Cie'th Cie'th, Bang Bang
The fal'Cie are fools. Gran Pulse and Cocoon fal'Cie alike; fools, the lot of them. Endlessly circling in a meaningless attempt to reach beyond their stations.
The Makers breathed life and power into us not meant for the humans. L'Cie should never have been brought into existence. Humans were not meant to bear the mark of the Makers. They are not worthy.
My foolish younger siblings brought about the end of all our existences on the belief of a myth. Even if it were a truth, a mere sacrifice of human souls—no matter the multitude—would not be nearly enough to bring the Makers back.
Spoiled children, ruining everything they have in a tantrum to get what they want. Their crusade for salvation only leading to their destruction. Absurdity.
Thus an inevitable end draws near. An end not even I can prevent. An end not just for the fal'Cie but for the worlds we gave life to; worlds we poured our life force into sustaining.
I will not see my creation destroyed by the insanity of my kin. Should I fall, I refuse to let Gran Pulse fall to the same fate. My creation will not be the same failure as our Makers'.
I will leave my mark. I will not bear a mere l'Cie like the others. My legacy's husk will be carved from my own, it's essence taken from the strongest of my own creations. But they must be tested.
I am Gran Pulse, and I refuse to fall. I am Titan, and my will shall survive long after the end of the fal'Cie.
A blinding flash of light ended the memory. Vanille and Dajh, snapping out of it, struggled to remain on their feet. Vanille reached for a tree nearby to maintain her balance while Dajh fell to his knees. The pulsing in their heads and stars behind their eyes temporarily hindered their vision and balance.
"Okay, remind me again why I bitched and whined to come on this expedition?" Dajh panted as he leaned back on his heels from his kneeling position on the ground.
"Something about finding answers," Vanille responded from her position leaning against a nearby tree, equally out of breath, "Or Following orders from your commanding officer?" She added another suggestion, "Or to prove yourself to your father?"
Dajh was surprised to find himself laughing at the unnecessary list of options to pick from. Slowly getting to his feet, he dusted himself off; noticing the surroundings hadn't changed much and time didn't seemed to have jumped forward during the Pulse-shift. Everything was the same sans the large root that'd broken up through the ground between them.
Leaning down for a closer look, Dajh examined the protruding limb. He noticed it wasn't any shade of brown matching the surrounding trees. In fact, it was almost black in color, with a flaky white, almost glittering layer over it. As the sunlight filtering through the trees touched it, the bright reflections immediately sent Dajh backwards. He'd only seen anything like it once before. Once before, very recently.
"Uh, Vanille," He hissed slowly, his eyes darting over to the small woman who was busy poking at another large tendril that was wrapped around an actual root of the tree she'd been resting against. She let out a small squeal as it moved. Dajh jumped over the tendril at his feet and pulled her away as the both of them began to retract toward a bushy area a few feet from them. As they continued to watch, something finished breaking through the ground and pushed through the foliage to step out onto the path, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"
Not five feet away from them, now stood a creature at least eight feet tall, it's skin the same darkness as its tendrils. It's main body was covered in the white, flaky crystal. The larger, deep red crystal protruding from it's chest pulsated menacingly. The tendrils—apparently substitutes for arms—swayed around it's lower body.
"Don't... move..." Dajh mumbled to Vanille. From what he could tell about the creature without an actual head-therefor eyes to see them-it hadn't seemed to have noticed them yet. It seemed to be searching for something, moving in slow circles in its place in the middle of the rough path.
Suddenly, a scream pierced the air, followed by a few rounds of rifle shots. Immediately, the creature turned toward the other two on the path.
"Oh hell..." Dajh managed to mutter before it bounded towards them. He found himself being pushed unceremoniously out of it's way by Vanille, who jumped in the opposite direction. Dajh scrambled to his feet just in time to see the creature continue down the path as if not even realizing they'd been there. He met Vanille back on the path, "We should run-" He'd barely finished the sentence before Vanille had taken off after the creature, "I meant away!"
"It's heading back toward the camp!" Vanille yelled over her shoulder. Blinking a few times, Dajh's shoulders slumped as he groaned.
"Of course it is..." He grumbled before taking off after the Oerban.
For it's size, the creature moved impressively fast. However, it also left quite the trail while attempting to take the shortest possible way to wherever it was headed; carelessly destructive and easily followed. As Dajh and Vanille drew closer to the camp, there was another round of shots fired.
"Hope? Alva! Eve?" Vanille yelled as the creature they were chasing finally broke through into the clearing. Dajh quickly pulled the frantic woman to the side, out of another line of bullets aimed at mass in front of them.
"Vanille! Dajh!" Hope called from the other side of camp. When Dajh looked to observe the situation his heart sank further.
"Here too?" He almost screamed, seeing Hope struggling with another, similar-looking creature. It was significantly smaller than the one they'd been chasing, with actual arms but tendrils that retracted into spikes along it's back.
"Yeah, as if we didn't already have enough trouble." Hope grunted, kicking the smaller creature away. It flew and slammed into a tree but used the tendrils on it's back to pull it up into the branches.
"Hey, I bet we found ours first!" Dajh retorted, slowly leading Vanille around to where Alva was, "Besides, it was running away!"
"You couldn't have scared it off in another direction?" Hope backed up towards the cadet, his eyes fixed on the smaller creature lurking in the trees.
"It's freaking eight feet tall, Estheim!" Dajh yelled, pointing at the larger creature, still stepping towards them, "Please, feel free to help demonstrate-"
"Allow me to help." A voice interrupted. Dajh felt something brush past him and charge at the creature. The cadet and First Lieutenant looked to see Eve jump at the creature, unfolding her Assault Lance and striking directly at the crystal. The creature managed to deflect the blow with a tendril. Eve used her momentum however and spun, crouching, delivering a slash to one of its legs. It buckled and was sent to one knee. Upon attempting to pierce it's back, the creature swiped out with a tendril again, managed to knock Eve backward, off balance.
"Dajh, I need you to help Eve keep the bigger one distracted while I take care of this one." Hope addressed the cadet firmly.
"M-Me?" Dajh stammered.
"No the other guy that decided to join the military to protect his friends and family." Hope hissed. The comment wasn't meant to insult but it did strike something in Dajh's chest that blocked out his hesitation and fired up his courage. He turned to Vanille.
"Stay here." He ordered quickly before revealing the old weapon in the simple holster on his back. He'd decided to take it out of it's brief retirement since he left Oerba Neo for Crystallinus. However, none of his superiors had really thought to arm him and he was always more safe than sorry. He hadn't used it for a while but the familiarity of the weapon hadn't been forgotten. He quickly flicked it outwards, unfolding it as he stepped towards the creature Eve was struggling with. Pulling his arm back, he aimed for red crystal that may as well have been a bulls-eye painted on the creature's chest.
"Hey ugly!" He called. Eve, having been thrown to the ground again, took pause to look over at him, "Uh- N-Not you, DeFluo." The creature seemed to pause too, tendrils frozen in a pointed position above the Lance Corporal, "You got a little something..." He swung his arm, letting the weapon in his hand fly, "Riiiiiight..." It curved, spinning, flying perfectly before actually managing to clip the red crystal in the creature's center, "...There." Dajh finished as the creature stumbled backwards as if knocked back by a forced five times it's size. The cadet caught the returning boomerang with ease, smiling at the pride of not having lost his touch completely.
"Dajh! Watch out!" Dajh was barely quick enough to see a tendril shoot towards him. A mere foot away from his head, it diverted ever so slightly to the right, barely missing his cheek. He felt the flakes of crystal against his skin briefly before it was retracted. Somehow, through his shock, she saw Eve now kneeling, Assault Lance in rifle mode, aimed at him. He blinked a couple of times, "You... You shot at me!" He pointed at the Lance Corporal, "I save your ass and you shoot at me?"
"I was returning the favor." The faint response gave the young Katzroy and odd sense of amusement. Only for a moment, however, for Eve suddenly found her feet swept out from under her. The creature had a tendril around one of her legs. It had moved quicker than she could react to shoot at it, launching her into another tree. She hit it hard, the tree letting out a loud, cracking noise. Seeing her crumple to the ground, Dajh's jaw tightened as he pulled back his arm again.
"Y'know, maybe you shoulda kept the favor!" He called, stepping towards the hulking creature.
Meanwhile. Hope was still trying to lure the smaller creature out of the trees. He decided to play it safe and remain as close as possible to Alva and Vanille. This meant he had to wait for the lurker to make it's move. Vanille's most recent scream to Dajh had thrown him off a little. He had lost sight of it among the leaves and branches. Searching frantically, his grip on his pistol tightened with each second.
"There!" Alva's voice caught his attention. With a brief glance at the young teen, he followed the direction she was pointing and squinted. He only caught it for a moment before it's movement fully revealed it's position. He followed it with his weapon, firing slow, calculated shots until one hit, sending to the ground. There was a rustling in the foliage near the clearing before it jumped out, arms ending in claws now, with the intention of sinking them into Hope's face.
The First Lieutenant stood his ground though. Holstering his pistol he ducked under the outstretched claws and grabbed the creature by the shoulders. Turning and flipping, he brought it to the ground, hard. The spikes on the creatures back immediately shot outwards, attempting to skewering him but he spun himself out of the way. Re-drawing his pistol, he shot the each of the creature's spikes at their base on its back. The two smallest ones detached completely while the other retracted quickly, limp and seemingly out of commission for the time being.
As he aimed another few shots into the creature's back, it moved—fast. To his horror, Hope realized Vanille and Alva were now closer to the creature than he was.
"Vanille-!"
"Watch out!" Vanille pulled Alva out of the way as it launched itself at them. Hope followed it's path with another round of bullets, hitting it enough number of times to throw it off, sending it rolling as it hit the ground. He darted forward, determined to keep himself between Vanille and Alva, and their nasty, nimble attacker.
"Alva!" Eve yelled from her position nearer the larger creature.
"Eve, stay focused-!" Hope tried to warn but it was too late. The distraction had left Eve open for too long. He almost winced as he noticed her take a blow to the side from her giant opponent, that sent her a good few feet through the air, "Damnit-!" Unfortunately, her being distracted proved to be his own distraction. He was too slow to pick up on the smaller creature's preparation to pounce. As it did so, he moved on reflex but it wasn't enough. It caught his shoulder, landing on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
"Hope!" Hope struggled against the hold but the creature was stronger than it looked. As he attempted to both break free and keep the creature's claws from reaching him, he saw a few flashes of light behind it. Suddenly, it was pulled from above him. Rolling onto his front, he saw Vanille struggling with her binding rod, the creature caught in it's wires, thrashing in a particularly violent manner. Silently thankful for the small break, Hope forced himself to his feet, knowing the binds probably wouldn't last long.
"Estheim!" The call from Dajh seemed to slow things down, "Any time now would be great!" Hope threw a glance over at the larger creature. His cussed under his breath at what he saw, "DeFluo's not quite understanding the 'distracting' part of your order..." The 'distraction' in question was currently wrapped in one of the creature's tendrils, her Assault Lance was protruding from it's side, now out of her reach. It's second tendril was posed above her head, preparing to strike. Dajh's attacks with his boomerang were proving useless against pulling it's attention away from the Lance Corporal.
A shriek from nearer his side of the clearing told him Vanille had lost her binding hold on the smaller creature. Unsurprisingly it prepared to lash out at the Oerban who'd dared to try and restrict it.
"Eve!" Alva screamed from her position behind a bag of salvaged equipment.
"Vanille!" Hope raised an aimed his pistol at the creature launching itself toward her. A series of shot pierced the air again and the creature's trajectory was abruptly changed. It flew sideways, towards Hope, rolling to a stop at his feet. He stared down at it, blinking, bewildered.
Now practically at his side, Dajh was experiencing the same disbelief as the larger creature hit the ground, it's grip on Eve slackening enough to drop the Lance Corporal to the ground. Now, along with the Eve's weapon, protruding out of the creature's torso was a bright red lance.
"Seriously Hope, we leave you alone with the kids for a few minutes and it all goes to hell?"
Fang? Fang was here, Hope acknowledged, recognizing the unmistakable accent. And if Fang was here, that meant- The thought was completed for him as he noticed the remaining spike on the smaller creature's back shoot out toward him. It was caught by a gloved hand abruptly before he could react and he suddenly found himself face to face with Lightning.
"Light..." Hope voiced dumbly as the Commander turned, unloading a full clip into the creature on the ground.
"They may be a different type," Lightning spoke, in her typical ice-cold battle tone, "But these things are Cie'th." Turning and delivering a swift kick to the creature's side, she send it into the air, "Do you remember any Cie'th we've encountered that hadn't required magic to defeat?" Before anyone could even fully process the question, Lightning crouched, opening a fist. There was a strange, high-pitched almost whistling sound as she channeled a ball of light in her hand before letting it fly at the creature. In a brilliant flash of light, the creature convulsed violently as the Ruin spell hit it. It then fell to the ground, limp, barely moving at all.
"Magic?" Hope breathed in disbelief. Whirling around, he saw Fang launch the giant Cie'th into the air. As it rose and fell, the flaky crystal layer around it had begun to shed. They fell like small glittering lights, fluttering about the clearing. Hope's eyes darted back downward to Fang who was now glowing a deep orange. A Saboteur's glow. She'd cast Deshell. Turning his gaze back at Lightning, he caught her finishing off the smaller Cie'th, plunging her gunblade through its back. He heard the shattering of the crystal that had adorned it's chest. It immediately ceased to move.
"That..." Dajh began as Lightning moved toward the remaining Cie'th, now struggling to get to it's feet, "...Was so..." The Commander ran at it again as Fang cast a Ruin spell at it, blindsiding it and keeping it from fully recovering, "...Cool."
Lightning reached the Cie'th just as Fang had finished casting Deprotect. Her gunblade pierced the crystal, cutting into it too cleanly to shatter it completely. Flipping away, Lightning channeled an Aerora spell, effectively propelling the staggered foe into the air. Fang had already launched herself upwards, meeting it midair. She grabbed the handle of the gunblade and forced it downwards in her signature power attack. As the creature was slammed into the ground, the others felt the power of the blow coupled with hearing the crashing and crunching of the crystal undoubtedly crushed under the force.
As the kick-up of dirt and crystal began to settle, the clearing grew silent. If only for a minute before Dajh spoke up first.
"Never mind," The cadet blurted out loudly, "That was cooler." It seemed Dajh had a knack for at least easing the atmosphere during tense or awkward situations. The others immediately began to breath easy again. Before any of them moved, however, there was a pained cough from the edge of the clearing near the larger fallen Cie'th.
"Eve?" Lightning spotted the Lance Corporal first, lying on her side, her arm falling in an unnatural position behind her, "E-"
"Eve!" Alva cried, already running towards her sister, her bright eyes flashing in the sunlight.
"Alva, wait-!" Lightning began to move to cut the teen off but was halted in her tracks as she noticed a yellow glow surround the girl. And the brightness of her eyes had nothing to do with the light of the environment—they were glowing. The glow grew brighter as she neared the fallen soldier. The others shared confused glances as they slowly gathered around Alva, now half-cradling Eve in her arms.
"Eve! Eve, stay awake!" The girl cried as the glow began to spread from her to her injured sister, "Eve please!" There was no audible response from the Lance Corporal but slowly, Eve raised a hand to touch Alva's cheek. As soon as she did so, the glow around the both of them rapidly grew to brightness where the others had to shield their eyes.
When the light finally subsided, the two DeFluo sisters had just about changed positions. Eve, despite still showing the various cuts and bruises sustained during the fight, was now sitting up with a seemingly unconscious Alva in her arms.
"Alva? Alva?" She gently shook the smaller girl. The others still remained silent as she looked up at them, her eyes full of fear, confusion and a fierceness that almost qualified the look to be a glare from Lightning, "What the hell did Alva just do?"
A/N:
Goodness gracious me that was a beast of a chapter to write =S
Action scenes are take up so much... energy... brain power... that stuff I don't have a lot of =\
I wish I could give my Cie'th/creature things names. Writing with them would be a lot easier.
Also, due to the previous chapter I've had to basically re-plan the next 5 or so chapters of the story so... forgive me if it seems a little shakey for now.
It'll all come together eventually...
...as my plan TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! *cue evil laugh*
...or something.
Fang + Blazefire Saber + Highwind = Too much epic
There are also more random FLight doodlings in my dA gallery. Check them out for funz =3