Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past

Chapter 33 of my Final Fantasy XIII story, enjoy.

Reviews

ziel101: Just the first one that came to me.

jlbean: No she doesn't but in my story she gets an Eidolon and Ifrit was the first one that came to me. Yup, you guessed right, enjoy.

Beloved Nightmare Union: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yeah I know it seems like it but it was the best I could do without making the battles repetitive and boring. Not really, I just picked the first ones that came to me, although that's a great idea for Serah, definitely a good point.

Miyaaa: Thanks, yeah I was trying to not make things repetitive.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter 33: Climatic Battle

Saturday 5 March 3 APW. The group arrived in Eden and abandoned their airship before slipping through the streets towards the Primarch's Palace.

"We will have to be cautious; PSICOM was planning a major operation today," Caius explained, "All their troops will be here, especially their best."

Once again surprising everyone, it was Hope who stepped forwards.

"We can't let that stop us, Light needs our help," He said, without a hint of fear in his voice, "Let's go."

"Right behind ya, kiddo," Fang replied with a smirk, the others nodded in agreement and they continued towards their destination.

When they arrived at the doors they were surprised to see that the guards at the door were dead. Snow was the one who voiced their surprised.

"What the hell?" Sazh shook his head, "Lightning's work?"

Caius nodded in confirmation, "She chose to attack on the day their attack was planned, she's disrupted their preparations. So a major invasion of Cocoon has been delayed, let's make sure Lightning can stop it indefinitely."

The others nodded, Vanille however looked worried, "But that means all their soldiers are inside and looking for her."

"Then we fight our way through them," Serah explained, her face tense, Noel nodded in agreement and the others all readied their weapons and they hurried inside.

Lightning

Lightning staggered back, blocking the savage strike from the Orion, a PSICOM bio-mechanical four legged tank, a second Orion also approached from the flank.

'Great,' She thought bitterly, 'I don't have time for this.'

She launched two Blizzaga spells, one striking each Orion and freezing their circuits. They shorted out and collapsed. She shook her head and ran forwards, through the door and down the corridor. As she ran she saw a squad of PSICOM Dragoon's approaching her. She quickly changed her weapon to gun mode and opened fire on them. Her aim was perfect and they all fell dead from headshots. Their bodies hadn't even hit the ground before Lightning ran past them and reached the end of the corridor, finding it guarded by three PSICOM Raiders and a PSICOM Warlord. She immediately switched back to sword mode and leapt between two of the Raiders and spun around, holding her sword out, sending a wave of energy around her. Both men crumpled in pain but recovered. All four PSICOM troops could use their suits to cast an artificial form of magic that, while still powerful wasn't as powerful as Lightning's natural magic.

"Bring it on!" She yelled before cutting down the two Raiders' she had injured, before turning to the third and striking him with a Fira spell.

She turned to the Warlord in time to see him cast three spells at her, the first being a Fira spell, Lightning tired to dodge but the Fira spell singed her shoulder, throwing her off balance and taking a Blizzara spell straight to the chest, hitting the ground before being struck by Thundara.

"Argh, shit!" She rolled back and recovered her footing before launching a Ruinga spell.

The Warlord staggered back and Lightning used her advantage to launch him into the air before leaping up after him and attacked him, after the third strike she pushed back and fired a single shot. She landed and the Warlord hit the ground dead. She cast a Cura spell on herself before heading through to the next chamber, so close to Dysley.

The Group

As the group advanced through the Primarch's Palace they saw signs of Lightning's progress, dead PSICOM soldiers and destroyed experimental weapons. Just then a group of PSICOM Wardens and Enforcers appeared.

"Intruders, take them down quickly!" One of them yelled.

The Warders raised their guns but Hope threw his boomerang and knocked them out of their hands. Sazh opened fire on them as Serah cast several spells. Fang, Snow and Noel attacked the Enforcers with their weapons; Hope caught his boomerang and joined in the attack with his spells. As the last of the soldiers fell they heard a whirring sound. They looked around and then saw a machine that Fang commented was called a Falco Velocycle, fast approaching them. Caius immediately charged it and, using his large broadsword to cut the machine completely in two.

"Let us hurry; we cannot afford to be delayed any further." He said, they others nodded and they proceeded to follow the carnage Lightning had left in her wake.

As they ran down one of the corridors they saw another group of PSICOM soldiers, this time they were accompanied by a large red skinned creature with a large scaly shell.

"A Thermadon," Fang gasped, Caius darted forwards.

He swung his sword in a wide arc, launching a large wave of purple energy that ripped through all the enemies. The soldiers were killed outright. The Thermadon however only lost its shell. Taking advantage of this the others charged and attacked, killing it. They continued to head onwards, getting closer to Lightning with every step.

Lightning

Lightning stepped into the last room before the corridor that led to Dysley's.

"Well, well, Lightning Farron, how nice to see you again." A familiar voice spoke.

Lightning gripped her Blazefire Sabre tightly as Jihl Nabaat stepped out from the shadows and blocked her path, wielding her officer's baton.

"Nabaat," Lightning spat darkly as another figure stepped out and blocked her path, "Rosch."

Yaag Rosch drew his sabre and smirked, "You were foolish to come here alone Farron."

Lightning shook her head, "I'm not letting anyone else get hurt, because of me."

Yaag rolled his eyes and was about to respond but he noticed Jihl's rage, he didn't have to ask however as Jihl revealed the reason for her anger.

"You, you destroyed my latest experiments!" Lightning smirked and nodded, "Yeah, very smart, using my DNA to try and give your soldiers natural magic, too bad I killed them before they could be activated."

With their edge destroyed they both knew that PSICOM was now damaged and their plan had been severely delayed. Immediately both officers charged to attack Lightning with ferocity, she braced herself for the fight.

The Group

The group soon arrived at a hallway where they spotted the dead body of a PSICOM Warlord at the end. They began to hurry down the corridor but suddenly they stopped. The open end of the corridor was blocked by three large flying creatures. One was purple and grey in colour, the second was red and grey and the third black with white tips on its wings.

"Guys heads up," Fang warned, "These are some of PSICOM's best, the purple one is a Garuda Interceptor, the red is called Ushumgal Subjugator and the black is the Kalavinka Striker."

"What are they?" Vanille asked, Caius answered, "Living weapons, I can kill them all with one attack, but it will take time, split into teams and distract them, I will tell you when I am ready."

Caius gripped his sword and began charging. The others decided on how to attack, Hope would stand as the last line of defense, casting protective spells on the others, the remaining groups of two would attack one monster each, Sazh and Noel took on the Garuda Interceptor, Fang and Vanille fought the Ushumgal Subjugator and Snow and Serah fought the Kalavinka Striker. The monsters roared and the Garuda attacked first, Sazh launched a continuous hail of bullets at it allowing Noel to charge in, leap up and drive both his blades into its skull. Noel leapt off as the beast shrieked. Fang and Vanille had been attacking the Ushumgal Subjugator, Fang with her spear, Vanille with spells, Fang leapt back as the shrieking Garuda veered into the Subjugator. Both beasts crashed into the Striker that was under fire from Serah's spells. All three crashed to the ground and Snow delivered a powerful punch to the Striker's head. The three beasts recovered and reared up, shrieking with rage, Hope saw this and immediately launched a flurry of spells at the three monsters until they shrieked and flailed wildly.

"Now move, hurry!" Caius yelled, the others moved out of the way and Caius drove his sword into the ground, sending a large purple flame energy wave towards all three monsters, energy wave explored and incinerated the three monsters leaving nothing but charred remains behind.

"Let's go, we have to be nearly there," He explained.

They hurried forwards, desperate to find Lightning.

Lightning

Lightning staggered back and sank to her knees, she was cut, bleeding and out of breath. Nabaat had stepped back to guard the door as Rosch approached her and raised his weapon for a killing strike.

"Pathetic," He commented dryly, "You never stood a chance."

With that he went to strike but at the last second his sabre was struck with a boomerang, sending him off balance. He quickly leapt back and hurried up next to Nabaat. Lightning looked over her shoulder as the owner of the boomerang caught it.

"Hope?"

Hope hurried over to her along with Serah. Fang, Sazh, Snow, Noel and Vanille all hurried forwards and stopped in front of her, weapons raised, Snow smirked.

"If you want Light, you're gonna have to go through us."

Hope began casting curative magic on her as she shook her head, "Why?"

"Because we're not gonna leave you, you don't have to do this alone," Serah answered before standing up and hurrying over to join the others. She turned to Hope who smiled.

"We're all here for you Light, we'll do this together."

Rosch glowered and growled, "Seems she has reinforcements." Nabaat however had a serene smile on her face, "Then let's call ours."

With that she snapped her fingers and a crowd of PSICOM soldiers appeared and blocked the path, pointing their guns at the group.

The group didn't hesitate and charged in, casting spells and attacking with their weapons. Hope then explained, "We went down to Pulse and got our magic and Eidolons."

Lightning was surprised but still smiled, "I'm proud of you, you've come so far."

Hope smiled back and kissed her before leaping up, readying his boomerang and charged in to join the fight. Lightning stood up and then turned to her right and her eyes widened.

"Caius?" Caius smiled at her and nodded, "Shall we get to work Sergeant Farron," he remarked with a playful smirk. Lightning returned the smirk "Let's go then."

They both readied their weapons and charged forwards to join the battle. With their combined efforts they easily cut down the PSICOM forces. Jihl and Yaag glared and prepared to try and attack but Lightning and Fang acted quickly and, replicating their actions from the final battle of the war Lightning beheaded Jihl while Fang drove her spear through Yaag's chest. They both fell dead. Just then the sound of footsteps reached their ears.

"More PSICOM troops," Caius said, "There's no time, I will hold them back, the rest of you, go on ahead, stop Dysley."

Lightning nodded, "Be careful," Caius stepped forwards and waited for the PSICOM troops as Lightning led the others through the door at the end and into the corridor that would lead them to Dysley.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.