Author's Note: I've had this part of this story planned out since WAY before I started this story. :D Woot-ness. Hooray for a whole bunch of dialogue!
I wish I could go to where you are, Joshua Chung, and give you the biggest and longest hug possible. Thank you so much for sticking with me this far!
S o S t a r s t r u c k
Chapter Eighteen
Shattering Dreams
Lightning jumped down after Balthier once she'd regained her composure, and the others followed her almost immediately. Balthier was staring up at the crystal particles floating up around them, catching one in his hand and examining it carefully until he let it fall from his grasp. He then turned his gaze to the light forming above their heads, and his hand immediately flew to his fomalhaut out of habit. Dysley appeared before them, sitting in the throne above Orphan's pool with a dark, content smile on his face as two crystallized l'Cie appeared above.
"Dajh!" Sazh hollered, staring up at his crystallized son. Lightning and Snow yelled out Serah's name in unison when her crystal took form, and Balthier felt his heart sting when he realized why the two crystals were there.
"Life's spark shines on, once freed from its fleshly shroud," the Primarch spoke, "Dreams, meanwhile, shatter in a flash." With a wave of his hand, the two crystals were shattered right before their eyes, the pieces falling at their feet. Snow yelled out in anger, running forward to strike down the old man for destroying his fiancee's crystal. However, he was sent back flying, like many a time before, and fell on his back in front of the others.
Lightning rushed to his side, helping him sit up. "Think," she urged him, scowling, "Where's the real Serah?"
Snow looked down at the teardrop crystal in his hand, then looked up at Dysley. Balthier stepped forward, pulling out his fomalhaut. "It's not real," he told them. "Just more fal'Cie smoke and mirrors."
"Yeah," Hope agreed, getting out his boomerang. "They don't work wonders. They play tricks."
The rest of them pulled out their weapons, preparing to fight their enemy. Dysley laughed darkly, watching them in amusement. "At last, my errant l'Cie," he greeted. "Men fight men. Men battle beasts. Cocoon wars with Pulse, and Ivalice remains under the Occuria's control. There can be no end to such conflict. But the end of Cocoon and Ivalice is inevitable. Will you not at least slay Orphan and make it quick? As an act of mercy?"
"Mercy?" Lightning asked, narrowing her aqua eyes at the man. "You mean murder. And Cocoon won't die, neither will Ivalice. We're not here for that!" She unsheathed her gunblade, and pointed it directly at the Primarch. "We came for you."
Dysley sighed, casting his old eyes downward. "Such willful insolence. Disappointing." He began to rise into the air, staring down at them all in frustration. "You prolong Cocoon's suffering. And to what end? Refusing me but condemns another to face your Focus tomorrow. Need I remind you of the human who stands with you?" At this, Balthier narrowed his eyes even more. "With one move of resistance, I can turn him. If you will not obey, he will!" He moved to wave his hand, but a gun shot rang out and he pulled his hand down, clutching it as it bled.
Balthier lowered his fomalhaut as the smoke rose from its barrel, the smallest of smirks hinted on his serious face. "I don't respond well to orders," he stated, walking forward past the others and aiming his gun back up toward Dysley. "It's my turn, Barthandelus. Your puppet has been cut of his strings. What will you do now, I ask?"
With a loud yell of anger, Dysley transformed into the fal'Cie Barthandelus before their eyes. When the god of many faces stared menacingly at the sky pirate alone, Snow stepped forward only to have Balthier stop him.
"No. This battle is mine alone," he said to the taller man, not even glancing in his direction as he walked forward. A shield a magick appeared in front of the rest of the group as soon as Balthier left their side, stopping any of them from going any further.
As soon as Barthandelus rose into the air, its stone wings gathering up dark magick, Balthier made his move. He pulled out the gold esper stone and summoned Ultima to fight at his side, and once she appeared before him he took her offered hand, climbing up onto the pedestal she stood on. He aimed his fomalhaut at the fal'Cie, while Ultima raised her hand and formed a shield before the two of them, blocking the dark magick sent toward them. The sky pirate fired multiple magicks shots toward Barthandelus, all hitting it directly in its center face.
Ultima put both of her hands together in a praying motion, and unleashed an immense burst of light from within, and Barthandelus let out a mangled cry when the light reached its form. Balthier jumped from the pedestal, taking the blade Ultima handed to and running forward to the fal'Cie, holding the blade above his head. He lept into the air and stabbed the blade into Barthandelus' face, tightly shutting his eyes when dark-light erupted from its core. With the blade in his hands burned his skin, Balthier let go of it and was thrown to the floor in the magick's recoil.
He weakly grunted when he felt Ultima's arms wrap around his torso, gently lifting him up from the tiled floor. She tenderly pressed her lips to his cheek, fading from sight as Barthandelus' continued to writhe and sink into the pool before the throne.
"Release...At last, release!" the fal'Cie cried, sinking into the pool and disappearing from sight.
Balthier fell to his knees as soon as Ultima's presence faded away, hanging his head low and reaching for his fomalhaut that he'd dropped. As soon as the shield holding the others back fell, Lightning rushed to his side and put her arms around him, helping him sit up.
"Balthier," she whispered in his ear, resting her forehead against his soft hair. "It's done. It's finished."
Around them, the others began to celebrate their (more so, Balthier's) apparent victory, while Lightning helped the slightly-weakened Balthier stand. Something caught her eye overhead, and she looked up as soon as she saw Dysley's owl, Menevra, fly above them.
"It's that bird again!" Hope exclaimed, watching as if flew into the pool where Orphan slept. There was a sudden burst of light, and the group could only watch as Orphan rose up from the water. Three faces, one body, Orphan stared down upon them when it finally spoke.
"A haven, yea," it said, continuing to rise; it spoke in a two-toned voice, one male and one female. "Yet it must fall ere we be saved. Too frail a shell and humans should not thrive. Too stout a shell, and they would not die. Slaughter and salvation! Two irreconcilable Focuses we bore. Yet bound were we in a cocoon prison impervious to our power." Its gaze fell upon the pair standing in front, and Balthier felt Lightning's body become tense against him. "And so we thank you, human, for granting our longed-for birth."
Snow stepped forward, eyes widened in confusion. "Dysley?"
"No," Sazh answered. "Not anymore."
"We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die," the faces spoke, "Our name is Orphan. By our hand the world shall know redemption."
Balthier stepped away from Lightning, raising his fomalhaut toward the fal'Cie. "Redemption," he breathed, feeling the effects of Vanille's curative magick return his strength to him. "You believe all this destruction is redemption?"
Fang was the first to run forward and attack Orphan, her lance barely piercing its metallic skin. Lightning went to help her as soon as she told Balthier to sit the battle out, and both Snow and Sazh followed her lead. Vanille stayed back with Balthier, as did Hope, and the three of them worked on casting protective magick on the others. Orphan would constantly unleash both black and white magick on its enemies, and occasionally one of the four up front would have confuse cast upon them, forcing one of the others to knock some sense into them.
After a while, it seemed that there was no use in even trying to fight against the fal'Cie. Balthier looked around Orphan, trying to figure out why none of their attacks seemed to be connecting. At last, he saw it. A translucent shell of some sort, barely visible around the fal'Cie's form.
"Light!" he called out from where he stood behind all the others, "Stop! The shell - it's still upon it!"
Lightning looked up just as Orphan began to laugh, rising up from the pool of water. As soon as its height reached the ceiling, dark magick energy was released all around the group and shocked them all. Balthier gritted his teeth together as he fell to his knees from where Fang stood in front of him, standing against the magick despite all the pain they were suffering. Everything around him began to blur amongst the black fog, and he tried to search for the others. He tightly shut his eyes, wishing the pain away as he fell forward and laid on the floor, succumbing to unconsciousness.
Orphan sunk back down into the pool, its eyes watching Fang as she remained standing, clenching onto her lance and panting. "Have you ever paused to consider our reason for making l'Cie of men?" the fal'Cie asked. "We fal'Cie are crafted for a single purpose and granted finite power to that end. With men it is not so. Men dream, aspire, and through indomitable force of will achieve the impossible. Your power is beyond measure. We take l'Cie that we might wield such strength."
Balthier, regaining consciousness, weakly stood up from the floor, clenching his wounded side as he looked up at Orphan. Vanille stood up a few feet behind him, though the others remained unmoving.
"Through you, we obtained freedom from our bondage," it continued, its eyes gazing between Fang and Balthier. "And now, your Focus alone remains. Defy it, and all will be for naught." Orphan raised its clawed arm, summoning a ring a magick energy around the sky pirate, shooting electric energy through his body. Vanille called out to him as he cried out in agony, frantically clawing at himself to try and break free of the pain. "Cocoon's sacrifice, and that of Ivalice as well. Yet, if we but summon the Maker, we will be granted to begin again. All our sins absolved, and the world - born anew!"
The rings rose higher into the air, Balthier along with them, and he continued to scream out. Fang stared up with wide eyes at his suffering form, while Vanille was desperately crying for the fal'Cie to stop torturing him.
It ignored her pleas. "Submit, human! Become Ragnarok!" it yelled, "Lead us into the light!"
The magick energy grew stronger, and the sky pirate could do nothing else but yell out. Fang finally stepped forward, facing the fal'Cie. "Let him go!" she demanded, "He's not the one you want!"
"We have no need of flawed l'Cie," Orphan said, turning its gaze upon her.
"Orphan! I'll do it. I'll destroy you," she stated, taking another step forward. Behind her, Vanille covered her mouth to stifle her cries, fearing for both of her comrades.
The rings around Balthier vanished, and he was dropped back onto the floor. The redheaded girl ran to him, holding him close to her chest and cradling him in her arms as she healed him with curative magick. He only stared at Fang standing before the fal'Cie with blank eyes.
"Ragnarok," Orphan repeated, "The will to guide a world into oblivion. Can you bear the sins of our salvation?"
"You heard me," Fang answered, clenching her fists. "I said I'll do it!"
Balthier pushed himself away from Vanille, stumbling as he got back to his feet. "Fang, you don't need to do that!" he told her, reaching for her arm. "It's not your burden to bear. Let me become Ragnarok, let me complete your Focus for you! That's why I'm here, to end all this!"
Brushing past him, Vanille faced her partner with tear filled eyes. "You can't! Please, you can't forget our promise!" she pleaded, bringing her hands to her chest. "We promised to save Cocoon! We promised!"
In one swift motion, Fang held her lance toward Vanille in a threatening way. "I made a promise, too," she hissed through gritted teeth, and her voice cracked as she spoke. "To protect my family." She lowered her lance, walking toward the girl and ignoring her tears.
Around the chamber, the others began to wake up, hearing the yells of three of their comrades. Lightning slowly got to her knees, and Snow was the first to spot the three standing before them. "Fang?" he murmured, rubbing his eyes to check if he was seeing things clearing.
"Sometimes...You've gotta choose!" Fang yelled, raising her hand that held her lance as she prepared to strike Vanille down. Snow ran forward, as did Sazh, and the two of them held her back while Balthier grabbed Vanille's arm, pulling her back. Lighting and Hope stood in front of the pair, holding out their arms defensively to protect them. "Back off!" the black-haired woman yelled to the ones holding her back.
"What do you gain from hurting Vanille?" Lightning asked, breathing heavily from running all the way across the chamber. "We're in this together!"
Fang looked down, narrowing her eyes. "This is my Focus," she murmured, "And no one's gonna stop me." She pushed Snow and Sazh away, sending them flying across the chamber, summoning some unknown power.
Lightning flinched when she realized what was happening, but she didn't dare to move away from protecting those she cared for. Fang jumped into the air, her lance glowing in a bright gold light, and she stabbed it into the floor, unleashing a force of magick against her comrades. Balthier pulled Vanille into his arms as he turned his back to the sight before them, holding her close to his chest and shielding her from the magick. He shut his eyes just as a white light enveloped them all.
Balthier forced his eyes open when he heard the familiar growling of Cie'th, and he loosened his grip on Vanille when he turned around. Fang stood before Orphan, and around her were what ceased to be their comrades: Cie'th. The one that caught his eye was the creature that kicked a gunblade across the floor as it limped toward the black-haired woman, and he felt his heart stop when he realized that only he, Vanille and Fang remained.
"Everything I do...Why? Is this what you meant to happen?" Fang yelled, looking around as the Cie'th came toward her. She hung her head low, closing her eyes. "All of 'em..."
Orphan laughed manically as Balthier felt his knees go weak, wondering what he could have done to prevent what had just taken place. "It can't be," he breathed, taking a step back. His comrades, his friends. Snow, Hope, Sazh...Lightning. They were gone, turned into mindless creatures wanting nothing more than to kill. The ones who'd helped him when he needed them, the ones he trusted, were no longer there.
"After all we went through..." Vanille fell to her knees beside Balthier, crying quietly as she stared down at the floor. Her wet tears fell to the floor, but that didn't stop the Cie'th from limping closer and closer to Fang.
The monsters began to attack her, hitting her with their deformed arms and groaning words in another language. She willingly took the blows, wincing each time one of the arms came in contact with her skin. Her eyes met with Balthier's frightened ones when she looked up, giving him a weak, but reassuring smile. "Guess I deserve it, after what I did!" she murmured, before the Cie'th knocked her to the floor. She coughed, blood dripping from her mouth as she weakly asked, "Are they my sin to bear for choosing salvation?"
The Cie'th collapsed on top of her, crushing her beneath them. Balthier clenched his fists, staring up at Orphan with furious eyes. "Stop it!" he yelled to it, but it only continued to laugh at their pain. "Bring them back!"
Fang's burned brand began to glow from under the Cie'th pile, and the monsters were sent across the chest by an unimaginable force of power. She stood up, clenching her shoulder as she cried out in pain. In a flash of blinding light, Balthier and Vanille watched as the woman transformed into Ragnarok, the monster they had all feared. Vanille reached out toward the creature as it launched itself at Orphan.
"Salvation is born of sacrifice, miracles of misery!" the fal'Cie yelled as Ragnarok tried to break its way through the shell. "From shattered shards, a new crystal of legend will arise."
Ragnarok was sent back by the shield, but almost immediately, ignoring Vanille's cries, it charged toward Orphan again with endless energy on its side.
"Yes! Let anger be your strength! Despair!" Orphan exclaimed, and the monster clawed at its shield, growling and snarling in frustration. "Despair and save us all!" Ragnarok broke through its shell, but fell back in recoil. "Lo! The Day of Wrath is come!"
Balthier shut his eyes again, willing himself to a different time and place. In his mind's eye, he remembered all that had taken place on his journey in Cocoon. All that meant the most to him, and all that he had fought to save.
...Vanille smiling at him when she had first met him, a man lost in a world he did not know. She offered her hand to him, and he took it in his own...
...The first time he and Snow had fought side by side against the Shiva Sisters. He had willingly let himself become a distraction, just so he wouldn't be left alone when dealing with creatures he knew nothing of...
...Seeing Fang smile and laugh at him when he'd made an absolute fool of himself...
...The time when Hope had gained the courage to forgive his father, something Balthier had longed to do, but was too afraid...
...Watching Sazh take control of the air ship's controls, helping them escape into a world all of them thought was a terror-filled place...
...The look in Lightning's eyes when he had kissed her, forgetting what they were about to face and knowing that there would never be a time when they could stay at each other's side...
Balthier opened his eyes, watching as Ragnarok faded from sight and left Fang's broken form in the center of the chamber. Vanille was still crying; crying for the friends they'd lost, and for what would happen to the ones who remained. The sky pirate turned his gaze away, looking at the crystal particles that continued to rise up from the floor.
Anger was not what drove us. We all had dreams to fight for.
"Yet again?" Orphan asked, its eyes staring down upon the fallen l'Cie. "How many times must you fail?"
Fang was healed by the fal'Cie magick, and she was pulled into the air by rings that bound her hands together. She barely opened her eyes when she demanded quietly, "Let me go."
"Retake the form of Ragnarok. Deliver us that which we have too long been denied! Steep yourself in hatred! Let it infuse your soul with the strength it craves!"
Balthier shut his eyes when he heard Fang cry out as Orphan tortured her, repeatedly reviving her and torturing her when she resisted its demands. When he opened his eyes, Vanille brushed past him and walked toward the fal'Cie. But he did not bother to watch her willingly surrender herself when he knew that he could have prevented any of it from happening. He could have saved them all; the others would be crystallized, not turning into Cie'th. If he had taken the form of Ragnarok instead of Fang, so much could have been saved.
"Your awakening demands an offering of pain!" Orphan yelled, raising its deformed arm toward the young girl. But she didn't move from where she stood, her green eyes glaring upon it.
"No!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists. "I swore I wouldn't run anymore! I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying!"
Suddenly, someone from behind fired their gun at Orphan, and as the fal'Cie roared out in despair its grasp on Fang was released. Balthier rushed forward to catch her before she could fall to the floor, but Snow stepped out of nowhere and caught her in his arms. Vanille covered her mouth in surprise, and Balthier could only stare as the others walked out from the light.
"Miracles out of misery," Sazh stated, aiming both of his guns toward the fal'Cie. "You've got to be kidding me."
Hope healed Fang as she stood up, smiling weakly. "Yeah, Fang. Who'd be dumb enough to swallow that crock?"
Balthier's eyes widened when Lightning stepped forward, holding both her gunblade and Fang's lance in her hands. "Sure," she muttered. "We've all had better weeks."
"You're alive!" Vanille breathed, her smile returning to her young face. "How?"
"Could be more fal'Cie smoke and mirrors." Lightning met Balthier's gaze, and her expression softened when he smirked at her. She turned toward Fang, and held out the lance to her. "Fang. We made you go it alone."
Fang shook her head, scoffing. "Second time now, isn't it?" She glanced away from them all, but she took her lance with a curt nod, forgiving them.
"Where were you?" Vanille asked the other l'Cie, stepping so she stood between Balthier and Fang.
"Somewhere cold and dark," Hope answered, "Just thinking about everything that happened up until now. And then...it was like-"
"It was like," Snow interrupted, pulling out the tear drop crystal from his pocket. "I had a glimpse of the future. Everyone was smiling and laughing...Even Serah and Light. And, Balthier was there, too."
"I don't know," Sazh added in, and the chocobo popped out from his hair and happily flew toward the sky pirate. "It was a new Focus, or something. Didn't really make sense, of course. I mean, knowing we were worm bait and all. But, as luck would have it, next thing I know someone was pushing me right along."
Lightning looked toward Fang and Vanille. "You were there, too, Fang. Same side. All of us," she said, "Together until the end." She looked toward Balthier, mirroring his smirk as he turned toward Snow.
"Let's end this madness, shall we, hero?" he said to the taller man, tilting his head slightly.
Snow grinned. "You bet, leading man."
Orphan roared out in agony again, sinking further and further into the pool beneath its form. Lightning stepped forward and stood with her gunblade in hand, facing what was left of the fal'Cie. Balthier looked to them all as their l'Cie brands shined for a moment, changing to a burned, white color.
The brand of a l'Cie. The symbol of the Focus they faced, and the mark of the fate we all shared. Proof of the dreams we held, and the freedom we desired.
"The heroes never die," Snow stated, and Balthier raised in eyebrow at hearing his saying being stolen. "C'mon, we're got a world to save!"
Hope stepped forward as well, pulling out his boomerang. "If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have to power to save it! You say you want your Day of Wrath? Well, it's coming right up!"
Sazh nodded as the chocobo flew from Balthier's shoulder, back into his afro. "It's time we gave the people what they really want."
Vanille looked at them all, putting her hands together. "We can do it," she said, "I know we can. We made it this far!" She then turned toward Fang, smiling widely. "Let's make a real miracle happen!"
Laughing under her breath, Fang stepped forward and spung her lance above her hand. "Lady Luck sure ain't on his side!"
A demonic laugh, high and shrilling, rang out all around them as a light erupted from the pool of water. Balthier pulled out his fomalhaut and took his place between Lightning and Snow, his smirk never faltering as all of them watched as Orphan revealed its true form and raised out from the water. It was nothing more than a spinning wheel to them, no longer a monster that threatened them all.
"You overreach yourselves," it said to them, opening its blank white eyes.
"No," Lightning answered, narrowing her eyes. "We overreach you."
"...Is that so?"
She stepped forward, almost smiling as she spoke. "You don't believe in anything. You gave up on life before you were even born. Sat poisoning Cocoon from the inside. Waiting for someone to come and destroy you. Sure, you think the end of the world is salvation. All you care about is death's release. So take it, and leave the rest of us alone. We don't think like that." The rest of the group prepared for battle, and Balthier watched as Lightning seemed to become even more confident. "When we think there's no hope left, we keep looking until we find some. Maybe Cocoon is past saving, but it's our home. And we'll protect it or die trying! We live to make the impossible possible!" She raised her gunblade above her head, then held it firmly at her side in one hand. "That is our Focus!"
Holy cow. Epic chapter? :D