Chapter 27 Miscalculation

Vossler was the first to move, ever impatient to get into the action making a swing downwards but Basch was lightning fast, even with severe injuries he was quicker than Vossler. He ducked under the approaching sword and made a deep cut in Vossler's hip, the larger knight grunted in pain and swung his own sword round forcing Basch to take the hit on his own sword, it held. Vaan could only watch, and couldn't help but admire such an amazing display of swordsmanship from both knights. Ashe's screams of protest were drowned out by the sound of swords clashing, even the remaining Archadian soldiers didn't dare interfere in case they broke the spell. Either that or they were too busy with Fran, who was still rampaging around the upper deck, Balthier and Penelo hot on her heels.

"I need to create a Dalmasca that can live in peace!" Barked Vossler rising up against Basch again who caught Vossler's strike on his crossguard.

"Lady Ashe does no need a knight who she cannot trust!" Roared Basch in retort, brushing aside Vossler's guard and lunging for his chest. However this time Vossler dodged and broadsided Basch's ribs with his own sword. The smaller knight grimaced as old wounds opened up and freshly healed bones cracked. He fell to the floor and began choking on his own blood, Vossler waited patiently for him to get up.

"I told you I would kill you." He said blankly as Basch rose steadily to his feet.

"And I..." Basch wheezed. "Told you to give no warning."

"Hold her down." Screamed the captain, but o no avail, Fran was simply not having anyone hold her down for anything. Balthier and Penelo watched as guard after guard flew out of the cloud of dust and shrieks which was Fran.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Penelo asked, Balthier shook his head.

"If we are to help her I would do it after she has taken care of our opponents." He said cheerily dodging a dismembered head. Penelo was genuinely terrified, she had never seen Fran like this at all. When she first met Fran she had been afraid of the stories of the fierce and wild Rabbit race of Golmore but Fran was nothing like those stories, until now.

"It's a defence mechanism built into her instinct." Balthier explained casually. "All creatures have it." Penelo looked at him bemused,

"Really."

"Oh yes, basic survival instinct. In the case of the vierra, when the mist burns there is danger nearby there is only one thing thats important. Your own survival."

"Why do you do this Basch!" Vossler snarled as once again the two knights clashed again, sparks flying from their weapons. Basch grimaced at the effort of holding back the enormous sword.

"I do know, all to well." He bellowed back, forcing the huge sword away and diving back into the fray.

"Stop it both of you!" Ashe screamed and tried to separate them but Vaan held her back. "Get off me you urchin!" She shrieked but Vaan held firm.

"If you go into that you will die." He shouted at her. "They won't stop for anyone, until one of them is defeated." Ashe shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. She had lost too many important people in her life, her husband, her father and now her two best friends were trying to kill each other. After two years in the resistance she thought she was stronger, that she would be able to stop a scenario like this. But in reality she was just as helpless as before. All she could do was watch the two swords collide again and again until one fell to the floor.

"That's it," Balthier said to Penelo. "That stone should drain the burning magick out of the air and into the stone." Over the past few minutes they had succeeded in calming Fran down to a degree, they did this using the nethicite Larsa had given them to remove Fran's bloodlust and she was now reduced to a shivering wreck on the floor. Suddenly a great crash shook the very ship itself, Penelo wobbled to keep her balance but Balthier stood straight as an arrow.

"That's probably our friends concluding their buisness." He said lightly. "My dear, I believe your friend may need your support. I suggest you give it to him." Penelo looked warily at Fran. "I can handle this myself thank you." He told her firmly. "I am the leading man after all." The girl took one last look at her teacher, then ran off down the corridor.

It was over, no-one present really knew how. One minute they had been on equal terms, battering away at each other like slavens. The next Basch was standing over a bleeding Vossler, his sword at his opponent's neck. Both of them stared into each other's eyes with cold resolution, one ready to kill the other ready to die. Ashe was quietly sobbing in the background while Vaan still held her arm in case she lost her nerve. Then Penelo arrived, and it broke the spell. Basch raised his sword, Vossler closed his eyes.

"Critical engine failiure," And, "Cannot maintain hover." Were some of the undesirable phrases squarking out of the speakers as Judge Ghis desperately thought what to do. Now would of course been the time to abandon ship but of course Ghis was far too proud for that. He made the mistake of thinking in all this chaos that he was still in control. He started barking orders to various ship sections but no-one was listening, even as he spoke people were abandoning the ship through any means nessisary including jumping with a large sheet like parachute. Even the other ships in the fleet were moving away. As the realisation hit him that no-one present was willing to save him he furiously drew his sword and stormed off to the evacuation hanger, of course there was no way to outrun the explosion in the tiny pods used for escaping but they would get him to the shiva.

"Just one last little errand." He murmered."

Basch and Vossler were both kneeling on the floor, it seemed Basch had run out of energy before he could strike. Either that or he simply couldn't kill his friend. Each knights stared into the other's eyes.

"Princess, I think it would be wise for us to leave." Balthier wasted no time in talking the minute he entered the room but the princess was too preoccupied by the knights to hear him. Vossler coughed loudly, a large amount of blood spattered the floor.

"All I have done..." He choked. "I've ever thought of Dalmasca first." Basch chuckled and shook his head.

"I know you do, I would never gainsay your loyalty." For a few seconds the two of them laughed at the irony of the situation until it hurt too much to continue.

"Look on what my haste has wrought." Vossler choked as tears entered his eyes though still he chuckled. "Did I act too quickly? Or was your return too late?" Ashe could no longer bare it, she rushed to Vossler's side and embraced him, sobbing. Vossler cradled her head gently and looked at Basch. "I can serve her no more, you must take up my charge." Basch did not reply, there was no need to. All that had to be said, was said. Vossler thrust the handle of his sword at Basch, the knight took it without hesitation.

"Come on." He said gently to Ashe, she fought against his grasp.

"Let go of me!" She cried tearfully. "We're not leaving him."

"He does this for you." Basch insisted. "It would be meaningless if you didn't go." He gently scooped the struggling princess up in his arms and carried her to the Strahl where Balthier was checking his imaginary pocketwatch.

"Come on come on we don't have all day!" He barked, Basch shot him a glare as he climbed the ramp. It was at that moment that three things happened. The Strahl failed to start, the Shiva gave a lurch as another ship collided with them in an attempt to escape and Judge Ghis crashed into the deck from his pod. Balthier's gun was already coming up and he fired off two rounds into Ghis but his armour protected him.

"We need to move now! Basch barked as he strode into the cockpit, Fran gave him an icy glare as she struggled with the controls.

"Why don't you fly the ship and I shout at you." She muttered, still weary from her rampage. The Archadian's had canibalised the Strahl and removed the skystone circuits and Fran had been trying to set in a temporary system using a little magick and about a dozen metal arrows to conduct the power, and all the while Ghis was closing on the struggling vessel. Basch swore and drew his sword, dropping Ashe unceremoniously on the deck of the Strahl and charged the judge, but he was wounded and Ghis was strong. He never had a chance, Ghis brushed aside his pitiful attack and threw him violently against the wall, choking him. Ashe could only sit on the deck, clutching Vossler's sword that Basch had dropped. It didn't matter any more to Ghis if he escaped or not, he just wanted them dead by his hand, and there was no doubt he would get it. Balthier was firing pointlessly into the judge and the only two who may have fought him equally were both beaten. She gripped the sword tightly, and to no-one in particular whispered.

"Help."

Firstly, there was only a slight increase in temperature, then a big increase in temperature. Everyone on board the ship felt it pass over them, but no-one yet knew what it meant. Only Ashe heard the all to familiar voice inside her head.

"As you wish." Belias the Gigas burst into existance some ten feet from the battle. Ghis barely had time to register the enormous red shape rush into his field of vision before it's weapon collided with his torso. If his opponent had been human then his armour might have held but against the great bludgeon the re-enforced steel was useless. His spine was shattered instantly and his internal organs torn to shreds, he was dead before his body was thrown off the ship by the force and tumbled 25,000 feet towards it's final resting place amongst the sandsea. No-one saw the judges defeat, they were too busy clambering aboard the Strahl. Ashe didn't even turn back to see the esper disolve into thin air, or even to look back one last time at the defeated body of Vossler. They had no time, they had to escape, they had to live.

Thirty seven miles above the sandsea bellow, the Leviathan imploded. To antone who happened to look up at the time it would have been the most spectacular fireworks display ever known. First a bright light shone from the engine section, then it grew brighter by drawing in light from the air around it, finally it began dragging the ship in on itself. The entire war machine was turned inside out in a matter of seconds and the whole sky would have continued to turn itself inside out but as the last of the ship vanished into the black hole the nethicite reached it's peak charge, and promtly released it's payload. A sphere of pure magickal energy blossomed from the epicenter of the cataclism expanding three miles or more in circumference, the other ships in the fleet who had tried so desperately to outrun it were engulfed in seconds. Vaan watched from the windows of the Strahl as the Ifrit broadsided and was pummeled by he hail of fire that preceeded the magick before being swallowed. Then he paid more attention to that same wave that was rapidly gaining on them. The entire ship threatened to fall out of the sky as the first shockwave collided with the ship.

"This might get a little dicey!" Balthier grimaced as he wrenched the Strahl back into action in a desperate race against the raw power of the dawn shard.

"The mist..." Fran breathed from her bed behind the cockpit. "It manifests now." Vaan looked at her incredulously.

"Is that what you call this?!!" He yelled, she glared.

"What would you call it?"

"Being trapped in a tin can being chased by a giant ball of fire!"

"Kindly put a sock in it the both of you." Balthier roared, temporarily losing his cool, though under the circumstances you couldn't blame him. And then they were clear, one minute the fire had been at their heels, then it ran out of momentum and gave up it's final prey. They waited for a few moments for the residue to clear and then they landed, no-one was really sure where. All they could do was lie on the sand and rest, they had crossed a desert, plundered a tomb and faced down a fleet. They had earned themselves a break. For a few hours no-one spoke, then Penelo broke the silence.

"What's that?" For the next ten seconds everyone who could be bothered was searching for what Penelo had seen , Ashe was the first to find it. For a moment she was lost for words, after all this here was some proof that this whole trip had not been a total waste of time. There lying in the dirt amongst airship wreakage, cold and dull, lacking it's glow but unmistakable, the dawn shard lay in a bed of leaves at her feet. Ashe picked it up at once and cradled it to her chest. Everyone had suffered so much, a fleet had been wiped out, Vossler had lost his life all for this little stone. There was no way she was leaving this behind.