Hello again, I'm back with the second chapter. There will be nudity and battle scenes in this one, so if you aren't ready for that, please leave now. For everyone else, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Two
Worship-Spawned Wrath
Awaken… the soft, authoritative word rang out through the vestige, echoing through the barren halls. Come to me, L'cie…your Master needs you… with that, a door opened, revealing a man in crystal stasis. His crystal was dark red, pulsing with raw power, until it melted away from his body, leaving him naked on the floor for moments before black leather armor materialized to cover his form.
Looking up, the male winced. Pain coursed through his body, his dark gray eyes filled with confusion. "Why…am I awake?" he groans, voice gravelly with disuse.
You have awakened because I have brought you back, my L'cie… Anima hisses quietly. Now, come to me…I shall give you a new Focus. Now, you have no Focus; and I'm sure you don't wish to become a Cie'th.
Eyes widened with worry, the L'Cie jumped to his feet, sprinting through the halls fast enough to blur, until he reached the door of Anima's throne. Removing his glove, he showed the brand on his hand to the door, watching with relief as the great doorway opened before him.
Walking calmly inside, the L'Cie knelt before Anima. "What is it you wish of me, Lord Anima?"
The Fal'Cie chuckled, gently touching the male's shoulder. Calm yourself, Sahren…I have no intention of making you, of all people, into a Cie'th.
The L'Cie raised his head, pure-white hair falling to frame his face. "Well, I'd assumed that, my Lord. You could have taken away my Focus at any time." He smirks. "But you let me attain Crystal Stasis."
Anima nodded slightly. Yes…but now, I have a new Focus for you. One I trust only you with, my most powerful L'Cie.
"Oh?" the L'Cie inquires, a brow arched. "And…what is this Focus, my Lord?"
Slightly grinning, the Fal'Cie whispered, Protect those humans who are to become the L'Cie…the L'Cie to become Wrath…Ragarok.
His eyes widen, before he grins widely. "With pleasure, my Lord…"
Oerba
Vanille sits atop a hill with Bhakti, talking to the little robot. "You want to hear what I think of Cocoon, right Bhakti? You won't tell me to be quiet, will you?"
The robot rubs up against her thigh, whirring and squeaking happily at her, projecting an image saying 'I make Miss Vanille happy, I listen to Miss Vanille always."
Her face lighting up, Vanille giggles happily. "Thanks Bhakti! Fang's been really…not mean, but…sort of distant lately. I dunno who to talk to…" she smiles. "But now I know to talk to you, Bhakti!"
The small robot whirred slightly, generating a new image before squealing loudly with panic, spinning in a circle.
Tilting her head, Vanille is obviously quite confused. "What is it, Bhakti? Is something wr-"
Before Vanille can finish speaking, strong hands grab her arms and legs, covering her face with a bag. She thrashed in panic, shrieking for several moments before a man knocked her out, sending her hurtling into darkness.
The Oerban Plain
Fang howled loudly as she stabbed her spear into a gorgonopsid, killing the last of its pack. "Little buggers…" she murmurs under her breath, wiping her blade clean of the blood and flesh before whistling to the others in her hunting group. "Hey boys, you wouldn't mind carrying the food back, would ya?"
Laughing to herself, Fang watches as a few men grab the gorgonopsids, carrying them away. Fang kicks off of the wall she's leaning on, following after them before she tilts her head, a deep rumbling of noise hitting her ears. "Boys, run. Behemoth."
They look startled, one stepping forward. "Fang, we can't just leave you!"
She turns on them. "Listen, the village is more important than me; just get the food to them! That's an order!" She shouts, her eyes gleaming with fury.
The men look at each other with panic, then start running the other way moments before the great Behemoth entered the scene. The beast roared, shaking the air itself with its anger. Getting low to the ground, the Behemoth begins to charge after the men carrying the gorgonopsids before Fang stabs her spear into it's flank, a stream of black blood spraying out.
Fang grins manically, spinning her spear calmly. "Yeah beastie, how 'bout you fight someone-" she howls with pain when the monster smacks her, sending her flying to collide with a boulder. A loud cracking noise sounds out, and Fang drops to her knees as pain blossoms in her chest.
Growling quietly, the Behemoth King walks forward with fangs bared. Raising one savagely clawed paw, the beast howls as it swings down at Fang. Gasping, the Yun girl turns her head away while shutting her eyes tightly.
Several seconds pass, and Fang cracks an eye open, her mouth dropping open in shock as she sees a tall male holding the beast's paw back seemingly effortlessly. The man blinks, turning his head to look at her and flashing a grin. "Rather stupid, going after a Behemoth, don't you think?"
Fang blinks, shocked as the white-haired man howls a battle cry, pushing the behemoth king flat on its back before jumping onto it and slashing at it with a double-ended blade*. Blood begins to flow from the beast's stomach before it tosses the male off, charging at him with a roaring mouth.
Face the visage of calm, the Male holds out a black-gloved hand and shouts, "Ruinga!" Moments after he shouts the word of power, a burst of light shoots out of his hand before exploding into an orb of raw energy and kicking up dust. As the dust clears, the Behemoth's body looms in the darkness…until collapsing, its neck now free of the burden of a head; a river of blood flowing from the wound and feeding the earth.
Whistling lowly, the man grins before turning to Fang and offering her a hand. "Quite the monster, wouldn't you say?"
Scowling, she bats his hand away and stands for a moment before squeaking with pain and dropping to her knees once more. "Wh-who are you?" she manages to stammer, coughing blood a moment later.
Concern etched on his face, he holds out his hand again. "Curasa." He whispers, a burst of light ringing Fang's body; knitting together her lungs and repairing her bones. The man runs a hand through his snow-white hair, sighing. "Now…who am I? Well, who I am isn't as important as what I am." He grins, his gray eyes lighting up. "I'm the L'Cie of Anima."
Fang looks astonished, her eyes wide as she stammers. Collecting herself quickly, she stands. "T-the L'Cie? I didn't know that Anima had a…"
He chuckles quietly, patting her head. "Oh yeah, he has one. It was in a darker time." He smiles warmly at her. "You see, I was given the Focus to protect the villagers of Oerba when they need help. And…you definitely needed help right there."
Smirking slightly, she nodded. "Yeah, that's true. Although, maybe I wanted to be that beastie's food, how do you know?"
Laughing quietly, he rolls his eyes at her. "Well, I could go into explaining it…but I also came to tell you…" he sighs, looking into her eyes. "Your friend…that little redhead, she's in danger. I'm going to help her, but you should know that she's in the Vestige of Anima."
Fang looks shocked, running away without saying anything more to the L'Cie. "Oh Hell, Vanille, what have you gotten yourself into now!?"
His head bowed, a smirk graces the L'Cie's features. "Hm…yes…let the rage and panic course through you, Fang…let yourself fall to darkness…" he laughs wickedly, sending birds fluttering away before he pulls out a small Cie'th stone from his pocket, teleporting away.
Vestige of Anima
Vanille whimpered, slowly coming back to the world of consciousness. As she wakes up, she realizes that her ankles and wrists are bound, keeping her immobile. She turns her head left and right, panicking as she realizes she can't see. "Hello!? Someone, please help!"
The Dia girl almost immediately hears rustling before she hears chuckling. "Oh, the girl's awake…hey boys! She's back with us!" a low voice exclaims, obviously male. Vanille gasps when her head is pulled back by the hair, her blindfold being removed at the same time.
Opening her eyes, she looks at the three men, all of them wearing black leather. The bulkiest one, with crimson hair, smirks. "Hey there girlie…" he says, then tears her top apart, sending beads clattering to the ground as her soft breasts are revealed.
Vanille shrieks, her face flushing red. "Wh-what are you doing!? Let me go!" she thrashes in her binds, trying to get free
The man chuckles, tearing the skirt off of Vanille's narrow waist to reveal her soft pink folds, quite clearly untouched. A second man slips up, rather skinnier than the first and with bright golden hair. "Mmm…Focus be damned, let's just keep the runt!"
"No." the third and final man says, his cold blue eyes gleaming. "We have our Focus. We will have our fun, but then we complete our Focus." He smirks, running a hand through his light brown hair.
The redhead sighs, but nods nevertheless. "Fine, boss…whatever you say." He then removes his shirt, ignoring the sobbing of Vanille. "Just as long as we-"
Blood leaks from the male's mouth as his eyes go blank, a large dagger with a blade dark as night extending from the Brand on his left bicep. Looking downwards, he touches the blade before howling with pain, his entire body exploding with light before he becomes a Cie'th, unformed and powerless.
The other two look astonished before looking upwards to see a white-haired man with cold gray eyes, sitting on the shoulder of a statue in the image of Anima. "Who are you!?" The blonde shouts, shaking with anger.
Smirking slightly, the white-haired male leaps from the statue of Anima, landing on the ground in front of the remaining two L'Cie. "You know…that's the second time I've been asked that today. So, I'll give you the same answer I gave the first person." He holds out his palm, showing his brand. "I am the L'Cie of Anima, and my Focus calls on me…" his eyes gleam as he draws his double-bladed sword. "It calls on me to bring the wrath of Anima down upon you."
The brunette growls, then draws two sabers, running forward to slash at the L'Cie. Chuckling, the male bats the blades away, kicking his brunette adversary in the chest to knock him away.
Looking astonished, the brunette's eyes gleam. "…Thuilan…giga formation."
Looking upwards, the blonde L'Cie, true name being Thuilan, draws a double-edged blade from his sheath and runs forward to hack at the white-haired enemy. The male once again deflects the blade, but looks astonished when the leader of the three cuts his double-ended blade in half.
"Good one, Ralorn!" Thuilan shouts, grinning as he looks at the white-haired L'Cie's empty hands. He runs recklessly forward, ignoring the cry of warning from Ralorn. Bringing his blade down on the white-haired L'Cie, he yells, "Die, you stupid bastard!"
With a voice as cold and sharp as ice, the L'Cie murmurs: "Firaga." The moment he speaks the word, Thuilan's sword collapses into molten steel and covers his flesh. Shrieking with the voice of pure agony, Thuilan collapses to the ground in a heap as the white-haired L'Cie steps forward, holding his dagger. Face calm, he flicks his wrist, sending the dagger flying into Thuilan's brand, transforming him into a Cie'th, just like the redhead.
Turning calmly, the white-haired L'Cie was startled to see Ralorn holding an unconscious Vanille, a blade pressed against the girl's throat. "Y-you…lay down you weapons!" the man shrieks, panic in his eyes. "I'll kill her, I swear!"
Lips twitching into a smirk, the nameless L'Cie steps forward without fear. "You can't kill her." Grinning when Ralorn's eyes clouded with confusion, he went on "Because the moment you try…your body will change…your mind will shatter. And all that will be left of you…" taking another step towards Ralorn, he chuckled darkly. "Shall be a mindless Cie'th. A monster with no will."
Hands trembling, Ralorn dropped his saber and Vanille, stammering incoherently. Moving fast enough to blur, the L'Cie reached out, wrapping his fingers around Ralorn's throat. "Now you see…" he hisses. "The true power of a L'Cie." With his free hand, the L'Cie drew his dagger once more, stabbing it into Ralorn's brand. "Now…forever more be known as Raktavija."
Pulling his dagger out of Ralorn's body, the L'Cie smirks when the brunette transforms, his body twisting and sprouting crystals until he becomes a Raktavija. Grabbing the Cie'th by the claw, the L'Cie drags it along before tossing it onto the other two Raktavija and throwing a small Cie'th stone on top of the pile. Within moments, the creatures teleported away, far away from Anima's vestige.
Several Hours Later
Vanille awoke, groaning quietly. She gasped suddenly, remembering in a flash what had happened before she had been knocked out. Looking downwards, she was relieved to see she had all her clothes on, with nothing binding her arms or legs.
"Oh, you're awake." A calm voice utters, making Vanille turn to see the white-haired L'Cie leaning against a wall. "Hey, no need to be scared. I, ah…I'm the one who killed those L'Cie who kidnapped you…I managed to get you dressed, but I'm sorry to say I did have to look at you…my apologies, Vanille."
Breathing heavily, Vanille slowly calms herself. "Um…that's okay…I mean, you saved me…" Squirming slightly, she stares at the male. "But…those were all L'Cie…and you're a L'Cie, right?"
Nodding calmly, the male takes off his glove and shows Vanille his brand. "Yes. I am a L'Cie, and so were they. But I am the L'Cie of Anima, and therefore I am the guardian of the people of Oerba." He frowns. "Those L'Cie…I don't know who their Fal'Cie master was, but I assure you it wasn't Anima."
Vanille looks down. "Okay…so…where are we?"
"We are in Anima's home." He says calmly, "And we are here because I've been asked by Anima to bring you to him. He wants to speak to you, Vanille."
"To me? Why? Is he going to make me a L'Cie?"
The man shakes his head, smiling reassuringly at her. "No…nothing like that. He simply wants to talk to you. He requests that I bring all people I save to him, so that they can report to him how well I have performed my duties."
Smiling a little, Vanille nods. "Okay, then let's go talk to Anima!" she stands, walking towards the stairs that would lead to Anima.
Chuckling lowly to himself, so quiet that Vanille could never hear it, he murmurs, "Yes…let's go see Anima, my dear Ragnarok…"
*When I say 'Double ended sword', I essentially mean an elongated hilt, with a full-length sword on either end of that hilt. Think Darth Maul's weapon, only with swords.
And with that, chapter two is complete. The next chapter will likely be based in Cocoon, and as always: I have no idea how long it will be. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you'll leave me feedback. Thankyou, and see you next time.