You know, I can tell when I've written a chapter past midnight because there are grammar errors everywhere.

Sorry I've been away for so long, but I came up with the idea for a Malec one-shot that took up last weekend, and I finally got the stuff from Amalspach I needed to continue my Heroes of Olympus story and I had to edit the doc given to me.

Oh, I also had tests in school. Those suck.

Guest: I could make some crossovers if given the ideas for it, sure. I have nothing planned right now, but if I have any requests or just have an epiphany one day, I'm not against a crossover by any means.

And yeah, the fic's cover art is meant to be Rei. I chose a sad picture for a reason, but I admit that I'm not a brilliant artist, so if you know who that really is, kudos to you.

Enjoy!

:)


"Sai?"

He groaned and cracked his eyes open to see Shu's wide-eyed face above him. They really did have a face resembling a confused kitten.

"I feel like I just got tackled by a chocobo."

Shu giggled. "Well, you'll be okay. You're ribs are healed and you don't have a concussion. Your swords got blasted right into your chest before they went flying. They didn't do any slicing, but getting the blunt parts slammed into you wasn't healthy."

Shu passed him the golden and silver swords wrapped with blue ribbons around the hilts. Sai took them gently, feeling their weight drop into his hand. "Thanks. What happened?"

They quickly went into details on the fight with Raines, how he turned to crystal and disappeared.

"Don't know where Snow was headed, but we'd better hurry if we wanna catch him," Fang suggested.

"Right, let's go."

Shu helped Sai to his feet, a small smile shared between them. It probably meant nothing, just regular thank you smiles, but Charon couldn't help but feel his hands scream to strangle Sai for looking at Shu that way.

Damn, he had a problem.

Perhaps it was because of his grief over his sister's death clouding his judgement, perhaps it was because he was still angry that he hadn't been ably to attack Shu, perhaps it was the jealousy burning through his mental walls that told him he still wanted Shu to forgive him and had a serious objection to wanting to kill him.

All of the above?

Still, the relationship between them made Charon's blood boil. It was subtle, but he could see that Shu was keeping closer to him than personal space should allow, and Sai was tensed, ready to spring at anything that would go after Shu or to help Shu should they need it. Charon expected Sai to have an arm around Shu any moment now, and his body wanted to tear him apart at the thought.

Again, maybe a bit of a problem.

His hands were having their own mental debate about whether to kill Shu or to protect them. He knew what he wanted and needed to do, but his emotions kept flipping back and forth. He wanted to get things over with before he could start thinking too hard about it, but now that he couldn't, he was stuck at a midpoint of 'Kill them or kill them not?'

Fal'Cie hormones? Were those a thing?

"Mataecharonsan, what did you mean?" Shu asked.

"About?" He spat, unable to resist the order to answer if he wanted to.

He had no idea why Shu had control over him; he'd never made a contract with the fal'Cie, he was sure of that. Not to mention that 'Mataecharonsan' was still his trigger word - still the name that would continue to haunt him. At this rate, he might even just forget his real name and never have the chance to use it again. But that life was gone now, so he supposed it was fitting. Yet if Shu created a binding contract, that meant that Shu would be allowed to come up with whatever name he wanted to control Charon - particularly one that was easier to pronounce. He summed it up to Shu had only ever known Charon as 'Mataecharonsan' and defaulted to that.

"You said those things about the two of us? Being the last ones, I mean. Two others…?"

Charon looked to the side. "The last two fal'Cie of our kind."

"Our kind?"

"You've noticed it, haven't you? The opinion, the feelings, the ostracization? You care about things, you're quirky, you don't know what you want, yet you have the ability to choose what you want. No other fal'Cie are like that. We are all crafted for a purpose; the fal'Cie on Cocoon, for example. Carbuncle makes food, Kujata creates energy, Eden handles security and government stuff to keep the world running, Orphan keeps the damn thing in the sky and all of the other fal'Cie ticking. All of them have a job and they do it the way they're told, no complaints, they couldn't do anything else even if they wanted to. The Pulsian fal'Cie, by comparison, have purposes, but nothing related to helping or sustaining humankind or the world. They have a bit more leniency, but in the end they all have the same purpose given to them and don't deviate from their path no matter what."

Shu looked down in thought. "Yeah. To bring the 'Maker' back, right?"

"That's what Barthandelus believes."

"You mean he's wrong?" Sai asked, sensing the undertone in his voice.

"Not entirely, but there's a little more detail in the end goal."

"What kind of detail?" Lightning asked.

"They're summoning the Maker by completing the task that the Maker gave them - finish the goal and he'll hopefully come back and fix the broken world he left. After the Maker comes back to see his creation's handiwork, there may be more that we have to do but haven't been told about. For now, the fal'Cie have their task and they're determined to accomplish it, hoping to draw the Maker back and get their prize."

"Mataecharonsan, be more specific," Shu ordered, a hint of impatience that Charon had the urge to smirk at lacing their voice. "What's the task they need to complete?"

"I don't know everything," He said, resisting his growing amusement at both pissing off his master as well as making Shu scowl.

They rarely found a reason not to smile, their optimism reaching no limits, but Charon found that Shu's scowls were quite cute in contrast to their constant grinning. Mostly because Shu was incapable of scowling properly without looking like a puppy who wanted a treat. And as long as he had a master, he would rebel in his own little ways. Over the years, he'd learned to twist around his words and abuse technicalities to get around Barthandelus's orders, and old habits died hard.

"I know that their task involves searching for a portal that the Maker was looking for - but apparently he got lazy or something and left his creations to search while he disappeared taking a nap or something. The gods Lindzei and Pulse were also following the Maker's orders, creating man and fal'Cie, and Barthandelus believes that building Cocoon and then sacrificing its citizens all at once with Ragnarok will be the way to find this portal. For example - Bismarck searches in the sea, Dahaka searches the skies, Atomos searches underground, etc. None of them particularly care for humans, but Barthandelus believed they had some use - being sacrifices. So, because of the other fal'Cie and their uncaring nature, he built Cocoon to grow the population big enough."

"So destroying Cocoon is part of the task they were given?" Hope asked. "And Barthandelus was the only one smart enough to figure it out?"

"Not necessarily, but Barthandelus believes this is what will do the trick, and in turn, all of the fal'Cie that he created to sustain Cocoon have the same goal - they have the same idea of success as Barthandelus. In essence, Barthandelus is only one of the Pulsian fal'Cie with a goal, all of them going about it in a different way - he's just the most proactive one. He went about the challenge by creating Cocoon and all of Cocoon's fal'Cie. You follow?"

"But what does that have to do with us being different fal'Cie?" Shu asked.

"You and I are two of four fal'Cie representing the stages of life: Production/Genesis - Hotareichan. Maturation/Development - you. Deterioration/Atrophy - Styx. Termination/Death - me."

"Rei was life?" Sai asked. "I mean, I guess Shu and Charon were pretty obvious, but…"

"She would always save any animal she came across," Shu muttered. "Whenever she was around me, it became a lot easier to sprout plants out of nowhere, anywhere. Once she was gone, I had to use plants from my own body if I wasn't around any that were already growing. You never noticed?"

"I guess…well…now that I think about it, there was this woman who was shot during the mission that I took Rei on. Everyone was sure she'd die, but she miraculously made it."

Shu nodded. "She can bring things back to life if they died recently enough, and she can give life to other things."

Sai blinked. "You know, I came home one day and found her with a fuzzy sheep, and my fuzzy sheep stuffed animal had gone missing."

"You had a fuzzy sheep stuffed animal?" Charon asked. "And you noticed when it went missing?"

Sai crossed his arms and turned his head to the side with his eyes closed proudly. "Yes, and it was adorable. It was a present from my mom when I was little, give me a break."

Charon gave a small scoff. "I never had a mother, so I wouldn't know."

"I made her give the sheep to a petting zoo where it would be cared for, but when I asked her where it came from, she just responded 'It was there.' I never questioned it. I figured it wasn't worth the effort arguing with her since she didn't know any better."

"The four of us each hold the potential to open a gate to the Unseen Realm, the place that the Maker wanted us to get to. Why? I couldn't tell you. He just made us fal'Cie to do it, and so the Pulse fal'Cie have been searching for it ever since. I'm not even sure if the other fal'Cie are aware what they're looking for. I don't even know why it's called the 'Unseen Realm,' but that's what I've been…I don't know, programmed at my creation to call it. Barthandelus never seemed to acknowledge it, and so I kept my mouth shut to hopefully get his plans over and done with and fulfill my obligations without any complications.

"Barthandelus made Cocoon and all the fal'Cie on it, making Cocoon and Pulse enemies, and he believes that the way to accomplish his goal is to have one of us turn a l'Cie into Ragnarok to bring down Cocoon and kill the entire population now that it's big enough. Last time, Ragnarok wasn't strong enough to take the planet down, only scar it, as you know during the Great War - what you Cocoon people call the War of Transgression. He planned to have me transform one of you guys into Ragnarok when the time came so that you could kill Orphan - my interference creating a new kind of Ragnarok that's stronger than before when it was defeated."

"So now that you've defected…"

"I can't say what he'll do. Barthandelus isn't an idiot, though. I don't know what he has planned, but since I wasn't able to kill Shu and then myself, I have no doubt that he has some kind of plan to use us."

They walked onto an elevator platform and Sai activated the panel as they began to descend. He sighed. "All we can do is move forward. There's always Vanille's suggestion of waiting for time to run out."

"If nothing else, maybe we can find a way to save you all," Shu said, before looking down. "I don't want you all to turn into Cie'th. You're all my friends, and…I want to be able to save someone. M-Maybe I can use some fal'Cie power to help you or…"

Sai put a hand on their shoulder. "The fact that you care is more than enough. Thank you."

Shu looked up and put on a smile. "You're welcome."

Charon felt a growl escape his throat and he clenched his fist, wanting to punch Sai but unable to do him harm because of Shu's order.

The elevator reached its destination, and Charon stomped forward, walking past the door that automatically opened for him and into another of the large areas with criss-crossing pathways. He slashed through some Pulsework Knights and Phosphoric Ooze with his Wakizashi.

Stupid feelings. He wanted to just kill Shu and get it over with, but the fact that he couldn't and had to watch Shu and Sai practically on the verge of dating already made him want to tear the entire Ark apart.

"Are you sure bringing him along is a good idea?" Sai asked.

Shu watched as Charon hopped down to the level below to clear out the enemies in his anger. "I…I don't wanna leave him. I won't kill him, and I can make sure he doesn't kill us. Besides, he…he lost his sister too. He needs just as much comfort as I do, and…he doesn't have anyone else left."

"What about you? Are you okay, having him around?"

Shu hesitated, seeing the others skirting along the edge of the room to hop down to the lower level as well. "I…he…he was a victim too. He's just as hurt as I am."

Sai stopped in his tracks and Shu looked up to him in confusion. "But are you okay with him around?" He repeated firmly.

Shu looked down and brushed their hand through their hair. "I…I don't know."

"He killed Rei, Shu."

"I know!" They snapped, before instantly regretting it.

They remembered that Sai had his own problems with Charon, that he had loved Rei too. Shu was so wrapped up in their own problems that they had forgotten about Sai and his feelings and rage towards what Charon had done. Shu felt a guilty urge to overlook everything that Charon had done and forgive him without a second thought, no matter how stupid they knew they were being. They wanted Rei back, but they also wanted to help Charon through his own sister's passing.

Regardless of Shu's previous relationship with Charon affecting them, Sai didn't have such strong ties to him. Sai was angry at losing his chance to do anything with Rei ever again, he had lost so much experience and happiness that he once could've had. Shu had memories of Rei to remember her by, but Sai never got the chance to pursue creating his own. Sai could remember their meeting, how they became close, just those few weeks before everything came down, and he would only be left with regret at what might've been.

"I…I'm sorry, I didn't…you hate him, don't you?"

Sai looked ready to respond, before he closed his eyes, his hand a tight fist, before he took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, I hate him. I wanna punch him into next week, tear him apart for what he did. But…I know he was a victim too. Look, Rei would always talk to me about you. She loved you more than anything, wanted nothing more than to protect you. Whenever she thought about what might've happened to you while she was captured and asleep…I know that she had feared the worst for you. Loving your family like that? I've not experienced a bond anywhere close to being as strong as that. If Charon cared about his sister like Rei cared about you…I know that Rei would've done anything for you, no matter how much it shattered her own soul. She would've done the same thing if it had been her and you."

Shu looked down again. "What are we supposed to do?"

"I…well, I'm not sure. Rei…she didn't deserve this."

"Charon said that by killing the two of us, him and I, we could destroy Barthandelus's plan to have us create Ragnarok - a Ragnarok more powerful than the one during the Great War back long ago, one strong enough to destroy Cocoon. If…if he was right…"

"No," Sai declared firmly.

"But-"

"No."

"Sai, I can't…I can't live like this! I can't live without her, and you…I wanna see her again. I-If you turn Cie'th…maybe I can help you see her again too."

"Don't say that!" He snapped. "Don't talk like this is the end! We're going to save Cocoon, but you aren't going to do it with suicide!"

"Then what else can we do?! Tell me that! Please! Because I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and I'm scared!"

Shu's head fell into their hands as they sobbed and Sai gave them a tight hug. "I'm sorry."

"What am I supposed to do if we fail…?"

He sighed. "Well, you've always got Charon. Quite literally, I suppose. You can make him stay with you, right?"

"But…I just don't wanna force him."

"You can help him and he can help you, all right?"

"How?"

"Talk. You tell him how you feel, make him promise not to tell with your commanding thing if you want. Then, get him to open up to you too. You both need to get out everything that's happened to you, and you need someone that you trust to do so with. Charon did some bad things, but…he's not a bad guy, I guess. If you have to live for eternity with someone, I'd think that he's not the worst person to have by your side."

Shu walked over to the broken pathway that might've once been a ramp down to the level below. They looked down and saw Charon slashing through a Pulsework Knight with his Wakizashi. Though he was clearly attacking with an anger in his swing, he was still very elegant about it, treating the sword with care and showing evidence of his experience. He swung it with one hand, almost with nothing but his fingers, before he flipped it gracefully and then slid it into his sheath.

"Yeah…" Shu muttered.

Sai chuckled. "You look like a puppy."

Shu looked up, confused. "Hm?"

Sai ruffled their hair. "You're adorable."

Shu scrambled to fix their hair, but it seemed that their energy had been renewed as compared to last time.

"You're hand," Sai suddenly exclaimed.

Shu was startled before they processed what he was saying and looked to the deep scar on their hand. "Oh, yeah. It was cut by the Wakizashi. It's healing."

"Are you sure?"

"I might need to get some plants to help once we get out of here, but it's okay, Sai."

He looked reluctant to drop the subject, and Shu felt a hint of flattery that Sai was so concerned for them. Then, they remembered how Charon had been just as protective, and Shu had loved him so much for being that way. They had gone out on small missions together for the Cavalry, and Charon would always be asking if Shu was okay, wanting to take any hit for them like a gentleman. Shu didn't like to be characterized as a girl, especially a damsel, but they couldn't argue that they liked Charon's protectiveness.

Shu could admit that they liked feeling loved, mostly because no one except Rei and Styx had ever treated Shu like they meant anything. If Shu had never had Rei, all of the other fal'Cie on Pulse would've left them to fend for themself, alone and ostracized. For a long time, Shu had tried to make friends with everyone they came across. Humans got along with them only when they were disguised, and fal'Cie never liked Shu at all. Apparently l'Cie were really nice, since these ones accepted Shu as a both a fal'Cie and a disguised human.

But Charon had been so amazing, caring about Shu more than they ever thought possible. And Shu was okay with being protected, being loved by someone who wasn't obligated to care - as Shu had been self-conscious about Rei's motives before. Shu found someone who promised never to leave, who made them realize that Shu could be loved without some prior relationship or just dependency in general. Shu found a reason to believe in their own worth again, and Charon had made them feel better than they'd ever had - especially when Shu had Charon, Rei, Sai, and all of their new friends together and happy.

And it hurt so much to be reminded that now everything was so broken between them.

The two of them hurried to catch up to the others, following them through the doors and down the hall. As the door to the next area slid open, they found an open room with four doors, including the one they had come through, one straight ahead, and two perpendicular leading left and right. Between the normal doors were larger ones, making the room one large octagon.

"This looks like the kind of room that will suddenly get filled with an enemy," Sai muttered.

Shu was the last one to walk past the door and an alarm suddenly went off. The metal behind Shu pulled up, closing off the exit and the larger doors slid open to reveal a wave of Pulsework Knights and another with a wave of Circuitrons.

"Bust 'em up or it's already over!" Fang declared.

They split into two groups, Fang, Vanille, Sazh and Sai against the Circuitrons, and Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Charon against the Pulsework Knights. Shu pressed close against the wall to try and stay small, avoiding the chaos of spells being thrown, bombs exploding, Knights swinging their arms in wide arcs, and the mini storms caused by the Headspin attacks.

At one point, one of the Pulsework Knights started stomping alarmingly fast towards Shu, who shrieked and dived out of the way of its swing. When they looked up again, Sai had stabbed his swords through the machine's torso, sparks flying, and the Charon surged forward to slice down and straight through the body, narrowly avoiding Sai who was standing on the opposite side of the Knight. But Charon was completely incapable of harming Sai even if he wanted to, and Charon knew what he was doing. Sai tore his swords from the inside so that the machine was sliced horizontally from him and vertically from Charon, effectively turning it into a pile of lifeless metal within seconds.

The two of them stared at each other, and Shu was almost afraid that they wanted to attack. Even if Charon was unable to, Sai still could.

But the two of them actually had a mutual respect between them, temporary, but still firm. They wouldn't let Shu come to harm. Neither trusted the other, but both of them proved their intentions were quite clear. They weren't friends, but for now they weren't enemies either. For now.

Lightning struck down the final Pulsework Knight with an Enfire weapon thanks to Sazh, while Fang Blitzed the Circuitrons before they exploded, the husks of metal shredded and destroyed. There were multiple battle-arena-like areas, with Stikini monsters and Skata'ne as well, along with the more open areas with the Imps and the Greater Behemoths. At one point, they were even locked into a room with a live Berserker.

"Literally the definition of 'Oh, shit…'" Sai muttered.

"This is not the secret to a long life!" Sazh declared.

"There could be nasties waiting anywhere," Vanille pointed out.

They went onto another elevator, which took them even further down in the Ark. When they got off and headed down the hall, they faced yet another room with a Berserker on its podium, whirring to life and hoping off.

"Guess hiding's out!" Snow commented.

"Come to Papa!" Sazh shouted.

The Ark became a repetitive pathway going from room to room fighting the monsters. Finally, they came out into a larger room that resembled an airship hanger, before an alarm once again blared and the door slid to lock closed behind them. Our of the walls, two large doors opened on either side and a platform slid two Berserkers forward. The two roared to life and hopped out, readying for a fight and blocking the way.

"If you're gonna Purge something, why don't you Purge this place?" Sazh muttered.

"I am right with you, man," Sai agreed.

"Why don't you just, uh…keeping sleeping there? All right?" Shu muttered.

"Let's do this, boys and girls!" Charon announced, the first one to charge forward into the battle.

"Keep up!" Sai challenged, running after him with his swords drawn.

Fang drew her lance. "We'll see who's left standing!"

"I hate this place," Lightning muttered.

"We can make it!" Hope shouted.

"No backing down!" Snow said.

"I can take it!" Vanille declared.

"I getting too old for this," Sazh murmured.

"Uh, I'll just be over here then," Shu squeaked, hurrying out of the battle.


"How do we get this door open?" Shu asked.

"It's old, but it's Pulsian tech," Charon answered, walking over to it. "See all those cylinders? All locks to hold the door from being forced open. Hydraulics keep them in place and are the key to moving them. This door is reinforced because it's meant to keep all the mechs inside this area."

"Meaning this could be a way out?" Lightning followed.

"Right. Fortunately, I know how this works."

"Then let's move it," Sazh prodded.

Charon moved and put his hand on the metal. There was no electronic panel like the Cocoon tech - something easy to notice and relatively easy to operate - and so they were stumped on how he was going to open it. A few seconds of staring at the door later and suddenly the red lights at the side of the disk-like door and the side where the locks were being held in place flashed to green. With a hiss, the cylindrical locks were released back into the wall, releasing the door as it slid down to reveal an open door.

When they walked out, they found themselves in another area of the ruins that might've once been a factory. Down below, in the now destroyed city, there were large collapsed office buildings, half buried into the ground. There seemed to be some grass down on the ground, and the platform that they were on was about 30 feet down. There was a structure that seemed to have once been a bridge of some kind, as well as a large metal building that was still standing tall. Around them, there were still walls that acted as a barrier, but no clear pathway out.

The door behind them whirred closed again as they walked forward to look at the ruined city. "Looks like it's a dead end," Hope announced.

"How about down there?" Sazh suggested, looking down to the ground below.

Vanille put her hand to her chin in thought. "If the stories are right…it's a maze."

"This place is a boot camp for l'Cie," Fang reminded them. "All kinds of 'challenges' from Gran Pulse are waiting."

"Challenges, huh?" Sazh muttered. "To get us all ready to go wipe out Cocoon?"

She put her hands to her hips. "We can wait here if turning Cie'th sounds better."

Shu and Sai walked over to the railing and looked down. "I think I can get the plants to grow us a ramp down," Shu suggested.

"Do you have a map of this place?" Charon asked sarcastically. "Your little plants should be able to tell you that there's no way forward down there. Just a whole lot of scrap. The place maybe once had an exit, or a path out of here, but now that the city's collapsed, there's no telling where it could be."

Sai frowned. "Maybe there's another path back the way we came."

"Or there couldn't be," Fang stated bluntly. "We've come a long way, and there's no telling how many sealed doors we passed, blocked off passageways. Forcing our way through all of them to see if they lead us anywhere will take more time than we have - and I also wish to keep my sanity, if you don't mind."

"I have had enough of this!" Sazh snapped. "Where's the way out?!"

"Way out?" Charon sneered. "Who said there was one?"

"Charon?" Shu asked meekly. "Is there?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe old Bart will come and retrieve us once you l'Cie are dead or out of time, or we give up out of sheer lack of willpower to go on. This place is a maze - and not just that, a broken maze. Or maybe Bart's got a plan to get us out that we have to find. This place is under his control and has been for a while. We can only go where he wants us and I can operate very little."

"Bring it on."

They looked over to see Snow punching a fist into his hand resolutely.

He walked forward. "My mind is made up," He declared, pulling out Serah's crystal tear. "Maybe I will end up a Cie'th. But until that happens, I'm gonna make Serah proud." He turned back to the group and held the crystal out. "I couldn't bring myself to admit that this tear…meant good-bye. And that's why I kept searching for her."

He tossed the tear into the air and caught it.

"But I didn't need to. Serah was here, the whole time." He patted his fist with the crystal inside to his chest. "Right here, watching over me. Now, I get it. What this tear's been telling me is to not let our Focus win." He held out the gem for them to see. "It's not those Cocoon fal'Cie we should listen to. It's Serah, and Raines. Do you know why?"

His fingers wrapped around the tear.

"Because our Focus doesn't matter! What matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes!"

"Same here," Vanille said, drawing everyone's eyes as she walked up to Snow. "I'll help you do it," She offered.

Snow held out his fist with the crystal inside and she placed her hand on top with a smile. Her hand was quickly covered by Hope's. "All right. I'm in."

"Let's do it," Sai agreed.

Shu nodded at him with a gently smile. "Okay!"

The chocobo chick moved to land on Hope's hand. Vanille gave a small "Hm?" before breaking out into giggles as the chocobo did a little dance of encouragement, dramatically rolling off their hands. Sazh held his fists up and hummed in agreement, signaling that the chick spoke for both of them.

Lightning stepped forward, crossing her arms, a small smile of agreement creeping onto her face.

"I mean, come on!" Snow exclaimed with a chuckle. "When a chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path."

"There you go!" Sazh agreed. "That's right."

"Well, count me out."

Their attention was drawn to Fang, standing a distance away from the group. They let out a chorus of confused hums as she walked with her back to them.

"If you all want to go it on your own…"

She turned abruptly, drawing her weapon and brandishing the spear.

"…Then so will I!"

"Hey, hey, now," Sazh muttered. "Hey…"

"Fang," Lightning warned.

"Let Cocoon get what's coming," Fang declared. "They hate us for being l'Cie. What it to me if they die? Better that than watch a friend go Cie'th. If you don't have the nerve for it, I'll do it myself. Go on alone, get stronger, and smash Cocoon out of the sky!"

Vanille surged forward. "Fang!"

She stumbled and fell to her knees, her lance clanging beside her as one arm released it. "You turn Cie'th, and there's no coming back!" Her hand moved to the brand on her upper arm as it began to glow. "I'm not…letting it end that way!"

Her brand flared brighter as a glyph appeared around her feet, dark clouds gathering above her . It built up energy, and Lightning held her arm out to keep Vanille back. With a scream of pain from Fang, the energy flared, shooting a beam up into the dark clouds. There was a flash and the glyph appeared in the sky, but the center parts stuck out in concentric rings, stretching like those rings that were used for the ships when they were coming in for a landing. The glyph surged with energy before an enormous figure came bursting through.

It dived and came too close for comfort to the others, Vanille screaming and Sazh exclaiming in fear. Everyone ducked as it surged past, flying around the large area shimmering as it became clearer. It flew up and over the edge of the railing, transforming in mid air to reveal a roaring anthropomorphic dragon-like creature.

"Bahamut!" Shu exclaimed.

Vanille rushed over to Fang, kneeling beside her. Fang looked up in a combination of surprise an annoyance. "W-What's he doing here?"

As the others ran up to join them, drawing their weapons, Fang looked to her brand in realization.

"Come to take pity on me?! Come to 'take care' of a broken l'Cie?!"

The Bahamut's large wings retracted to be replaced by smaller fan-likes ones.

"That thing's here to help us?" Snow asked incredulously.

"Yeah, 'help.' That's what Eidolons do, they help us," Fang said sarcastically. "Eidolons are our salvation. If we can't decide what to do next, they come put us out of our misery!"

"Wait, so you haven't made up your mind yet!" Snow jumped.

Bahamut held his large, clawed hands together as energy built into an orb. Fang braced herself for the hit, but Lightning moved in front of her with her sword held up defensively and the Snow stepped forward - significantly taller and more ridged than Lightning, holding his arms in a defensive cross.

The blast was thrown at him from a pretty close range, and though Snow stumbled from the force, he was able to redirect the orb of blue energy into the ceiling far behind them.

"Why are you protecting me?" Fang demanded with astonishment in her voice. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting one of our own," Lightning explained simply. "We can do without their brand of mercy. And we don't need a fal'Cie's orders either! I'm fighting this Focus to the end! We all are." She turned to Fang and held her hand out. "So please…fight with us."

Fang's head fell with a scoff, Vanille still kneeling beside her with her hands together in a begging motion. She looked up to Lightning, before then taking her friend's hand. Vanille and Lightning pulled Fang to her feet, before she walked forward to face the hovering Bahamut, spinning her weapon above her head and moving into a battle stance.

"Ready when you are!"