Chapter Five: Lightning's Redemption
"Thanks. We should really go," Lightning was saying to Lebreau and the others as they stood inside the house. Caius Ballad stood right by the entrance, arms folded over his chest as he observed the scene. After slaying the Dawn Dragon, he lingered in that area for a few minutes to allow Lightning to reach the small town of New Bodhum before he did. He angered her.
That was good. He had said what he had for that specific purpose. The last thing that he wanted Lightning to believe that he had an ounce of compassion within him. The truth would remain hidden and he would remain on task. The soldier would have no clue that he actually felt sorrow for her sake and the death of her sister. He did respect Lightning's dedication to Serah. But that was it. He felt nothing else. He wouldn't allow himself to.
They needed to stay on task.
Hence why he was standing by the doorway in his current position. Lightning had her time here with her friends; now it was time to continue on. They needed to face Etro as soon as possible. Not because she would pose a threat if they didn't stop her sooner (she could inflict her damage at any time, even this present). No, Caius wanted to kill her immediately to avenge Yeul. Yeul did not deserve the fate that she received.
After accepting some potions, Lightning was finally able to tear herself away from the others. She still wouldn't look him in the eye after what he said earlier as she walked past him and out the building. He "hmphed" faintly in satisfaction before he followed her out. She could ignore him all that she wanted, but he was still going to travel with her. Unfortunately, it was his only choice.
"What will be your motivation this time?" Caius asked as the two of them headed out of the town.
"Same as before."
"Is that wise?"
"Got a better idea?" she inquired coolly.
"Any idea that gets us closer to Etro is one that I'd find better," he responded in the same tone.
"Then make your own rift."
Caius was beginning to be amused by Lightning. She sure was snippy when she was angry. This had to be about something more than his lack of compassion. After all, Caius was only known for showing compassion to one person in the past and that was Yeul. There was no way that he would allow Lightning to receive the gentle treatment that he gave to Yeul. She would not allow that to occur anyway; she was too stubborn, too strong.
He decided to hold his tongue as they jumped up the remaining bits and pieces of the tree to the higher land. The silence continued as they walked further and further away from the town. It wouldn't do good to startle the townspeople with a rift. Surely they were already shaken by the appearance of the Dawn Dragon.
That was a curious matter. But he chose not to reflect on it now. In time, his theories would be proven to be true or false.
"That's far enough," Caius declared upon seeing Lightning stop. Apparently she thought so as well, because she did not pick a fight with him. The Dawn Dragon isn't the only thing that's curious, he thought, observing Lightning. Instead of speaking to him, she was already focusing on thoughts that would create a rift in time. How long did she plan to keep up this silence? They would need to start speaking again very soon. They were on this quest together whether they wanted to be or not.
Whatever she decided to contemplate on, she did manage to create the rift within less than two minutes this time. Good, he thought in silence. He started forward towards the orange rift at the same time as Lightning. Together, the two of them disappeared from 10 AF and reappeared in the crossroads of the eras.
"How long do you intend to keep silent, Lightning?" Caius asked as they floated along.
Silence was his response.
He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're a mysterious entity, Guardian," he commented.
"Don't call me that."
Finally, he managed to break through her silence. Feeling successful, he continued from that point. "Why? Are you ashamed of your servitude to the goddess?"
"What I meant was don't give me the dishonor of your title, Caius," she said coldly. 'You were the 'One True Guardian', after all. And you failed miserably."
He grunted, looking over at Lightning beside him. She had a quick wit about her, he'd give her that much. But—"You are a hypocrite, ruining the sanctity of death by bringing Yeul into this discussion after insisting I didn't do the same with Serah." Though his response was calm, his anger was building within him. Nobody could speak of Yeul poorly and get away with it. Especially not Lightning.
"You're the one who's trying to pick a fight with me. I'll do whatever I have to in order to put you back in your place."
"And what place is this, dare I ask?"
"A place where you stop trying to torment others. I know that must be hard for you, Caius," she said sarcastically. "Destruction is in your nature."
He chuckled. "Yes, yes it is," he agreed. "But it is also in yours. Lightning…It shines bright, then flickers away in an instant. It can't protect. It only destroys."
Startled, Lightning shifted her gaze to him. "How…did you know about that?"
"I am—or formerly was, the guardian of the timeline," Caius stated. "I know many things. Mostly, I know those who choose to stand against me."
"You exploit weakness without mercy," she mumbled.
"Did you hear that from Noel?" the man asked with curiosity. However, he did not wait for a response. "He is the one who realizes that most, I suppose."
"Of course he does," she spat. "You betrayed him."
"For the sake of Yeul, yes. And I would do it again in a heartbeat, despite how greatly I valued that friendship with Noel. He was, perhaps, my only real friend save for Yeul."
"And they're the only friends you'll ever have if you keep picking fights with every person you meet."
"Are you suggesting you want to be my friend, Lightning?" he asked in amusement. That was really what it sounded like, but no, he surely misunderstood her. Lightning would never befriend somebody like himself. He was willing to tear apart time for the sake of one person and damn the rest. She, on the other hand, was willing to sacrifice even herself for the sake of others. They were so different.
Yet they were so alike. Both served a false goddess. Both attempted to protect somebody dear to them and failed doing it. And now, both were obsessed with revenge.
"Rift at nine o'clock," Lightning said as she looked over to her left. Sure enough, they could escape the Historia Crux here.
Hmph, he thought with a small smirk. Alright, Lightning. I'll allow this diversion for now. He shifted his coarse and headed to the side at the same time as she did and the two of them entered a new time.
As soon as they walked out onto solid land, he realized that Lightning had led them to a place other than Valhalla once again.
"Bresha Ruins…" she said, looking around the green and grassy area. The air was damp, as if rain fell just recently. But all was still in the woodsy area just outside the Bresha Ruins. Thankfully they had not appeared in an area where others were. Still, why were they here in the first place? "Caius, what year is this?"
Instead of antagonizing her, he looked around and studied it. The trees were not yet scraped with the Dragon attack of 110 AF, so it was before that time. "Hard to say," he said after a few moments. "I would suppose that it's around 100 AF."
"Around it, but not quite," she said in thought. "Noel and Serah came here that year. We wouldn't be allowed to run into them."
Caius nodded his silent response. Of course. She was stating an obvious fact now, but it was probably to remind herself that she would never be able to see her sister alive again.
"…I never studied this place intently," she confessed. "I assumed that once Atlas was taken care of, everything else was a dull story."
"And mostly, you were correct," he said, nodding once more. "The Bresha Ruins are not the most captivating part of history, but there is some significance of the events that occur here."
"Such as?"
"Such as the fact that around 20 AF, the area was becoming too dangerous to conduct studies. So, bounty hunters were brought in to subdue the monsters."
"I already knew that."
Caius held up a hand, signaling that he had more to say. "And nearly a century, in 110 AF, a dragon appeared and killed all the bounty hunters and multiple scholars of the Academy. The area remained uninhabited for almost one hundred fifty years afterward because people were so scared of the dragon."
"Dragon again," she muttered mostly to herself. "They weren't too many dragons in history that I knew of, yet this is the second time we've gone somewhere that encounters one. Do you think the dragons are going to try and attack Cocoon's pillar while people still inhabit the world and destroy it before we can even protect it?"
"That's the logical conclusion, but I'm not so certain that it works that way. You see, Etro already tried to destroy the pillar multiple times in history. But each time, she was countered and Cocoon was saved."
"Like in 300 AF, when Noel and Serah stopped the giant flan," Lightning stated.
Impressed with her deductive reasoning, he nodded for a third time. "Yes. Trying as mightily as she could, she could not collapse the pillar through natural means like flans or even dragons. So if we go to a time where she attempts to destroy it, we know she will not succeed because somebody steps in to stop her each time."
"We know the future because it was once our past."
"Precisely."
"But there's still a slight chance things will change this time around," Lightning said in thought. "Etro has regained a lot of strength. This time, she could succeed in destroying Cocoon somehow."
"Correct again." Her logic impressed him. It was not easy to sort out the timeline yet she was able to do it with more skill than anyone else beside himself and Yeul. He grunted, curling his hands into fists. Yeul…I will avenge you. I swear it.
Fortunately for him, Lightning did not notice that anything appeared to be wrong. She was too busy focusing on thoughts of strategy and battle. "Alright, so let's go into the ruins and find out what year it is."
"No need to do that," Caius said, shifting his gaze to the sky. Through the green leaves of the trees, he could see just a faint bit of the sky. But sky and trees were not the only things that he saw.
The dragon stirred up some wind in the small forest as he flew above them, flying straight towards the ruins that he was destined to destroy.
Lightning gasped when she too realized that the dragon was present, her blue eyes wide and then narrowing as she shifted her gaze to him. "Caius!" she cried, motioning for him to run with her to the ruins. She wanted to stop the dragon.
But he would not allow her to. She only managed to get one step away before he reached out and grasped her forearm. She stopped dead in her tracks, turned around halfway, and glared at him. "What?" she spat.
"You act too rashly," he criticized. "Those lives are meant to end. If they do not, a paradox could occur."
"What type of paradox?"
"Let's say a husband of someone is meant to die today. But when he returns home, he and his wife have a child that was never meant to exist. Somewhere down that line of people that were never meant to exist, Etro could raise someone up to stand against us. Someone who can actually destroy the crystal pillar."
Despite his perfect logic, Lightning was shaking her head. That wasn't something he was surprised by, but it did irritate him. "It does matter. Human life is still more important."
She ripped her arm out of his and ran towards the ruins despite the sanctity of time and the consequences in mind. Was human life really so important to her? It should have been the opposite, considering how Caius spent a lot of time at the end of days and saw so many die. He should have been the one valuing human life. Maybe…Maybe deep down he did find value in it, because he too ran towards the ruins to face the dragon.
They sprinted through the woods, and though Caius was nimble, he was amazed at the quick maneuvers Lightning did to avoid the trees. She truly was a skilled warrior, and for that, she had his undying respect.
Still, what a strange woman. So strong physically and emotionally. She held her head high and didn't let any single person look down on her. Then again, he had seen the same traits within Serah. The two of them were surely related; he could tell by their hearts as much as their appearance.
The two of them ran through the abandoned lower area and up the stairs, jumping over tons of rubble in order to even reach that area. There he saw the dragon was waiting for them. Of course, he thought silently, standing atop the rubble as he gazed at the icy blue dragon. Etro knows we are here. She wants to kill us above all else.
"Hmph," Lightning hummed, thinking the same thoughts as Caius as she stood right next to him. When the dragon didn't make a move, she shifted her gaze to him instead of attacking right away. "Go ahead, Caius. This dragon is yours."
That certainly wasn't what he expected to hear from Lightning. He expected her to give him some type of strategy that he was supposed to follow through with, not responsibility for the whole battle. "What?" he asked dumbly, looking away from the dragon to her. She couldn't be serious.
"I fought the last one," she stated coolly. "And you stood by and watched. This time, it's my turn to watch the show."
"Are you really sadistic enough that you'd enjoy seeing me get hurt by a dragon?"
"Not sadistic necessarily. I want to see you prove yourself. I'm not so sure that you're capable of skilled fighting anymore."
Caius bought into Lightning's words, feeling angered that she believed he would be so weak. Then again, he had insulted her in the same manner earlier by forcing her to face the dragon alone. "As you wish," he said coldly, angered that his own argument was being thrown back at him.
If Lightning wanted a show, then he would gladly give it to her.
The former Guardian jumped off the rubble, stepping forward a few calm steps as he slowly took his sword off his back. "Can you understand me, fowl beast?" he asked the dragon boldly. "You will rue the day that you dared to appear here and gain my attention."
Caius was not sure if he was mistaken or not, but he thought he heard Lightning laughing behind him. He ground his teeth in anger and tightly gripped his weapon, just in time for the dragon to leap forward and snap its jaws at him. He lifted his weapon, grunting when the teeth gripped on it tightly and the dragon started pulling him closer to it. Not kidding around, huh? he thought, grunting as he tried to pull Ragnarok out of the dragon's jaw.
But he could not; the dragon was too strong for him. The dragon yanked its head up suddenly, sending Caius flying into the air as he lost his grip on the weapon.
Still, he managed to compose himself in midair. He landed atop the dragon's head and then jumped off of him, eyes cautious as the dragon swung its head and tossed his weapon a long ways away. Well, that was terrific. He grunted again when the beast swung its tail at him, the warrior barely managing to jump over it and avoid it. There was no way he could win without a weapon.
"Caius!" Lightning cried.
Without any further explanation, he knew what she had in mind. He looked over and lifted his hand just in time, catching the gunblade that Lightning threw at him with ease.
"C'mon, Caius, show me what you can do," Lightning encouraged, though her expression was serious. As was his.
He leaped off the ground and gripped the hilt of Lightning's blade firmly as the fight began once again. With every movement of the beast, he had to adjust his own. It was like a dance, and he had no patience for such idle dancing. He wanted to inflict grave damage, but with Lightning's gunblade, he didn't dare. It was a strong weapon, but not strong enough to kill the dragon in one blow.
He needed a new strategy. He tried casting magic at the dragon's eyes to make it blind, but of course the dragon had up a magical shield that deflected any type of magic. That should have been obvious to him, for he knew that dragons were very magic-oriented creatures. Their greatest offensive magic was their fire breath, but defensively, the excelled in magic. Only physical blows could hurt them. And the only way to deal a physical blow was to get extremely close to the dragon.
No matter what he thought through, he knew he needed to take a chance and get close to the dragon. The beast was not allowing him to get closer to his fallen sword.
In a rash move, he jumped onto the dragon's back, balancing on its shoulder blades as he swung the gunblade at its long neck.
The blow never landed, for the dragon was much more flexible than Caius first suspected. Its tail came up and grabbed his ankle, ripping him off the beast's back. He had only a second to feel panic before the dragon swung him and released him, knocking him into a hard piece of rubble. Grunting roughly, he laid atop the fallen rubble and tried to regain himself.
But he could not regain himself quickly enough. Before he knew it, the dragon was right in front of him and preparing to cook him with its fiery breath. In his last moments, he thought of the foolishness of Lightning, who dared him to face this dragon alone. She would have the weight of his death on her shoulders.
The wrath of the dragon never struck Caius. Instead, something struck the dragon. Though he could not see from his position what it was, he knew immediately who had intervened to save his life.
Lightning.
He swore under his breath just as the dragon roared, rearing back on its feet as it moved away from him. It was then he saw Lightning on the dragon's back, with Ragnarok piercing the dragon's neck. He should have noticed sooner that Lightning moved to get his weapon. He had not expected her to interfere in the fight, but he supposed it made sense. The two of them truly were desperate for someone to face Etro with. They would keep each other alive for that reason alone.
Lightning yanked out the sword, gracefully jumping off the dragon as it faded away into darkness. Though her expression was serious and grave as she looked over at him, she took the time to compliment him. "Not bad," she said, walking over to him and offering him a hand.
He accepted it without a word, holding her gunblade in one hand while she held his weapon in her free one. How odd it was that both of them were able to use each other's weapon so easily. It was a testament to what great warriors they both were.
Wordlessly, they traded weapons.
"What now?" she asked him.
Instead of answering, Caius put his sword on his back and walked forward to where the dragon had been standing. There should be something here…he thought, glancing over the ground until he saw an item shining in the sunlight. That was what he was looking for. He walked forward and knelt down, picking up the item that was shaped like an icicle. It was fairly small, his hand closing around it easily. Now he understood. The dragon hadn't been about to breathe fire; it had been about to freeze him. That fate was just as bad in many ways as perishing in fire.
"Caius?"
"This dragon was the Ice Dragon," he said calmly, turning to face Lightning. "He would have frozen this era if we had not stopped him."
She nodded faintly in recognition. "What's in your hand?"
"Whenever a dragon dies, they leave an item being. That item holds some of the magical properties of a dragon. The items can be used in several ways, but the most powerful use would be to gather many items from dead dragons, crush them together, and spread them over your weapon. That gives the weapon the ability to pierce the dragon's scales and perform other magic."
"It's a shame we didn't get something from the other dragon, then," she said as she thought back to the one in New Bodhum.
Caius shook his head faintly. "I retrieved it myself. I have it."
"What are we going to do with them? Use them to strengthen my gunblade?"
"Perhaps one day," he responded. "For now, we continue to collect them. Two shards of power are not enough magic."
"At this rate, we'll have the power to strengthen my blade in no time," Lightning said as she put her gunblade back into the case she had hanging from her skirt. Caius grunted his agreement. She was right. This was the second time period they had been to on their journey, and the second one where they ran into a dragon. He had an awful feeling that dragons were going to be a regular part of their travels from now on.
"The question is…why?" Caius thought aloud, continuing where his mind left off. Why were they connected to the dragons? Were they, even? They must have been; it was too coincidental that they ran into two of them already.
"Well, like you said, Etro still has some control of the timeline and the Historia Crux," Lightning stated. "So, she'll allow us to visit times where dragons exist and hope that they kill us."
"I get the sense that it's more than that, though…" he confessed.
Silence lingered in the air as he and Lightning both pondered over it. There was no logical explanation for the feeling that he had, but he was grateful that Lightning wasn't criticizing him for trusting his gut feeling. Perhaps she could understand the feeling. Maybe she was experiencing something similar.
"We can think about it somewhere else," she said suddenly. "We need to move."
He didn't dare ask why. Nor did he need to. Out of his left ear, he could hear rushed footsteps approaching. And lots of them. "The mercenaries," he said instantly.
"Right. And I doubt it would be good if we ran into them. That increases the chances of a major paradox."
A grunt was the only response he needed to give. He jumped atop the rubble and left the scene with Lightning right by his side. He knew that nobody would follow them to this place, not that they could overcome the rubble in their path to reach them. They were merely human, but he was something more even though the Heart of Chaos no longer beat in his chest.
He was one who sought revenge. In that way, he was to be feared so much more than he had been before. Revenge drove a person to madness if they could not accomplish it.
If the goddess could not fall, he and Lightning would succumb to madness together.
*…*…*…*…*…*
Hola! I had fun proofreading this chapter before posting; I had fun seeing how snarky I made Lightning. I had completely forgotten about that. :P Wow was that fun to write!
And now onto personal stuff:
Cheraichan: "it was good other than the battle seemed a bit on the anti-climatic side." Alas, you've found my weakness! Battle scenes really aren't my forte, but I promise I'm working on it! Hopefully they'll be better in the future.
GazerBlitz: "Cant say that I like this pairing. But your fic is kinda making me change my mind though :)". Yeah, I knew I was gonna have an uphill battle with making people like the pairing! After all, they're complete enemies in the game. I'm glad I've started to change your mind about the pairing. (:
Hannah Abby: About Caius saying "Make sense" not being in character, I'm actually prepared to put forth an argument that it is! In the prologue of the game, Caius did make a few short, for lack of a better word—sassy or snarky—comments such as "Keeping up?" and "Enjoying your little chat?" He doesn't necessarily say things in the longest or most profound way every time he speaks, so I wanted to catch that side of him as well.
i: That would be an interesting plot! I can see SE taking that up in XIII-3, if they decide to go through with it. Which I REALLY hope they do!
Nirianne: Yup, Caius continues to be uber cold. It's so fun to write him. xD But so sad too, because he was showing a bit of humanity…Sigh, oh well. We'll see his humanity later on. ;3
Artemiangel: Yeah, the fic is going to be pretty long. If you consider about 80,000 words to be long anyway; it's not gonna be a million words long. xP But hey, 80,000 is the average length for a novel…Anywho, I know I'm gonna need that time to develop their relationship. I hate it when people have characters jump from hate to love with no events to lead them there. It's so…UGH! Don't you worry; I'm gonna develop this really well and it'll all be done properly.
Wow, that was a lot of personal stuff! Thanks to everyone who reviewed; I appreciate you even if I didn't respond to you directly. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, always remember to drop a review, and I'll see you guys again in a week!
Peanut out.