Chapter Eleven – Silent Maelstrom
After taking care of the nearby Pantherons – they were really too simple now that they were stronger, had magic and outnumbered them three to one – they found yet another whirling silver sphere.
"Who keeps putting these things here?" Snow wondered aloud, reaching inside to find no less than eight murky vials of liquid that looked too putrid to wonder about their origins.
"I don't care." Keller took them off Snow and placed them carefully in her hip-pack. "Could be useful at some stage, yeah?"
Further up they saw more soldiers, guns at the ready, guarding yet another sphere.
"Soldiers obviously don't want us to get at these things," Lightning pointed out, "wherever they come from."
"This is gonna be fun," Keller chuckled, grinning evilly.
"I'll take care of this," Snow said confidently.
"Sure you will," was the expected response from the brunette.
Despite their carefree attitude towards the soldiers' presence, Snow and Keller both decided to take a precautionary approach, at the behest of the younger teens – namely Vanille and Hope. The mages would keep back and attack from afar to keep the soldiers distracted, while Keller and Snow would go in close-range. Lightning and Sazh would alternate between magic, firing bullets from their guns and – in Lightning's case – close-quarters attacks with Keller and Snow.
This worked better than expected. Not only were the soldiers' reactions 'completely priceless', as Keller would describe them later, but they barely lasted long enough to do anything productive in their defence; which, obviously, played a part in letting the new-found allies trust each other's judgement. No-one got in anyone's way, and the experience of tackling human enemies while not under duress let everyone understand everyone else's weaknesses, and compensate for them; example, Hope was brilliant at magic and directing his boomerang at oncoming enemies to serve as a distraction, but did not have the strength required to hold his own completely on the battlefield, which Lightning made up for in close-quarters combat. He watched her in battle and learned from her the best opportunities to strike, be it with magic or other forms of offense. Afterwards, Lightning briefly patted his shoulder for the smallest of seconds, and merely said, "Good job," to which Hope replied with a shaky "T-thanks."
The aftermath of this minor battle was the turning point for most of them. Lightning and Hope still hated Snow's happy-go-lucky attitude, among other things, which brought them the tiniest bit closer together, if only because of their harboured mutual hatred for the blonde brute. Keller was bearable for both of them, but Snow seemed to get along with her just fine, happily bantering and countering her jibes with ones of his own. Vanille and Hope got along well, or as well as can be expected when the young red-head kept dragging the silver-haired boy everywhere by the arm. Sazh got along well enough with them all, seemingly close to face-palming when Snow's attitude got too much and Lightning and Keller both ganged up on him. The group was as diverse in personalities as you could expect, but it had to work.
Being on the run with these diverse individuals without argument didn't last long.
…
The comrades looked through the sphere those soldiers were guarding and took what was inside – a mysterious Magician's Mark, which helped strengthen magic power, whether slapped onto human or bioweapon. It was like a temporary tattoo which sunk into the skin and melded with any living thing's magical well, increasing their capabilities (or the manadrive's, if the subject had one on). It neither faded with time nor gave the wearer any new spells to wield, and was rather simply removed; one brush of the skin brought the rune to the surface, which was then peeled off.
Needless to say, Hope grabbed it and gave it to Keller, who ruffled the boy's hair in way of thanks, her grin firmly plastered onto her features.
They moved on, up the hill until they came to a curled chain creating giant steps to jump up, on and over. Further along was a huge gap in between the waves, covered by a fallen train carriage.
"The train fell, too. I wonder what else is down here," Vanille mused.
Meanwhile, Sazh and Lightning were feeling slightly uneasy. If the train made it down, relatively in one piece...
And it did look relatively okay. Beat-up, perhaps, but still solid.
"Look!" Snow exclaimed, pointing across.
Across the carriage was a large circular area, and lodged into the crystalline wall were pieces of the rest of the train. But off to the left of where they were standing, supported on a bed of crystal, was a figure of a woman.
She was beautiful, yet haunting. Her hair forever flew around her, her eyes closed, her hands cradled at her chest, as if holding something extremely precious. She was exquisite. But something about the woman seemed extremely familiar...
Was that...? Could it be...?
"Serah..." Lightning murmured, her eyes growing wide.
"Serah!" Snow ran towards the woman and crouched in front of her, caressing her hand, and then her cheek. "I'll get you outta there," he promised softly. He backtracked until he found a suitable piece of metal sticking out of the crystal not too far away. He ran back and started digging.
Vanille nodded and ran forward with a small but sharp piece of metal in her hands. "I'll help you!"
"Thanks!" Snow grunted.
Sazh solemnly grabbed a small piece of battered debris from one of the train carriages and stepped forward to help. Keller helped sweep the crystal away whilst digging into Serah's crystal prison with her piece of metal. Even Hope stepped forward to help.
Lightning stared at her sister for what seemed like an endless amount of time, until her allies disappeared from her vision and all she could see was her, trapped in crystal forever. Would she want them to stay, to help? Would she want them to run, and save themselves? Crystal was almost indestructible. No weapon known yet to man could break through it. Serah would be safe, for now.
Lightning looked away, pain gathering in her heart, squeezing it, an awful sensation to bear. Serah would want her – would want them all – to run. She didn't have a selfish bone in her body, did she? Maybe that's what drew Snow to her in the first place? No, it would have been her beauty.
"This is goodbye." Saying the words was like a spell, bringing her allies back into her vision. Refusing to think about the matter anymore, satisfied in a way that the decision was finally made, she turned away from her sister.
Hearing the footsteps, the others stood and turned towards her as if to stop her from leaving, but it was Snow who said, "Lightning?"
Lightning heard the question in his voice; it felt almost accusatory. Why are you leaving her? To this day she still felt like she had answered that unspoken question instead. "PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead." Her hand twitched, then drew closed into a fist. Her next words were stronger, grew stronger with each word. "You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" She let out a silent breath and continued walking.
"If I leave her, then I'll never know."
She stopped walking.
Sensing that this was his window of opportunity, Snow hastened to continue. "We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us. No-one will die." He paused, hand resting over his heart, before saying, "I'll protect Serah. And Cocoon."
He knew instantly that he should not have said those words the second he said them. Lightning slowly turned, hate and mistrust boiling in her belly and pulsing outward like an angry black aura. Her fist clenched several times as she stalked back up the small incline towards him. She paused for one second...
And then punched him in the face for the second time that night.
"Does she look protected to you?!" she spat. "Look at her!"
Snow jumped back up, tasting blood in the corner of his mouth. "I can save her!"
Those words earned him another powerful right hook from his fiancée's sister. "What can you possibly do?"
She raised her fist again menacingly as he rolled back into a crouch. "Whatever it takes!" he yelled, spitting out blood immediately afterwards.
Those words stopped her. Her fist lowered slowly, slowly, back down to her side, unclenching.
Sazh sighed, patting his afro where his chocobo chick rested. "You two are hopeless," he muttered, dropping his piece of metal in favour of walking away from the heated conversation, brushing his hands of metal flakes. "You just can't admit it," he directed at Lightning, gesturing behind Snow – who by now was back to working on the crystal – to Serah. "You want to stay as much as he does."
Keller cleared her throat awkwardly. "While I'm all for a family reunion, I don't think now's the time. We can't stay here forever trying to dig Serah out. Lightning was right when she said that PSICOM will find us soon." She looked back the way she came – and froze solid.
A huge, battered white scorpion-shaped thing had landed on the carriage they had crossed, and its spotlight was trained on Sazh.
"Shit," Keller swore.
Sazh looked down, and saw the spotlight. He immediately looked up. When he saw the robot, his face drained of colour under his dark skin. "No...no! No, no, no, no, not now!"
"What the...?" Lightning saw the thing and immediately drew her weapon, holding out a hand in an effort to protect Serah.
"What the hell is that?!" Keller exclaimed.
"Manasvin Warmech," Lightning replied, tone clipped. "PSICOM Annihilator. One of their prized babies."
The Warmech sailed through the air, landing in front of the only other path out – the one Hope had been trying to run through.
"Hope!" Vanille cried. Hope screamed; not like a little girl, mind you, but it still showed his terror beautifully.
"Whoa, whoa!"
"Stand back!" Snow commanded. Sazh nodded, grabbing Hope and dragging him back. He definitely didn't want to go for round two with that thing.
Vanille ran forward with Snow and Keller, their weapons drawn, to stand behind Lightning, who had already taken her place in front of the Warmech.
"So what's the plan?" Keller asked her.
"Kill it," Lightning replied cryptically behind clenched teeth, her eyes glowing as she launched herself at the Warmech. It flicked her away with its tail as if she were a particularly annoying bug, sending her flying backwards through the air, but she wasn't afraid. She knew how to fall.
Lightning managed to roll upon landing and was straight back up, coming at the Warmech again, pissed off beyond belief and too stubborn to quit. Keller threw several aero spells at the Warmech, and Hope and Sazh used their respective magic abilities to deal out damage. Snow, like usual, kept on punching it, as well as used ice and water spells.
Keller launched herself at the Warmech and, like Lightning, was flicked away. She rolled into a crouch beside Lightning. "I suggest we attack it together while the others distract it."
Lightning nodded. It was better than any other plans she had. "Snow! Get this thing's attention!"
Snow grinned. "On it!" Hey, asshole!" he called, and the Warmech glowed briefly red. It turned its head to Snow, its tail whipping behind it menacingly, and fired plasma shots at Snow. He put up his guard just in time, but strangely enough, they didn't even bruise him.
"He's glowing!" Hope exclaimed.
And so he was. A bright yellow aura surrounded him, sparkling. The silver-haired boy was absolutely right.
Snow looked down at himself, jaw dropping, flexing his arm as though it were an alien being. "What the –?!"
"Snow! Watch it!" Keller warned.
The Warmech bashed its tail against the frozen wave behind it. Crystal showered the blonde brute, but, weirdly, they bounced right off that strange sparkling-yellow aura.
"Keep it on you!" Lightning yelled, turning to Keller right after, both gunblades unsheathed now. "Ready then?"
Keller nodded, grinning profusely before sobering slightly. "Tail first, yeah? Too much of a threat to let the thing keep it."
"Yeah."
They jumped as one, their supernatural strength vaulting them to a height greater than any human could hope to achieve. The Warmech, focused as it was on Snow, did not see the two women. It did, however, notice when Keller whipped out her twin blades in mid-air and landed at the base of its tail, lopping it off with both blades and a sharp aero spell. Lightning landed on its now-bucking form shortly after, and aimed a thunder spell right into the base of where the tail was, stunning the annihilator long enough for both women to plunge both their weapons deep into its mid-section, helped greatly by Keller's sharp aero spell.
The Warmech immediately stopped moving. Its eyes glowed red, with white Cocoon lettering gliding across them. "Error," they read. "System malfunction." It then collapsed, its eyes empty, sparks flying from its severed tail and the puncture wounds in its torso.
And then, with an audible puffing sound, the Warmech burst into black ashes, leaving behind one curious piece of machinery.
Lightning picked it up and examined it. "It's… a digital circuit."
The group looked back up to where Serah lay, as one, for one long moment. Then, without a word, Lightning turned to leave.
Snow scrambled to stand in front of her, impeding her progress. "You're leaving?" However, it wasn't Lightning who responded.
"We wanna help Serah too," Sazh said, "but without the proper tools… we could be digging for days." He stepped forward. "The army's on our trail. For now, we gotta keep movin'. For now."
"So I just abandon her, and save ourselves?!"
"What about your Focus?" Lightning asked him. "What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised?"
Snow's mouth opened and closed several times, unable to say anything.
"Now you wanna forget it all and die right here?"
He frowned at this, but still could say nothing. In truth, he had forgotten about his Focus as soon as he had found Serah.
"Snow?"
He looked at the face that so resembled his beloved's.
"You're nothing but talk," she told him, and then proceeded to walk up the crest of the wave the Warmech was blocking just minutes before, leaving Snow stewing there, with a strong desire to prove her wrong. His fist clenched.
"Lightning!"
She stopped, waiting to hear just what he so wanted to say to her now.
"I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus… and keep Serah safe."
Lightning controlled the urge to scoff superbly, given the circumstances. "Great job so far," she said, and then she was gone.
Sazh sighed, stepping slightly closer to Snow, who grinned half-heartedly. "Stay outta trouble," he said.
Sazh clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. "Mhmm. You too."
Vanille and Hope stood there, looking at Snow, until he pushed a thumb behind him and said, "Get goin'."
Vanille took one last look at Serah, and then she too was gone, leaving Hope wondering how to say what he so desperately wanted to.
"Snow…" he started, and then stopped, his words leaving him.
Seeing the silver-haired boy was struggling for words, Snow shook his head and said, "Save it for next time, kiddo. You'll get left behind."
"But…"
"It's okay, Hope. Light'll take care of you." Unknowing of his misunderstanding of Hope's limited words, Snow smiled slightly. "We'll meet again."
Hope nodded, seemingly giving in. "Yeah. Count on it."
He stepped halfway up the crest and then stopped, looking back at the man who had ruined his life, and doomed his mother's. "Count on it," he reiterated, looking at Snow murderously. And then he, too, was gone from that place where Serah rested, running to catch up to the others.
Snow turned to look back at the place where his allies had disappeared and found Keller still there, standing in front of him with her hand on her hip.
"What are you still doing here?"
"How the hell do you think you're gonna complete this Focus of ours all by your lonesome, huh?" Keller asked, overriding his question with her own.
Snow sighed. "I already told you. Whatever it –"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard. 'Whatever it takes'," she interrupted. "Well, I'm helpin'."
"What? Why?"
"Because I know what it's like to lose someone you love, or whatever. No-one should have to go through that shit on their own."
Snow nodded, taking this in. "What about Light, though?"
"Miss Heart-Of-Steel? She's got Hope and the others with her. She'll be fine, don't you worry." She grinned. "Now you go start diggin' while I go see if any of these carriages left something interesting behind. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Snow nodded. "Keep an eye out for soldiers, okay?"
"They're not gettin' past me," Keller announced proudly, then vaulted up onto one of the carriages and through a broken window, out of his sight.
Snow shook his head wryly, and continued digging into Serah's crystal prison.