Tempest Rising Part II
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Hope yelled over the screeches from the winged Cie'th as the group scrambled through the constricting rock passage. The Cei'th above had to resort to diving and clawing at them through the narrow opening above since they were still too large to fully fit in the small space to reach them.
"Move!" Lightning added from the head of the group. She knew while the passage kept the Cie'th from really getting to them, they had to keep moving. If the Cie'th really were like the ones they'd encountered a decade ago, they wouldn't stop attacking until they either got what they wanted or were killed. The ruins at the other end of the walled path would provide cover for both defense and to mount a counter attack.
"Here, Eve, let me take Alva." Hope paused briefly to motion toward the Eve. She had been running with her sister on her back since it was faster than having a weakened Alva run on her own. The Lance Corporal hesitated for a second, "Your weapon is more powerful than mine, we could use it for cover fire when we make a break for the ruins." After another second of hesitation. Eve placed Alva in Hopes arms and drew the Assault-Lance.
"C'mon! We have to keep moving!" Lightning urged, reaching the edge of the rock passage. She breathed a sigh of relief, scanning the next area, seeing that the ruins still remained. There was plenty of cover provided by half-standing buildings and large fallen trees. Completing her quick scan of the area, she saw the nearest cover was a toppled building of some sort about two dozen feet away. She couldn't tell if there were a safe path forward from her chosen first point of cover; vegetation and shifts in the ground had turned the ruins into more of a maze than anything else. She decided they'd deal with it when the time came.
"Alright, Eve and I will provide cover fire, Dajh will assist."
"I will?" Dajh all but squeaked as the Commander drew her gunblade and fired off a few shots into one of the winged Cie'th, repelling it as it descended to claw at her through the small opening, "I mean, I will."
"There's probably a good chance the Cie'th are drawn to Titan's energy, which means Alva is most likely their target." The pinkette assumed, "We need to keep her under cover as much as possible—whether it be using the ruins or using cover-fire. That collapsed building." Lightning pointed to the target, but kept her eye on the Cie'th in the sky, "Fang, you'll lead when I say. Dajh, you stay with Hope and Alva, Vanille, you stick close behind them. I'll provide cover from here."
"What about Eve?" Vanille asked. All eyes turned to the Lance Corporal in question.
"Eve, I need you to get to the building first-" Lightning explained quickly.
"Alone?" Fang suddenly cut in, earning her slightly quizzical glances from the others. All but Eve.
"We can cover better with two points, than we can with one," Lightning continued after the brief pause, "It'll be easier for Eve to provide cover-fire from the building, this is too tight a space." The pinkette looked over at Eve who was staring at Alva, a concerned look on her face. The Lance Corporal obviously wasn't comfortable leaving her sister's side.
"Hope, let me carry Alva." Fang spoke up, "Use your pistol to help with the cover-fire as we run." She motioned for the girl in Hope's arms, "Another... cover point." She added, pointedly. Hope hesitated, looking over at Lightning who nodded in approval to the suggestion. As Fang took Alva from Hope, Lightning had just begun to notice the slightly strange behavior Fang was showing around Eve. However, another screech pulled her from thinking too hard on it.
"Eve?" Lightning turned back to the Lance Corporal whose eyes were still on her sister. Eventually the young soldier's gaze lifted to meet Fang's.
"Put your toy away and concentrate on running." The warrior said in a firm voice, "This plan won't work quite as well if you trip up and get picked up by one of them uglies." Lightning noticed that though the words were meant to tease, the tone of Fang's voice was not. It was something more along the lines of... concern?
"Don't tell me what to do." Eve scoffed before reattaching the her rifle onto her back and turning to face the front, "Say the word, Commander." She addressed Lightning as she crouched low, preparing to run. Pushing the odd exchange from her mind, the pinkette once again turned her gaze to the Cie'th in the sky. Waiting until they all as far as they could be from where the group was, she aimed her weapon at the nearest one.
"Now. Go!" She commanded. As soon as Eve made a break for it, the Cie'th screeched in unison, all moving to dive for the soldier. Lightning unloaded into the nearest creature, repelling it quickly while Hope managed to throw another off course, forcing it to sweep to the side to avoid colliding with another ruined building. The third Cie'th had gotten too close to Eve before Lightning could take aim at it. However as it reached for the Lance Corporal, claws outstretched, something tripped her up. She hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop. The fall had just managed to pull her down out of the creature's reach, it's claws snapping at the air above her instead. The narrow miss gave Lightning the time she needed to aim and fire at the Cie'th, repelling it away from fallen soldier.
"What the hell was that!" Eve screamed, noticing Dajh catching the object that had hit her leg and tripped her up.
"Uh... An assist?" The cadet yelled back to the Lance Corporal, now scrambling for the collapsed building. He noticed Hope giving him a look, "What?" All he got in response was a raised eyebrow.
"Alright, you guys are up." Lightning instructed as she saw Eve draw her weapon and fire off a few rounds into a Cie'th that had attempted to claw at her through the larger opening to the cover she was under, "Hope, provide cover when you can but keep up with Fang and Vanille. Dajh, don't fall behind."
"And watch the assists, please." Vanille added quietly.
"It was an accident!" The cadet defended as he folded his boomerang and slipped it into the pack on his back, "Okay so I missed the Cie'th and hit Eve—it still worked out pretty well if you ask me-"
"Go! Now!" Lightning prompted loudly. Fang took off with Alva, Vanille falling closely behind. Hope half-pulled Dajh forward and fell in behind them. As they may their way towards Eve, the Cie'th made several attempts to pick them off but the rounds from both Lightning and Eve managed to prevent them from succeeding. As the group reached the second point of cover, one of the winged Cie'th seemed to collide with the exit of the passage above Lightning. It managed to loosen a few of the large chunks of rock that threatened to fall on the pinkette.
"Lightning! You need to move!" Hope yelled, firing at the Cie'th above her. He managed to clip one of it's wings, forcing it to cling the rock wall to keep from falling to the ground, "Lightning, now!" He repeated as he felt Eve step out from cover to unload into the creature, now easily-targeted and vulnerable, "Light!" Hope pulled the end of the Eve's rifle, stopping her fire.
Lightning, still concentrating on the other two Cie'th, lowered her own weapon as she noticed the shadow under her feet. Looking up to see a thrashing mass falling towards her she threw herself out of the way. As the Cie'th hit the ground, still screeching and attempting to right itself, Lightning used the momentum to roll to her feet. As she straightened up, a set of loosened rocks fell to crush the failing Cie'th. A stray bit of rock clipped the side of her head, staggering her slightly.
"She needs to get over here." Hope muttered.
"Take Alva." Fang instructed, not waiting for an agreement from the soldier before handing him the small girl.
"Well, that's one down." Dajh said through nervous laugh.
"Yeah, which means two left." Vanille added, looking upwards, "Still circling and... swooping." She noticed one preparing to dive at Lightning who was now running towards them—still slightly stunned. She pointed, tugging at Hope's arm frantically, "Swooping! Definitely Swooping! Swooping is bad!"
"Eve, cover." Fang directed, spinning around her lance. Eve didn't hesitate to raise her rifle again and provide the shots to keep the second Cie'th away. Watching the Cie'th above Lightning, Fang timed the dive, raising her lance upward and back. Planting a foot forward she took aim and let her weapon fly. It flew to pierce the descending Cie'th in the chest—just missing its crystal—before it reached Lightning. The impact from it crashing to the ground only staggered Lightning more as she ran, but by then Fang had reached her and was helping to guide her to the others.
"Light, you alright?" Vanille asked worriedly as Lightning and Fang finally made it to cover. The smaller Oerban immediately began to heal the cut on the side of the pinkette's head. As Fang stepped away, Hope gently placed Alva against a small wall, farthest from the entrance of the building.
"What was that?" He asked the Oerban, moving to stand next to her.
"An assist." Fang stated bluntly after a moment of silence. Dajh scoffed from his position near Eve, who rolled her eyes. Hope wasn't amused. He'd seen what impulsive recklessness could lead to—even if it was paired with noble intentions.
"It was also a brilliant way to lose your lance." Eve broke the tension in the air. The others turned to look just in time to see the fallen Cie'th flip itself upright and push itself off the ground unsteadily. She turned to the others, to Fang in particular, with an almost amused look—almost, "Again."
Recovering from the blow to the head, Lightning sighed heavily, anticipating the fight she'd had to break up.
"Well then I guess you'll just have to use your fancy toy and help me get it back." Fang said, moving closer toward Eve, towards the entrance of the building. Lightning raised an eyebrow. She had thought something had been strange between Fang and Eve before but had chalked it up to being serious about their current situation. But something had definitely happened between the two, she had no doubt of it now.
"No offense but shouldn't we be running away from the Cie'th?" Dajh pointed toward the inner part of the collapse building.
"They aren't going to stop trying to get to Alva." Lightning stated, pulling her gaze from the Fang and Eve to look over at the younger DeFluo. Vanille had moved to her side and was checking her condition, "We're not going to get far without taking them out."
"Good, 'cause I want my lance back." Fang added, earning several stares of ire.
"Fang, we need a plan here, we may have gotten our powers back but we can't fly." Lightning warned, "They have the aerial advantage-"
"And we have the advantage of cover on the ground." Eve cut in, "One of them is already injured, if we ground it again we could deal with it easily."
"Then we ground it. But we come up with a plan, then stick to it." Hope demanded, staring directly at Fang, "There are still forces at work here that make your style of playing-it-by-ear extremely dangerous."
"Yeah, well I refuse to sit around and wait for the buggers to get tired of trying to kill us which, considering them being Cie'th and all, won't be any time soon." Fang retorted, turning to head out of the opening. Before she could leave, Lightning stepped to block her way.
"I refuse to be responsible for letting your bull-headed impulsiveness get you killed."
"You're one to talk, Sunshine." Fang said lowly, nearly missing the pinkette wince, "Besides, I'm not your responsibility, remember?" with that, the warrior brushed past, peeking out from the cover, "The injured one is circling round, flying low. Be ready to keep number two off my ass, kid."
"Don't call me kid." Eve replied, "And don't tell me what to do." The Lance Corporal readied her weapon anyway and stepping toward Fang. The Oerban just scoffed and shook her head.
"Just try to keep up." With that, Fang ran out from cover, immediately drawing the attention from the two remaining Cie'th. Running hard and fast to a massive fallen tree, Fang jumped up onto it, running directly at the nearest Cie'th. The second one was coming at her from the side but was forced to dart away as Eve fired a few rounds at it from a position on another low wall.
Fang launched herself upwards to meet the injured Cie'th mid-dive. Barely managed to evade it's claws, she managed to catch a grip onto her lance protruding from it's chest. It screeched, barely missing colliding with the tree she'd been running along. She gripped the lance with the other hand as the creature began flying upward, whirling around in an attempt to unlatch her from itself.
Back near the ground, Eve was struggling to get a clear shot at the creature to assist. Before she could attempt a first shot, her rifle was knocked away by Lightning.
"You can't risk hitting Fang." The Commander ordered, "Besides, you've got a different problem to deal with." Eve followed Lightning aim to see the second Cie'th circling back to make another attempt at them, "You keep that one busy, I'll deal with Fang's." She didn't wait for Eve to agree before running off in the direction Fang was being carried in.
Only it was more like being dragged than carried as the Cie'th flew dangerously close to the cliffs surrounding the ruins. Fang felt the jagged edges of rocks jutting from the wall graze her more than once as she forced herself to keep her grip on her lance. It was buried deep in the creature's side and with all the thrashing it was doing, she couldn't get into a good enough position to pull it out.
Meanwhile, Lightning had jumped up onto a fallen beam connecting two taller ruined buildings while channeling a Ruin spell in each hand. She waited, watching the flailing Cie'th come around. As it neared, she thrust her hand forward, letting the spell fly. It hit the Cie'th near it's center effectively cutting it's momentum, just about stunning and stopping it in mid-air. Fang however—unaffected by the spell—retained her momentum and used it to remove her lance from the creature. Righting herself in the air so she 'landed' against the side of the toppled pillar Lightning was standing on, Fang pushed off it. She propelled herself toward the Cie'th now falling toward the ground and once again, pierced it with her lance. This time through the crystal, shattering it as it hit the ground.
Confirming Fang was alright, Lightning returned her attention to Eve. The Lance Corporal was still firing at the last remaining Cie'th. It remained at a distance where Eve couldn't get a clean shot at it. Her patience running out, the pinkette unfolded her gunblade.
"Eve! Run towards me!" As soon as Eve cease firing to turn and give the pinkette a questioning look, the Cie'th began a dive, "Now!" The Lance Corporal threw one glance at the Cie'th before turning and doing as ordered. Lightning took aim as Eve ran at her. Her jaw continued to tighten as both the Lance Corporal and the Cie'th drew closer. At the very last moment—a split second before Eve would have run into her, Lightning side stepped and fired a single shot at the Cie'th's crystal. It screeched in pain, it's descent altered slightly.
She grabbed one of Eve's arms, the momentum swinging them around. When she let go, she effectively threw both Eve and herself off the fallen beam and out of the way of the thrashing Cie'th. Unfortunately the direction which she had jumped was also the direction the Cie'th was half-flying, half-falling in. Before she hit the ground, she felt something tear into her shoulder. She bit her lip and let a pained grunt as she landed unsteadily, ending up on her side. The grip on her weapon loosened and it flew from her grasp as she skid to a stop.
"LIGHT!" The commander heard Fang scream as she forced herself to one knee. The Cie'th continued to screech as it flew away roughly. It seemed to be retreating until one of its wings caught the side of the rock wall as it was flailing past it. As it toppled over and disappeared behind the wall, there was a sickening thud as the screeching stopped abruptly leaving a silence in the air.
"Light, Light your shoulder." Fang, unlike the soldier was more concerned for the pinkette's wound than the confirmation of the last Cei'th's death, "Vanille!" She yelled towards the mass of ruined buildings, "What the hell was that Light? Huh?"
"Me?" Lightning replied, finally relaxing, judging the area secure—or at least free of any more winged Cie'th, "I wasn't the one playing cowboy on one those things."
"No, you just decided to play chicken and use Eve as bait." The pinkette raised a curious eyebrow at Fang's concern—not for her, but for Eve. She didn't get to ask about it as Vanille and the others reached them. Eve eventually made her way over as well, sporting a few cuts and bruises, but nothing too serious.
"I can heal the wound but we'll need to take the crystal fragments out first." Vanille stated, already extracting a flake of the crystal armor the Cie'th had—just like the others.
"Alright, we'll make camp here tonight but we need to get back under cover." Hope ordered, still eying the spot where the last Cie'th had gone down.
"C'mon Light." Fang mumbled, throwing one of the pinkette's arm over her shoulder as they got up. She wrapped her own arm around Lightning's waist as she began to help her back towards one of the more open ruins that still provided a decent cover.
"My gunblade." Lightning mumbled, attempting to keep her mind from the tingles echoing through her body at Fang's touch.
"I'll get it." Hope, being the nearest to it, jogged over to grab it. Watching him and the others, Eve registered something missing. Someone missing.
"Where's Alva?" She asked in a low voice. The others turned to look over at her.
"She's under cover of the first building, she's safe-" Dajh began but was cut off as Eve brushed past him.
"Where-?"
"Eve?" A faint voice reached all of their ears. The looked to see Alva limping towards them. As Eve stepped toward her, she felt a chill run up her spine.
"Alva, get back under cover." Eve's could not hide the sudden fear in her voice as she quickly made her way toward her sister.
"Eve, I..." The younger DeFluo stumbled slightly, "I can't-" A screech, louder and more intense than any of the ones before, filled the air. Eve didn't even bother to look over her shoulder, merely dropped her weapon and broke into a run towards Alva.
"Eve! Watch out!" Hope screamed only to be drowned out by another screech. Lightning's shot apparently hadn't quite shattered the crystal of the last Cie'th. He drew his pistol and aimed at the fast-descending enemy and fired a few shots. Two of them hit but were not enough to make it fall and it was getting too far from him and too close to both Alva and Eve for him to be shooting with a pistol. Cursing under his breath, he scrambled for Lightning's gunblade.
"Eve!" Alva repeated, stumbling again, this time falling to the ground on her knees.
"Eve, drop!"
"Alva! Get down!" Eve yelled, ignoring Hope's orders. She could feel practically feel the gusts of air from the pumping wings behind her as she jumped at Alva to shield her from the Cie'th. She barely managed to graze the scarf around Alva's neck before she felt something dig into her shoulder and back, "Gah- Alva, run!" She grunted as she was lifted off the ground, up and away from her sister.
"EVE!" Hope heard the younger girl scream as he finally managed to unfold the gunblade. But by the time he could take aim, the Cie'th was already at the rock wall, with Eve still in it's clutches.
"Goddamnit!" The First Lieutenant cursed as both Cie'th and Eve disappeared from view. Forcing himself to remain calm, he ran towards Alva who was scrambling in the direction Eve was taken, "Everybody get the hell under cover!" He commanded as he reached Alva, "Alva? Alva, I need you to come with me out of the open, okay?" He tried to pull her to her feet but she struggled against him, "We need to get somewhere more safe."
"No, I have to... Eve!" Hope couldn't tell if it were his words or just her weakened state but either way, she stopped struggling and collapsed against him, still muttering about helping her sister. Gently picking her up, Hope moved back toward the rest of the group.
"We'll get her back, Alva." Hope reassured the girl with a promise, if only to calm her down, "She did her job as guardian to keep you safe, now we need to keep it that way until we find her."
A/N:
Action chapters slay me. Terribly so.
There ya go you Eve-haters. I took her outta the story for ya. Pfft.
I gots ma games working again. Which is a bad thing. For my writing.
It's also bad for my plan to marry YUI and take over the planet.
Just planet, not Universe. Not that ambitious. That much ambition gets you dead, more often than not.
Obviously I've just had too much sugar or something.