A/N: Chapter 34 of Howling Star: Dance in the Shadow of Light. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. FFXIII belongs to Square Enix.
A special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.
Chapter 34: Orphan's Battle Part 1
Star's POV...
"It is done." Light's voice had that semi-relief tone to it as the rest of us lowered our defenses, happy that the fight was over. The shimmering surface of the pool in which Barthandelus disappeared under didn't even release a single air bubble. He must be dead already. We rejoiced as our victory until we heard the beating of wings.
"It's that bird!" Hope shouted as Menrva flew above us.
"Catch it before it goes back to Dysley!" Snow aimed a Blizzaga at the flying machine but it dodged, swooping closer to the pool. A quick shine of radiant gold light enveloped it and it disappeared below the surface. Suddenly the water rippled and the floor heaved as immense power erupted.
"A heaven, yea." Two voices, a male and a female, spoke from the waters and the creature rose from the depths. A massive red eye looked down upon us as the gargantuan fal'Cie continued to grow. "Yet it must fall ere we be saved Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive." A massive crystallized hand smashed against the ground, sending us tumbling backwards. "Too stout a shell, and they would not die. Slaughter and salvation! Two irreconcilable Focuses we bore. Yet bound were we in a cocoon prison impervious to our power." Taking a closer look at it, this one was a constructed in the form of a blade-like shell from Barthandelus's dying body, combined with elements of the fal'Cie's impression of Lindzei, as an angelic figure, projecting from the right side with her face is also present on the wheel's plates on the back. It was truly terrifying.
"And so we thank you, for granting us our longed-for birth."
"Dysley?" Snow questioned because we all could hear his voice, along with the angelic voice of a female.
"No. Not anymore." Sazh answered.
"We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die. Our name is Orphan. By our hand, the world shall know redemption."
"Get ready!" Light's order sent us into position as we prepared to fight against Orphan. To start off, our opponent unleashed Merciless Judgement. Rising all the way out of the water, we were able to see his long blade body and he sliced downwards, causing a wide-area damage and affecting the entire group severely. Hope and Vanille quickly started to throw healing spells our way while Sazh and Snow stood on guard. Planning on taking out our weakest unit, he aimed for Hope and Vanille constantly.
"Guard those Healers! Don't let them get injured in this fight!" Noticing what Orphan was trying to do, Sazh and Snow fell back to defend them on Fang's orders.
"Damn it, is there anyway to damage that outer shell? Using Merciless Judgement against us is pretty bad and we don't know when he will use it." Light growled with irritation.
Try to poison him. I fell back to analyze the situation.
"Poison?" She gave me a questioning look.
You know? Poison. If you can poison him, it will not only wound him but it'll also give us a chance to hit that mark.
"I like that idea Wolf. Come on then." Following Fang's example, the two of us used Blitz to get close to Orphan. "Light! Once Wolf and I make our move, hit em with your best poison skill!" She shouted back to Lightning who was waiting on standby.
"Those who wishes to purge us for our sins, feel the redemption within our grasp." Orphan murmured as he swung his single hand in a slap motion. We dodged it and Fang used her lance to impale that hide. A slight crack appeared but it wasn't large enough to leave a decent wound. Going in for the kill, I dug my fangs into the hide where the lance was lodged and, twisting my head in an upward arc, ripped off a huge chunk. Orphan roared with pain and swatted me aside.
"Now Light!" Fang shouted and taking her que, Light rushed towards the opponent as Sazh and Snow covered her with their buffs.
"You wretched l'Cie!" Orphan squealed with anger but couldn't react in time.
"Take this!" Light snarled and attacked the open wound. The pain that Orphan suffered upon contact must have hurt like hell for he screamed in agony. Leaping away, we could see the wound was now green in color, infested with tiny bacteria that started to spread the poison.
"Y-you..." Focusing immense power into the next attack, Orphan released Merciless Judgement followed by Progenitorial Wrath. The second attack struck us without warning and it was blistering.
"C-come on, one more attack and he's through!" Light's words tried to encourage us but because of that Progenitorial Wrath, everyone ran out of magic fast, even Hope and Vanille were having a hard time distributing healing magic.
"Light, we can't keep this up any longer." Fang panted, her knuckles embraced her lance tightly.
"We just need one more attack, that's all we need!" She snarled back, anguished that we couldn't put together a measly attack that will knock Orphan out.
I'll do it. I padded to the front, glaring hard at the smirking face of Orphan. I'll attack him once more.
"You can't be serious?! You're magic is about to run out, how can you possibly–" Vanille stopped when I summoned Galeru to my side. I haven't used the sword for a long time but having it next to me was comforting.
If I can't use any magical powers... I gripped the hilt of the sword tightly in my mouth. I'll resort to physical attacks instead.
"Foolish l'Cie, succumb to despair." Orphan spoke. "If you don't know the meaning of fear, I'll engrave it within your body!"
Not if I destroy you first! I rushed forward, oblivious to the immense powerful aura erupting from Orphan.
Light's POV...
"Star, come back now!" I ordered but she didn't listen. We all felt the power rising and a dreadful feeling swept around the room.
"She's gonna die!" Vanille spoke.
"This is suicide!" Hope shouted.
"I'll save her." Fang stepped forward but I held her back. "Move Light! She won't make it!"
"...yes she will." I watched as the distance between Orphan and the beast narrowed. "You have to trust her."
"But–"
"Do you not trust her?"
"...I do. It's just frustrating to be waiting here."
"Just wait." was my response as we waited.
"Grrrrrrrrrr... stay still will you?" Orphan gritted his teeth as he attacked over and over. With nimble legs, Star dodged and blocked, her eyes firmly locked on him. That gaze...Orphan registered as one who doesn't know the meaning of fear at all. It shook him down to the core and he was slightly trembling as he tried to take down this massive whirlwind.
I'm going to attack him...just one attack should be enough. Star whispered to herself as she blocked another spell. Let's go! Deflecting off the remaining attacks, she charged.
"GROOAHH!" Unleashing every once of power, Orphan fired spell after spell, trying to keep her at bay. The spells danced around the room and the rest of us had to take cover.
Now! Flashing forward, Star shot like a javelin straight toward Orphan. However...
"No way!" We gasped as Orphan raised his entire body out of the water and avoided the attack that would have ended his life.
"Too bad for you. This is the end! Merciless Judgment!" Orphan came down straight and impaled the beast to the ground.
"Urkkkkkkk!" Star's eyes narrowed as she struggled to free herself.
"Are you trying to escape my grasp? You can't so why don't you lay there silently. Or better yet..." Orphan's glee grew bigger as he twisted his body in a circle.
"AAAHHHHHH!" The pain intensified as Orphan applied pressure on the wound. Blood flowed faster as Star writhed on the ground as she felt the insides being torn away.
"STOP IT!" A round of bullets hit Orphan and he stopped rotating, looking at the group. I stood there, Blazefire Saber drawn with the smoke visible from the gunfire.
"Oooh so sorry to forget about you. Let's play then." Instead of coming out straight and clean, Orphan bent back slightly and aggressively slashed Star's back open as he freed himself. A fountain of hot liquid sprayed out as more bubbled from the fresh wound. Star couldn't even utter a peep as blood poured out from between her fangs.
"DAMN YOU!" I roared at him while the others could only gasp with anguish.
"Sad? I couldn't care less about what happens. You will follow the same fate." Orphan spoke as he raised his hand.
"Here it comes!" I took a stance and the others followed. Even if we don't have the magic necessary for this, we'll fight till the end.
Star's POV...
This pain, it's hurts so much. My mind is going haywire. My back was slashed and I can't feel my hind legs...they must be paralyzed. Am I going to die? As thoughts whirled around my head, I could see Orphan charging up for that attack, Progenitorial Wrath. I saw the others bracing themselves.
I must...Tilting to the side, I noticed Galeru impaled not too far from where I was. I must have dropped it when Orphan impaled me. Crawling over, ever movement caused a spasm that rocked my body so intense that I almost fainted. No, not now, I must... I reached my sword and gripped it with my mouth. Blood slowly flowed from the hilt down to the tip. I barely have enough strength left... I gritted my teeth in anger and looked up. Orphan's hand was about ready to release the attack. Damn there isn't enough time... but what can I do? I looked and saw the answer. There...
"Good bye l'Cie!"Orphan roared.
For you! Gathering my remaining strength, I flung my sword and it sailed in the air, straight and true. It struck the back of Orphan and rocketed through the previously infected wound that we originally dealt earlier.
"H-h-how did you..." Orphan turned his eyes on me with surprise.
Go Light! I looked at her and she understood. She rushed forward with Fang right beside her. Together, they attacked Orphan in one last effort and with combined strength, they managed to secure the final blow.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Orphan screamed his blood curling scream and then submerged back into the depths of the water.
Beautiful...I watched his demise with mesmerized eyes, a grin stretched on my face before another spasm wrecked my body. I fell back, eyes shut closed as I waited for the shock to subside but that wasn't the case. Wave upon wave, the shock came again and again, each one more powerful than the last.
What's...happening...to...me?
Light's POV...
"Star, what's the matter?!" I quickly rushed over to my fallen comrade and noticed her body jerking and convulsing non stop. The blood started to trickle out more than ever.
"VANILLE!" I roared to get her attention and she hurried over.
"What's this?" She inspected the wound and gasped. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" I inquired, dying to know the answer. She gave me a serious look.
"When Star got impaled, Orphan must have used one of his tricks to install a relapse spell."
" A relapse spell?" Fang asked.
"It's like a time spell. When an event such as this one occurred, applying a relapse spell makes the victim relive the moment again. Right now, Star is reliving the moment when Orphan impaled her. This is bad, the more she relive the event, the pain from each experience is intensified upon the wound."
"Damn!" I hit the ground with my fist. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Luckily this spell is easy to counter. Come here Hope." Together they applied their own magic upon the spell.
" A few more minutes...and there!" The spell deactivated and the convulsing stopped.
"Now about this other wound..." We looked at the ghoulish wound that almost split our partner in half. It was so deep you could literally see right through. Only a few muscle ligaments were attached, the rest cut or barely hanging like hair filaments.
"How dreadful..." Snow and Sazh shook their heads and went to sit down a few feet away to give the others some space.
"Hope, would you mind working on the other side?" Vanille instructed.
"Okay." He replied and knelt on the other side.
"If Hope and I can patch up the wound on both sides, the insides should heal in time. Right now we need to stop this blood flow." The blood was already covering the bottom of our shoes.
"Vanille...she's not breathing." I had my fingers against her snout and noticed that there wasn't any air coming out.
"She must be unconscious...the pain must have been terrible. Come Hope, let's get started." Our healers started to apply the basics, their minds focused. I watched them for a minute before stroking Star's muzzle without a thought. Her fur lost their luster and was laced with blood, her eyes were still closed. I couldn't hold back the sadness any more and I leaned against her, closing my eyes.
Please... please open your eyes. I don't want to experience the pain of losing anyone anymore so please...
A/N: Done with this chapter. I hoped you enjoyed it. Orphan's battle is split into two parts so the next battle will the final one.