The Friend of my Friend
Lightning had slowly begun to crawl toward Hope but her eyes remains glued on Alva's guardian form. Odin and Bahamut in one. The more she thought about it—staring at Alva—the more unease she felt. She couldn't clearly define the reason for her growing fear, ONLY that she knew while Alva had prevented her from an undoubtedly deadly strike, there was no indication it was solely to save her. Lightning found it quite possible that the guardian had only attacked the Cie'th because it was the larger target. Alva had not yet even looked down at Lightning as the pinkette pulled herself away.
A shriek from the Cie'th—now recovered—managed to tear her gaze away. Her jaw tightened when she realized she was still, more or less, between the two of them. She did eventually reach Hope, grimacing at the amount of blood that soaked the ground around him. Grunting and flipping him over onto his back, she found it extremely difficult not to look away as she caught sight of his injury. She immediately began an attempt at healing magic but knew for Hope to have any chance of surviving, she'd have to get him to Vanille. But how to get him to her? The fact that the Cie'th was already beginning to close the distance between itself and Alva, was not helping.
As the pinkette was formulating an plan to get both herself and Hope out of there, she felt someone grab her arm and throw it over their shoulder.
"F-Fang!" She had barely felt the other woman's touch before she'd called the name.
"We need to move, Light." The Oerban didn't wait for an answer as she pulled Lightning to her feet.
"Hope-"
"I got him." Fang had grasped one of the First Lieutenants arm and was already moving both soldiers away from a certain battlefield toward Vanille and Dajh.
As they reached the other two, Fang gently lowered Lightning to the ground before turning and pulling Hope next to Dajh.
"Oh no..." Vanille cried quietly, "Hope..."
"Light managed to slow the bleeding, but you're gonna have to do most of the work." Fang instructed. Lightning saw the lighter-haired Oerban nod before moving so she could reached both men with her hands. The pinkette's eyes quickly returned to the Oerban warrior. She had a deep cut down her arm and blood dripped down the left side of her head. Her bottom lip was cut and half of the back of the jumpsuit she was wearing had been torn off.
"Fang." Lightning motioned the warrior over. As soon as the dark-haired woman reached her, she placed a hand over her arm to heal the cut.
"I'm fine for now, Light." Fang grabbed her wrist firmly and gently before lowering it. She motioned down at the Commander's leg, "You first." Lightning found herself much too tired to argue as she nodded and diverted all her magical energy down to her leg.
"What's going on back there?" Vanille yelled over her shoulder as another shriek from the Cie'th pierced the air. Lightning looked up from her leg just in time to see the massive creature stab at Alva with both tails. The guardian easily side-stepped out of the way of one while deflecting the other with her shield. The Cie'th attempted the same maneuver at least half a dozen times, each time meeting no success—being either blocked or evaded.
Lightning made note that while the Cie'th was still slightly larger, Alva's guardian form was built for power offense rather than swift evasiveness. Not just two but four powerful legs that could probably pack a hell of a punch if kicked. This was proven when the Cie'th grew visibly irritated and attempted to charge at Alva in addition to stabbing with it's tails. As it lunged at her with it's claws, Alva reared backward onto her hind legs, evading the attempt to lash out at her. She raised herself high enough to swipe at one of the tails with Zantetsuken. The clean slice effectively hacked it in half sending the Cie'th into a frenzy.
As her front hooves touched the ground, she spun, bringing her hind legs around and kicked out with them, slamming the Cie'th backwards. It howled as it rolled into the treeline. It had made a panicked last attempt at an attack with it's remaining tail but again, Alva blocked it with her shield—though this time it managed to pierce it, remaining caught when it began to retract itself. Staring at the appendage jutting from her shield, Alva raised her arm brought down Zantetsuken. In the one swift movement, she sliced the tip of the tail, leaving the remaining part of the extremity to drag itself back toward the main body of her opponent.
But Cie'th were known for their persistence—if anything. Despite the loss of both it's tails, the creature began dragging itself from the broken trees and tangled vines. Meanwhile, the guardian actually began backing away from the creature, increasing the distance between them. But this was not out of fear, nor an attempt to begin an escape from the battle. As soon as Alva had at least doubled the distance between her and the Cie'th, she raised Zantetsuken. Immediately, the weapon began to shift. The handle grew until it formed the body of a lance, the curved edge of the blade slid backward forming a straighter, longer point.
As Alva lowered it to point the tip at the Cie'th, the creature charged. Alva mirrored the action, breaking into a gallop in a flash, weapon and shield raised as the distance between herself and the Cie'th closed rapidly. As the Cie'th leaped at the guardian, claws outstretched, Alva pushed herself out of the way of one claw and blocked the other while shield-slamming the creature in it's massive head. At the same time, she stabbed at it with her lance, catching it in it's side, near it's hind legs.
The collision did not stop either combatant fully. Both continued in the same direction until reaching the same distance they'd been at before, turning to face one another. The only difference now was that the Cie'th was now limping slightly. Lance already raised, Alva remained still, waiting for the Cie'th to make the first move. And it did, launching itself into another assault, the limp only barely hindering it as it propelled itself toward Alva who eventually began her own charge.
As the guardian neared the Cie'th, she flipped the lance in her hand, holding it up over her shoulder. The Cie'th practically threw itself at her, unable to properly lunge due to the wound in its leg. Alva jumped, evading the attempt at her legs. While above the Cie'th, she thrust the lance down, straight through the crystal, through her opponent's head and into the ground. Landing as gracefully as ever, she slowed to a stop and turned, just as the Cie'th cried it's last cry, breathed it's last breath and finally grew still.
A short distance away, Lightning was struggling to her feet, her leg half-healed but the fight she'd just witnessed did little to help her nerves—nor the dull ache that plagued the back of her right eye socket. As she watched Alva move toward the Cie'th to retrieve Zantetsuken, Lightning unfolded her gunblade on reflex.
"Light, what're you doing?" She heard Fang say, still half-kneeling on the ground. Lightning didn't answer. She didn't know how to. Was she scared? Fascinated? Shocked? Whichever it was, she couldn't pull her gaze from Alva. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself taking a step toward the guardian, who'd still yet to notice her.
"Light!" Fang's voice found her again, this time it was accompanied by a hand around her wrist, "Light, what are you thinking?"
"I..." This time Lightning turned to Fang. She searched for words but found none. Eventually she found the grip on her wrist tighten and the look of confusion fall from Fang's face. The Oerban's eyes were no longer on her. Following Fang's gaze past her, she saw Alva staring directly at them. Lightning found a small part of her panic as she raised her gunblade.
"Light, wait- don't-!" As soon as the pinkette had moved her weapon, the guardian raised her own. The lance folded back into Zantetsuken's original sword form as Alva began to advance on the both of them. Having noted that while fighting the Cie'th, Alva displayed no emotion on her face, Lightning was surprised to see a flash of recognition before a torrent of rage cross the guardian's face.
"Alva, wait-!" Fang began to yell but Alva had broken into a charge. Lightning didn't think her grip on the handle of her gunblade could get any tighter as she prepared herself for the attack. She knew the only logical move was to dodge, and she could feel Fang pulling on her arm but her feet remained frozen. She found herself unable to move, fear paralyzing her.
As Alva swung Zantetsuken, Lightning made a feeble attempt at a block but as expected, the swing sent her flying. She hit the ground on her side, grunting as she rolled to a stop on her back. She raised a hand to touch the eye patch across her eye as she sat up slowly. Though the aching hadn't ceased, her vision—among other senses—returned to her and she realized that Alva was facing her, completely ignoring Fang. No, not ignoring, protecting. Lightning wasn't the only one who remembered the day outside Taejin's Tower. Only this time Alva powers seemed to have grown over the years. And the physical resemblance Fang shared with Eve did little to help the situation.
"Alva, no!" Fang yelled as Alva charged at Lightning again. The pinkette had barely gotten to her feet before she had to throw herself out of the way of another swipe of Zantetsuken. Before she could recover, she found Alva's shield slam into her side, once again, sending her a good few feet away. Her grip on her own weapon had loosened at the impact and fell at her side as she grit her teeth, trying to shut out the pain of the blow.
"Light!" She'd apparently been knocked in a direction that put her back near Fang. The Oerban had run over to kneel at the pinkette's side, "What the hell are you doing, you can't take Alva on yourself in your condition." Having left her lance in the woods where she'd been thrown by the Cie'th, Fang moved to pick up Lightning's gunblade. She found her hand stopped, however, by the pinkette.
"She thinks you're Eve." Lightning explained through heavy breaths.
"What-?"
"The last time she was in guardian form, she attacked me because she thought I meant Eve harm." Lightning continued, wincing as she tried to sit up, not having much luck, "It's the last thing she remembers as guardian, it's why she's hostile to me now." Fang turned to Alva who seemed temporarily confused at Fang's action of running towards Lightning. The guardian recovered eventually however and began making her way toward the two of them again. As she did so, Fang grabbed the gunblade and got to her feet, putting herself between Lightning and Alva, "Fang-"
"I'm not letting her hurt you again." The warrior interrupted firmly, raising the gunblade towards Alva.
"Alva. Stop." She demanded as the guardian reached them. The confused expression returned to Alva's face as she obeyed. Fang had to admit she didn't blame Lightning's initial fear of Alva, nor her inability to stand against her. The guardian's towering presence was daunting and her mere form radiated insurmountable strength and power, "I am not Eve." The Oerban stated clearly, motioning to herself, "And Lightning is not trying to harm me." She stepped aside for only long enough to motion to the soldier who'd managed to get to her feet, "But I swear if you hurt her again-" Fang found Lightning's hand over her own which grasped the gunblade. The pinkette gently removed it from her grasp before staring directly into Alva's eyes and folding and holstering it.
"It's been ten years since you've been in that form. We came here to find out about you and Eve." When Alva made no move to lower her guard, Lightning swallowed thickly, "Please Alva, try to remember. Eve was taken trying to protect you and we were on our way to get her back."
"Eve." The guardian repeated the name softly, looking between Fang and lightning, "Fang... Lightning..."
"That's right, Lightning-" The soldier motioned to herself, before the warrior, "Fang. Neither of us means anyone here any harm." There was a long moment of silence before the anger and confusion began to fade from Alva's face and her guard was slowly lowered.
"I am... sorry." The guardian eventually said, lowering her head. As she did so, she seemed to take notice of her form for the first time. Her gaze shifted from her shield, to Zantetsuken, to her legs. It was almost amusing to the two observing her as she did so, "This form... I feel... I don't hurt anymore-"
"Would someone please tell me what in all of Gran Pulse is going on!" A scream caused Fang, Lightning and Alva to jump. Only the guardian didn't so much jump as whirled around, weapon raised again.
"Whoa, wait Alva, no!" Lightning raised a hand as she and Fang moved in front of the guardian again, "No, it's just Vanille, you remember Vanille, right?" Alva's gaze dropped from the source of the yell down to Lightning, then back up at the small Oerban who still couldn't quite afford to break concentration on her healing to look over her shoulder. When Alva once again, lowered her weapon, Lightning let out a breath of relief and allowed Fang to gently pull her towards the others. Alva, though still looking lost, did not move to follow.
"Vanille-"
"Fang? What's happened? Alva-?"
"She's... fine." Fang answered as best and brief as she could, "Hope and Dajh?"
"I've stopped the bleeding and started to close the wounds but they're are hard to close," Vanille explained, shaking her head slowly, "It's like my magic is being dulled when I try to heal them but I can't afford to force it."
"You can save them though?" Lightning asked weakly.
"Of course she can." Fang answered for the smaller Oerban quickly, almost too quickly. Vanille actually let out a giggle.
"They'll be fine, Light," She assured the pinkette, looking up at Lightning, who'd moved into her line of sight, with a smile, "It'll just take some time." At that point, the smile slowly fade, "Time we don't have. You and Fang should go on ahead."
"No." Fang shook her head.
"You need to get to Eve, and Dajh and Hope are still nowhere near fit for travel, let alone put up a fight against anything else that may show up between here and the Faultwarrens."
"We're not leaving you here." Fang remained firm in her opinion of staying together. She felt a hand on her shoulder and felt her fists relax, releasing the blades of grass she hadn't realized she'd been crushing.
"Vanille's right, Fang." The pinkette said softly, understanding of Fang's will to stay but also aware of the bigger picture. They had to continue.
"And if they're attacked while we aren't around?"
"The Cie'th are drawn to Alva, and she—along with the both of us—will be away from here." Fang knew Lightning and Vanille were right. She'd known it before her fellow Oerban had even suggested they go on without her and their two fallen friends. But it didn't mean she had to like it, "Fang, we have to go." The gentle urge from Lightning pulled Fang to her feet.
"Wait." Vanille stopped the soldier and warrior from leaving immediately, "You've both got injuries too." She released a hand from Dajh's shoulder slowly, the green glow fading slightly but was quickly replaced with a transfer from the magic surrounding Hope. She raised her free hand towards Fang. Lightning's brow furrowed, confused at the gesture.
"What-?"
"Vanille, no." Fang cut off her inquiry, "You need to focus on healing them, you'll need the magic-"
"You of all people should know the amount of magic won't be an issue here." Vanille interrupted, her hand remained raised, unmoving, "And you'll both need to be at your full strength." She made a small motion with her hand toward Fang who didn't continue to argue. Instead the warrior stepped toward the Oerban on her knees and took her hand in her own. Lightning watched as there was a flash of blue and green between the two of them and a swirl of magic passed from Vanille, through their linked hands, to Fang. It lasted only a second but as they broke apart, a force seemed to unbalance the darker-haired woman slightly. It took the pinkette another few moments to realized the gash on Fang's arm was completely healed, and there were no signs of any of the other injuries she'd had seconds before.
"What just...?"
"Light." Vanille called, motioning the soldier over with her hand in a similar fashion as she did Fang. The pinkette glanced over at Fang, who was adjusting one of her armbands. The warrior merely nodded, giving Lightning the assurance she needed to reach out toward Vanille. She found herself hesitating at the last moment however, before grasping the small Oerban's hand.
"Brace yourself, Sunshine." She turned her gaze at Fang as she heard the warrior mumble the warning.
"Oh for the love of-" Vanille sighed exasperatedly before reaching and grabbing the Commander's hand herself. No sooner had she done so, Lightning almost felt as if she were struck by a Thundaga spell. There was a bright flash, similar to the one between Vanille and Fang only this time she felt it behind her eye. Her nerves suddenly all jumped at once as a wave of both cold and heat surged through her body. When the grip on her hand was released she came to her senses, only to realize she was stumbling backward. She didn't fall however as she felt Fang catch her, steadying her swiftly.
"What... in the h-hell..."
"Easy there, Sunshine." As soothing as Fang's voice was against her ear, Lightning found it hard to calm her nerves—still on edge.
"Sorry Light," The pinkette found the Oerban medic grinning sheepishly at her, her hand now returned to Dajh's shoulder, "I had to give you an extra kick because of your leg." Pulling herself—somewhat reluctantly—out of Fang's arms, Lightning's gaze dropped down to her leg, now completely healed. Slowly she realized it wasn't just her leg. She felt renewed, replenished; as if she'd just woken up from a good night's sleep. She felt stronger than she'd felt in a long time.
"Feels good don't it?" Fang brought her back to the present, grinning widely at the pinkette's realization of what had just happened, "Something only Vanille can afford to do—with all the magic she has."
"Yes well, now that you're both recharged, you'd best get going." Vanille urged them, "Even if you run as you are now, the Faultwarrens are still quite a ways away."
"We will be back for you." Fang promised the Oerban healer.
"I know you will." Vanille's smile alone calmed the remaining waves of concern in Fang's chest, "Now, start running."
"We might not have to..." Lightning spoke up. Fang followed the pinkette's gaze, finding Alva still standing where they'd left her, though now she looked slightly uneasy, as if wanting to move but waiting for something.
"Wait- you don't mean..." Fang moved to follow the soldier, who already begun to move towards the guardian, "Light, you can't be serious."
"Can you think of a faster way?" Fang grabbed the pinkette as they neared Alva, who had noticed them and seemed to tense even more.
"I can think of at least one safer way."
"I doubt it'd be any safer than doing barrel rolls, riding on Bahamut." Lightning continued to argue.
"Sunshine, falling off is the least of my worries about what you're suggesting." Fang resisted the urge to snort in amusement, "How do you even know if Alva will-"
"Alva." Lightning spoke, catching the guardian's attention fully, "We need to get to the Faultwarrens, to Eve."
"Eve. I must go." Alva dug into the ground with her hooves, as if preparing to leave.
"Wait! Please," Lightning slowly took a step closer to the guardian, "Let us help you. Let us help Eve." Alva seemed to be experiencing conflicting emotions again, backing away but not leaving. Lightning had little doubt it was due to her presence. The fight they'd had years ago hadn't only left Lightning injured. She nudged Fang in the side, earning a startled grunt from the other woman. She turned to find Fang giving her a disturbed look. Lightning merely motioned toward Alva subtlety, cocking an eyebrow in expectation.
"Alva." Fang said through a sigh, stepping in front of Lightning, looking the guardian directly in the eye, "Please."
Alva took another moment to sort out her confusion before finally turning her side to them. The soldier and warrior glanced at each other before stepping toward the guardian. Fang didn't miss the silent 'I-told-you-so' that crossed Lightning's face as she helped the pinkette up first before jumping onto Alva's back, behind her. Lightning found herself sinking backward slightly against Fang as the Oerban wrapped her arms around her.
"Best hang on to what you can, Sunshine." Fang whispered into the pinkette's ear as she saw Alva glance briefly over her shoulder before slowly turning toward the path out of the clearing. Lightning had barely managed to get a grip on the armored plates that came up around the side of Alva's front legs before the guardian broke into a gallop.
Still unable to watch but feeling the three leave, Vanille remained, continuing her healing of the two that lay before her. There was a stirring in the First Lieutenant as she noticed his eyes flutter open briefly.
"Be still Hope, everything will be alright."
"The others-?"
"Are fine, Dajh is healing well and Fang and Light have gone on ahead with Alva." Vanille reassured.
"Off... to save... the world again?" The soldier was fading back into unconsciousness as Vanille broke into a smile at the question.
"Absolutely."
A/N:
Blah. RL pwns my face. That is my excuse.
Lame ass title but Tempest Rising (#) was getting old.
Sooner or later there will be a sketch of Alva's guardian form on my dA. Most likely later rather than sooner but eventually.
How the hell am I gonna finish this story =\