Disclaimer: Let's see here… ownership of Star Ocean… nope. Ownership of anything we ripped off… Don't have those either. Bummer.
A/N: You know, I just realized that a Laser Weapon is a lot like a lightsaber…
Chapter 8: Salvation
"So how in the blazes did you get here so quickly, maggot?" Albel enquired from his slumped position against a crate, holding a hand to the blood-soaked bandage that covered the gaping wound in his side.
"With one really big leap…" Fayt started, but Albel cut him off by flicking out his Gunblade's lethal edge and scraping it slowly against the floor.
"Cut the theatrics, worm, or I'll cut off your tongue off." Albel retracted the blade and slid his beloved weapon back into its sheath.
Fayt smirked again and regaled Albel's group, who were gathered around him, with his tale of survival.
A huddled mass of clothing and flesh stirred in a mound of snow. It shivered a bit, and suddenly a head full of blue hair shot up from the snow, revealing a pair of vivid green eyes that darted about wildly.
Instinctively, Fayt reached behind his back to pull out the Divine Avenger, but his hand closed around only empty air. Confused, he groped around for a bit, only to realize that he had lost almost all his swords in the fall.
"Damn… Where's the Levantine when you need it?" The Levantine was one of the two sentient swords that Fayt knew of, Albel's Crimson Scourge being the only other one. As the Levantine was sentient, it knew its master and whenever Fayt called upon the Levantine, it answered to his summons.
He extended out a hand and at the same time, stretched out with his senses, calling out to his sword. As it always did before, the Demon sword complied, and with a flash of light, it appeared in his outstretched hand.
Fayt glanced around his surroundings and, noting the dim and desolate environment, decided that a little extra illumination was exactly what he needed. He fished around his pocket for a bit, and drew out a long, narrow cylinder. He depressed the activation button and, with an audible bzzztt, a green bar of plasma that mirrored the color of his eyes flared to life in his hand. The gentle glow of his Laser Weapon's blade illuminated his surroundings for a few meters around him, and he was finally able to see with clarity.
He almost immediately regretted his decision for extra illumination the moment he took a look around. Just a few meters to his right, a large group of horribly disfigured, misshapen creatures were shambling towards him, and another group, twice as large as the other, was doing the same to his left.
At first Fayt hesitated, not knowing if he should fight or flee, but the instant one of the creatures leapt at him with its tentacle arms flailing, Fayt knew what he had to do.
He quickly dodge-rolled backwards, avoiding the creature's savage blow, and counter-attacked with a viscous strike of his own. Greenish ichor spewed onto the floor as Fayt's Laser Weapon hacked right through the creature's arm, and he immediately followed up the attack with another quick upward strike, severing the creature in half as the Levantine's blade sliced through its crotch.
He spun around and met a second creature's charge, parrying its blows with the Levantine while pile-driving his Laser Weapon through its chest. The creature howled as Fayt yanked the Laser Weapon out and let its lifeless body drop to the floor as he turned and eviscerated another one of the creatures.
Those few of the zombie-creatures that were clutching onto plasma rifles and human weapons started firing at him, but Fayt immediately flicked his blades into the path of the incoming projectiles, the Levantine deflecting bullets back towards their shooters, and the Laser Weapon doing the same to the plasma bolts.
He continued to desperately defend himself for a few minutes, the creatures coming at him from all directions. He decapitated another one of the creatures and backflipped, dodging another creature's attempt to wrap its tentacles around him. He landed lightly on his feet and was about to continue attacking when he suddenly recognized the weapon that one of the creatures was clutching onto.
It was the Veinslay. The creature that wielded it roared and leapt straight at him, flailing the Veinslay around.
Fayt was barely able to block the strike, what with the superhuman strength that the creature had swung the blade. The blow shook his arm down to his shoulder, and he could hardly maintain his grip on the Levantine. Knowing that he had to overcome the creature before it knocked the Levantine out of his hand, he swung his Laser Weapon in a thundering overhand.
The creature clumsily raised the Veinslay in an attempt to block the strike, but Fayt's arm traveled too fast for it, and the Laser Weapon sliced through the creature's wrist, severing the hand that spastically clutched onto the Veinslay's hilt and allowing it to tumble to the floor.
Fayt immediately deactivated his Laser Weapon and stuffed the hilt back in his pocket. Quickly, he reached down and attempted to pry the Veinslay free from the creature's severed hand, but as he…
"Ok, ok, maggot, stop right there."
"I don't see how you possibly could've fought your way out of that. You're not even half as skilled as me." Albel said with his eyebrows arched disbelievingly.
Fayt's smirk almost became permanent. "So you say. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I humped the rest of the way here on foot. I managed to find the rest of my swords along the way."
"But where are the rest?" Maria asked.
"I… don't know. I came across the wreckage of a dropship on my way here, but there weren't any traces of survivors. There weren't even any bodies." Fayt lowered his head, obviously worried about Sophia.
"If there weren't any bodies, then they must have been taken by the Flood. I doubt that they'd have survived the crash in the first place." The Arbiter rumbled from his perch atop several crates that were stacked on top of one another to serve as an observation post.
"What! That means that… Cliff… Sophia… they're all…" Fayt looked ready to break down, but Maria set a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down, Fayt. We all know that they're all strong enough to take care of themselves." Maria's words managed to get Fayt to simmer down, but still, her words rang hollowly in their ears. They knew that there was only a 50-50 chance of the others making it to the Library in one piece.
Suddenly, Fayt's ears perked as they picked up a very familiar sound. "Shhh! Do you hear that?"
"Hear what, maggot? The only thing I hear is your incessant rambling." Albel said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Albel. Just listen. I swear I know that voice…" Fayt continued to listen, and soon enough, an exceedingly familiar high-pitched scream was heard, followed by a deep-throated cry. A splattering sound was heard, and the high-pitched voice screamed again.
"Keep that racket down, dammit! Those damned zombie-things might hear us!"
"They're called Flood, Fittir."
Maria's eyes lit up at the voice. "It's Cliff!" She practically leapt over the rampart's barrier in a single leap and dashed forward, Fayt and Mirage hot on her heels.
As they ran out of the Library's entrance, they caught sight of the rest of Fayt's group. Cliff and Adray were trying to clean greenish gore off of their weapons, and Sophia and Peppita were desperately trying not to vomit onto the pulverized Flood corpse that lay in front of them. Half of the Marines that came with Fayt on the dropship were missing, probably dead, but he noted with relief that the Master Chief, Harrison and Baxter were still alive and among them.
"Hey guys, you all right?" Maria called out, and the group turned around to face them.
"Ah, Maria! Mirage! There you are!" Cliff started towards them, but a pink blur shot past him, headed straight for…
"FAYT! You're all right!" Sophia glomped Fayt with such force that the two of them tumbled to the ground.
"Hey, Sophia! Relax!" Fayt tried to pry Sophia off, but she was clinging on to him like a leech, and the most he managed was to budge her two inches away.
"Oh my god, Fayt, I was so worried! I thought you were dead!" Sophia cried out as she continued to clutch on to Fayt, almost as if afraid that he would disappear again if she let go.
"Uhh, Sophia, in case you haven't realized, we have several people watching us." Sophia finally let go and let out an embarrassed laugh.
"Sorry…"
A few minutes later...
"What! So you're saying that all of our rescue dropships crashed? Oh, goddamnit, now we'll never get off this ring!" Sergeant Johnson threw his arms up in the air in frustration and picked up his Battle Rifle, shooting any remaining Flood corpse in sight. The immobile bodies of the Flood twitched as the bullets impacted against their dead flesh, but besides that they didn't move.
"Hold on, human. I think I may be able to contact my people and get them to send down some dropships of our own to extract us. The Praetor should still be alive." The Arbiter suggested.
Commander Keyes pursed her lips into a thin line, thinking hard. Finally, she came to a decision. "All right, Arbiter. Contact your Praetor, and tell him to meet us on the surface. In the meantime, we'll have to pull together every scrap of supplies we have, and head topside. No doubt the Flood will be chasing us all the way, but it's either that or we stay here and die."
The Arbiter nodded and left for the nearest communication unit. As he was walking off, Keyes turned to address the rest of the party who had gathered in the command tent.
"Well, you heard me. You've got ten minutes to take as much as you can carry, because we'll need all the supplies we can get."
The Master Chief, Major Harrison and Sergeants Johnson and Baxter sharply saluted, while the party simply nodded.
They all exited the tent, leaving Commander Keyes alone. She sighed and put a hand on her forehead, frustrated. Just how worse could things get? It was times like this that she wished her father were still alive. He would know what to do.
Taking a few moments to compose herself, she left the command tent to prepare herself for the imminent journey to the surface. As she passed by the secret door that Albel had unlocked, she heard an odd sound. A barely audible laugh that was ridiculously high-pitched. In an instant she had the barrels of her two SMGs leveled at the doorway, ready to make Swiss cheese out of anything that passed through.
But nothing did. The doorway was empty, and no movement could be seen. The mere thought of the laugh sent shivers down Keyes' spine, but she shook it off and holstered her SMGs. Just as she turned around and started walking off, a bloodied figure stepped into view, but not through the doorway. The figure remained in the chamber, watching the Commander walk away.
Then, slowly, it started to laugh. The same high-pitched laugh that Keyes' had heard earlier. It raised a hand to its bloodstained face and wiped off the blood, revealing a clown-like face that was painted white, with purple lipstick and eyeliner.
"Move it! Let's go!" Johnson roared out to the Marines that rushed past him. All of the marines were armed to the teeth with all the weapons they could find, and they were burdened with all the supplies they could carry. Some of them were even clutching onto two shotguns at once, trying to mimic Cliff's tactics, though they lacked the strength and dexterity to shoot, pump and reload the gun effectively with only one hand.
As soon as the last marine was through the Library entrance, Johnson leapt down from his perch atop a crate and waited for the last few of the survivors. The party, the Arbiter, the Master Chief and Commander Keyes ran towards him.
"Are all of the surviving marines accounted for?" Keyes asked.
"Yes, ma'am. They're all hightailing it to the surface right now. We'd better haul ass as well." Johnson said as he cocked his sniper rifle.
"Very well. Chief, Arbiter, Fittir, Nox, take point. Johnson, take Traydor, Koas and Leingod. You're our rear guard. Huxley, Rosetti, Lasbard, Esteed, stick with me." Keyes quickly issued these orders.
John, the Arbiter, Cliff and Albel promptly complied, and they advanced ahead, fanning out in a rough delta formation. Fayt, Maria and Mirage fell back to where Johnson was standing, while Roger, Peppita, Adray and Sophia remained close to the commander.
At once, they set off. Their frantic rush to the surface was frequently interrupted by Flood attacks, coming mainly from behind them, but they were always quickly put down by the rear guard. Typically, it was Fayt who would completely obliterate the Flood's assault with an Ethereal Blast or two, buying them just enough time to continue on unhindered.
Occasionally the Flood assault would get so intense that they were forced to halt their progress just to throw off the Flood long enough for them to start off again. Albel slaughtered those few Flood that tried to cut them off from in front, for he was usually the first into the battle. He was so brutally efficient at butchering the Flood that there was almost nothing left for John, Cliff and the Arbiter to shoot at.
Maria had sustained a nasty leg wound on the way, and in addition to her head injury from earlier on, she wasn't faring very well. She had hastily bandaged the wound in an attempt to stave off the bleeding, but she knew that she was done for if she didn't administer proper medical attention to it. Already, the bandage was soaked crimson with blood, and her life fluids were oozing out of the wound at a slow, steady rate, even with the bandage's presence.
She continued on hobbling forward, desperately trying to catch up with the rest of the group. Suddenly, just as she put her weight down on her injured leg, a lance of pain shot up her calf. The pain came so suddenly that she had no time to scream, and she could only give a small cry as her legs gave out from beneath her. She collapsed to the ground with a barely audible thud, but nobody in the group heard her collapse, and they continued rushing off.
All except one. Fayt quickly realized that Maria was missing from the group, and he turned around to see her collapsed on the floor, with a Flood infection form poised over her body, ready to turn her into one of those half-dead alien killing machines.
"NO!" Courage, fearlessness, and an overpowering willingness to give his life for Maria's came over him, and he shot forward, enveloped by a bright scarlet light.
The Flood infection form disintegrated as Fayt's twin Destruction Blades ran it through, and Maria stared up in wonder at the red-clad and crimson-haired Fayt that stood over her. Fayt quickly pulled Maria to her feet and asked if she was okay.
Maria nodded and stepped forward, but her injured leg gave out from under her again, and she would have hit the ground face-first, if not for Fayt catching her in mid-fall.
"Honestly, Maria, you're not okay. I'll carry you the rest of the way." Before Maria could protest, Fayt had hooked his arm behind both her legs and hoisted her up onto his shoulder.
"Hey, what the… Fayt! Put me down!" Maria started to object, but Fayt took off before she could say another word.
It felt as though she was flying. Fayt was moving so quickly that her surroundings transformed into a blur, and occasionally she would see a few shapes that leapt into their path, roaring like Flood minions. However, even with only one Destruction Blade at his disposal, Fayt was still able to dispatch them quickly. The blade flickered into existence and disintegrated whatever Flood attempted to halt their passage.
It was only a short while before they caught up with the rest of the party. Johnson shouted out in surprise as Fayt barreled past him, uttering a quick apology to the sergeant as he dashed past the party members.
Fayt knew that Maria's injuries were severe, and if they didn't get her to a medical center quickly, the blood loss would take its toll on her. He continued to tear down the corridors, already way ahead of the party. It was only a few more passageways to go before they reached the surface…
It was cold. Maria could feel it in her bones. The cold had nothing to do with the low ambient temperature of the Library's containment zone; she knew precisely what was going on.
Her extremities had gone numb. The searing pain in her calf had long since faded away, replaced by a dull throbbing. She could hardly even feel her fingers. This was bad. The blood loss was already reaching critical levels; a few more minutes and she'd be dead. All she could do now was place her trust in Fayt and hope that he got her to a medical center quickly enough…
Maria, hang in there! I'm not going to let you die! Not now! Fayt eviscerated the Flood minion that was foolish enough to attempt to bar his way, and at last, he came to the final door, the one that led to the surface. And he didn't like what he saw.
The door was shut. Two meters thick, ten meters wide and five meters tall, the blast door of solid steel prevented him from saving Maria's life.
Fayt refused to accept this. He wouldn't let a simple door get in the way of saving the life of his beloved.
He set Maria down slowly, grimly noting the coldness of her flesh and her shallow breathing. Desperate to keep her with him, he tightly clasped her hand in his.
"Maria, stay with me! You're not going to die, you hear me! I won't let it happen!" He stood before Maria could summon the strength for a reply, and his twin Destruction Blades flared to life in his hands.
Setting himself loose upon the door, he carved out at least half of one side of it, slashing with all his might. He was confident that one more slash would be sufficient to breach the door, and he swung his Destruction Blade for the final time.
But only his fist smashed against the steel foundation of the door. Fayt stared in shock at his empty hand before he realized what happened; his Valor Form had run out of steam again. And at the worst possible time, to boot!
Fayt couldn't believe this was happening. Just a few feet behind him, Maria was dying from blood loss, and there was nothing he could do about it. Screaming out in desperation, he drew the Levantine and the Divine Avenger, hacking and slashing at it, frantically trying to accomplish what only his Destruction Blades were capable of.
He could hear the party catching up from behind him, but it didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered anymore, because he had failed. He had failed to save Maria's life…
He continued to bash his blades against the unyielding steel of the blast door, screaming in denial. The party came up behind him, solemnly silent. Sophia quickly bent down over Maria's body and sealed her wounds with a Healing spell, but it was still unable to compensate for the lost blood. Any longer and Maria would still be dead.
Fayt was about to give up when a sudden sound from the other side of the door got his hopes up again.
"Hurry up, humans! Get those plasma cannons aligned! The Arbiter and his comrades are the other side of that door! We need that door breached!"
Three seconds later, a high-pitched whine sounded, and fortunately Fayt had retained enough sense to gather Maria's trembling body and leap backwards before the door exploded inwards with a bright flash of light.
The smoke cleared a few moments later, and an Elite clad in pearl-white armor stepped through the wreckage of the door.
"Hurry! The Flood are rushing to the surface even as we speak! Time is of the essence!" The Elite roared out to the party. The Elite's speech sounded strangely muffled, and Fayt realized that the Elite's left mandibles were missing; only two short stumps were left in their place.
Immensely grateful for the second chance granted to Maria, Fayt cradled her body in his arms once more and dashed through the wreckage with the party, desperate to keep her from dying.
He rushed through the door's wreckage, following the Elite. The surface was bustling with activity; apparently the door had shut between them and the evacuating marines, for several of the marines were already loading up supplies and personnel into the Elites' several Phantoms that were parked on the ground. He spotted a familiar redheaded figure in the crowd, and he quickly ran over to her.
"Nel!" He called out. The ninja turned to face him, and Fayt could see that she was bandaged in several places, with evident plasma burns all over her body.
"Fayt! Is Maria all right?" She glanced concernedly at the limp bluenette in Fayt's arms.
"No, the blood loss is taking its toll on her. I need to get her to a medical center, quick!" Fayt was about to dash off in search of that Red Cross that was famous for saving lives in times of need, but Nel stopped him.
"Hang on, Fayt. Don't go rushing off just yet. I know where the med center is; I just came from there. Follow me."
The field medic sighed and stepped back from the makeshift bed that Maria was resting on, wiping the perspiration off his forehead.
"Well, how is she, doc? Is she gonna be all right?" Fayt asked.
"She'll be fine, she just needs lots of rest. Make sure she avoids strenuous activities for a week; it's going to take quite some time for her body to compensate for all that blood lost. Fortunately, she doesn't need a blood donor. The blood plasma infusion I gave her should speed her recovery up quite a bit." The medic stepped out of the medical tent, leaving Fayt alone with Nel and an unconscious Maria.
"Don't worry about her, Fayt. She's going to be fine. Apris, I've been hit worse and I'm sure she's twice the soldier I am. She'll pull through." Nel set a comforting hand on his shoulder before exiting the tent as well.
The blue-haired swordsman remained silent. He had heard the same empty, hollow words before. Why was it that soldiers could face their own deaths without batting an eye, but when faced with the death of a comrade, they turned away and lied to themselves?
He stayed in the tent for a few minutes, watching Maria's still body lie on the bed. Finally, when he couldn't bear watching her any longer, he left the tent as well.
What nobody saw was slightly open left eyelid of Maria's that was watching their every move, especially Fayt's.
I hope to God what I think he feels for me isn't a wrong assumption…She thought to herself before letting the fatigue take over her body, bringing her to sleep.
"Get down! Incoming!" The Marine that shouted the warning abruptly vanished in a blast of green radioactive energy, and Fayt threw himself to the ground just in time to avoid a second volley.
The fuel rod gun's blast whizzed over his head and detonated in the middle of an ammunition stockpile, causing a huge secondary explosion that took out a file of allied Grunts with it.
"The Brutes are attacking! Forward, my warriors, and fear not pain or death!" The white-armored Elite that Fayt had come to know as the Praetor roared out. Humans, Elites, Hunters and Grunts alike quickly organized a rapid counterattack.
The Brutes, Jackals, and another Covenant species that Fayt had never seen before leapt into the fray. These were the smallest ones he had seen so far, shorter than the Grunts and skinnier than the Jackals; they flew over the battlefield on buzzing wings that kept them aloft at considerable altitudes, raining down plasma fire onto the defenders relentlessly. They were the Drones: the Covenant's aerial infantry.
This latest offensive was violently repelled by the Marines, who aimed their trusty projectile weapons at the Drones and started showering them with lead. The Drones had little chance of evading the projectiles, and their limp corpses fell to the ground in droves.
However, that left the Brutes and Jackals free to charge in. With the Marines fire concentrated on repelling the Drones, only the Elites, Grunts and Hunters were left.
A majority of the Brutes were toting fuel rod cannons; they concentrated their fire on the Hunters, the heavy firepower of the cannons eliminating them rapidly.
With their heavy infantry gone, the Elites were forced to rely on their own heavy weapons to deal with the threat. The Elites and returned fire with their own fuel rod guns, taking out several of the FRC-toting Brutes. Some of the more daring Elites leapt straight into the Brute's lines, cutting them into pieces with their renowned Plasma Swords.
The frantic battle continued for several minutes; the Brutes and Jackals had the advantage of superior numbers and sheer strength, while the allied humans, Elites and Grunts had the advantage of combined arms and superior tactics.
Through less than half the battle, the expert marksmanship of the human snipers eliminated all of the Drones, and the Marines were finally free to assist the Elites and Grunts in fighting the Brutes. The surviving Brutes suddenly found themselves harried like never before as the humans turned their weapons on them; a combination of piercing bullets and searing plasma cutting them down easily.
Desperate, the Brute commander called in for an artillery strike. About half a klick away, the artillery commander acknowledged the order, and three seconds later, a volley of plasma projectiles arced forth from the line of Wraith artillery tanks that were parked neatly on top of a hill.
The plasma projectiles landed on the allied forced without warning, and their lines were thrown into disarray as the blue-white explosions vaporized troopers and equipment alike.
With the defenders' lines in disarray, the Brutes finally had time to regroup and go on the offensive once more.
Things were starting to get dire for the defenders. The artillery bombardment hadn't ceased, and to make things worse, the Brutes had broken out the fuel rod guns again and were adding to the artillery bombardment with lethal effect. The rampart had already been reduced to rubble, and the Phantoms were already under direct fire.
The Arbiter was about to lose hope when a sudden roaring caught his attention, and a volley of red-white blurs streaked across the sky.
The blurs impacted against the line of Wraith tanks, and they vanished in giant fireball. Thin yellow lines stitched across the air, slaughtering the Brutes like a lawnmower cutting grass.
John tapped the Arbiter on his shoulder, and pointed skywards. The Arbiter looked up, and a flight of Longsword interceptors flashed across their view, disappearing over the horizon.
Overhead, a dozen pelicans came down and landed next to the Elite's battered Phantoms. More Marines marched out of the Pelicans, and they quickly dispersed, reinforcing the defenders' lines.
Harrison saw a familiar uniformed figure march out of one of the Pelicans, and he quickly ran forward to address Captain Wallace.
"Captain! What are you doing down here?" Harrison asked with a confused look on his face.
Wallace smirked and replied, "Ah, good old Fleet Admiral Harper decided to pay us a visit with some reinforcements! Our fleet, combined with the Elites', is kicking ass back in orbit! We now for sure have a confirmed victory up there, so the Admiral decided to send me down here to pick you guys up and bring you back up into orbit!"
The tide battle quickly swung over in favor of the allied forces of Elites, Grunts, Hunters and Humans. Within minutes the Covanent army was routed and was forced to retreat with whatsoever rag-tag regiments they had left. It was a stunning and unexpected victory, but it took its toll on the allies. Half of the Elites had perished bravely in the fighting. Yet the rest of them, despite the dead and dying still lying on the battlefield, were agitated and anxious to leave.
"It's the Flood," the Arbiter finally broke the silence, "They are more numerous that we ever imagined."
"What! Didn't I wipe out all of them?" Fayt nearly choked on his mug of sludge-black coffee.
"You overestimate yourself Leingod," said the Praetor, "The Flood you destroyed were merely a fraction of their total strength. A small fraction that we too could have eliminated with similar ease."
"So there's more of them eh?" smirked Wallace facing the Praetor, "How many exactly? Can we get a number?"
"A hundred times more than a hundred thousand," was the reply from the ashen-faced Elite.
"That's not good, we gotta get our maggot asses out of here before those worms get to us," suggested Albel.
"Will do. Harrison, you and Keyes will see to it that all my men get off this rock alive. Commence evacuation now! And relay that information to the Elites and their buddies, we need all the fight we can get up there."
The allies worked with clockwork efficiency, and within the short span of three hours, all humans, the least settled in of the four races had already been safely tucked away in the waiting capital ships in orbit. Most Grunts were in Phantoms heading to Elite cruisers, while the hulking and slow Hunters were in the process of loading up.
Fayt surveyed the grounds. What was once a bustling camp occupied by the combined forces was now a ghost town, with the inhabitants frantically clambering on board the transport vessels which would lead them to salvation. Only several Elites were left to act as sentries in the unlikely event of the Covanent returning. The rest had bundled in with the Hunters and the heavy machinery and were on their way off the planet as well.
Then, a voice called out to him.
"Master Leingod," an Elite patrolling the frontier several hundred meters in front of him approached. He gave a quick salute before continuing with his message, "All our brethren have been evacuated. Now all that's left are the sentries and your party. With all due respect we would request that you follow me to the Phantoms and we shall depart."
Fayt nodded, slightly shocked at the reverence given to him by the alien, and followed quietly. He approached the airfield to find the party already boarded on the two remaining Phantoms, and anxiously waiting for him. He saw Mirage giving him a wink as the Phantom she was on lifted-off. Half of the party was safe.
With an apologetic face for making them wait so long, he ran towards the ramp.
A sudden force threw him backwards and he fell face-down onto the sandy ground. Picking himself up, he was forced to dive down again to avoid a plasma bolt. The Brutes had returned.
But it couldn't be the Brutes, there were too many. They had the camp totally surrounded, and the Brutes, even before they were defeated, were only able to attack one side of the camp at a time. Then, the answer struck him like a hammer on the anvil. Those weren't Brutes. They were the Flood.
"Master Leingod! There are too many, we need time to warm up the engines!" shouted the pilot.
"Then I'll buy us some time." Fayt pulled out the Levantine and was about to charge straight into the Flood swarm when a hand suddenly clamped down onto his shoulder, stopping him from taking another step.
He whirled around to see Maria standing before him, her phase gun cocked and ready. "If you're staying, so am I." She said to him.
"Maria, you can't fight! Your injuries are too severe, you'll kill yourself if you try to take them on! I'm the only one strong enough to hold them at bay." Fayt tried to pull her back to the dropship, but she pushed his arm away.
"No, Fayt. I'm not leaving you behind. Not now." Already, the Flood were closing in, and Maria fired a shot right past Fayt's head that vaporised an incoming Flood minion. "I'm staying with you, whether you like it or not."
Fayt growled in frustration and thrust the Levantine in a backwards stab that punched a hole through the Flood that was about to break his neck. Yanking out the blade, he raised his voice. "Damnit Maria, I can't let you fight! I won't let anything bad happen to you!"
Maria's own voice started to rise by several decibels as well. "Stop treating me as if like I'm made of glass, Fayt! I can take care of myself!"
"I won't let you stay behind with me! I won't let you die with me! I can't... let you die..." Fayt's voice lowered to a soft murmur. Realisation was starting to dawn upon him. This was happening just like the dream he had back on the Reynolds...
"It would be better to die with you," Maria said to him, setting her hand softly on his shoulder. "Rather than live the rest of my life full of regrets that I didn't stay behind."
"But... but why? Why do this?" Fayt asked. His heart was hammering in his chest like a jackhammer, and he mysteriously had trouble focusing on his surroundings. His attention was solely focused on the bluenette in front of him.
Maria couldn't hold it in any longer. She had to say it now or she would never be able to...
"Because I love you." She said quietly. (A/N: Chief: YES! We're finally here! Master: I was afraid he was gonna do that...)
For an instant, Fayt completely forgot that he was right in the middle of an alien horde, that their lives were at stake. He forgot all about the Executioners, about Luther, about everything that had happened in the past few months. He had thought he would never hear Maria say those words, much less to him.
It was in that instant, unfortunately, that a Flood minion took advantage of Fayt's space-out session to take a swing at him.
Maria saw the blow coming and screamed, "Look out!"
She shoved Fayt aside and placed her body in the path of the blow. Fayt could only watch in horror as the Flood minion's tentacles lashed against Maria's battered chest armor and carved out its breastplate. Blood gushed out of the new wound in her midsection; she screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, clutching at the wound.
"NO!" Despair and hopelessness overcame him. Without Maria, he felt like he had no purpose in life. No reason to continue on living. An emptyness of emotionlessness filled him, worsening the despair. Desperate, he heaved himself to his feet and was about to rip the Flood minion apart with his bare hands when his arms froze.
No, it wasn't just his arms. His entire body felt as if like it had frozen over, literally. His blood had been chilled into solid ice within his veins; any trace of heat in his body had vanished, replaced by utter coldness.
He felt as if his body had been transformed into a human-shaped block of ice. Unable to even make a sound, he screamed silently inside as the biting cold ravaged his senses. Once again, the lively green of his pupils changed, freezing over into a chilly shade of icy blue.
With titanic effort, he wrenched his lips apart and gave a soft, shivering moan. A blue symbol appeared on his forehead; tendrils of Destruction energy flowed out of it just like in Valor Trigger, except that this time the energy was tinged blue.
The same protective sphere surrounded him, and it shattered like before, but this time the resultant Fayt looked drastically different.
His garments had switched to a cool blue color, with flame designs at the edges of his sleeves and pant legs. Blue sparkles emitted from the soles of his boots, gusts of wind swirled around his legs, and in his clenched fist, the blade of the Levantine glowed a bright white, charged with Destruction energy. His movements were incredibly smooth, every manuever carefully planned and calculated. His eyes were the epitome of calmness, betraying no feeling or thoughts.
(A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the DeT's next advancement, I give you the Wisdom Trigger!)
His blade flashed brighter for a moment before a stream of energy shot forth from its tip; the energy collided with the Flood form that had struck down Maria, and it disintegrated without a sound, without a trace.
Flood closed in from all around him, but those that leapt within a few yards of him vanished utterly. Streaks of energy spewed forth from Fayt's blade, and Flood everywhere were disintegrated. Those few that were lucky to survive his barrage of Destruction Shots tried to nail him down with their tentacles, but he remained one step ahead of them. Everytime a Flood swung its tentacles at him, he would smoothly avoid the blow and quickly retaliate with a barrage of Destruction Shots, all the while dodging other attacks effortlessly. It seemed as though Fayt knew exactly where and when the Flood would strike, and he planned his actions and counter-attacks accordingly.
A whole bunch of Flood tried to leap upon him all at once; he swung the Levantine in a circle and spun around once. Flames of Destruction energy materialised out of thin air and revolved around him, obliterating any Flood that came into contact with the flames. He raised his blade to the sky; thunderbolts of energy appeared from the clouds and struck down on a large section of the Flood armada, smiting a majority of them. Projectiles of all kinds came flying at him; even Jackhammer rockets and fuel rod gun rounds were sent his way. Merely raising his blade in a blocking position, a barrier of energy formed around him. The projectiles disintegrated against the barrier, and suddenly the Flood that had fired at him found themselves being sliced apart by an invisible force, courtesy of the energy absorbed by the barrier.
Once the immediate area had been cleared, Fayt scooped up Maria's bleeding body and, gliding over the ground with his enchanted boots, brought her back into the dropship. He leapt in as well and spun around smoothly, charging up his blade with energy. A fresh horde of Flood was charging right for the hatchway, but they never came closer than a few yards.
Once Fayt had charged all of the energy possible until it felt as if like he was going to explode, he unleashed it all at once. The Flood horde disappeared in an explosion of pure white energy, and the hatch closed just as Fayt reverted back to normal. He collapsed to his knees, panting in exhaustion. Slowly, he crawled over to where Maria was lying down, bleeding copiously from her wound.
She turned her pale face towards him as he approached, whispering, "... I had to... I'm sorry, Fayt..." She closed her eyes and just before she lost consciousness, she heard him utter the words she had hoped with all her heart that she would hear him say one day.
"Don't say that, Maria. I won't let you die... because, I... love you too."
Albel saw what went on back at the camp from his airborne Phantom. The kid was doing his superman thing again, jumping around blasting up Flood as though they were made of paper. They'd be safe, no doubt. His Phantom, however, might not be.
The Flood had commandeered numerous Jackal anti-aircraft batteries and the pilot was frantically trying to navigate through the cloud of death. Then, a great explosion rocked the ship, throwing everyone off their feet.
They were hit.
"All aboard prepare for crash-landing! We are hit! I repeat, we're hit, prepare for crash-landing!" blared the speakers.
Albel stumbled into the cockpit whilst trying to remain on his feet. The pilots were screaming at each other in their native tongue, but then grew silent as they started at the human, as if asking him for orders.
"Land at that valley there. It's nice and narrow, and hard to get in. We'll just sit tight until help arrives," he commanded, pointing at a mountain range in the distance. The pilots stared at each other for awhile, digesting the information before setting a course.
Thanks to either Albel's decision, or the expert skills of the pilots, the crash-landing didn't seem like one and the party was only slightly shaken. That was the good news. The bad news was that they needed to repair the ship.
"How long will it take?" asked Albel, anxious. The Flood were approaching, fast.
"Fifteen human minutes, plus an additional five to warm up the engines," replied the pilot, pausing from his work.
"The Flood will be here in ten minutes, do it by then," he ordered.
"We'll do our best sir," came the acknowledgement.
Ten minutes later…
The sensors on the Phantom flared to life. The Flood had caught on their trail and were entering the valley. The pilot and his co-pilot ran in and reported the situation, "Master, we have fixed the ship, but we still need time to warm up the engines!"
Albel looked at the passengers. Nel was certainly in no shape to fight, neither was Mirage, needless to say Roger. And they needed the two Elites to fly the Phantom. It was only him.
"I'll buy you guys time. Once the engines are warmed up head straight for space, don't wait for me. Just make sure my people are safe," he instructed. Slightly stunned at his willingness to sacrifice himself, the Elites stared at each other for a few seconds, before giving crisp salutes, and then scurrying to the cockpit.
"Albel, you're not going out there to sacrifice yourself, are you?" asked Nel, with a worried look on her face. She struggled to stand up, and finally was able to do so by leaning against a wall.
"I am." The look on her face turned from worry to devastation.
"No! Don't go you stupid bastard! We need you!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes, "I need you."
Albel then approached her, and he placed one arm on the wall, right next to the female warrior's face.
"There comes a time, where a human being needs to fight to protect what's precious, even if it means till death," he stared hard into her watery eyes, "Now's the time for me. Because I'm protecting what's precious."
He then leaned forward towards her. Their bodies grew closer by the second. Nel's heart started thumping at an incredible speed. Why was she reacting this way? Did she really want to be like this? As his lips drew nearer, the lips that spewed poison and death now looked so warm and inviting. She closed her eyes, eager to be swallowed in his embrace.
But it never came.
A plasma bolt hit the hull of the ship, shaking it violently again. Albel knew it was time. The Flood were too close now.
"Don't worry about me," he said to the warrior, "I'll be fine."
With his usual cocky smirk he hopped off the Phantom and strode towards the oncoming horde, drawing his Gunblade and forming his cloak of shadows and slamming the hatch shut behind him.
Devastated, Nel fell to her knees, and stared blankly at the hatch as the ship's engines roared to life.
Albel heard the engines roar to life. That was a good sign. The rest of them would be safe. But now he had something to worry about. He was totally surrounded by the horde, and to fight his way out would be impossible. From his high vantage point he could see that most of the planet had been covered by those zombie-like monsters.
He saw the Phantom slowly fade into the darkening sky, harried but unhindered by the trail of munitions behind it. The Flood were keeping their distance whilst still surrounding the lone warrior. Any too foolish would be sliced instantly by the blade in his hand or one of those floating around him. But they knew that he would fall. They just needed to bide their time.
Then, the ground trembled, as though being torn apart and a split in the ranks of the Flood emerged. Albel wanted to use that as a starting point to lance through the horde, until he saw why the ranks parted.
A gargantuan abomination of nature with a gaping mouth full of metal-sheering teeth and thick muscular tentacles approached. He recognized it from the Elite databases. It was a Flood Titan. It heaved its massive bulk closer and closer to him, until the warrior could feel the monster's breath bearing down on him.
Then, the monstrosity gave out a deafening shriek, spewing out water, blood, saliva, body parts of Brutes and other Covanent races, and other unrecognizable bits.
Albel gave a look of disgust before straightening up and giving his usual smirk, which served to piss the huge thing off.
"Hello beastie," he muttered, before brandishing his Gunblade and charging towards the Titan.
Nel sat in the corner of the Phantom's passenger hold, silently brooding on the loss of one of her dearest comrades. She had always resented him, but why was she feeling like this now? As the Delta Halo slowly grew distant and the allied fleet appeared, she could feel moisture creeping down her cheeks.
"Are you crying?" asked a concerned Mirage.
Startled, Nel quickly wiped her face and forced back her tears.
"It's just the condensation. Space is really cold."
Mirage wiped her finger on a wall of the Phantom, there was no sign of condensation whatsoever. "The wall is still dry…"
"I can't cry. Soldiers don't cry," Nel said silently in her defense.
"I'm sure somewhere out there there's a soldier who will willingly shed a tear when she loses a loved one. Am I right Nel?" asked Mirage again, as she squatted to come to face-level with the redhead.
Nel looked up at the blonde's concerned face. The formers cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes were red and watery.
"And here I thought I wasn't going to cry," Nel choked out, before collapsing onto Mirage's shoulder and sobbing her heart out.
A/N: Well, I hope the new Trigger is good enough for you guys. Wisdom Trigger is essentially the opposite of Valor Trigger; it relies on long-ranged, symbology-based attacks. Anyway, we've reached the target of 25 reviews at chapter 8, so I'll reward you guys with a bonus secret, a trailer for the sequel to this fic that we will write if you review consistently!
(A/N: Fayt and Maria themselves do not appear in the trailer, but the two characters featured are related to them.)
Bonus Secret
Another Time, Another Story
The first scene is this dark town in night time with rain falling, tall buildings and neon lights. Then walking out of the shadows comes a hooded figure in a black rain coat covering his eyes and most of his face. Only his nose and mouth are visible.
The view flashes to an up-close shot of the figure's face; hints of blue hair can be seen from under his hood. He turns his gaze towards the ground. Dark creatures that bear a vague resemblance to Convictors start appearing out of the ground. The view shifts backwards until we see the hooded unknown surrounded by a horde of the Convictor-creatures.
Then the camera moves and travels up a building. On top of the building is a blue-haired youth in the same black rain coat, but the hood is down. He looks very similar to Fayt but has a black blindfold covering his eyes.
The hooded unknown sweeps aside his cloak, and twin Destruction blades flare to life in his hands with a flourish.
The blue-haired youth faces the sky, spreading his arms.The rain stops, and a hole opens up in the clouds. Moonlight shines through the hole, creating a circle of pale light around the hooded unknown. The Convictor-creatures back away slightly. The blue-haired youth removes the blindfold, revealing a pair of blue eyes that look exactly like Maria's. The hooded unknown starts to speak.
"Where's Fayt?"
The view goes black, there is a flash of light, and whole slew of dialogue starts spewing out.
"The door to 4D space..." "This time, I'll fight!" "Your excellency... but why?" "Behind the Darkness..." "We have come for you, my Liege.""Maybe our journey meant nothing after all..." "What is Geostigma, you ask?It is the infectious darkness..." "His voice... I don't hear it any more." "Can we do it? Against That?" "Father... Why?" "What is this place?" "What took you so long, Maria?" "It's not over yet!" "Fayt..."
Then the last sentence to appear on screen is:
"We'll go together."
Star Ocean: Combat Evolved 2
Tides of Darkness