Chapter 1: The Fall of Avalice

It all started over power. 3 different unions had bickered and fought with each other over the Kingdom Stone, and the dark whispers Brevon fed each of them. Brevon was close to being defeated by a tiny group.

Sash Lilac, Carol Tea, Milla Basset, Commander Torque and a new helper named Lightning. In this line of events, Lightning aided everyone as best as he could, he slipped up. Where Lilac was supposed to be tortured, events drastically changed when Lightning took her place.

Help never came for him or Torque. It was reported they went missing. After an argument.

Reflecting in Lightning's eyes, in his iris, a screen with a news channel, saying Avalice was in complete control since Brevon had the Kingdom Stone when it revealed its true form at last. He had the power of the world in his hands. He would make Avalice his, then to the next planet.

"How did this happen..." Torque mumbled. "The world is... oh man..."

He looked over at the bruised and bleeding fox, after the ray gun, Brevon took his time to cut Lightning in a few places, and swore he'd be back.

"Forget that, where are the girls?" No answer. Lightning only looked down. "Lilac... I... I hope you and the girls are safe... If I somehow don't make it out of this..." A tear ran down his cheek, it felt like the tiny flame keeping his hope alive was close to burning out.

"I love you." He whispered to himself.

He needed to escape. He HAD to find them. They said they would help to the end, where were they?

Lightning looked over at Torque, it looked like the commander was lost, mumbling things. Lightning knew, if they wanted to help the others, they needed to get out first.

"Torque. Can you hear me?" The commander looked at Lightning, he began to say sorry over and over, Lightning shushed him. "Stop it. It's fine. I'll be ok. Listen to me, we need to keep calm and think. Surely we can get out of here. Do you have any ideas? I've got one, but... it'll hurt."

Torque took a moment to breathe, he looked around, near him were consoles, but as strapped as Light and him were, they couldn't reach it.

"I don't think so, I see some machines over here, I can't reach or read them from here. What's your idea?" Torque was curious, the situation looked and felt horribly grim, what idea could-

"Mmmmmmmmmnnnnggghhhh!!!" Lightning made a groan of absolute pain, and for a second, it looked like he was going to vomit. He looked at his arm, he dislocated it. Panting, he helped the arm out of the cuff it was in. "Now... for the fun part." He built up electricity in the arm, he closed his eyes and gasped, alongside a loud crack. He fought the urge to yell or vomit. With his ability, he forced the arm back into the socket. "F-"

Torque couldn't believe what he saw. But he was relieved as he watched Lightning undo himself from the straps.

"Thankfully they didn't take my sword far." He picked the weapon up and cut Torque free. "Come on, we gotta get the hell outta here."

As they started for the door, they heard very familiar footsteps that forced them to turn around.

"Leaving so soon...? I saw your little trick on the camera... Impressive. I didn't think you knew how to do that." Brevon was standing, smiling his evil signature smile.

"Back off, Brevon. I'll end you myself if I find out you did anything to the girls." Lightning said through gritted teeth. The warlord only scoffed.

"What makes them so special? I had no interest, but now, I think I'll hunt them down, and kill them in front of you." Lightning, enraged, rushed over, but Brevon grabbed him tight by the throat and lifted him in the air. "Fool. I rule this world, you think I'm not ready for you?"

He could feel his grip around his throat tighten, Lightning looked down at Brevon with an anger very fierce. It was love fueling the fire. The girls are his friends and he was madly in love with Lilac.

"You know, you're really becoming a REAL pain in my ass." With that, Lightning lifted Brevon's head up quickly and punched him in the throat, forcing him to drop Lightning and gag. His hands went around his throat, he looked at Lightning like a wild animal.

"KILL HIM!" It hurt Brevon to yell, but he wasn't going to let a child one up him. Lightning scrambled to his feet and ran out of the room with Torque close behind.

"I'd ask why you did that, but what he did to you, I- Torque stopped when he looked up at Lightning, who was looking back while running.

"Save it, Torque! We got unwelcome company!" Lightning drew his sword incase any Brevon bots got too close. That's when he noticed a light, a window to outside, it looked like a lake was below. He didn't stop to think, if they choose any other option, it may be the end. "You can't be serious... Damn it. Torque! Jump!"

"WH-WHAT?! Are you crazy?!" Torque asked, though, considering the alternative...

"I might be! Shut up and jump!" Lightning yelled, bracing to make the leap.

Lightning jumped through the window and broke it first, Torque followed after, they both yelled as they dropped, it was atleast a 10 story drop. They landed in the water, Torque was fine, but Lightning couldn't swim. Underwater, he was trying to signal for help, a hand came down and helped him to shore. Lightning crawled on land and coughed.

"Thank you, Torque... I guess that was a bad idea? I can't swim..." Lightning chuckled.

"It's alright. Now we need to go find the girls." Torque stood and shook himself off.

Lightning stood and patted his back. Then he looked at the dirt road before him.

"You go do what you have to, I need to find someone. They can help me locate the girls." Lightning's voice was stern. "Spade would know where Lilac and Carol would go. I'm off to the Red Scarves." Without another word, he began walking, Torque too, that as a sign to make himself scarce. Hanging around Brevon's fortress was bad for his health.

Torque wasn't even sure where to begin. He decided to head to Shang Tu. Perhaps the Magister could help him?

Lightning walked as a storm started. The rain was pouring. He sighed as wished he had his bag. He kept all kinds of supplies inside. He noticed a small cave, he didn't know that this is where the girls had their argument and left afterwards.

Lightning sat for a moment, his ears perked, he heard a noise behind him, deeper in the small cave.

A whimper.

Lightning walked a bit further, behind a rock was Milla, scared silly.

"Milla!" With a gasp, Lightning called her name, she looked at him and hugged him tightly. "It's ok, I'm here, I'll keep you safe. Where... where are Carol and Lilac?"

"Gone... they had an argument and left in different directions..." He could see she had been crying for sometime. Her eyes a bit red and she looked like she had no strength left.

Lightning looked at the cave entrance and went back and forth a few times, he placed a few objects to block the entrance off. Inside, he started a small fire so they could keep warm from the heavy rain.

"Milla, what happened... where were you girls? Torque and I could've used your help." Upon saying this, she noticed his wounds, she could feel the tears again. "No no... I'm not mad, don't be afraid. I'm sorry... it's been literally the worst day ever." He laid on the ground next to the fire and stared at the top of the cave, he noticed a couple bats, but it didn't look like they would bother.

"For some reason, Lilac gave up. That's when robots appeared everywhere... it looked like an invasion like in one of the movies we saw." Milla for a second, was in awe of the movie, but reality dragged her back. "They left and didn't ask about me. I guess I'm not their friend." Lightning crawled over and held her hand.

"Don't say that. I'm sure they have a good reason for it. For now, we rest, and we'll find them together, ok?" He let her hand go and looked at the floor. "Wish I had a bed..."

"I wish I had something warm." Milla shivered a little, Lightning stood and swung his tail to her.

"My tail is pretty comfy. I keep it clean, go ahead." Milla sat and hugged his tail, a smile finally formed on her face.

"You're right! It's like a soft blanket!" After figuring out a plan, they laid close to each other, back to back, he let her use his tail to keep warm. She was dressed in a lot less than he was. "Thank you, Lightning... I... I'm s-" he shushed her and patted her back.

"No more, Milla, rest. We need it. I'm glad you're ok. We'll stop Brevon somehow..."

Throughout the night, the two had a bit of a rough sleep, which was no surprise considering how the day went.

Lightning had a nightmare of reliving what Brevon did to him upon capture. Blades and lasers. Brevon wanted to end him clearly, so why didn't he?

At one point, Lightning awoke with a gasp, he felt sweat on his face and his heart pounding like mad. After taking a moment to calm down, he fell back asleep.

In the morning, Lightning stretched and popped his back, sleeping on rock will do that. He looked at Milla, who looked back, it looks like she's been up some time.

"Are you alright, Milla? Did... did you get to sleep at all?" All he got was a nod. He stood and stretched, the rest of his body popped here and there. "Ahh... that smarts."

"Lightning? Why is it you talk about Lilac so much?" She asked and sat up, her head tilted curiously.

"Why do you ask? Did I say something odd?" He was a tiny bit worried, he knew Lilac valued her friends the most. He didn't want to upset her in anyway. He felt out of place enough as was.

"Well, no... But when you mention her, you kind of... act silly, kind of like in one of her romance movies." Lightning felt his face redden, he kept his back to her.

He took a moment, and decided to confide in Milla. It felt like she deserved to know. She had an innocent look on the world, what harm could it do?

"Ok, Milla..." he started, he sat next to her and sighed. "I'm uh... I'm in love with Lilac." It was quiet a moment, but soon, a big smile appeared on her face.

"OH MY GOSH, REALLY?!" Her grin was so big, Lightning was afraid she'd hurt her cheeks. He calmed her down a little and then continued.

"Yes, yes... it was honestly a love at first sight... for me. I don't know how she feels... what if she doesn't feel the same? I'd be fine with being friends, but..." He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked her face that still had a huge grin plastered on it.

"Anyone ever tell you that you overthink?" She looked over at the entrance.

"It's been mentioned. Anyways, come on. We need to get moving and find the others." He opened the way to the cave and they only froze.

Brevon bots everywhere, from here, the fort Lightning escaped now looked like a giant metal castle. Overnight, Brevon sent his forces. Lightning spun when he heard robots approaching, these ones were fast. He looked at Milla, she looked like there was no way out.

"Come on, Milla!" He grabbed her hand and they took off, seconds later, at least a dozen bots gave chase. Lightning noticed a cliff edge and drew his sword. "Climb on my back, and don't let go!" She quickly did as was told to. She was incredibly light. Lightning jumped off the cliff. The bots ran over and looked over the edge.

Nothing.

After a few moments, the bots took off elsewhere. A spot they missed, however, had Lightning dangling off a wall with his sword being the only thing to grab on to, he drove it deep into the wall.

"Ok, not a smart idea... sorry, Milla..." he looked below, plenty of water and sharp rocks. He put himself in danger's way. "Dammit." He gulped and looked around, he knew at one point, he was gonna start getting tired. He looked above him and noticed a rock pointing out. "Perfect. Milla, can you blast that rock? If I can get it, I can climb back up."

She looked at it and took a moment to aim, she shot energy at it and it blasted the chunk off, she tried to catch it, but she started to fall, at the same time she grabbed the rock, Lightning grabbed her arm.

"It's ok, I got you! Climb back up!" She quickly climbed on his back and hung on for life. "I'm sorry that happened... let's get outta here." All he felt was her rapid nodding. She was too scared to speak. His idea worked, within minutes, they made it back up to solid land.

They sat and caught a break, there were no bots around.

"Are you ok, Milla? I'm really sorry. If I knew that was going to happen..." he said, looking down.

"I'm ok, it was a real scare... I'm just glad we're back up... or... you know." They smiled at each other and looked around.

"We need to get to a city so we can find where we are. Once we do, I can get a map and mark all I remember. You with me? Oh wait... I'm not leaving you here, duh. Come on, Milla. Let's go to Shang Tu. I think that's the closest."

They started walking, something was stuck in Lightning's mind. Something wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was wrong. He could feel it deep in his gut.

"..." he mostly kept quiet as they walked, he looked at himself and saw he was bleeding again in a couple spots. "Hope there's a doctor... I could use the help..."

They kept close as they walked, he kept his sword in hand, and she kept a small cube of energy floating near her. If any Brevon bots came near them, they could easily handle it. Lightning had faith in Milla. Despite being a stranger, he was welcome to Lilac and her friends. He swore he'd repay the kindness.

On his honor as a knight.

To be continued.

EN: This fanfic and Heart of Ice are the last Freedom Planet fics I'm doing for a while. I wanna do some Sonic and MLP ones. And I also decided, main story wise, will be original and feature my OC. Side stories will feature him much less. I hope everyone enjoys regardless.

Thank you.