Sorry this is so long, but I finally got to the part that I've been planning since the beginning and I was excited. Things have been depressing and they're gonna get a little worse before they get better. But they'll get better, I promise.
Enjoy!
:)
"You do realize that Shu's upset about this, right?" Sai demanded.
"I'm not in the mood for a lecture," Charon said.
"It's not a lecture, it's just advice. Whatever you're so afraid of, staying away from Shu isn't fighting it. You're running away. Trust me, it'll be easier to have someone to talk to."
"Sai, you don't understand."
"Maybe not, but I understand this: I wanted to be a loner all my life, I thought it was easier that way, and I was right. It's a lot harder having people you care about, but it's also so much better. You aren't alone in this, you know. The others don't have to know about anything, you don't even have to tell me, but at least tell Shu. You owe them that much."
His eyes darkened, fogged up with a blank sadness. "I can't. I just…that's not how it works…it's not that simple. I…I can't share anything because I don't know myself. What am I supposed to do if I'm unsure of my own feelings?"
"You ask Shu to help you sort them out. They'll be by you no matter what."
Charon sighed. "I just don't know, Sai. I need a little more time to sort out my feelings."
Sai frowned. "Now I see why Shu was so upset…you are really frustrating."
"I'm pretty confused, but I do know that I need to work this out by myself."
"I get that, but you should at least give Shu some hope here."
"You're enough for them now, right?"
Sai smiled. "You seriously still believe we have a chance together? Nah. Shu's more like a sibling. Someone that I've grown fond of, that I only want the best for, and someone that I'm hoping gets a happy ending with you. They love you more than anything, and I know that you are breaking them slowly by doing this."
"I'll sort it out, somehow."
"As a guy who just lost his opportunity to do all that I wanted to with Rei, who lost the chance to fight the future with someone I loved, I say, do everything you can with Shu. Don't waste another moment."
Charon gripped his hand in his lap. "I'm sorry."
Sai noticed that his fist was trembling. Sai took Charon's hand. "Still not over it?"
"It…it happens sometimes still. It won't go away. It makes my entire body tense and…sometimes it starts to sting. When it gets really bad I…I can't think straight, I get angry if it means making it stop, distracting myself, and then when it's over, I'm just…tired. I constantly feel like I'm either on edge, ready to give in by unable to for some reason."
"So that's why you can't decide? Cuz of this?"
He held up Charon's hand.
Charon pulled his had free and gripped it tighter. "Partially, I guess. Or maybe I'm just afraid of making a mistake again."
"This is a mistake, shutting them out like this. Whatever the flip you do while you're together? That's nothing compared to doing this apart."
"I'm drowning, Sai. I need to find a way to break the surface before I can breathe again, and I need to breathe if I want to start swimming to safety. I need to find land before I can rest, and even when I do, it's gonna make me feel like I'm gonna die from exhaustion by then."
"Where's this metaphor going?"
"There is so much that I need to work through right now, and no matter what I do, I know that it's gonna be painful either way. I guess I'm just afraid of starting down a path, whatever it is, because it's gonna hurt so much."
Sai sighed. "Saitama."
Charon looked up. "What?"
"Saitama. It's my full name. Even Rei never knew it. Never got the chance to tell her. I never use it cuz I never liked it."
"So why tell me now?"
He shrugged. "Wanted an ice-breaker. You're really cold, ya know that?"
Charon blinked. "Huh?"
Sai laughed.
"What? What did I do?"
"Nothing," Sai chuckled.
Charon frowned. "You and Shu both, just laughing for no apparent reason."
"We laugh because it's fun, because it makes the darkness feel a bit farther away. You should try it sometime."
"I laugh. Ask Shu, I do it plenty."
"They are cute, ya know that? There just something about them that's adorable. Like a puppy."
"Like a kitten," Charon corrected. "Shu seems more like a cat person."
Sai shook his head. "Cats are condescending and quiet and lazy. Shu is like a puppy, full of energy and speaking all the time and I can just see the wiggling of a tail when they get excited."
"You've clearly never seen a cat when it gets a toy. Besides, Shu is a lion, and lions are cats, and when they get excited, they play with their prey and they jump around wildly and they're fast and agile. Shu is like that, always playing around."
"Well me and cats have an agreement to disagree, so I guess that's a confirmed fact that makes the two of us incompatible. But that hair is cool though."
Charon chuckled. "It's got a mind of its own. And it's soft too. They treasure it, you know?"
"They've started to neglect it recently. Too worried about you."
Charon looked hurt, opening his mouth to say something before he stopped.
Sai smiled. "See? There it is."
"There what is?"
"There's that look, that feeling. All those doubts and hesitation that you had went away for a second and you were ready to jump into the fray, no matter what it took, to fix that little thing because it mattered so much to Shu, because that was a part of them, one that shouldn't be changed, and because it mattered so much to you by extension. You just need to focus on that feeling to get past this, okay?"
Charon nodded. "I suppose I understand."
Charon looked to the side with his eyes and then sat forward. "We're being watched."
Sai cocked his head to the side. "Hm?"
"Have you ever heard the story of the first time Shu and I slept together?"
Sai felt the blood rush to his face. "W-What-?"
There was a crashing sound and they turned to see Shu falling out of a large group of bushes. They took a significant tumble before they flipped back to an upright position and stood at attention in almost a comical manner.
"Oh, hi Sai," They said. "Didn't see ya there. What's up?"
Sai laughed. "Oh, nothing much. Just talking to Charon."
Shu nodded quickly. "Right, right. Hey! Look! It's time to go now!"
Shu rushed off to the entrance of the tunnels, but the wrong one that led to back where they came from.
"Shu!" Charon called.
Shu instantly switched to run back the way they came and to the path leading forward.
"Time to go!" They announced, the others all looking in their direction in confusion.
"What's up?" Snow asked.
"Shu's eager to get going," Charon said.
"Eager to get past the tunnels," Sai reasoned.
"Guess we're going now," Lightning submitted. "Everyone move out!"
Sazh sighed and rose to his feet. "That was a short break."
"Let's go," Hope said.
Sai stood. "Just make an effort, all right? You'd be surprised how nice it is once you get past all the hard stuff, but you gotta take that leap. Things are gonna get worse before they get better, but once they get better, I think you two will work it out."
Charon nodded. "I…I hope so."
They headed back into the tunnels, hopping over scrap metal and fighting some Rust Pudding and Pulsework Centurions. The two species were fighting each other, but the moment they saw the group, it seemed they were best buds trying to kill the l'Cie and fal'Cie. They made their way through, past some Cryohedrons and the rest. It was pretty routine, but Shu seemed anxious from all the underground stuff.
"It's like the darkness is eating my soul!" They exclaimed. "If I had a soul."
"It seems to me like you have a soul," Sai said.
"Nah, fal'Cie aren't supposed to have souls. I'm just very good at acting like it."
The group entered a large open room with a big bridge and they could see that another Juggernaut had activated in the distance. Luckily it was on an elevated platform, unable to get down or even sense their presence, and it wasn't barring their path so they could easily sneak past it.
"You think we could find a deactivated one?" Hope asked. "Maybe we could take control of it."
"Hope, don't even think about it," Lightning warned.
Atomos rumbled beneath the bridge, whirring past and almost making the place seem like it was active and alive. But despite all the machinery, there were no humans in sight.
"You think he's trying to lead us somewhere?" Sai wondered.
"Maybe there's a platform where he can specifically stop," Shu guessed.
They continued down the tunnels, using the lights to guide their way forward.
"How do any of these have power still?" Hope wondered.
"Self-sustaining," Charon explained. "The machines are active, doing the works and their job, and some of the machines have the job of simply powering generators, doing repairs if something breaks down. The machines have routines where they're on guard duty and then go to recharge their batteries, switching out in shifts, and if some of them get damaged, there are more in the works. Considering the number of machines we've faced, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a factory producing more machines down here for an infinite supply."
They reached another larger and open area. Across the way, Juggernauts could be seen roaming around, whirring and taking their small steps as they seemed to search for anything to do.
"Gotta be getting close, huh?" Vanille asked.
The others walked down a ramp to continue forward, but Hope got slightly distracted. Up above, he spotted just what he had wanted - a shutdown Juggernaut that seemed to be in good shape. He snuck away as the others followed the main path, climbing up.
Sai noticed Hope running off, looking to the others before following. He climbed up a platform to see that Hope was messing with the wires beneath the machine. Sai himself was curious to figure out how a Juggernaut worked and to get a good look at one when it wasn't trying to kill, so he started climbing the bot and motioned for Hope to follow.
"Circuits seem to be in good conditions, all things considered," Sai said. "Now, where do you think the 'On' button is?"
The others came to a dead end where it seemed a bridge had once been, but it had been destroyed - either by time or by Atomos. Beyond, however, it seemed that there weren't any more tunnels.
"No way through," Sazh declared. "Man, that fal'Cie must've been slacking."
"You mean we're stuck down here?!" Shu exclaimed.
"We can always go back the way we came," Charon suggested.
"But that's so far! I don't think I'll make it! I need sunlight. Now! I needs da sun wright now!"
They all jumped at the sudden sound of Hope screaming. It seemed he'd found the 'On' button. The Juggernaut whirred to life, its lights glowing and its parts spinning, but it started walking forward without any intent to stop - and it was walking right towards the edge of the platform.
"Wait! Stop already!"
"Where is the steering?!" Sai exclaimed.
Lightning sighed heavily with a hand on her hip. "Ugh, it's the Vile Peaks all over again."
Sazh scratched the back of his head nervously. "Do you think we should-? Hey, hey!"
The Juggernaut plunged down off the platform. The Juggernaut seemed to have incredible stability as it landed almost gracefully with its arms out for balance. Hope and Sai went flying off, hitting the dirt. Though they were a bit winded, they were mostly unharmed.
Lightning ran up to the edge. "Hope! Get out of there!"
"Sai, move!" Shu shouted.
There was a rumbling in the distance as Atomos came around the corner. Shu jumped down and grabbed the two by their waists.
"Hold on tight!"
They jumped up and started to hover back up to the platform, but a moment later Shu coughed and started wheezing, losing altitude rather than gaining it.
"Not good…"
The three of them fell back down, Shu releasing the two as they started to hyperventilate.
"Shu, what's wrong?!" Sai exclaimed.
"I need…I need the sun…" They started to look around, feeling very claustrophobic. "It's too dark and dry and scary!"
Atomos approached, digging through the earth and coming straight for them. Hope got to his feet, looking for a way out, but they were in a valley that was too deep for any of them to escape - especially with Atomos so close. Sai grabbed his sword and took up a defensive stance, holding up his blades and bracing for impact.
Shu grabbed their sword and stepped forward, planting it into the dirt. "Get behind me!"
"You're weakened!" Sai protested.
"I'm still a fal'Cie! He won't be able to kill me. All I have to do is hold my ground!"
Atomos smashed into them. Shu avoided the large spikes and collided with the body of the giant sphere that was the fal'Cie. They were all pushed back, Shu's feet digging into the ground. They finally brought the metal machine to a stop, but their arms were shaking and they were still being pushed back inch by inch.
"I…won't…lose…someone…else…" Shu sobbed.
They released the full weight of their true form and finally came to a stop, but Atomos was still pushing, whirring forward with a destructive force.
In a flash, Charon was there, hovering above Shu with his Kozuka out for a Warp-Strike. He pushed forward against Atomos and the large machine actually reversed direction. Shu fell back, breathing hard and with their limbs feeling like jelly.
"Atomos, this ends now!"
A Juggernaut jumped down into the valley and lumbered past Shu, throwing its arms forward and then holding Atomos back. Its hands sparked, but the large machine - which looked puny compared to the fal'Cie - held its ground. Charon whistled and more Juggernauts started jumping down, careful to avoid Hope, Sai, and Shu. A few took positions against Atomos itself before others put their arms up to support those in front of them. Nearly a dozen in all joined the fray, locking together in an immovable wall of metal.
Charon raised his hand and smashed it down on the body of Atomos, a pulse of energy flowing across him, and the wheel began to slow, the entire thing coming to a stop within moments.
"Well that was cool," Snow muttered. "Go robot guys."
"Good lesson for us," Sazh nodded. "Not even a mighty fal'Cie like that is a match for the power of teamwork. That is inspiration right there."
"Save the sermons, old man," Fang said. "Let's hop on Trailblazer here, while we still have the chance."
Charon flew Sai and Hope back up to the platform and then went back for Shu.
"That was reckless, love."
"Love?" Shu asked hopefully.
Charon winced. "Force of habit."
Shu kissed him on the cheek. "You can be guilty all you want, but I'll be here when you change your mind about us."
Charon tensed and sped their flight, dropping Shu gently before flying over to Atomos. "I'll go plot our course," He told the others.
He put his hand on the metal shell and a door opened. He flew inside to speak with Atomos, telling him the location they were going to and a good place to drop them off. Shu would be happy with the location, that was for sure.
"All set!" He announced.
"Let's go!" Hope said, being the first to step forward and hop into the fal'Cie's cabin.
The others followed and the door closed behind them.
"Ready Atomos!" Charon called.
The fal'Cie kicked into high gear, its spikes beginning to spin once more and it surged forward. The cabin shook and they felt as they began barreled forward, down the rocky paths. Of course, the ride wasn't exactly smooth, as Atomos didn't follow the exact same path every time. In fact, the fal'Cie seemed to find pleasure in smashing into the walls if they were in his way.
"How does this thing see where it's going?!" Snow exclaimed.
"It's a fal'Cie," Charon said smiling. "It just knows."
They waited out a short ride before Atomos suddenly jolted and they were all nearly knocked off their feet from the sudden stop.
"We're here."
Charon waved open the door and everyone poured out. The found themselves in a very different place, sunlight pouring through rock structures and the smell of water heavy in the air. Plants and moss could be seen growing on the ground, and a stream of water could be heard in the distance.
"The Sulyya Springs!" Shu exclaimed.
"Taejin's Tower is just beyond these springs," Charon announced. "Atomos saved us at least a day's worth of travel. He can't get us any closer because this is Bismarck's territory."
"Bismarck?" Sai asked.
"The fal'Cie of the waters," Shu explained.
"Atomos searching for a path to the Unseen Realm underground, while Bismarck searches for it in the sea," Charon elaborated.
"It's awesome! Rei and I came here all the time. Check out the bioluminescent plants! My people!"
Shu skilled forward and the others followed down a rocky corridor. It was much nicer and more lively than the Mah'habara, glowing green plants scattered about in patches. When they came out on the other side, they saw waterfalls falling from above into a large cavern. The rock formations weren't even, leaving holes for the sun to come through from above and from the sides.
Almost as if purposefully, there was a large opening that connected the springs out to sea that went all the way up to the roof of the cavern, and Cocoon could be seen floating in the sky right beside a waterfall. The tall and wild plants of Cocoon could be seen scattered about, looking like they wished to reach up to meet the floating planet.
Shu kneeled at a bundle of plants. "Look at you! You've grown up, haven't you?! And who is this? Aw, aren't you adorable!"
They went over to the edge of the water and waved. "HI BISMARCK!"
There was a rumbling as a giant whale-like fal'Cie surface and spouted a blast of water up into the air.
"That's Bismarck," Shu said redundantly.
"There's a Waystone over that way," Charon said, pointing back the way they came. "Anyone wanna volunteer to activate it?"
The group split off around the springs to complete the quest.
Snow stayed behind on his own, holding up his crystal tear to look at his home through its shimmering surface.
Vanille slowly approached him. "Whatcha doin'?"
He seemed to be pulled out of a daze, lowering his arm with the crystal. "I was, uh…I was talking to Serah. Just telling her that…we're all gonna be okay."
He held out his fist with the glowing crystal tear to Vanille. She stepped forward and held out her hands as Snow dropped it in her palms. She took the tear in her fingers and walked forward, raising it as Snow had before so that she was staring through the crystal to see Cocoon beyond.
"It's so pretty," She said quietly.
Serah…you'd been crying, hadn't you? Back when we first met?
Day 9
The Seaside City of Bodhum
This place was beautiful, and my Focus was to destroy it. I decided to do nothing and wait to become a Cie'th. But because I did nothing, others got dragged into this nightmare. And I was the one to blame.
Vanille skipped happily across the beach of Bodhum with Serah walking beside her. Serah sat down in the sand while Vanille looked around in awe at the beauty of a sunset there.
"How's the scrape?" Serah called.
Vanille had met Serah after she had been separated from Fang at Euride Gorge. Though Serah thought it was their first encounter, in reality, Vanille knew who she was - the innocent girl who had wandered into the Bodhum Vestige only to be turned into a l'Cie, a replacement for the Gran Pulsians who had seemingly abandoned their Focus.
Vanille had found that Bodhum was a nice place, and she wasn't going to destroy it or all the people within it. Serah was a kind person who helped her when she found Vanille, lost and alone. The two had become fast friends, and Vanille couldn't even imagine letting this world be destroyed.
"Huh?" Vanille asked before nodding. "Fine. Much better - thanks to you." Vanille moved to plop down next to Serah with a content sigh. "Oh, sure you don't mind? I mean, I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?"
Serah smiled and looked off to the colorful sunset. "Not at all. Don't worry. I could sit here for hours."
They listened to the gentle sound of the waves, the sky above yellow, orange, red, then purple.
"Hey, Serah?" Vanille asked. "Do you think we'll meet again?"
Serah looked down with a sad smile. "We might. Sure."
Vanille stood and stretched before stepping forward, keeping her motions light. "See, the thing is…I was chasing after someone." She put her arm up to block the bright sun. "And…there's something I really need to apologize for." She dropped her arm and her head, shuffling nervously. "But I just…I just can't ever find the words."
"Gee, that's gotta be tough, huh?"
"Yes. I even have nightmares about it."
Serah took a deep breath and sighed. "Well…if it's too much to deal with, face it later."
Vanille turned in surprise. "Really?"
Serah chuckled. "Sometimes things seem easier when you look at them from a distance, you know?"
"But…does that really work?"
Serah looked to the side with a skeptical look, rising to her feet and wiping off the sand from her skirt. "Good question. I'll let you know," She said with a sad smile. She slowly paced towards the water's edge. "Actually…I've been trying to keep something at a distance myself lately."
"Like what?" Vanille asked reluctantly, already guessing the answer.
Serah looked down. "Don't laugh, okay? It's a dream I had. A bad one. I dreamt I destroyed the world. It was terrifying. I needed some time alone. It had me so scared…I tried to run away."
Vanille's hand went to her mouth in horror behind Serah - horror at what she'd done, horror at what Serah was facing.
Serah kicked the water and turned back to Vanille, smiling. "But then…my boyfriend, he came chasing after me." She dropped her head and ran her fingers through her hair with a little embarrassment. "That's when I understood. Running away, and leaving behind the people you care about?" She shook her head firmly. "That isn't love. Although you might just wanna keep them safe, shutting them out of your life only hurts them more." Serah turned to Vanille again confidently. "The point is, I have people I can count on. I'll make it through."
Vanille stepped forward with a spring in her step. "I think you'll be fine."
"And you will be too." She held out her hand. "You'll find the words. I'm sure of it."
Vanille reached out to take her hand but stepped closer to put her hand over the bandage that hid Serah's Pulse l'Cie brand. "I'm sorry!" She fell to her knees in front of Serah. "I'm so sorry…!" She looked up at Serah desperately. "What else can I say?"
Serah chuckled lightly, putting a hand on Vanille's head. "I'm not the one you should be asking, Vanille. You'll know what to say when you find your friend. You'll see."
Rei watched the encounter from afar with a sad smile. These two had no idea what was in store for them. None of them did. Even she herself didn't know the future.
"Rei!" Sai called.
She turned with a smile. "Hey."
"Wanna get going?"
She nodded. "Sure."
She hurried over to him, a fuzzy sheep in her arms. Sai said that she had to give it to a zoo. A zoo was apparently where humans went to interact with animals, and the zoo people would take good care of the sheep. She didn't understand why they couldn't keep him, but apparently, Sai didn't have the right stuff to properly feed the sheep and he worried about what it would do while he was away. They'd get to visit him in the future though, and maybe once they'd settled in a bit, they could take him back.
"Where did you find him again?" Sai asked.
"He was there," She shrugged. "Weren't you, little guy?"
The fuzzy sheep made a small noise of approval.
"He likes you."
Sai chuckled. "Well I like you too, but you have to go to the zoo now."
"I love pets. We should get some pets."
"An idea for the future. We could have a cozy little house with a big backyard for our pets to roam around in."
"We should get a chocobo!"
The sheep in her arms protested.
"Along with you, of course," She added.
"Or a dog. Dogs are cool. Cats, no. Cats are evil."
"Not evil. Someone important to me is a cat fal'Cie - well, a lion. They're adorable, you ought to meet them."
"Well Cocoon cats must not be like Pulse ones."
"That's true. Could be the case."
The two continued to talk of a future they would have together, a future they hoped for more than anything, and a future they still thought they had a shot of having. It would only be a few more days before that future was nothing but a memory, dissolving into the air like smoke.
"You mean you met Serah?" Snow clarified.
Vanille nodded. "I tried to hide our Focus, and she ended up a l'Cie. I wanted to say I was sorry, but…"
"Well, when we rescue her, maybe you'll get the chance."
Vanille turned to him with a gentle nod. "Yeah. I hope so."
Snow walked deeper into the springs where the others had met up after a successful hunting of some Uridimmu wolves. "Come on."
"I think Serah saw the same vision of Ragnarok that we did," Vanille called. "Which means, Dysley had to be lying when he explained her Focus. I think she beat it. She handed Cocoon over to us, and that's what made her turn to crystal!"
Snow paused before walking forward again. Without looking back, he called, "Yep! I know."
Vanille hurried to catch up to the others. Shu was enjoying the springs and waterfalls, the small rainbows being made from the mist created, and couldn't stop gushing about how much they missed this place and how beautiful it was.
Charon was trying to stand back and stay out of it, mostly because he needed to resist the urge to laugh and hug Shu when they acted like that. That wasn't something that they'd be doing.
There were Ceratoraptors and Ceratosaurs all around the springs, along with Orobon sahagins - all very hard hitters. The Ceratoraptors could summon more Ceratosaurs, while Orobons had a Water attack that could cause Slow or Daze and a Power Spritz move that bestowed Haste, Shell, Veil, and Vigilance. Of course, it was nothing they couldn't handle, moving past the springs quickly.
"Aw…" Shu complained. "I could stay here forever."
"We know," Charon drawled. "You won't shut up about it."
Shu huffed angrily. "You don't have to be a jerk about it."
"We're near to Taejin's Tower. Let's just get a move on."
Shu scoffed and stomped ahead of him. He followed without a word, not allowing anyone else to say anything. Sai noticed he was holding his trembling hand in a fist.
They came out to another nice location where Cocoon could be seen in the distance and the plants of Pulse grew wild. Wyvern creatures could be seen flying around in the distance, and the sun was beginning to fall in the sky.
Fang looked up to the sky. "Still with us, Cocoon? I wonder what's going on up there."
"Hey, it's getting late," Vanille said. "Let's spread the blankets out here!"
As the sun hung low in the sky, Snow stood alone on a cliff, standing in a field of grass with pollen from the giant plants floating past in a calm breeze. He held up Serah's crystal tear and looked through it to Cocoon.
Lightning walked up behind him, just coming back from guard duty with her gunblade drawn. "How's Serah?"
Snow lowered his hand. "Same as we left her."
Lightning held her hand out as one of the large pollen particles landed in her hand. It almost seemed to glow in the center, like a gem, but the wind picked it up and blew it apart at her touch.
"Feels…so far away now," Snow said. He chuckled and dropped the crystal tear in Lightning's hand. "Serah says, she wants to talk."
Lightning held the tear between her fingers, looking through to Cocoon up above. The image was reflected so that Cocoon appeared to be upside down. Hanging Edge could be seen, a large scar on Cocoon from the War of Transgression. Where their journey had ultimately begun.
Snow caught one of the large pollen spheres. "She'd probably prefer it if you…skipped the lectures."
Lightning moved quickly. She lowered the crystal, reared back and flicked her gunblade out to slice right through the pollen, knocking Snow off his feet in his surprise.
"Hey!" He protested, swiping the pollen particles out of his face.
"Once we're home, what's your plan?" Lightning asked. "You're getting married, right?"
Snow did a double take. Did he hear that right? "What's that?"
Lightning flicked her gunblade back into gun mode and held up the tear. "Serah wants to know," she explained casually.
Snow chuckled. "Don't scare me like that."
"You are getting married, aren't you? Don't you let her down, you hear me?"
She tossed the tear up into the air. Snow rose to his feet and caught it. "Don't worry. This tear will be her last. I'll make sure of that."
"That's all I need to know."
She moved to walk past him, and Snow dropped his head. "We will see her, right?"
He jumped when he felt Lightning's fist at his back, right between his shoulder blades. "Don't go there." She shoved him. "No room for doubt."
"You're right," He sighed.
"We'll see her again. And soon. You convinced me of that. So stay strong."
She lowered her head behind him and let her tears fall.
"Don't worry. We'll finish this, and go see her together."
Lightning stepped forward and leaned against the back of his shoulder. Together, under the sunset, they prayed for a future where they were both with Serah again. It was an impossible future, but one that they had to hope for with all they had. Maybe, if they worked together, they could make their dream a reality.
Somehow.
Shu laid in the grass contently, staring at the yellowing sky.
"You look dead," Sai said bluntly.
Shu's face was blank as they held still surrounded by the greenery. "Yeah, well I am. Asushunamir is dead."
"So what's your name?"
"Tsuchi, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
Sai collapsed on the grass beside them. "You figure out a way to make up with Charon?"
Shu sat up in a huff. "That stupid stupid-head! I wanna strangle him!"
"Come on, Shu. You've just gotta be patient."
"I'm tired of being patient! He needs a good kick to the head for what he's making me go through all because he's insecure or something!"
Sai sighed. "True enough. You two were so great before all this happened, and I know that you can be better. He's just too afraid to get in over his head again. All love has given him is pain."
"Maybe because he keeps on ruining it all himself!"
"Shu, stop it. You know he's going through a lot."
"Well can't he just ask for help? Can't he make an effort to fix his life rather than sulking?"
"He's scared. He needs a push, sure. So figure out a way to push him."
Shu looked over at Charon, who was standing on guard duty, but there wasn't much to do, so he was just leaning against the wall silently. Shu caught him trying to sneak a couple glances their way.
"Push him, huh? What'll get through that thick skull of his?"
"You," Sai said. "Your relationship with him affects him most. Kiss him or something, confront him about this. He can't avoid it forever, and I think he really needs your help to figure out what he's so afraid of so that he can fight back. He himself can't see the enemy that's inside of him. He just needs a quiet moment to think, and you are the one who can help him figure this out."
Shu looked over to Charon.
"Fine, I'll make him confront this."
Shu pulled Sai into a kiss that took him by surprise. Sai had never kissed anyone before, but Shu was being gentle with him knowing that. When Shu pulled back, they smiled.
"Let's just say that was from Rei."
He blinked. "Uh…sure."
Shu looked over to where Charon had been, but he was gone. "There. I hope that hurt him enough to do something about it."
Shu stood and stomped off through the fields of grass. Sai finally process what Shu had done and why. They had done it to spite Charon. Shu wanted to make things better, but Charon still felt that he needed to be punished. So Shu, finally getting fed up, gave him the punishment that he wanted - the idea that Shu was moving on somehow.
Sai and Shu made no sense together, especially considering how well Charon and Shu fit. But Shu wanted Charon to know that they didn't have to stay with him and that if he really cared, he needed to at least try to meet them halfway.
Sai sighed and collapsed in the grass again. This was a mess.
He didn't want Charon to get the wrong idea, but he was also scared to face the guy now that he knew Charon was probably vying for his murder.
Sai grunted in frustration at his moral compass and stood, going off to where Charon most likely disappeared to.
Charon couldn't breathe.
His hands were trembling, he felt like something was trying to crawl its way out of him, tearing him apart from the inside. He could barely control his limbs, his hands shaking violently as he clawed at the rocks for balance.
He was crying.
It suddenly seemed to hit him, punch him in the chest. He was falling apart and he didn't know what to do about it. He wanted Shu's help, he needed it, but now he'd lost it for good.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
He should've said it before. He should've done something before, but he just kept putting it off and pushing it away because he was too scared. He thought he wanted to be alone, but that wasn't really what he'd wanted. He'd wanted peace. He wanted this constant fear to go away, he wanted a moment to breathe and have someone tell him that it was all going to be okay.
He thought that being alone would do that for him, that he could just take a deep breath on his own and handle it all himself. But all it had done was make him more lonely. It had given him too much time to swirl his thoughts around in his head and make them worse and worse, spiraling into a pit of despair, making him want to retreat even more.
He wanted to take it all back. He wanted to accept Shu's hug and their speech about letting it all out and trusting them. He would've thought that it was stupid, told himself that Shu didn't understand, but they did. They did more than anyone else.
Now he was left feeling shattered, as though every part of him was cracking and parts were chipping away. He wanted to just fade from this world, he wanted to just die.
But he couldn't. He had his orders, ones that sunk into his bones, and they'd have a grip on him as long as he felt anything for Shu. And he'd never be able to get over them, he couldn't just cast his feelings aside, not after everything that's happened. He told himself to just end it, but an invisible string tugged at him and wouldn't allow it.
Come to think of it, why didn't Shu just order him to get himself together, to confess his feelings, to confide in Shu, love them again like he wants to?
Simple.
Because Shu wanted it to be Charon's choice. They wanted to give Charon a choice when he'd been without one for centuries. Shu probably forgot that they even had the option to use his command word because they weren't used to having control of someone else, they'd never want to take away someone's free will even if they could. And Shu could with Charon. But they didn't.
He hated Shu for being so perfect. He hated himself for hurting them. He hated that he couldn't make this void of pain go away.
"Charon?"
"GO AWAY!"
His voice came out more forceful than he had intended. It also sounded more broken than he had intended.
Sai flinched. "Sorry, I just…I just wanted you to know it meant nothing. Shu just wanted you to face your feelings. I guess they succeeded."
Charon wanted to spit a hundred things at Sai, too many things to count. He wanted to wallow in his misery, he wanted to scream at Sai because it was somehow his fault, he wanted to tell Sai to tell Shu many things from how he was sorry to how he hated them.
"Just…wanted you to know."
Sai retreated.
And Charon tried to pull himself together with a thousand thoughts swirling around in his head. He hated himself. He hated Shu. And yet it was all because he loved so much that it hurt.
The grass faded away, leaving just a dirt trail with a few weeds. In just a few steps, the path had transformed from an oasis to a desert.
"Back to this," Shu sighed.
They had been avoiding Charon at all costs but doing it very subtly. Shu avoided his gaze, pretended like he wasn't there if he tried to speak, and when they came close to each other, Shu was violent in shoving him away while refusing to acknowledge his presence. Charon had been driven to silence very easily at Shu's rough treatment of him, and Sai was beginning to fear this new dark side of Shu. Charon looked like he'd been punched in the gut, battered emotionally over and over like every second of his existence was burning away at him. He was suffocating, barely on his feet, and Sai had explained the situation to the other l'Cie so that they kept their distance. These two were like ticking time bombs, and if anyone brought up their relationship, whatever it was, the two of them were going to blow up Pulse and Cocoon and all Barthandelus's hard work would've been for nothing.
The group made their way forward with some cactus-like weeds the only plants they passed. When they came out of the valley, they saw an enormous tower in the distance. It was old, falling apart, but the erosion wasn't the worst part. Only the base of the tower stood standing, the rest of it tipped over with the floors bent at bad angles from the force of the fall that had once happened many years ago. The top half of the tower was still connected to the bottom part, creating a bit of a ramp that went off into the distance.
"Taejin's Tower," Shu explained. "Once, it stood tall enough to reach the heavens, but it was too tall, and so it fell over. We get through there, and we'll be in Oerba."
"You guys are almost home," Snow pointed out.
"Yup!" Vanille agreed.
Wyvern creatures circled the tower, the abandoned building having made itself a home for monsters.
"Doesn't exactly look like it's gonna be a leisurely stroll," Sazh guessed.
Right in front of them, a giant flying worm-like creature went flying past, scaring the heck out of Sazh who had just been thinking about the nasties in the tower. Lightning, who was beside him, didn't react, but Vanille exclaimed in surprise.
"A fal'Cie!" She announced.
"Oh, so we just head through this fal'Cie's lair to get to Oerba, right?" Hope clarified.
"That's Dahaka," Shu said. "Fal'Cie of the skies."
"Like Atomos is the earth and Bismarck was the sea?" Hope guessed.
"Yup. He's pretty straightforward, unlike some fal'Cie. We're not exactly best buds, but at least we talk sometimes and are willing to understand each other no matter how our relationship is."
Charon flinched, gripping his hand tightly behind him. Sai was getting really concerned about Charon at this point. These tremors that he got almost overtook him, and the effort of restraining them almost seemed to make them worse - like trying to contain an explosion and creating a pressure vessel instead. Sai had been in the Guardian Corps; as such, he had been trained to see the signs of shock and panic attacks. This was more serious than Charon had let on, maybe because Charon didn't seem to know about it himself. Panic attacks like the ones Charon were having looked to physically be tearing Charon apart, not just mentally. He was facing physical pain, as though containing an actual explosion that would probably nuke the entire Archylte Steppe if let loose.
Sai pulled Charon back and away from the others. "Deep breaths, focus on me and my voice, pick something to stare at. Big breath in. Do it, idiot, now."
Charon was confused, but though it felt embarrassing, he followed Sai's instructions.
"Exhale. Inhale. Stare at my eyes. Pick a spot in them and don't look away. Exhale. You're listening to my voice, right? Inhale. Imagine a reverse pendulum, it's unsteady, it's about to fall, but then it balances itself. Exhale. You need to right yourself out like that reverse pendulum, all right? Inhale. You're about to tip over the edge, but then you move so that you're balanced once more and you're making those little adjustments so that you don't lose yourself, okay? Exhale."
Charon looked significantly better, and somehow the destructive force in his chest that had been building up felt a little weaker. It was still there, but it was like he'd dumped a bucket of water over a fire and left only the embers.
"H-How did you…?"
"I've been trained to handle trauma victims," Sai said. "In the Corps, we have missions where we have to rescue people, and a lot of the time that requires the knowledge of how to handle people who are frozen from fear. I also know some PTSD stuff, how to at least help a little, even if I can't fully sympathize. How do you think I handled Rei's death so well?"
Charon tensed again, his eyes widening.
"Hey, hey! Big breaths. See Taejin's Tower over there? Describe it in your head. Describe the height of the tower - did it break off half way or maybe a third of the way? - describe the sky around it, Cocoon up there, the rocky cliffs. Paint that picture and describe it."
Charon's mind wandered to Sai's task as he stared up at the admittedly beautiful scene. It worked well to distract and calm his mind.
"See? Doesn't fix everything, but it certainly helps. Just do what I told you if you need to in the future."
"I…thanks, Sai."
He nodded. "I'll talk to Shu, but this can only be resolved by you. This has gone too far, clearly. No pressure, but you gotta fix Shu, man."
He patted Charon on the shoulder, and Charon took another deep breath before following Sai to join the others again.
"What's another fal'Cie at this point, huh?" Lightning was pointing out.
As Dahaka flew past, a couple of the Wyverns that got too close to his tail literally exploded. As in, they self-destructed from the power of the fal'Cie flying past. Dahaka zapped them down like one of those bug lamps. He flew to the open top of Taejin's Tower and dived in.
"Was there something strange about that one?" Hope wondered.
"What do you mean?" Shu asked.
Hope shrugged. "There was just something that looked off. Can't remember what."
"All fal'Cie are different. Let's just hope we don't face the receiving end of Dahaka's wrath. If we can slip through unnoticed, it'll be best for all of us."
They encountered another Waystone with a mission mark of a Goblin Chieftain - nothing they couldn't handle. The Goblins were pretty hard hitters when they wanted to be, and with a Chieftain around they could be buffed with Goblinhancement to give them Bravery. There were also the red versions of the Goblins - the Munchkins - along with a respective Munchkin Maestro, who instantly went to work on using Goblinhancement to bestow Bravery and Vigilance, making the Goblin Punches extra hard. Not to mention when the Chieftain and the Maestro fell, the respective species (either Goblin or Munchkin) used Rise to Power to become a new Chieftain or Maestro.
It took Sentinels, Medics, and Synergists to make sure the team could take the attacks, as well as some Saboteuring skills to debuff and dispel. Overall, it was a pretty even fight with the two large groups and the unique skill sets. But where the monsters had power, they lacked in healing or defense. It was only a matter of time before each regular Goblins and Munchkins were wiped out, leaving only the leaders to be dispatched.
"You ever wonder how those guys eat?" Shu asked. "I mean, their mouths are their bodies."
"And how do they have wheels for feet?" Sai added.
"Evolutionary traits?" Sazh guessed casually.
Mánagarmrs hung around the rocky terrain in front of Taejin's Tower. They had Accused Breath attacks which gave Curse and Imperil to those caught in the poisonous cloud, and it had Storm Conduction, an ability that summoned a shower of lightning bolts that damaged its enemies and healed itself. Beyond that, they looked pretty cool and were a bit tough like a wild wolf-like creature was meant to be, but it didn't stand a chance against them, even when there were small packs of two or three.
Someone was nice enough to have stacked a large cairn of stones to hold up a block of rock jutting out from the mountain so that it didn't crush anyone trying to walk beneath and it didn't block the narrow path. Convenient.
"Wow! Look at that!" Vanille exclaimed. "We're going up there?"
"Yup," Shu said. "The only way around the tower seems to be through it. All of the rocks and mountains are too tall and steep to climb, and there's this giant canyon in the way."
"Is there an exit on the other side?" Snow asked.
"There are elevators inside that can take us to the top and then we can ride down the second half of the tower that's fallen over since it looks like a ramp."
"Smart," Sai said. "But it's not gonna make us very popular with Dahaka."
"We'll deal with that when we get there. When in doubt, I'll just order Charon to kill Dahaka with his one-hit-kill blade."
Charon scowled. Not only was Shu not one to be the first to bring up murder as the only solution, but they also knew that Charon was fidgety at the prospect of using the blade that had killed Rei. He was slightly disturbed that Shu had talked about the weapon so casually after what it - what Charon - had done.
A couple of Wyvern-type creatures, Amphisbaena, were flying around and were just as annoying as their predecessors, using powerful sweeping attacks with their wings, throwing debuffs, and using Feeding Stoop with their second mouths. Still, a little defending and healing then debuffing, buffing, staggering, and the physical attackers can take one out within a few hits.
As they got closer to the tower, they could start to see beyond the large valley where the peaks of white dunes could be seen. The structure of the tower was pretty impressive, built with engineering that had kept the two halves relatively intact even after all these years - barring that whole thing about the tower being split in two because it fell. The tower was built into the mountains of rock, a valley leading straight to the front doors.
At the entrance, a large door that had to be thirty feet tall loomed, slightly cracked open to their luck. The doors were seamlessly connected to the rock around it, leading to a corridor inside to Taejin's Tower. Beside each door was a tall statue at least twenty feet each, but they were worn from being outside. One had lost its head, on the ground in front of it, and its arms were held out to hold a weapon - a large stone sword held pointed to the ground as though he was standing guard. Whatever armor it was supposed to have was chipped, cracked, rusted, and far from structurally stable. Just touching the thing would likely make it crumble. The other statue was in a similar state, although he still had a head. He'd lost his right arm, however, as it was lying on the ground in front of it, somehow balanced on where the shoulder would have been connected so that the fist was facing upwards.
"Let's stay calm and do this," Hope said.
They walked into the hall, illuminated by glowing lights on the floor perpendicular to the path forward as well as small lights on little pillars along the sides. It instantly felt like they were inside a tunnel, turning a down the corridor as it leaned to make a 90-degree turn in a wide left before they came out into a large, open, circular room.
"It's funky in here," Sai said, looking around. "The architecture is similar to the Ark. Pretty old fashion."
"It's like everything else on Pulse," Shu said. "It looks old-school compared to Cocoon, but in reality, it's just as advanced, if not more."
"My stomach's tied in a knot," Vanille murmured.
"I don't like the air here," Hope agreed.
"Not sure I like the look of this place," Sazh concurred.
The main room was illuminated by a large light in the center, a dome-like blue crystal with two large arches above it that crossed in the center above the crystal. Between the two arches in the middle, as if standing guard, there were four statues just like the ones out at the front door, looking a lot better than the ones outside though since they were intact, holding large stone weapons in their hands. There were giant pillars across the room holding up a part of the ceiling that seemed to be the other floors above, wheels on the bottom of them that were along tracks. About twenty feet up and halfway into the circular room, the ceiling disappeared to reveal a large circular opening all the way to the top. The tower was glowing, every floor illuminated and somehow still having power, and the little dashed horizontal blue lights resembled a skyscraper on Cocoon with all of the floors and the lights scattered about depending on who was in a room with the lights on - it looked like a smaller version of that.
"The rest of the tower is in layers," Sai noticed. "Look. Each floor is separate from the others, they all rotate, and these giant wheels are holding the entire weight."
"Imagine what it was like back when the tower was whole," Shu said. "The floors turned very slowly from the weight. It can get really annoying when something moves too slowly and there's nothing you can do about it. Especially if there's a really easy solution."
Charon stared at the crystal in the center of the room, taking his deep breaths with his clenched fist.
Sai noticed there was a vertical wall right next to a giant ring and a ramp. The wall had a bunch of vertical lines that split it up, little blue dots that mimicked a music box mechanism scattered about in the different sections - where something slides up or down the thing and makes a chime every time that it hits one of the blue notes so that it creates a song. He noticed there were similar walls connected to higher floors, but they weren't aligned properly. Maybe that was the elevator, and since the floors of this place turned, they might be able to line them up. It certainly had enough power.
Sai voiced his thoughts. "The only question is how we activate the floors to line them up," He finished.
"Look for a switch," Lightning suggested. "It has to be obvious if it controls the entire tower."
"Maybe that big thing in the middle?" Snow suggested.
They walked closer and fanned out slightly to search, but Shu made a loud humming noise in a questioning tone. "Hm?"
Everyone started to look around as they heard a whisper in the air, no discernable words, but a definite voice.
"I'm not…the only one hearing that, am I?" Vanille announced.
"No," Sazh agreed. "Uh…i-it couldn't be them, could it?"
Shu twisted their head and looked around before finally staring up to the statues that were positioned beside the arches in the middle of the room with the large light. They had their hands positioned at weird angles, a sword pointing downwards in their right hands while their left hands were twisted so that their palms were facing away from them, thumbs aimed towards the ground.
"I don't know," Hope said. "It's weird, like voices in my head.
Now that they were paying attention, they realized that it was the statues that were talking.
"I hear it," Shu said. "Ancient language, very old. 'Your presence here draws the tyrant's gaze. Leave this place at once.' Well, that's friendly."
"We can't leave," Vanille insisted. "This is the only way for us to get through."
"Tyrant you said?" Sai clarified.
Shu nodded. "Yeah, basically."
"If Dahaka lives here, a big bad fal'Cie that we've seen outside…"
"That means he's the big baddy they were talking about," Sazh concluded.
"So how about a deal?" Sai said. "We help you with your tyrant problem and you help us get through the tower."
The giant statue whispered again.
"'As you wish,'" Shu translated. "'Look for us, and the way will open.'"
The giant statue then moved, its awkwardly positioned hand moving to take hold of its sword while the sword hand moved to point the sword completely downward in front of it. With the two hands on its weapon, it slammed the stone blade into the floor. With a flash of light from the crystal in the center, the entire area came to life, the higher floors spinning both clockwise and counterclockwise at alternating floors. They finally came to a stop when the walls with the blue tick marks that had looked like an elevator lined up just as Sai had predicted, sealing together with a ring like a chime and a flash from all of the different little vertical sections. A giant wheel came down, connected to the elevator by a rotating outer layer separate from the main part where passengers would be.
The wheel stopped right next to the giant ring with the ramp, the ring glowing with some weird aura that probably allowed people into the cabin, activating the doors, or possibly it called down the elevator when it was disrupted - maybe if it was on another floor you could call it down. A pretty advanced system.
Snow hummed in amusement, hands on his hips. "Well that was easy enough."
"Things are so much easier than they seem," Shu threw out.
"Another reason to use your manners and ask nicely," Sai declared loudly. "And it's a win-win situation here. Offering something in return always helps."
"You never know," Hope said. "Could be a trap."
"Could be," Sazh agreed, scratching the back of his head. "I don't see no stairs, though."
"Nope," Fang said. "This is our ride, bumpy or not."
They walked up the ramp and Hope looked up the
"We'll get by somehow, someway," Vanille said encouragingly.
The cabin inside the wheel had fancy spiral doors that whirred open with five different sections, ready for the group to enter. They passed through the weird aura of the giant ring without incident, it almost didn't seem to exist even though it was definitely there around the edges.
"These controls seem…simple enough," Sai said.
He pressed a big button and a console came up with a bit of fancy Pulsian language. There were two different words, one on top of the other, with the bottom one in a gray color. There was a small arrow pointing at the top word that was still glowing, flickering just slightly to show that it was being highlighted. There were a couple more buttons that looked important, two that were definitely meant for the 'Up' and 'Down' commands and then a slightly bigger one - not as big as the main activation button, but bigger than the directional buttons. It was also red when the others were turquoise like the rest of the tower's stuff.
He pressed the red button.
The lever in the middle of the room whirred and the light on the end of the handle blinked. Sai walked over to the heavy lever and pushed it forwards. There was a big clank as the spiral door hummed and closed. There were six wheels on either side of the cabin with glowing lights to indicate their location. They started to spin, all at different speeds, and were probably powering the outer layer of the elevator connected to the musical wall that controlled the elevation of the elevator. The room had a slight jolt as the elevator started to lift on the chiming of the music-box-like wall.
"There we…go. Ha, a simple system even if you don't read the language. It looks like there are still a few floors still inactive until we get to the top."
"Maybe if we find more statues they can fix more floors," Shu suggested.
There was a dial with a bunch of numbers on it like a casino machine, some rattling that was slightly unnerving when you were on a centuries-old contraption that was literally climbing a wall like the tangent line of a circle, but otherwise, the ride went well. When the ride came to a stop, the doors opened on the opposite side that they'd entered - proving that both doors worked at least. They went through another weird glowing ring thing and down a ramp onto a circular path going around the circumference of the tower floor.
"Okay, second tier," Sai said.
The others walked off the elevator, but Sai held Shu back. "Hey, Shu?"
"Hm?"
Sai waited until the others were out of earshot. "Look, you need to cool down with Charon, okay?"
Shu frowned. "Don't tell me you're taking his side on this."
"I'm not taking sides, I'm saying that you two need to work these issues out, not be mean about it."
"I've tried being nice, and I'm tired of it. You wanna lecture someone, lecture Charon. He's the one that refuses to be an adult about this, so until he does, I've decided that I'm not going to be either. At least maybe like this, he'll talk to me. I don't care if he's yelling and screaming. I just want him to confide in me."
Shu's voice got a little gentler at the end, and Sai let Shu walk off after the others. He sighed. This was the worst love story to be mediating ever.
Charon had been walking ahead of the group, but Shu quickly overtook him, wanting to be the one in front.
"Keep up, dragon breath."
Charon frowned.
"What? Got something to say? Or does the cat got your tongue? I'm the cat, so I guess I'm pretty got at rendering people speechless. Ironic."
"You…" Charon grunted. "Would you stop this?"
"Given up already?"
"This isn't you, Shu."
"This is what you've pushed me into becoming, so until you're ready to act like a rational adult about all this, I can do what I want. You have no control over me or my actions and you have no right to complain when I've given you plenty of chances to fix things."
"It's not that simple, Shu. You don't know what I'm feeling, so you have no right to judge me when I'm having a hard enough time-!"
"You're having a hard time?! My sister died because of you and your foolishness, and now the one person that I want to have by my side to comfort me is too caught up in his own problems to think about anyone but himself!"
Charon flinched, but before he could come up with a response, there was a loud humming and clicking that echoed across the area. With a whoosh, Dahaka flew up from the lower levels, circling around with his long tail so that it hovered in front of the group. Dahaka's odd face with his big mask, turtle shell thing on his back, and a body and arms that just looked wrong for some reason, came up close and studied them, his tail hovering beneath him, consisting of orbs of crystal and metal/bone material carved in the shapes of more faces like some native design. He flew up and started circling around again. Sai noticed that on his turtle-shell back thingy there was a crystal that heavily resembled the one on the ground floor that the giant statue people had been circling.
"Does that mean Dahaka is powering this place?" Sai wondered. "Or is it that he's left his mark as a blight of some kind?"
Dahaka started to fly in an odd pattern, having to fly around the small confines of the tower but seemingly an expert at it - considering that this was his home, after all.
"What's he up to?" Lightning muttered.
"You toying with us?" Fang demanded, her hand on her lance.
"Guys, he's coming!"
The fal'Cie dived towards them and everyone scattered. It happened so fast that it was over before they knew it. Shu started screaming, and it was only afterwards that they realized it was because they had fallen and had been grabbed by one of Dahaka's clawed hands.
"Dahaka, let me go! Dahaka! I swear to the gods, I am not in the mood right now!"
They raised their sword to slice their way free, but Dahaka suddenly dropped them before they could do any damage. Surprised by the sudden effect of gravity taking hold, Shu lost their grip on their sword, was taken completely by surprise, and before they could realize what had happened - as there had been a split second of confusion about why the world was moving again and what that punch of shock in the chest had been from - they were suddenly zapped by the end of Dahaka's tail, which consisted of three smaller orbs of crystal, getting progressively smaller towards the end of the tail. They glowed and hummed with a high pitched whirr before sending a blast of energy through Shu that actually stopped their descent as though they had suddenly become stuck on the deadly weapon.
Shu screamed louder than any of them had ever heard them scream, unaware that their voice even reached those levels of decibels. There was a hiss and deep growl mixed in, like the combination of a lion's roar and a cat's whimper, meaning that Dahaka was giving a blast hard enough to hurt Shu's true form as well. Their voice echoed all the way up and down the echo chamber of a tower before Dahaka flew up, tossing Shu up and away like a game of catch. As Shu went up, came to a stop in the air, and began plummeting again, Dahaka went downwards and circled back up to catch the unconscious Shu and fly up and away.
"Hey!" Charon shouted.
He launched up after Dahaka with his flight and threw his Kozuka to Warp-Strike to Dahaka's face, prepared to strike.
"Let. Them. GO!"
He brought down his Wakizashi with a powerful blow and Dahaka roared, flinching and dropping Shu as he tried to stay airborne in the small room that it had to fly in thanks to the limited space of the tower. Charon sheathed his sword and dived down to catch Shu, checking to see if they were okay.
"Flower, wake up."
He shook Shu as he flew them back to the others. Shu's body had been significantly damaged, patches of skin burnt away to reveal the mechanical workings of their fal'Cie body. Shu's skin was browning in uneven patches like a leaf dying in fall, the different colors of autumn, and their hair was starting to lose color, turning many shades duller with black mold starting to form.
"Shu, stay with me!"
Their eyes were half open and their lips were trembling as though they were trying to speak. Or struggling to breathe.
Charon had nearly made it to the others, aiming his feet for the platform, before he and Shu were suddenly grabbed from behind. Dahaka's form was larger and he was better at flying than any other fal'Cie - being the fal'Cie of the skies - and so Charon wasn't strong enough to resist his pull and he was afraid of damaging Shu even more. He would have to fully transform if he wanted to compete with Dahaka's thrust through the air, but he doubted that the tower was wide enough for his full wingspan and he would be even more useless.
Charon grabbed his Zanmato and pulled. He wasn't sure that it would work, but to his surprise, the blade came free and slice downwards through Dahaka's tail, causing the fal'Cie to roar and drop them. Charon had a moment where he thought that they'd actually gotten away, but he's only sliced off the end of the fal'Cie's tail as it came back around, grabbing Shu as it passed and them whacking Charon with the remain bits of its tail that charged up more energy to send him flying into the wall, actually passing through it and into a hidden room behind it. The room was supposed to be accessible by other means, but you could also bust through a wall, sure.
"Looks like somebody's got a temper," Fang muttered.
"Charon, are you okay?!" Sai called.
There were flames surrounding the area that Charon had landed thanks to the charged energy from Dahaka's tail - particularly a wall of flame that was blocking the path that the l'Cie had been walking down. Charon picked himself up, leaning on his Wakizashi, and hobbled through the wall he'd smashed through before standing straight. Dahaka had flown up and away with Shu in hand to the top of the tower.
"You come back here, you bastard!"
Charon jumped forward and started to hover, but he wobbled in the air and fell back down, just barely hitting the edge of the walkway that spanned the circumference of the room and staying up on the second tier.
"Charon!" Sai shouted, the first to run up to him. "What's wrong?"
"I can't…I can't fly," Charon realized.
"What? How is that possible?"
"Stupid fal'Cie has power over flight. That combined with a hit that big…if I try to even think about it…" He winced and held his hand over his abdomen. "Dammit. A curse."
"Curse?"
He tried to summon a small thrust that would allow him to hover just an inch off the ground, but felt a stinging pain from his stomach region where Dahaka's tail had made contact. It was like the equivalent of a charley horse for a fal'Cie - that is to say, not fun.
"He's grounded me. The little-"
He said a word that definitely wasn't in English, but Sai could only assume it was the fal'Cie word for 'shit head.'
"Look, can you still fight?" Sai asked.
"Of course I can," Charon snapped.
"We're making our way up the tower anyway. If you can understand those statue guys-"
"Menhirrim, and of course I can understand them. I constructed them to guard this tower. Never thought Dahaka would take over while I was gone though."
"If we can figure out how to help them, they can help us get to the top faster."
Charon grunted in frustration, but looked back to the hole in the wall that he'd made. In the room beyond, a Menhirrim statue loomed, standing in a weird position as though he was posing for a dance.
"Fine. The Menhirrim here seem to have lost their weapons, their power to monsters across this place. Defeat those monsters, we get the Menhirrim their power back and they can get us to the top. There are three Menhirrim on this tier. Let's get moving."
"What did that fal'Cie want with Shu, anyway?" Hope wondered.
"Nothing good," Charon said grimly. "Shu was damaged, but alive. Dahaka needs them for something. If he gets a chance to do whatever it is, I don't think Shu will remain breathing for long."
The tenseness in his voice reminded Sai of the times when Charon was prepared to put everything aside them to save Shu. He'd forgotten all about their falling out, he'd forgotten his anger as well as his hesitation. He needed to save Shu, that was all that mattered. No matter how complicated his feelings were, he needed to keep Shu alive if he wanted to avoid another heartbreak that would shatter him beyond hope of salvation. Like it not, Shu was his only lifeline whether he allowed them to be or not.
"Then let's go," Sai declared. "What's the first monster?"