Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong to their respective owners.

Ch. 36 The Plan for Battle

"Come on Deiru, can't we just give it a shot?" "No," I replied. "Aw come on! The thing will never know what hit it!" "It's a bad idea Vanille. And bad ideas are not something I work with unless forced." "What if I did force you?" she asked. I laughed. "I'd like to see you try." She pouted.

The two of us had been at it for a few minutes, trying to come up with a battle plan. She and I were assigned to fight one of the Undying Cie'th, Bituitus the Pillager, while the other took care of a similar Undying back in the Haerii Archeopolis. I agreed because from what I remembered the group would find the Cie'th only for it to be killed by a Tonberry, which would then battle them. Now I was regretting it, as that left me to be pestered by Vanille.

"Just give it a shot! You go out into the Paddra Ruins and distract the Cie'th while I tie him up with my rod! He won't be able to do a thing!" she said confidently. Already seeing the flaw in the plan k pointed out "And what happens if he breaks free? Then we'll be fighting a Cie'th, an Undying no less, that would be even more pissed at us than usual. I'm not doing it," I said firmly. "But what about your Absolute Protection power? Won't that protect us?" she asked.

"You, yes. Me, no. The thing about Absolute Protection is it takes my power and forms a barrier around you and every else. But whenever I do that my own defensive powers are weakened by the same amount as long as the spells in place. So while I can use it if you're in trouble, if I'm in a tight spot I've got nothing besides Uried," I told her, her knowing full and well about how I felt releasing the darker half of me. She pouted again and mumbled a few things, before she did the one thing that would break even Fang. Particularly Fang actually.

Vanille got down on her knees, put up her hands like she was begging, stuck out her bottom lip and looked at me with big puppy-dog eyes. I crossed my arms and looked away, but against my will my eyes glanced at her. She was sitting there, practically begging, and I could feel myself beginning to falter. Then she said "Pleeeaaase?" I grunted and stomped my foot. "Dammit! Fine," I said. Instantly her expression changed, turning from sad to happy as she jumped up.

"Thank you Deiru! Now, let's get to work!" she said, going behind me and pushing me to the edge of the rubble in front of Paddra. "All right, all right, I'm going," I protested, jumping down into the ruins. Bituitus had last been seen flying around these ruins and it looks like his presence had cleared the area of its normal amount of Cie'th. Good. I could almost hear Vanille as she climbed across the top of the ruins way above, so that Bituitus wouldn't see her while I distracted him.

At the thought of that plan I groaned. "The things I do for the people I care about…" I muttered. Still, I bucked up and walked up the steps, not in the mood for any delay. If this was going to be done, I wanted it done quickly. I walked into the open space above the steps, waiting for our mark to show up. I didn't have to wait long, as soon an inhuman roar filled my ears and I looked up, seeing a flying Cie'th with wings that were blue with yellow appear. Bituitus.

"Well, nice of you to make it here. Now I think you know what it is I'm here to do, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" I asked, pulling Indomitus off back. If Bituitus didn't understand my words, it understood my actions, and roared before flying towards me. It was at that moment that Vanille chose to strike, casting her rod and making the wires wrapped themselves around the Cie'th's wings. It looked behind it surprise to see Vanille perched at the top of the ruins, smiling.

"Not so easy to move now is it?" she called, giving her rod a good tug. Now it the mood to play games Bituitus roared and spun in a corkscrew, flying upwards. The spiral motion wrapped the wires of Vanille's rod around itself, which helped it successfully pull Vanille off the ground and with it through the air. She screamed as she was pulled and tossed through the air, holding onto the rod for dear life. I watched with mild amusement before I decided to help, and summoned my Eidolon.

Regnuma burst from the ground as she always did whenever I summoned her, and I jumped onto the spot between her wings on her back. I asked her to follow Bituitus and she growled in confirmation, jumping off the ground and flapping her wings. We followed the sounds of Vanille's screaming to find Bituitus flying near Taejin's Tower, not being struck down by Dahaka for once. We flew after him and as we got close I jumped off Regnuma, who turned to her Gestalt Form and wrapped me in my winged armor with an extra sword.

I closed in until I was by Vanille and dismissed Regnuma's blade, slashing through the wires of her rod connected to Bituitus. Instantly Vanille began falling through the air, and I flew down to catch her. I flew over to the Cliffside near the tower and placed her there, telling her to wait. Going back I found Bituitus waiting for me, and I summoned back Diluculum. Both of us were still for second, unmoving except for a flap of the wings.

Then Bituitus roared and jetted forward, spewing a toxic miasma at me. I dodged and cast Libra, learning that he could easily dodge my attacks, especially since we were in the air, and any elemental spells would have their damage cut in half. So I cast a double barrage of Ruins from both my swords, before flying in for the attack. The magical volley knocked it off-balance, but when it saw me coming it he dodged and used Levinbolt.

Orbs of electricity gathered at the tips of his wings before firing, and I had to swerve through the air to dodge. The two of us fought like that for probably an hour, attacking and counterattacking, swerving, ducking, and weaving through the air. I was beginning to tire but Bituitus was far from done, and slammed into me from the side. While I was knocked off-balance it used Miasma, spewing out a toxic mist that I ended up breathing.

Instantly I dissolved in a fit of violent coughing, feeling the toxic chemicals of the poison seep into my system. Now that I was unable to fight back Bituitus came forward and used Levinbolt again, only this time it worked. Bolts of electricity him me from all sides, and I couldn't dodge any of them. Bituitus roared and came in for the crushing blow, when my arm holding Diluculum suddenly moved and shot a blast of fire at him.

The explosion knocked him away and gave me enough time to cast Esuna, healing the effects of the Miasma. Now I looked at Bituitus with anger and an idea came to mind. I held up both my swords so that they were perpendicular to each other and cast Blizzara, covering them in ice, forming a boomerang. I threw the boomerang and it sailed towards Bituitus, who dodged it easily. He flew towards me and I smiled, watching the boomerang come back around and hit him from behind.

With a silent command I told the boomerang to keep shoving against Bituitus. It did, and smashed the Undying against the edge of Taejin's Tower, where the ice spread and kept him pinned. I cast Fire again but this time wrapped the flames around my fist. Bituitus thrashed against the ice as I flew forward, intent on dealing a flaming punch and finishing him off. I had just about reached him when I heard a roar, one the made both me and the Cie'th freeze. Slowly, I turned.

Oh shit.

Flying towards the tower was none other than its master, Dahaka. The fal'Cie roared again, and I guessed that the sight of a human and a Cie'th battling in the air by its domain didn't make it happy. Hurriedly I turned back around and rushed toward Bituitus, gasping my frozen swords and pulling. The ice wouldn't budge, and Dahaka kept getting closer. I pulled harder, and harder, and still my swords wouldn't budge.

Behind me Dahaka roared and opened its mouth, a ball of flame forming within. I cast Firaga and focused the heat into my hands, melting the ice until I could reach the handles of my swords. With an almighty tug they broke free, and I flew towards the cliffside while Bituitus did the same. Vanille stood there and called "Come on Deiru! You can get make it!" I flapped my wings harder and dove down, using my own weight to increase my acceleration.

By doing that I pulled ahead of Bituitus and made to the cliff, picking up Vanille and tossing her over my shoulder before speeding off. Bituitus didn't make it, and Dahaka fired one of its Fulminous Firestorm attacks at him. The attack burnt the Cie'th to a crisp and he disappeared, turning into the crystal cocoon that I knew would appear in the Paddra Ruins.

The two of us flew back to said ruins and landed on the ground outside of them, both of us trying to catch our breath. "Next time… we go… on a mission… I pick the strategy," I said. Vanille nodded and we both walked back.

xxx

The others made it back to camp shortly after we did; this time we were situated in the Mah'habara Subterra. "So, how did the mission go?" I asked. "Well, we took it thinking we were going to take out an Undying same as you two. But just as it showed up this little green guy with a lantern and a kitchen knife ran forward and stabbed it in the leg. The whole Cie'th just fell over and died, and then the little thing turned and attacked us. We barely got out of there alive!" Hope said angrily.

I smiled. "Ah, I think I know what monster you're talking about. Tonberry, a little monster with big amount of power and an even bigger grudge. The longer you fight it the more of a pain in the ass it becomes. Nice if you're looking for a challenge," I said. "Well we weren't, and to it bluntly it sucked," Fang said. "What about you guys? How did it go on your end?" Lightning asked.

"Well, Vanille had the idea of me distracting Bituitus while she wrapped her rods around its wings and keeping it from moving. It halfway worked, but the Cie'th flew away with Vanille in tow. I managed to catch and beat it next to Taejin's Tower, but then Dahaka showed up and tried to kill us both. Me and Vanille barely escaped," I told them.

The others all made sounds of sympathy of their own, and we all sat down around a fire Sofia made from setting dirt and rocks on fire with magic. "So, what are we going to do? That tower is the only way to get across that chasm to Oerba, but Dahaka's making sure that we don't pass through. Any ideas?" Vanille asked. No one said anything, and I sighed.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to reveal this much as to what happens next," I said. The others looked at me, and Sazh said "Really? We're all ears." "Well, according to what I saw back in my world, we all go to Oerba as planned, but we don't try to fly there on Bahamut, find some other way to get across, or go around the Tower itself. We have to go through the Tower, and by that I mean climb to the top and fight Dahaka."

"Fight it?! Are you crazy?!" Fang asked. "That thing drops monsters bigger than us like flies, how would we be able to kill it?" "Because as we travel through a bunch of living statues called Menhirrim attack Dahaka whenever he tries to kill us, and cut off pieces of his tail. By the time we reach the top he's been weakened, and at the point where we can kill him. Once we do the way to Oerba is open, and we can get there spot free."

The others thought about this for a second, and Lightning asked "Is there any other way you could have seen that'll get us to Fang and Vanille's village?" I shook my head. "None that I saw, and considering the limited amount of time we have we need to assume that it's the only way," I said. For a while everyone was silent, until Sofia said "Well, we've gone up against a fal'Cie before and made it out fine, and back then we were a lot weaker than we are now. I say we do it."

Slowly the others agreed, and came to consensus that tomorrow we would go to Taejin's Tower and climb, come hell or high water. We all adjourned to our beds to get a good night's sleep. I found my sleeping bag a few nights ago but Lighting and I agreed it wasn't needed; we had enough room for each other. As the two of us fell asleep I kept thinking one thing. Tomorrow's fight was gonna suck.

xxx

Well, from reading this it's pretty obvious what comes next chapter, and after that the crew makes it to Oerba!

Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)