there is worth all this trouble.

Casting a quick glance down the hallway behind her, Lightning skidded past another corner, ducking under the fallen column of rock that had to have fallen across the walkway in centuries of disuse.

It wasn't as dark or as ominous as she would've expected a place like this to be—so far, she hadn't seen anything that merited the guard this temple had had... but what she couldn't ignore was the fact that this place dredged up her claustrophobia almost instantly. The air was dank and heavy—something that didn't help someone trying to get a grip on her surroundings—and she was sweating again...something that was happening far too easily for her liking.

Briefly, Lightning wondered whether it would be worth her time to completely collapse the column that she'd just ducked under, before she decided against it. There could be a million other ways to get to where I am now... and I'd just be broadcasting my general location to any Meurite within earshot. Making her way down the new hallway, she tried to squint through the gloom. In some ways, the dimness of her surroundings was worse than complete darkness... if it had just been darkness, she could've just concentrated on her senses of hearing and touch alone. But this, this strung her along like some unwilling marionette—with just enough light to see around her in a five meter radius, she could spot things just before they got shoved in her face. It didn't help—that wasn't enough time to react to any sort of attack, but it didn't keep her from straining her eyes to see as far as she could.

Lightning was aware of the fact that she had perhaps a ten to fifteen minute window from the time she'd entered the temple to the time that the Meurites would suspect a ruse... at which point they would've come racing back to find their dead companions on the ground. She hated leaving such an easy trail; really, she could've been waving some neon flag that read 'Come and get me!', but what choice did she have? There wasn't time to hide the bodies and she couldn't reanimate them somehow with no memories of her.

And sure enough, perhaps twelve minutes later of blundering around blindly in the dark, she'd heard the screeches and yells, knowing that the Meurites would now be after her.

The only plus side to the whole thing was that the place was like a maze: there were a million side paths and hallways, all of which she could've taken. But they know exactly what they're supposed to be protecting... while I'm still here in the dark searching for it. And I'm willing to bet... Narrowing her eyes as she turned another corner, the lack of obstacles in her way was unnerving her. If I was building this temple... I'd make sure that its downfall wouldn't be totally dependent on the competence of its guards. There had to be a catch... somewhere.

But she wasn't going to complain—this, all of this, was what she'd been trained for. It took all of her awareness to navigate through the dark tunnels and just about every single speck of her consciousness to keep on alert for danger and pursuit while straining to see as far in front of her as she could. That left little room in her higher mental functions to dally around the usual things that plagued her: guilt, nightmares... and memories. Things I haven't been trained to deal with.

No sooner had she taken a false step forward into a small puddle of water did something rumble behind her; whipping around, blue eyes widened at the sight of the doorway she'd just passed through sliding shut. Gritting her teeth, she had no choice but to keep going. Raking her hand through messy pink curls, Lightning set her gaze on the doorway opposite, about thirty yards down the straight hallway. Moving forward again, intent on getting through it before something else happened, she was about halfway down before a screeching something crashed into her side.

Taken off balance by the attack, she was forced to the ground; the impact had knocked the breath from her lungs and whatever it was—of that, she had a very good guess—on top of her was heavy: not something she could throw off with relatively little effort.

Right cheek pressed into the dirt on the stone floor, Lightning froze when claws dragged down her left arm, tearing through the black sleeve that covered most of it. Her right arm was pressed underneath her—she could feel the outline of her omega weapon against her thigh—and there wouldn't be an easy way to wrench her arm free of her own weight either. Think!

Forcing herself to relax as the claws dug into the crook of her elbow before continuing their way down her left arm, she heard the hum of satisfaction from the Meurite pinning her to the ground: either it thought she'd been knocked out by the blow, or it thought she'd given up. But the moment it relaxed was the moment she'd been waiting for: digging her right elbow into the ground, she scrambled to one knee, using the momentum to throw the Meurite off of her.

It landed with a squeal on the ground, but Lightning wasn't going to give it the chance to get back up and attack her again. In the gloom, she could make out its silhouette against the even blacker floor. Squeezing the trigger as fast as the mechanism would allow, her final shot caught it in the throat as it made a move for her again.

Silence consumed the hallway as fast as it had been disrupted.

Lightning clambered shakily to her feet; in the darkness, it was impossible to assess the damage done to her left arm starting from about halfway up her upper arm and ending just above the glove she had on. It was no doubt bleeding though... and she didn't have any way to stop it. The injury in question wasn't the thing that bothered her; that was something else she'd been trained to deal with, and in the light of everything that happened to her at some point or another in her life, one scratch down an arm wasn't really anything that was going to be a serious detriment.

No, what bothered her was definitely the fact that anyone else who came down the hallway would see the dead Meurite... and would also be able to deduce the fact that it had injured her. No blood trails, she told herself quickly. Stuffing the omega weapon back into its holster, she gripped what she could of the scratch with her free hand. Moving forwards once again, a sharp flare of pain in her right hip told her that that was probably bruised as well. Urgh. Her list of injuries was growing: there was the burn scar stretched down the back of her left calf and the graze of the gunshot that she'd taken a week ago.

Determined to not let that stop her, Lightning paused at the end of the hallway, peering through the stone doorway there before making a move. The hallway down to her right was significantly brighter than what the rest of the temple had been—she realized there was a light flickering down there...wherever it was.

Making sure her footfalls were silent, she crept down the new hallway, keeping to the shadows until she could see past the end of it.

As she suspected, the Meurite guard outside hadn't been for naught: there were four more guards here, conveniently shielding from her view whatever it was they were supposed to be guarding. It couldn't have been big, though—the Meurites were clustered around the centre of the room—but she would have a hard time slipping past all four of them, especially with the rest of the Meurites combing the rest of the temple for her.

Moving her right palm from her left arm, Lightning examined her newest injury in the flickering firelight. It wasn't too deep, but it was as she suspected: it was stretched down most of her arm. I won't be winning any hand to hand combat with this for awhile. Reaching behind her legs for her weapon, she pulled it silently up to shoulder height, hoping to the Maker that the faint click of the gunblade switching to gun mode wouldn't alert any of the guards.

If it did, none of the Meurite showed anything on their impassive faces. She hadn't seen any like these before and Lightning wasn't sure if they could throw magic at her... something that would make her current task much more difficult than it already was. Still... Her best option, once again, was to snipe one or two before they knew she was there and to work from there.

Readying the gunblade, finding, to her relief, that her fingers were more steady than they had been a few hours ago, her first shot caught one of the guards in the chest, dropping it like a rock. There was no point in concealment anymore—and the sooner she got her hands on whatever they were guarding, the better. She had absolutely no interest in whatever it was... All I know is that if it's important to them, they'll want it back. She wasn't sure if whatever it was was going to be worth using as a bargaining chip, but it would be better than nothing. And maybe... it'll help me figure out this whole mess.

Dodging the heavy blow that came from the Meurite nearest to her, Lightning spared it one glance before dropping it with a bullet to its calf. It wouldn't be enough to kill, but she didn't have time to finish it off properly and it wouldn't be chasing after her any time soon at any rate. The next Meurite that launched itself at her was a four-legged one; flattening herself to the ground to avoid its leap, she let out a hiss of pain as her bruised hip brushed the ground.

Scrambling up, she turned to find that the Meurite had missed her... but it was turning around now, and the one that was still behind her was closing in. She was about halfway across the room to whatever they were guarding, and there was one Meurite between her and the object that she could now see was nestled on a stone platform.

Diving to one side just as both Meurites came in for another attack, Lightning set her gaze on the miniscule red orb—not much bigger than a large marble—and shut out everything else from her immediate consciousness as she sprinted for it.

Out of breath and feeling the throb of pain in both her side and arm as acutely as ever as she stumbled over the stone steps that led up the the platform, her bloodstreaked left palm closed over the small, warm orb just as her knees gave out underneath her. Just before her fingers pulled the small object into a tight grasp, Lightning caught the Pulsian words inscribed on the tiny glass sphere; Pulsian that she was now able to read.

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

*wiggles fingers*

Sorry, no hints from me this time. You guys'll have to wait till the next time around to see what that means, but I can assure you it is nothing bad? Well, relatively speaking of course—and Hope will get more attention next time around as well. *pats him on the head*

Anyways. Chapter 22 honestly should not take long—it follows up directly where I left off, so I'm thinking Saturday or Sunday at the latest. (It could be sooner for sure) Leave love as always, and I'll see you guys next time!

Hearts!