Tainted fal'Cie
A/N: Another chapter is up! Thanks everyone for your patience, reviews and support.
For those of you who have left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
black. dot - That's for the review. ^^ One thing to note though, I'm a "she" not a "he." :P I'm a girl. Hehe. I'm glad Snow turned out well. I was a bit worried he might have seemed OOC there, so it's good he didn't. The stuff with Lightning is concerning, yeah. We can only wait to see what happens next... Thanks for the comment!
Shirin - Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad I didn't screw up majorly there. That would have been just plain embarrassing. :P If I'm ever looking for Persian names again, I know who I can come too. XD
Riku91 - Thanks for the review! You like that idea huh? Hehe. I'll see what happens after this story ends. For sure I'll be kicking it up a notch in Etro's Keepers and I do have ideas for new FFXIII stories. As for if I'll actually follow through with my idea of OMAKES for this piece, I'm not sure. Who knows how I'll feel once this story ends. I may end up being sick of the Tainted Fal'Cie. Lol. The whole thing with Vanille cuddling Snow, she was originally cuddling Fang, who was trying desperately to separate herself from Vanille to get some air without waking her up. Along comes Snow to apologize, and seeing Fang's original predicament, he helps the lancer out and pulls Vanille off of Fang. In doing so, with Snow now being the closest thing to her instead of Fang, Vanille turns to cuddle against Snow. Hopefully that makes sense. :P Anyhow, here's the next chapter!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
*** ~ Chapter 35: The Third Rises ~ ***
Yet courage and bravery was still not enough,
The Tainted would call on the Goddess' bluff,
Three combined still lacked power as a whole,
And the shadow of chaos would soon take its toll.
- the Tablet of the Eidolons
Bhakti had blown a fuse. At least, that's what Serah first thought when she opened her eyes to the sound of chaotic beeping and the whirling of small wheels. Either that, or he'd gone haywire for some reason. The small robot circled the centre of the house, beeping as loudly as the robot possibly could. A small green tinted holographic screen floating above him reading: Alert! Alert! Danger! Danger! in Cocoonian text.
Grumbling, the youngest Farron sat up from resting against Lightning's bed, her back popping in a few places, stiff as ever. Rubbing the back of her neck, she wandered over to Vanille's little friend. Lightning's brow scrunched at the disturbance, the older Farron rolling over onto her side with her back away from the noise, but showed no signs of waking beyond that.
"Bhakti! Hush!" Serah shushed the tin can. "Settle down."
Bhakti heeded her words and stopped beeping, but his holoscreen still flashed out warnings. The little robot rolled up to Serah's feet, then backed up and then rolled up to her feet again. Puzzled by this, Serah stooped down. "What's wrong?"
A video recording immediately began to play on Bhakti's holoscreen.
"We won't be long old man," Fang said over her shoulder.
Fang, Vanille, Snow and Hope were walking away on the holoscreen. The image immediately zoomed in to the faint outline of a cliff or mountain of some sort off in the distance before zooming out. The image panned to Sazh who sat at the camp fire outside.
"Yeah, yeah," Sazh said, waving at them dismissively. "I'll be here when you all get back. Just be careful."
The screen went blank for a few seconds before a new recording started up. Sazh was sitting at the camp fire staring idly in the direction of where Snow and the others had disappeared in. Then he got up, Bhakti focusing on the older man as he walked up to the camera and peered over top of it. Serah guessed Bhakti stood guard at the doorless entrance to the house and Sazh had decided to take a peek inside to check on them.
BOOM!
The sudden noise made Serah jump, her heartbeat instantly picking up speed in surprise. The image flickered for a few seconds, as Sazh scrambled backwards in the recording, his guns already in his hands. The gunner looked in the direction of the sound. The image then zoomed to the mountain in the distance again, where a cloud of smoke was now visible. Serah's heart dropped. Bhakti's holoscreen disappeared.
"Bhakti, where's Sazh?" Serah asked, voice trembling. Before the machine could answer her, the squawk of a chocobo sounded outside.
"Sazh!"
The gunner spun the chocobo around, shifting uncomfortably on the bird. Serah stood in the doorway to the house.
"Serah, stay inside the house and wait until I come back."
"Sazh, what's happening? What's going on?" The youngest Farron scurried out of the house and up to Sazh on the chocobo. "Bhakti showed me an explosion where the others went to. Are they alright?"
Sazh clenched his jaw, turning back to the still apparent dust cloud in the distance. "I don't know Serah. I don't know."
Arcs of black lightning exploded upwards into the sky, thunder rumbling through the area. Serah gasped.
"Go back to the house Serah and don't come out."
"But Sazh-"
"Serah!"
Serah flinched at the tone of Sazh's voice. Brown eyes bore into hers deeply.
"If anything happens to me, you're the only one who can protect Lightning."
Serah took a reluctant step backwards, the weight of Sazh's words hitting her with the force of a tidal wave.
"Keep her safe Serah," Sazh said, turning the yellow bird around to face his destination. "Stay with her. H'ya!" The chocobo took off at Sazh's cry and the gunner was gone.
Bhakti beeped loudly. Again. Again. And again.
Serah spun around at the sound of a thud from inside the house. "Claire!" The younger girl scrambled up to her sister's side, Lightning on her hands and knees on the floor next the bed, trying to stand.
"Serah…" Lightning croaked. She grabbed Serah's shoulder tightly despite being barely able to lift her head.
"Claire, you need rest. You shouldn't be-"
"There's another one," Lightning murmured, exhaustively falling forward. Her forehead rested against Serah's shoulder. "Another Shadowed Four," she choked out.
Serah went pale.
"Damnable bird!" Sazh cursed, bitterly getting to his feet after the chocobo he was riding bucked him off and ran. That seemed to be a growing trend with those birds as of late. Rubbing his back, the gunner stiffly pulled out his guns and began weaving through the forestry towards the sound of running water. He stopped behind the final line of trees and almost collapsed to his knees at the sight.
At the foot of the water fall,just feet away from the water, Fang, Snow and Hope laid motionless on the ground.
"Maker…" Sazh barely breathed.
Vanille sat hunched next to a face down Fang, in an incredible amount of pain judging by the look on her face. She was desperately trying to Raise the other Oerban. Hecatoncheir stood between the downed former l'Cies, standing defiantly between them and the monstrosity hovering in the air above them.
"Oh holy mother of Etro…"
In the air was the twisted, tainted version of a Kalavinka Striker. Except it was double the size with its obvious tainted enhancements. As yellow as sulphur, wicked prong-like stone flesh jutted out from every joint in the wings. The was no face, at least none that Sazh could discern, but there was clearly a maw as every so often, it opened and shot bolts of dark Thundagas at Hecatoncheir.
The earth Eidolon held its ground, doing what it could to defend his battle partner and the others from the Shadowed Four. Being attuned to the earth element seemed to give Vanille's Eidolon at least a partial resistance to the tainted Thundagas. Hecatoncheir grounded itself by plunging two of its arms partway into the soil at its feet, to redirect the corrupted Thunder attacks into the ground safely. One red eye peered down at the former l'Cies from inside the Shadowed Four's mouth, with two more glaring from its wings. Black arcs of energy crackled all over its body, forming what appeared to be an energy based armor composed completely of the dark Thunder.
"Vanille!"
The redhead cried out in pain as dark Thundagas rained down around her and Fang again, her Raise spell interrupted once more as she covered Fang with her body. Hecatoncheir bore the brunt of the attack, successfully shielding the two Oerbans from most of the harm.
"Hey! Over here you big ugly!" Sazh expertly combined his twin guns into its rifle form and peppered the Shadowed Four with bullets. The metal slugs exploded like popcorn the moment they connected with the black Thunder armor. It was never Sazh's intention to doing any real harm, however. He was just the distraction so Vanille could rouse the others. The yellow tainted beast flung its stump of a head towards the gunner and roared.
"That's right!" Sazh yelled. "Give me your best shot!"
The Shadowed Four's mouth opened, a bolt of black Thunder forming in its mouth.
"Oh shi-" Sazh dove to the right just as the tainted attack blasted past him and splintered the tree originally behind him. Wooden shards went flying like an explosion of confetti, one of them grazing his cheek and drawing a fine line of blood.
"Brilliant idea Sazh! Draw its attention to you!" The gunner lurched forward, somersaulting clumsily away from another hellish blast of dark Thundaga. The hairs on the back of his neck raised from the proximity of that last attack.
"Ngh…" Fang groaned, turning her head stiffly to the side as she slowly roused.
"Fang, get up!"
The huntress grumbled in irritation at being shaken so roughly.
A startled cry.
"Sazh!"
Emerald eyes shot open, a rush of memory returning to the older Pulsian. Fang looked around bewildered, relief washing over her as Vanille looked more or less in one piece. Then her gaze found Hope, Snow and finally Sazh, and her heart sank. Anger exploded outwards from Fang's belly, her eyes burning with rage.
"Vanille! Raise the others! I got yer back." Fang rose to her feet shakily, immediately yelling at the Shadowed Four, pulling its attention away from the now downed Sazh.
Vanille scrambled over to Sazh as fast as her feet took her. Just moments ago, she watched in absolute horror as he took a full bolt of black Thunder directly. The tainted bolt of energy which had taken down the quartet wasn't nearly as strong as that, slamming into the ground at their feet, the residual energy knocking them all for a loop. Hope had also cast a last second Shell which helped deflect the damage from them too. But Sazh, he took the full attack without buffs, and certainly not the watered down version of the attack either.
"S-Sazh…" Vanille could barely breathe.
Sazh's rifle was a smouldering puddle of molten metal next to the gunner. The Shadow Four's attack was instantly drawn to the metal rifle, turning it into unsalvageable slag the moment it connected. Luckily for the old man, his rifle also bore the brunt of the blow which would have otherwise killed him.
Vanille choked on the smell of burnt flesh, a hand over her mouth and nose as she cast Raise. Sazh's hands were a mess. The LCDs were nothing more than burned out pieces of short circuited circuitry. The flesh on his hands was melted, covered in boils and blisters. It took everything Vanille had not to throw up. She silently cursed herself for not bringing some Phoenix Downs with her, all of them were back at base camp, in case Lightning took a turn for the worst.
The moment Sazh started to rouse, the redhead immediately focused on his hands, sending a strong Curaga pulsing through them. Flesh weaved together and became smooth. Crusty, burnt skin peeled off like paper. Sazh's eyelids fluttered, Vanille lifting his head to feed him a potion. The old man sputtered and coughed, but the potion went down.
"V-Vanille?" Sazh groaned. The last thing he remembered was shooting the tainted beast in the sky before a flash of light and a whole lot of pain.
"Sazh!" Vanille hugged his head to her chest, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" The Medic sobbed, holding onto Sazh tightly.
A pained yell.
"Vanille! Hurry an' get those two up!" Fang stumbled backwards, reeling in pain from a glancing hellish bolt of black Thunder thrown her way. Thankfully, she dodged the majority of it. The spear wielder readjusted her stance, calling forth Mediguard to compensate, the blistering skin on Fang's shoulder slowly regenerating.
Hecatoncheir wrenched a half buried boulder from the ground and hurtled it at the Shadowed Four, stunning the beast momentarily.
"What is that thing?" Sazh said in exasperation. He was short of breath, clutching at his chest.
"It's Bakunawa," Vanille said, her eyes full of fear. "It's the third of the Shadowed Four."
Sazh groaned as Vanille dragged him to his feet. He steadied himself on a nearby tree. His heart was beating erratically in his chest, a dull ache lingering as he stood. Perhaps that was not so usual thing for someone who'd been electrocuted.
"I have to help the others. Stay out of sight, Sazh. I mean it!" Vanille scolded. "I'll be back."
"And then what?"
"And then we run," the redhead said with all seriousness.
"Would that thing even let us run?" Sazh flinched as Fang was bowled over by a wing hit from Bakunawa.
"Maybe not," Vanille said quietly, tensing her muscles. "But that's all we can do right now. It's too strong for us like this."
Fang growled, sucking in a sharp breath as she stabilized her stance again and called forth a Steelguard. It was in times like this she actually appreciated the blonde oaf called Snow. Her Mediguard wasn't healing her nearly fast enough for the amount of damage Bakunawa was inflicting. She could only hope her Steelguard held while Vanille revived the others. The redhead popped into view in her peripherals and knelt down next to Hope.
"Ugh…" Hope groaned, holding his head. "What happened?"
Vanille scurried over to Snow and began the Raise spell on him. "I can explain once we're all safely away from-"
Tainted Thundagas rained down from the sky, Hope throwing up his hands to protect his face. Hecatoncheir shielded the boy with its body before pulling him to his feet.
"You mean that wasn't a dream?" Hope gawked at the Shadowed Four.
"I wish it was!" Vanille said wiping her brow with the back of her hand. Snow started to stir. The redhead looked back to the fight behind her. Bakunawa kept its distance, always just out of reach from her Eidolon, attacking with either tainted Thunder attacks or swooping attacks before flying up into the air to once again to stay out of reach. If there was any way for them to bring it down to ground level, and bypass its tainted Thunder armor, maybe, just maybe, they would stand a chance. But as it was right now, that just wasn't possible.
"What hit me?" Snow groaned, pushing himself up on his elbows.
But before he could get an answer, an explosion rocked the area sending Hecatoncheir crashing into the Fang.
"Vanille!"
Vanille's jade coloured eyes went wide as Bakunawa turned towards her. Bolts of black Thunder erupted near Hope's feet, throwing him backwards, Hope crashing to the ground hard. Snow staggered to his feet and jumped in front of Vanille just as another corrupted bolt shot at her. Everything around the Medic suddenly slowed to a snail's pace. Vanille watched as Snow was hit full on in the chest by a bolt of tainted Thunder. Muscles spasmed as Snow's head jerked backwards, his mouth opened to scream a soundless cry.
Vanille had the wind knocked out of her the moment Snow's mass crashed into her, both of them tumbling to the ground. Snow lay motionless against Vanille's sprawled form, the ruptured flesh of his chest burned beyond recognition. His head lolled to the side, his eyes closed.
Sazh collapsed to his knees the moment Snow fell. "Maker have mercy on us."
Vanille whimpered, squirming under Snow's weight. She managed to sit up, just barely, her legs pinned under the Sentinel's back. A roar resounded overhead, the redhead looking up with horror filled eyes. The moment her gaze connected with the third of the Shadowed Four, Bakunawa dove at her screeching, its maw wide open ready to feed on her flesh.
"VANILLE!"
A/N: The Bakunawa, also known as Bakonawa, Baconaua, or Bakonaua, is a deity in Philippine mythology that is often represented as a gigantic sea serpent. It is believed to be the god of the underworld and is often considered to be the cause of eclipses. It is said that during certain times of the year, the Bakunawa arises from the ocean and proceeds to swallow the moon whole.