Cloister Fifteen

Beclem knew that shooting at the fiend's thick skin would do no good, so instead he jumped up, twisting in the air so that he landed on the fiend's arm for all of a second, and used it to jump higher for long enough to take two perfectly aimed shots at Chappu's eyes. He flipped back to the ground, landing on his feet. Chappu scowled, but didn't seem to be too injured by the bullets.

Isaaru stopped a few feet short of the fiend, and cast an icy-cold spell on it. Chappu shuddered, and struck Isaaru in retaliation. Beclem roared and fired a few more shots into the fiend, trying to at least distract it before it could swipe at Isaaru again, but the fiend didn't even flinch as it floated closer to Isaaru's limp form.

It raised one hand above its shoulder, getting ready to strike. Beclem screamed threateningly at it but the fiend completely ignored him.

All of a sudden a roaring sounded from behind the fiend's back and fire crept over its flesh. Chappu immediately lowered his arm and turned around, a dangerous glare in his eyes.

Beclem looked behind him to discover Wedge and Biggs. Biggs stood confidently with his rifle slung over his shoulders. Wedge panted as he stood with his hands stretched out in front of him, having been responsible for the fire spell that had struck Chappu in the back.

"Need some help?" Biggs asked.

Beclem smiled and nodded at the two guards in thanks, before rushing over to heal his lover. He kneeled beside Isaaru and began to apply healing medicine, leaving Biggs and Wedge to take care of the fiend for now.

Chappu immediately went for Wedge, who began running away from the creature as fast as he could. Biggs shot a couple of times at Chappu, trying to draw its attention away from his friend, but it did nothing.

"Attacking it doesn't work!" Beclem shouted at him. "Fire really seems to hurt it though!"

Biggs nodded, and began rummaging in his pockets for something. He soon pulled out a small red bomb, and threw it directly at Chappu. It exploded on the fiend's back, temporarily covering him in a burning fire. Chappu threw his head back and screamed.

The flame soon died down, and Chappu was left with a massive red scar where the fire had burned away his skin. Chappu immediately turned around then, and fixed Biggs with a murderous glare.

"It looks like a battle's already started," one of Maroda's men commented.

The entire battalion had stopped, and now stood silently watching as clouds of dust burst into the air, followed occasionally by a quick burst of fire.

"What do we do, Captain?" another man asked Maroda.

This could make things difficult, Maroda realised. Depending on who was left alive at the end of the fight against the fiend, he would probably have to arrest his brother and Beclem. It would be so much easier to let the fiend take care of them, and then he wouldn't have to do anything. His conscience would be clear then, wouldn't it?

He could feel his old instincts from his time as Isaaru's guardian nagging at the back of his mind. That part of him knew that no matter what laws his brother had broken, he could not let him be hurt. He was his brother's guardian, and knew he would not be able to change that within himself.

He sighed, mentally cursed himself and the fates, and turned to give his men an encouraging smile. He knew some of them would not survive against such a monster, but they were brave enough that they would fight alongside him nonetheless.

"We help them," Maroda answered. "Come on men. Let's go kick some ass."

Isaaru's eyes opened in a flash, and before Beclem could say anything, the ex-Summoner had jumped back to his feet, and began building up the energy to cast another spell. Wedge and Biggs were now running around the fiend, taking turns to attack it. Wedge would a cast a spell, causing the fiend to pay attention to him, allowing Biggs to prepare a bomb and then attack, switching the fiend's attention backwards and forwards between them.

Isaaru breathed in deeply, before aiming an enormous burst of white fire at the creature. The flare engulfed Chappu, leaving deep wounds where he had been burned and revealing some of the fiend's flesh.

Beclem grinned confidently, and began firing a few shots at the creature's wounds. The bullets only did a small amount of damage, but it was better than nothing. Beclem stopped to reload, and Chappu let out an infuriated roar that shook the floor beneath them.

It began charging towards Beclem and Isaaru, claws ready to strike them hard enough to instantly kill.

A volley of gunshots soon peppered Chappu from the side, and Beclem and Isaaru looked over to discover Maroda's group of guards had joined the fight. Maroda tossed his brother a salute and a small smile, before turning his attention back to the fight against Chappu.

"Fire another round, men!" Maroda commanded.

The guards did as he said, leaving a scattering of small wounds over one of Chappu's sides. There were a few moments in which they had to reload, and Biggs and Wedge took over for a moment.

Isaaru cast another flare spell on Chappu, which made the fiend's scowl widen.

"Its not slowing down at all," Beclem commented. "Even though we've done so much damage to it, it's not doing anything to seriously wound it."

"We will get there eventually," Isaaru assured his lover. "If we keep going like this, there is no way we can loose."

At that very moment, Chappu let out another roar. The light in his eyes turned a dangerous red, and the spikes on his back began to stand up. Wedge, Biggs and several of Maroda's men froze at this new development and began staring at the creature.

Some of the white spheres Beclem and Isaaru had seen burst out from beneath Chappu's spikes and began floating around the city. A couple of Maroda's men shot at the spheres. Beclem called out for them not to, but it was too late. The white spheres burst, spreading poisonous pollen through the air. Biggs inhaled a lungful of it, and Wedge immediately moved to his friend's side to apply an antidote.

The spikes on Chappu's back began to stand up even more as the fiend continued to roar. He fixed Maroda's battalion with a murderous glare. Several of the men had already been affected by the poison, but others still had their guns pointed at the fiend.

They fired off several shots, but that did not stop Chappu from approaching them. The fiend stopped screaming for a moment, making the area seem deathly quiet apart from the worrying sound of Biggs's soft coughing.

The noise of something passing through air at incredible speed echoed throughout the stadium, and some of the small spikes on the fiend's back flew off and flew through the air towards Maroda's battalion. The men couldn't even run before the spikes flew into them, stabbing into them like pins into a pincushion.

Two spikes stabbed Maroda in the torso, making him fly back several feet. A look of surprise registered on his face for a moment, before he began coughing, small droplets of blood flying from his mouth at the action.

Isaaru ran over to his brother's side, giving the spikes and wounds a quick inspection, hoping that there would be some way of saving Maroda. The spikes were too large though, about the size of a fist at the widest part, and Isaaru knew his brother had no chance.

Beclem glanced over at the two brothers, knowing that the fight was now in his hands for a few moments. He charged towards Chappu, firing several shots into the fiend's back, where Isaaru had previously hurt him with his magic. Chappu scowled and tried to hit Beclem, but he ducked under the attack, and Chappu's claws only managed to leave one deep gash in Beclem's shoulder.

"Maroda," Isaaru whispered, as he felt the first of many tears make its way down his cheeks. He grabbed his brother's hand and squeezed gently, hoping for some sort of response.

Maroda's eyes opened slowly, and he smiled at his older brother, giving Isaaru's hand the gentlest of squeezes in response.

"I'm sorry," Maroda whispered. "I've been stupid."

"Not as stupid as some people," Isaaru said, trying to smile through his tears.

"No," Maroda answered. "I've been a lot stupider. You two… you're happy. He makes you happy. That's good… Guess I'm just jealous."

"Just hang on for a moment Maroda," Isaaru said, knowing that his words were completely pointless. There was no way that Maroda would survive this. "You can beat this."

Maroda let out a chuckle at this obvious lie of Isaaru's and grinned at his older brother.

"Beat that thing Isaaru," Maroda told him, squeezing his hand again as he did. He let out another couple of weak coughs, and when he talked next, his breathing was heavy, and his words strained. "Beat it… and be happy, cause… you need to be happy. I'll always be your guardian you know…"

"I know," Isaaru answered.

Maroda nodded weakly, before his eyes slid shut, and he sighed his final breath. Isaaru felt his brother's hand go limp in his own, and he knew that Maroda was gone.

Isaaru stayed by his brother for a moment, before scowling up at his killer. Beclem was still fighting the fiend with all of his might, firing as many shots into the fiend's back as possible. Beclem now had several significant gashes on his arms and legs, but nothing that looked deadly.

Wedge and Biggs were also firing a few gunshots and spells into the fight, despite the fact that Biggs was now wheezing, and his face was pale as the poison invaded his system.

Isaaru yelled and charged at the fiend as it moved to attack Beclem, casting a strong flare spell at the creature's face. Chappu screamed; flailing about as the fire burned at its eyes. The magic had soon disappeared though, and it twirled around and charged straight towards Isaaru, as the ex-Summoner knew it would.

It was just about to strike Isaaru, when it let out a strange roar that sounded almost like a chuckle, and a dangerous glare flashed in its eyes. It turned around once more, and struck at Biggs before the guard could defend himself. A large gash opened in Biggs's stomach and he fell to the ground.

Wedge screamed and fired several furious shots into the creature. Chappu ignored them though, and turned his attention to Beclem and Isaaru. Wedge scowled at the fiend and rushed to his friend's side, concentrating on healing him instead.

Isaaru and Beclem glanced at one another as they realised they were once again the only two left in the battle against Chappu.

"Don't stand too close to one another," Beclem shouted to Isaaru. He stopped talking for a moment as he dodged a swipe from the fiend. "In case he fires those spikes at us."

Isaaru nodded his understanding, and ran around Chappu so that he was directly behind him. He let Beclem fire a few shots at the fiend while he concentrated on forming protective shields around the two of them.

The next time Chappu struck at Beclem, instead of killing him as he would have before Isaaru cast the protective shield, it left a gash in his torso that Isaaru knew could be easily healed.

Isaaru ran around the fiend to cast a healing spell on his lover, before casting another flare spell on Chappu. The fiend's eyes began flashing a dangerous red once more at this action. The spikes on his back stood up once again and the white spheres began floating through the area.

"Oh no," Isaaru gasped as he realised what was happening. "Kill it!" he shouted at his lover. "Quick!"

Beclem gave a small nod at Isaaru, before charging towards the fiend, his guns aimed and ready in front of him. He fired a few shots in the fiend's wounds, before jumping up and reloading his guns with stronger ammunition as he sailed through the air.

The fiend took a swipe at Beclem, but the ex-Crusader twisted around it, landing on the creature's claws for a moment. The creature looked down and scowled at the man balancing on its arm, reaching its other set of claws up to strike at him.

Isaaru chose that moment to cast one more flare spell on the fiend, making it scream and flinch. Beclem jumped up, using the action of the fiend as a springboard. He sailed up onto the creature's spiked shoulders, and pointed his guns right at the fiend's head.

He unloaded all of his ammunition into Chappu's skull. The fiend screamed at this action, and began flailing about madly. Isaaru cast one last fire spell on the creature's stomach then, and it burst into a cluster of hundreds of pyreflies.

Beclem jumped down from the creature's head as it began to disintegrate, landing momentarily on what was left of its back and receiving a cut on the leg as his foothold disappeared and he was left to slide down the rapidly disappearing remains of the fiend that may have once been Chappu.

Isaaru was there for him to fall against when he reached the ground, and he welcomed the half embrace eagerly. They stood there together and watched as the last of the pyreflies disappeared into the sky, leaving trails of light behind them.

Beclem felt a soft warm tingling in his spine, and realised that Isaaru was casting a healing spell on most of his wounds. He smiled thankfully at his lover, but then as he looked over Isaaru's shoulder, he realised Wedge was still persistently trying to heal Biggs with results a lot less successful than Isaaru.

"Don't even think about dying on me yet, you bastard," Wedge said as he applied another healing potion on the wound on Biggs's stomach. The poison had taken too much of a hold on Biggs however, and the wound became more and more infected, doing more damage to Biggs's gut then Wedge could heal.

"The fiend is dead now Biggs," Wedge told his friend. "All you have to do now is survive these wounds and everything will be all right."

Biggs smiled and reached one hand up to gently stroke the side of Wedge's face. Wedge started at the touch, but kept his gaze firmly on Biggs's face.

"No," Biggs whispered weakly. "It won't be all right; not for me at least."

"What are you talking about!" Wedge cried, pulling Biggs into his lap. "You'll be fine. Everything will go back to the way that it was before this."

Biggs smiled at this, before a strong wave of pain gripped him and he grimaced.

"I'm not going to make it," he told Wedge. "And you know it, so…"

"Stop talking like that!" Wedge screamed, interrupting Biggs. "What am I supposed to do if you die?"

"So," Biggs continued, ignoring his friend's outburst. "There's something I have to tell you. I can't go without telling you this."

Beclem watched sadly as Wedge and Biggs said their last goodbyes to one another, knowing from the all too familiar look on their faces what was probably happening.

A noise like the scuffle of several pairs of feet making their way across the ground echoed throughout the city.

Beclem and Isaaru glanced at one another, before they both began to run, knowing that there were very few people that they would want to meet at that present moment. They had barely made it out of the area however, when they found themselves surrounded on both sides by a group of people from the Youth League and another group from New Yevon. Both groups immediately pointed their weapons at Beclem and Isaaru.

"Lucil," Beclem gasped as he realised who was leading the group of Youth League members. "Elma," he acknowledged the second-in-command who was looking very nervous as she stood beside her commanding officer.

"Do you know how much trouble we have had to go through because of you?" Lucil asked Beclem. "New Yevon has been demanding to know why I sent such a deviant into their midst."

Elma flinched at Lucil's harsh words, but kept her weapon pointed at Beclem and Isaaru.

"The two of you are now under arrest," one of the members of the group from New Yevon said as they began to handcuff Beclem and Isaaru. "You are coming with us to Bevelle."

"Please don't hate me for this," Biggs whispered as he lay in Wedge's arms.

"I could never hate you," Wedge said. "You know that."

"You might change your mind in a second," Biggs sighed. His voice was beginning to break as he ran out of breath. "I'm sorry Wedge… but… I… I love you… Please… don't… hate me… I love you…"

With that Biggs's eyes closed, before he could see the look of confusion and grief that passed over Wedge's face. Maybe in Biggs's imagination Wedge would have immediately jumped away from him, but instead Wedge just pulled him closer and began crying over his friend's body.

"I'm… sorry…" Wedge whispered between sobs. "I… I didn't realise what I was... saying… I don't hate you Biggs… Come back… Please come back… I don't hate you!"

"Hey you!" someone called from the centre of the ruined stadium.

Wedge looked down through tear-stained eyes to see a group of Yevonites, with the now-captured Isaaru and Beclem in custody.

"Did you see what happened here?" one of the Yevonites asked Wedge. He nodded dumbly, unconsciously twisting his fingers beneath Biggs's helmet to tangle in the hair beneath, but could not find the words to answer in any other way.

"Good," the Yevonite said. "We'll need a few witnesses for the trial of these deviants. You're coming with us to Bevelle."

The words barely registered in Wedge's mind, and when they did, all he could do was stare down at the body in his arms and wonder what he was supposed to do now. Wasn't he even going to be allowed to say a proper goodbye to Biggs?

He had soon been joined by a few of the Yevonites, and they helped him up from the floor, pulling him away from Biggs's body much earlier than he would have liked. As they led him away, he could only look back at Biggs's body in shock.

Meanwhile, Isaaru and Beclem were talking as quietly as they could, trying not to be heard by their guards.

"You know," Beclem whispered as he watched as Wedge was forced away from his friend's body. "You could probably blame it all on me and get away with it; you being someone important. You could tell everyone that I cast an evil spell on you or something. I'm sure they're just hoping for a revelation like that so that they can get you out of this."

Isaaru merely chuckled at this suggestion. "You know that's not going to happen."

Isaaru was doing something with his hands as he spoke. Beclem frowned as he tried to work out what it was. By the confident grin on Isaaru's face, Beclem knew that it was going to be something that he might not like.

"I will not let you sacrifice yourself for my sake," Isaaru said with a smile.

Beclem felt something burning near his wrist, and gasped as he felt the handcuffs snap and fall from around his arm. Isaaru winked at him, and then suddenly pulled so swiftly that his own guards were surprised, and could not react in time to stop him.

Isaaru twirled around and knocked Beclem's guards to the floor.

"Run," Isaaru told his lover. "Worry about saving me later."

Beclem could only nod in response, before sprinting off from the guards as quickly as he could.

"After him!" one of the Yevonites screamed, just before Isaaru knocked him to the floor. The Yevonites were forced to pay more attention to Isaaru, who was now putting up quite a decent fight against most of them, almost completely forgetting about pursuing Beclem.

Beclem glanced behind him as he ran out of the stadium. A couple of the Yevonites were following him, but he turned a couple of corners too quickly for them to know which way he had gone.

He leapt over one of the crumbled walls and lay low for a moment, hoping that the Yevonites would not find him. The seconds passed slowly, but soon he realised that the men had no idea where he had gone. He began to crawl away from the area, making sure that he didn't disturb any of the pebbles, and that he made as little noise as physically possible.

He remembered the look Isaaru had given him before he had run; so full of hope and trust. He knew there was no way he would be able to leave Isaaru to die alone. The only question was; how could he possibly hope to save him?

He pulled the strip of fabric that had served as a mask several times before over his face and wondered if his face was anonymous enough that he could buy a ticket on a ship to Bevelle.

Isaaru struggled one last time, before he felt the cold press of anti-magic straps as they were fastened to his wrists, and two or three people held onto him, making sure that he couldn't struggle any more.

Two men wrestled with him until they each had a firm hold on one of his arms, and Isaaru was forced to finally admit defeat. He hung his head, partly in shame and partly in disappointment.

The sound of someone entering the stadium came to his ears, and he looked up once more, hoping that they hadn't brought Beclem back with them. The two men that had set after his lover had indeed returned, but Isaaru breathed a sigh of relief when he realised Beclem had escaped.

"That's enough from you," one of Isaaru's guards said. "You're not going to get a kind trial if you keep acting like that."

Isaaru could only smile. Beclem would come for him now. He was sure of it.