Mercy Killing (Outside New Bodhum - Mina)

[Kupo]

Her pink hair shone in the late afternoon glow over the sea as she stood ready by the open door of the military drop ship. They were still five minutes from the little town of New Bodhum but Lightning was impatient to get off the ship and be back home and so stood at the ready with a hand gripping one of many loops on the interior of the ship for support. Many of the squad accompanying her were also originally from Bodhum and had made their homes at their destination after the fall of Cocoon so her sentiments were apparently shared throughout. Impatience and apprehension was palpable in the air.

They were homesick and she couldn’t blame them. Since the merge the Guardian corps had been rushing busily like bees between locations, primarily those from their own world, fixing any monster problems or disputes that arose as well as patrolling areas for up to a week at a time before rotating with another squad. Lightning herself had been busier than that with officer training finally starting. She was still a sergeant for now, but this particular mission was an assessment of her leadership skills. It was the second time she’d been placed in charge of the squad without the lieutenant watching over her shoulder. It was her responsibility to call all the shots and make sure the mission went ahead without any hitches.

This assignment had her on edge though. A huge Cie’th had been sighted near New Bodhum and since it was time to rotate the squads to different areas anyway, her squad had been tasked with taking the shambling creature out. The Cie’th unnerved her a little; she had come so close to that fate only two years ago that it left an uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach whenever they happened upon one. The reports about this one in particular had already struck fear into the squad. Apparently this one was extremely powerful and was causing severe damage where ever it went, despite this Lightning was determined to see out the mission. If they didn’t do it, someone else would have to and in that time a lot of people could get hurt. Also, the existence of Cie’th meant the torture of some poor L’cie’s soul. Killing it was a mercy.

It wasn’t long before they flew over New Bodhum, circling once before landing on the sandy beach. Lightning was the first on the ground, hopping out of the ship with well practiced ease where she waited for the rest of the squad to do likewise. When they were all assembled on the sand she started giving orders, telling the group where they were going and what they would be facing. She made a point of re-assuring them in an attempt to erase their doubts and encouraged them by stating that the more efficient they were on the mission the more time they’d have to spend with family and friends while the spent their patrol duty here.

She glanced around, taking in her surroundings. The town wasn’t exactly like Bodhum had been but it still had the same feel to it. The NORA house dominated the town and as much as she longed to run over and see if Serah and Snow were around she knew her duty meant that it’d have to wait for now. She gave the order to move out and set off at a jog towards the coastal shallows area with the squad in tow. The report she had received indicated that the Cie’th was last spotted just beyond that area, which was far too close to New Bodhum for comfort.

It wasn’t a long journey on foot to the area the creature was said to be lurking and the monsters encountered on the way were no real threat and could easily be handled by NORA but the Guardian Corps existed now to ensure the safety of civilians and so the eliminated the small fry as they went. They left the road and after a short climb the found themselves on a small plateau with two sides blocked off by sheer cliffs and a third with a narrow, steep trail leading up even higher. Upon investigation, she found depression in the soft soil that indicated the presence of something heavy and a few deep gouges on the rocky cliffs but if the thing that had made such markings was still around they would have spotted it a mile off.

Instead she decided to proceed up the narrow pathway to the higher plateau to investigate further. She was almost to the top when there was a thunderous wail followed immediately by the crashing of rock. Before she had a chance to react Lightning was knocked down by a falling boulder and was sent crashing into the squad member behind her. Together they slammed into the plateau fifteen feet below and the air was forced from her lungs by the impact. If she hadn’t collided with her comrade she might have managed to land on her feet.

She rolled over quickly and rose to one knee as she gasped air to escape the winded sensation that now ceased her chest. The man next to her groaned and struggled to rise. Before she could assess his status a second wail pierced the air and boom erupted as the huge Cie’th dropped from above. It raised it’s great fist and made to swing at her. Without thinking she grabbed the man and dragged him with her out of the way. The impact of it’s fist with the ground sent a shockwave strong enough to knock her down her knee again. She pulled herself to her feet and slung the soldier’s arm around her shoulders to help him get out of the way.

When finally she stopped to gain her bearings she could see that she and her injured subordinate were backed against one of the cliff faces with the gigantic Cie’th cutting them off from the rest of the squad who were still scrambling back down the narrow trail and making ready to open fire upon the creature. It was slowly turning to face Lightning once more and so she drew her Blazefire Saber with a metallic hiss and a series of clicks as it locked into the sword mode. She couldn’t see a way to avoid close combat with this thing until the rest of the squad lured it away. In the mean time she could see it preparing to strike at her once more. The Soldier now kneeling behind her wouldn’t be able to get out of the way this time, nor was there a second spare for her to grab him.

This time she was going to have to stand her ground.

OOC: I was thinking that Mina intercepts or opens fire at the last moment and save lightning from getting crushed. If this doesn't work for you let me know and i'll work it differently.

[Beebee]

Mina was frustrated. She was a Turk! A Turk who had been relegated to research duty. At first she had been flattered to be given the assignment, as the strange mark that had appeared on the President had aroused her curiosity. When Tseng had assigned her to find out what it was - including any information on something called a Fal'cie - she had jumped at the opportunity. That was before the day-long boat ride to the southwestern continent. It was before she had been through Cosmo Canyon, some back-water town named Maranda, and Kalm. She had found absolutely nothing. Not even in Cosmo Canyon!

A low growl escaped her throat as the next town came into view. It was tiny, and likely had no relevant information for her. She would still have to check though. Sighing, she continued forward and her hand flew to her side to confirm that her trusty dagger was still present. Mina had nothing out here, no support whatsoever. All she had was herself and her abilities. As she entered the small town, if it could even be called a town, she noticed the easy-going attitude of the inhabitants. Children were running around on the beach, squealing happily. There was a young couple heavily...involved...with each other further down. An older couple were walking hand in hand, greeting the people they passed with an enthusiastic wave. Others were asking about family members. It was...along the lines of ‘sickly sweet’, and she really needed to hurry up so she could leave. Mina took note of a large house near the centre, and decided to make that her first stop.

She hadn't made it farther than a few steps when some youths started ushering everybody inside. "Cie'th! Everybody get inside! The Guardian Corps will take care of it but we need everybody in a safe place!" What was the Guardian Corps? Was a Cie'th related to a Fal'cie? They certainly sounded similar. A near-panic seemed to overtake the inhabitants as people started screaming and rushing around. Mina turned to the area that the youths had come from and frowned. You couldn’t even see the monster from here, so why was she seeing this reaction? Maybe she would get some answers near the Cie’th instead. Books certainly weren't helping!

Touching the hilt of her dagger briefly, her other hand rose to her opposing hip to feel the comforting weight of her gun in its holster. Worst case scenario, she would get a good workout in. Moving at a jog, she made her way down the beach until she came to a large outcropping of rocks. She could hear shouting coming from above, but couldn't make out the words. Perhaps that was the Guardian Corps. Adrenaline pulsed through her body and a small grin lit her face at the prospect of a battle.

Quickly climbing the first couple of plateaus, she found a fairly well-traveled path. Picking up her pace, she continued upwards. Eventually a large...monster...came into view. Pausing as she took in the sight, her mouth dropped open. This thing is huge! Mina shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. She had already committed herself to this battle, and she would have help. They could bring it down. Changing her expression to one of careful neutrality, she carried on.

It was even bigger up close. She was on the level below the monster now, and looked around to see where she could climb to next. If she stayed on the path she was on, she would have the the drop of the cliff behind her. That would be the worst possible position to be in. Her grey eyes took in her surroundings before she found a slightly more difficult path that would come up near the side of the monster. Only managing to slip once, she succeeded in finishing her climb before blinking in surprise. Two of the soldiers had been cut off from the rest, who seemed to be scrambling around in a confused state.

"What should we do? If we miss, we'll hit our own people!" one of the larger group shouted in a young voice. Mina rolled her eyes at the comment. These people were going to save that tiny little town? Glancing at the over-sized monster, her eyes widened at the sight before her. It was getting ready to attack! If it struck the two, they would either be crushed or would be thrown backwards off the cliff and...get crushed once they landed. Gravity tended to work that way.

Mina turned to the closest soldier and shouted at him, getting his attention. "Hey! We need to draw its attention away! Concentrate your fire on the same area, on the left leg, and maybe we can bring it down. It might even turn back giving your people time to get away." The two separated soldiers were off centre from the monster, and the left leg would be the safest area to hit in order to avoid the humans. Attacking the leg would also slow it down if they did succeed in distracting it. Pulling herself all the way over the edge, she easily pushed herself to her feet and drew her gun in one smooth motion. She didn’t even look to see if the group was following her order before giving her command. "Fire!"

[Kupo]

Lightning took a sharp breath, her muscle’s tensing as she prepared to react. The Cie’th was a monstrosity and it’s huge, twisted fist was drawn back, ready to strike. Her mind was racing now, how the hell was she going to cope with the impact from that thing. Dodging wasn’t an option since there was no way her comrade would make it out of the way in time but she didn’t think standing in the way was going to spare him from the blow either. Regardless she couldn’t just abandon him to it. All this occupied her thoughts in just a few seconds and in another heartbeat there would be no option left but trusting her body to act on its own.

At the last second she heard a voice shout and multiple shots being fired. Suddenly the beast wailed again and began to turn but seemed to struggle on one of it’s legs. This was the moment she’d been hoping for and put it down to the other four members of her squad getting their heads together. Without hesitation she stepped backwards, knelt down for the squad member to put his arm round her shoulder once more and set off with him as fast as he could move. She knew she had to use the Cie’th distraction to her advantage.

This thing was strong. Far stronger than she had anticipated and she was concerned that this fight was going to be a struggled, especially for her squad. They weren’t battle shy but they had certainly never taken on anything on this level. Lightning did have experience with foes on this level but that was two years ago with a group of friends equally skilled supporting her. This time she was going to have to work hard to keep them alive too and she knew they would be looking to her for direction.

When at last she rejoined the squad she became aware of the suited stranger as she passed the injured soldier to the shoulder of one of his peers. Was it this woman she had heard shouting? It was clear from her clothing she was from a different world and visitors to New Bodhum didn’t surprise Lightning. What surprised her was her drawn gun and willingness to get involved in this kind of fight.

“I don’t know who you are but just don’t get yourself killed,” Lightning stated bluntly. It was her way of saying that she was in no situation to say no to assistance. She wasn’t prepared to take responsibility for civilian casualties though but this woman gave of the air of someone who knew how to handle themselves.

Assessing the Cie’th that still seemed to be turning to face the group she could see the damage they had done to it’s left leg. It wasn’t much but it was clearly slowing the creature down. She turned to face her squad.

“This won’t be easy, this thing hits hard but it’s slow. We’re going to move in a group and keep circling it. It shouldn’t be able to catch us if we don’t stop moving. You, take him back down the cliff. It’s too dangerous if we can’t all move together at the same speed. The rest of you, focus your fire on the legs.” Her voice was filled with authority as she addressed her men. She was unsure if the suited woman was going to follow their plan or not but it didn’t matter as long as she stayed out of their way. They would be fighting two men down though, and they could use all the help they could get.

She pivoted on her heel to find the Cie’th more or less facing them now. It let out it’s mournful bellow once more but this time with such force Lightning had to take a step backwards to keep her balance.

“Let’s go!” she commanded, setting out at a run to get around the thing, giving it as wide a berth as the plateau allowed. She switched the Saber into its gun mode and opened fire on it’s legs and heard the rest of the Squad do the same. In her past experience with Cie’th they were rarely limited to physical attacks and she had a horrible suspicion it wouldn’t be long before this monstrosity revealed what else it could do. In the mean time though, all she could do was formulate a plan based on what she had seen it do and hope that her men and this new comer could keep up.

[Beebee]

Mina smirked as she heard the rest of the group follow her orders. Normally it was her being given orders, and she wasn't used to having others listen to her commands. Small chunks of...flesh for a lack of a better term...were flying off the creature as their bullets connected. Her eyes were bright with excitement at the thought of bringing something this large down, though with all the hits they had accumulated so far it seemed like they had barely made a dent. The Cie'th gave a piercing roar and slowly started to face them. At least they had done a little damage to it up until now. Mina's gaze darted towards the two separated soldiers, and nodded approvingly as the young woman looped the injured man's arm over her and the pair moved unsteadily towards them. The soldiers kept firing, and the Turk took that moment to reload her weapon.

The pink haired warrior transferred her load to another soldier before she met Mina's eyes. After telling her, in a strange way, to stay safe, the Turk raised her eyebrow. "Believe me, I have no intention of dying here today. I have important work to do." she said stoically and gestured towards the rest of the group. "I hope your people can keep up." She wasn't about to get hurt because of an inexperienced ally. She fell silent as the woman started directing the others, as well as ensured her injured companion's protection. She must be the leader of this squad. Agreeing with the pink haired woman's strategy, she decided to put her opinion in. "We should continue on the left leg, as it'll likely slow it down more with one appendage fully out of order."

The Turk raised her gun and moved next to the leader, standing shoulder to shoulder with her. The creature roared again, almost like a challenge, and Mina's whole body shuddered from the intensity of it. She lowered her centre of gravity to regain her balance, and narrowed her eyes at the beast. The woman next to her gave the command to attack, and she joined the group in rushing forward to meet the threat. They all opened fire, and Mina focused her attention on the leg just as she said she would. "By the way, I'm Mina." She had never seen clothing like the things the Guardian Corps wore, so there was no need to inform them of her job description.

The creature bellowed again as more bullets lodged themselves in its leg, and it took a swipe at its attackers with a giant hand. Mina nimbly leapt back and let a few more bullets fly before she had to reload again. That was the only downside to fighting with guns. Looking towards the leader she smirked. "You're right, this thing is slow!" It was obviously a tough adversary, but as long as they kept avoiding the attacks they would likely be fine.

[Kupo]

As she began her attack on the Cie’th’s leg she felt the stranger, who had introduced herself as Mina, fall in beside her. As she paused in her onslaught to assess the damage their fresh assault had wrought to the shambling monster she spared a breath to introduce herself.
“Lightning.”
It was short and blunt but this fight could turn into a desperate struggle in a heartbeat and she was too wary to spend much time on words. For now she was glad for the extra presence at her side and although she had reservations about any outsider willing to jump into this kind of plight, she was happy enough to put those to one side until this Cie’th had been freed from its eternal torment.

She acknowledged Mina’s comment about her correct assessment of the creature’s speed with a nod.
“Only the Cie’th with wings tend to be fast,” she said before opening fire once again. The visible damage to its leg was notably getting worse, something that Lightning found reassuring. There was nothing as concerning as making no visible progress in a fight, not knowing whether to keep up an attack or abandon it as hopeless.

Their plan was confirmed to be working when the leg buckled beneath the gigantic form, causing it to slam down awkwardly. It’s mighty fist struck the ground again, this time with much larger force. The earth seemed almost to move beneath them and it was all Lightning could do keep from mimicking the beast’s heavy fall. Seeing it hit the ground shown out in Light’s eyes as an opportunity to get in close and deal some damage with her blade.

“Keep firing together, focus on its back while it can’t up or turn round. I’m going in close!” she announced to the squad and Mina. She knew her men would obey but she had no expectations of the suited woman. All she hoped was that Mina would avoid shooting at her by accident in whatever assault she decided to opt for now that the creature was less mobile. Lightning herself was intending to attack its head while it was less mobile. She was wary about getting in close but the thing was huge, lumbering and now struggling to stand up on its useless leg.

She left the squad to the rear of the beast and sprinted round in front of it, darting under its colossal arm as she switched to the sword function of her gunblade. She leapt up into the air, bouncing herself off of its chest to rise higher still. Even off of its feet this thing was massive. The vibrations she felt through her boot in that brief moment of contact matched the heavy bangs from the standard issue rifles of her squad. Being on one side of the Cie’th seemed shield enough to protect her from friendly fire.

As he jump drew level with the monstrosity’s head she unleashed a series of violent slashes one after the other until she started to fall back to the ground. Her blows left visible damage to its head, she was pleased to note and was now deciding whether it was worth the risk of bringing the squad round to shoot it in the face with those arms still flailing dangerously. One of those fists was following her in her descent to ground so as soon as her feet hit the ground she allowed her knees to bend and use the momentum from the landing to spring away to the left immediately. She wasn’t quite as prepared for the thing’s upper body twist that sent its other arm hurtling towards her.

Lightning jumped up again and met the strike with her blade and so spared herself the worst of the impact. She could not stop herself being sent careering through the air though and she hit the ground with another heavy fall. A gasp of pain escaped her lips when she slammed down on her side. It was a miracle she kept her grip on the Blazefire sabre. She heard one of the squad members shout after her from the relative safety given by being behind the Cie’th’s back as she struggled back to one knee. She glanced around quickly to see where everyone was and prepared to cast ruin.

[Beebee]

Mina nodded once as the other woman - Lightning - introduced herself. The name seemed to suit her. The small group continued their onslaught of the massive creature before the leader of the group mentioned other Cie'th that were winged. Mina blinked and glanced back at the pink-haired woman. "They have winged versions of these things?" she asked incredulously before refocusing her attention on the monster in front of them. She could imagine how fast they would be if they had wings. Most monsters with wings could move with incredible speed.

Their continued attacks finally came to fruition when the giant leg buckled under the weight of the Cie'th, and the beast came crashing to the ground. With the fall, the creature swung its fist to the ground once more which caused a small shock-wave to glide across the ground in her direction. Mina leapt in an attempt to avoid it, but timed her jump incorrectly. She had moved too soon and when she landed, it was in the middle of the attack. It knocked her back and she landed hard in a pile on the ground before she pushed herself to her feet. Exhaling forcefully, she shook her head slightly to rid herself of the ringing she was hearing. She moved back to her place at Lightning's side just as the woman informed them that she would be moving in closer.

Her group continued firing, and Mina was at a bit of a loss. She could follow Lightning in close, but she wasn't much of a one-on-one fighter, or she could stay with the group and continue to help them. That would probably be the best course of action. She watched as the other woman took off, and turned back to the others. They had listened to her and kept firing at the downed monster, though it wasn't as concentrated as when they had focused on the leg. It probably wouldn't matter where she fired at this point, as long as she didn't hit Lightning. She was the only one who really seemed to know what she was doing. Mina clenched her jaw and decided to open fire on one of its arms. Maybe that would slow down some of the attacks. She lost sight of Lightning for a time, until a pink head popped up near the head of the Cie'th. Her sword flashed as she struck, and Mina paused in her firing so she wouldn't hit her new ally.

Smiling slightly as Lightning's attacks hit home, it quickly fell when she realized that the arm she had been firing upon was now descending quickly towards the other warrior. "Look out!" she shouted, but it seemed the woman had already seen it coming. Jumping free, she avoided the giant hand only to be hit by the other that nobody saw coming. Mina cursed under her breath before taking off to move around the Cie'th so she could check on Lightning. She gave herself a wide birth to avoid the same fate and made it over to the woman just as she rose to one of her knees. Leaning over, she offered a hi-potion to the injured woman by placing it on the ground right next to her. "Here, that was a pretty hard hit." Mina would have to be careful for the rest of the battle, as she would only have one left afterwards.

Looking around at their surroundings, the Turk searched to see if they could use anything to their advantage against their giant adversary. They had done a lot of damage to it already, and it had slowed down even more, but it was still dangerous. Her lips pursed, she wondered if magic would be effective against it. Resting a hand against the barrel of her gun, she felt the presence of the 'Ice' materia she had slotted in there earlier. It was worth a shot! Mina closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the magic flow through her. Focusing on her target, she threw a hand forward and shouted "Ice 2!" Smirking, she watched as crystals formed around the centre of the monster and it shrieked in pain. She tipped her head in confusion as it seemed to take on an orange glow before she turned back to Lightning. "Uh, what does that mean? Is it an attack?" she questioned as she pointed back towards the Cie'th. It didn't seem to be doing anything at the moment, but she paid close attention to it just in case.

[Kupo]

Lightning took the potion and opened it up, raising it to her lips. She could cast her healing spells but it would break her out of what she was focused on right then. She would find a way to repay the woman her kindness later. In the meantime she drank deeply and as she did the warm, soothing sensation spread through her body, easing the pain as it went. She gasped when the last of the liquid was gone. ”Thanks,” she managed as she rose to her feet.

She watched the woman cast her magic attack, intrigued as to how she did so. Was it a mana-drive or was it some otherworldly method. She’d heard rumour that in some of the other worlds casting magic was a natural occurrence and wondered for the briefest of moments if that was the case with Mina. Regardless of how she did it Lightning followed her up by casting a string of Ruin attacks. Each of the glowing orbs impacted explosively with the Cie’th amongst the ice crystals of the stranger’s attack.

It’s shriek was piercing and for a moment it drowned out the gunfire from the squad. The ominous glow that appeared heralded something dangerous. Some sort of last attack that would likely be more than the squad could cope with. “Yes, it is,” she replied to the woman when she asked what was going on. ”Quick, give it all you’ve got. Now!” she yelled, raising her voice to encourage the squad too.

It was a desperate move on her part, switching them all to the all out offensive but she didn’t think that a defensive manoeuvre would spare them much damage. If they could just kill it, put it out of its misery, before it unleashed whatever hellish attack this was then they would be okay. She gritted her teeth as she launched her own series of ice magic. Blizzara, blizzard, blizzara were cast in quick succession. It hadn’t seemed to cope with Mina’s freezing attack so Light was following suit. Hoping that the magic and the bullets would be enough to end the creature.

[Beebee]

Immediately following her Ice 2 attack, Mina saw a group of glowing orbs materialize in the air around the Cie'th, and small explosions flew across the massive beast. Her eyes widened a bit and she nodded encouragingly. She had never seen an attack like that, but it was no doubt effective as the creature shrieked in pain, and likely anger. Man, this thing was loud! It kind of reminded her of the Diamond WEAPON's shrieking cry right before it attacked Midgar. Shuddering a bit at the sound, and the memory, she regained her focus when Lightning confirmed that the Cie'th was attacking.

Gunfire erupted around her, and she joined in throwing in a few more Ice spells when she saw Lightning do the same. Unfortunately her casting took a bit of time, seemingly less time than her new ally took, so she fired off a few rounds in between. Another scream pierced the air, and Mina felt it vibrate through her whole body. It was not a pleasant feeling, but the monster was significantly slower now. They were going to do this! "Almost there!" she shouted as she peppered more bullets into the creature, leaping back to avoid another sweeping strike of the hand. The glow was almost blinding by now, but it was extremely easy to see where it was going to strike next.

Concentrating on her materia once more, she smiled as she saw the green glow light up her pistol where it was slotted. "Ice 2!" she shouted again, pleased when it was coupled by Lightning's own ice spells. The four quick attacks in succession, including the constant barrage of bullets from the rest of the soldiers, were finally enough to bring the Cie'th to the ground. It howled once more before it crashed down in front of Mina and Lightning. It faded away, which always amazed the young Turk. Why was it that monsters always faded away when they were destroyed? People didn't fade, they simply died. But their body remained behind to be dealt with by the living.

Exhaling loudly, she dropped to her knees and reloaded her gun. There was no need to kneel to do so, but it had been a tough battle. She was pleased to see all of the others still alive, though one was looking pretty woozy as his friend supported him. He would live. Mina rose to her feet again, taking stock of her own injuries. They were fairly minor, she wouldn't even need a potion to recover from them. She would likely ache later on though.

Walking forward and stepping in the area the Cie'th had disappeared from, she found that there was a slight dip in the ground from the weight of the monster. Turning in a small circle, she slowed her breathing and willed her heart rate to calm back down. It would return to normal, soon enough. "That...was different." she said simply, turning back to Lightning. Maybe now she could find out some more information. "So what was that thing? I've never seen anything like it before."

[Kupo]

It was a frantic struggle, all bullets and magic and the deafening noises of the Cie'th but despite the close call they brought it thundering and shrieking down. She felt the tension ease out of her body as the creature disappeared, she let out a long breath too and turned to her squad to assess their status. Only one seemed in need of any medical attention and so she sheathed her gunblade in the holster behind her legs before casting cure on the man. She was a little uncomfortable using magic around her men since it was a L'cie trait that hadn't left her for some unexplained reason. But they were under her command and she felt it was a justified use and if they had an issue with it they could take it up with her or her superiors.

"You all did well, I'm sorry that came as close as it did but we pulled through. We're heading back to New Bodhum now," she explained gesturing to the path that lead back down from the plateau. They started to move off but Lightning lingered. The stranger. How was it that she could cast magic? Was she a L'Cie? She hadn't seen a brand but that didn't mean that there wasn't one. That said, in this strange mix of worlds she had heard rumours of magic casting being different and she was curious about how it worked in other worlds.

She turned to face Mina when she spoke. She really didn't know what it was, confirming her otherworldly origins. "A Cie'th. A once human pawn of the Fal'Cie, trapped forever as a monster for failing to carry out it's task," she replied plainly. She didn't like thinking about it. She got so angry when ever the Fal'Cie were a topic of conversation. Angry, and ashamed that she had been just as sheepish as everyone else, never questioning that following the Fal'Cie was the natural order of things.

"Thank you for you're help," she said after a moment of contemplation. "It was reckless to jump into battle like that without knowing what you were up against, but you're aid made a difference." She allowed herself a slight smile then. It was the kind of idiot hero thinking that reminded her of Snow. She turned towards the path, wondering if Snow and Serah would be in New Bodhum, and made to follow the squad down.

[Beebee]

Mina nodded at one of the men who was leaving the cliff as he met her eyes, and fought back a smirk when his eyes widened. That was an interesting reaction. But Lightning was speaking now, and answering her question. She turned back to the pink haired soldier and paid close attention. So they were related to a Fal'Cie! But...what did that mean?

Lightning continued, and Mina stayed silent until she stopped speaking, though she did raise an eyebrow at the 'reckless' comment. The other woman smiled then, and Mina rolled her eyes with her own smile before following her down the path. "Hey, it was my 'recklessness' that saved your life out there." she smirked as she came shoulder to shoulder with Lightning. She wasn't about to let her go this easily, not after she had finally found some information!

"So...they're from your world then, I take it. The Cie'th and the Fal'Cie. What exactly are Fal'Cie?" Her thumbs were hooked into the hem of her pants as she walked, and she frowned when she looked down. Her uniform was dirty. That would need to change before she left the town.

"I'm a bit curious about these Fal'Cie of yours. Fal'Cie? Fal'Cies? Whatever. The point is that I've been searching for some information on them, and I was kinda hoping you'd be able to help me? Since you seem to know a lot more than anybody else I've spoken to." She could tell Lightning a slightly modified version of the story, but not unless absolutely necessary. She was a strong ally in battle, but she still didn't trust the woman as far as she could throw her.

That said, she was a little excited to actually get some information on the topic that had eluded her so far. She was able to stay calm on the outside, but she knew she had to get a handle on her questions. Maybe she would learn enough to help the President, and not just inform him. They would get to the mark, hopefully, in time but for now she would keep the topic to the Fal'Cie. Lightning seemed like a decent enough woman, and kind of reminded her a bit of Tseng at times. Solid, focused, driven. These were good traits to have. Dangerous, but good.

[Kupo]

Lightning even allowed herself single laugh when Mina defended her reckless actions. She was right, Lightning wasn’t sure how bad things would have become had she not jumped in when she did, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t reckless. She didn’t have time to linger on the thought though as Mina went on to question the Fal’Cie.

Lightning shot her a concerned look. She was not comfortable talking about it and the way she said she’d been hunting information about them... That worried her. What trouble were the Fal’Cie causing in other worlds that people were seeking them out? Worse yet, what schemes did people from other worlds have involving them? It unnerved her to think on it.

“I’ll tell you about the Fal’Cie, on the condition you tell me why you want this information. Nothing good has ever or will ever come from them. They are trouble and if you have an issue spawning from them you need to tread carefully,” she explained in a low voice. She hated this but she wasn’t going to withhold information from the woman. It’s not like the truth about the Fal’Cie was hidden and perhaps she could encourage Mina to stay away from them.

Even without knowing what was going on she had an itch to go and investigate. That mention had come of them at all was enough to worry her and her easy military life suddenly felt threatened. She’d been hoping that the world would finally adjust to the merge and that people would start to live normal lives free from the tyranny of the Fal’Cie but it seemed their influence was still felt.

She’d tell Mina what she’d asked to know but she needed to know what impact those monstrosities were having in the merged world. Why had it taken so long for her to hear of them anyway? She needed to know, to calm herself so that she could think rationally before heading out on the warpath on a whim. First though, to answer the question at hand. What are Fal’Cie? It wasn’t easy to answer and she paused a while to contemplate how best to word her explanation and to await Mina’s response.

[Beebee]

Damn, that hadn't worked as neatly as she planned. Still, she would be able to get the information. That was the important part. Looking over at the pink-haired woman, she could tell that this was an uncomfortable topic. But she was still willing to talk. She would need to tread carefully, or she would get nothing.

A few strands of hair had pulled lose during the battle, and waved irritatingly in front of her face. Tucking it behind her ear, she let out a soft sigh. "I suppose that's only fair." she said quietly, shooting another glance at Lightning. She had gotten a little overexcited before, but she wasn't about to slip up like that again.

Mina casually slipped her hands into her pockets and rocked back on her heels. "Long story short, someone close to me has met one of your...Fal'Cie. It...also killed many of my people." She wasn't used to talking to people, and while she had done well so far, she was starting to struggle a bit. Giving a small sigh, she shook her head with a grin. "So we know it's dangerous." They had learned that the hard way. She had to admit though, she was thankful that she hadn't been there for the event. "Is that enough for a start?"

She really didn't want to talk anymore. At the very least she could get some information from Lightning from that, and she could consider what more to tell her. The only thing left that she could tell would be of the mark that had appeared. Mina waited patiently for the pink-haired woman to tell her what she wanted to know, rocking back and forth between her heels and her toes.

She had been away for a long time. Maybe some of the others had already found the answers she was looking for, but she doubted it. How many towns had she already visited in her travels? As she waited for Lightning to gather her thoughts, Mina pulled out her gun and checked the chamber. She reloaded it (you could never be too careful in this strange, new world) and placed it back in the holster.

[Kupo]

Lightning listened as Mina gave a very brief explanation of the situation. She could feel that some details had been omitted but she still relaxed somewhat. The story sounded believable and there really was no reason for Lightning to jump to the conclusion that Mina’s ‘people’ had some schemes involving the Fal’Cie. She turned to face the stranger and chose to begin explaining things rather than answer that last question.

“The Fal’Cie are creatures of immense power. They would style themselves as gods above humankind but the truth is they are each bound to a task and are dependant of humans to fulfil their whims. They scheme and manipulate people. For years we believed that we couldn’t survive without them and lived completely under their influence. We were puppets dancing on their strings,” she explained with a hint of her passionate hatred coming through in her tone.

She paused to consider how to continue and thought back to what Mina had told her. Someone close to her had ‘met’ a Fal’Cie. It was strange that this person had survived when she had also mentioned it having killed many others. She thought she understood what that meant. This person had been made a L’Cie. Was it her? She had been casting magic earlier and it seemed like she was deliberately being vague about who this person was.

“This person that met the Fal’Cie, did a mark appear somewhere on their body after the encounter?” she asked bluntly. There was no sense beating around the bush. Either it had or it hadn’t and since fulfilling a focus was often a race against time she didn’t hesitate to find out.

It wasn’t long after she had asked her question that a thought occurred to her. “Do you know which Fal’Cie it was? Do you know it’s name?” She had heard some truly disturbing rumours about the dead coming back to life and she couldn’t help but think of Barthandelus, Orphan and even Anima and wonder if perhaps it applied to them too. It was true that not all Fal’Cie had been cast of that same stuff. Atomos and some of the other Pulse Fal’Cie had done little to suggest that they were interested in creating L’Cie at all. That did little to sway her to favouring them though. After the events of two years ago and the revelations that had come with that she would never trust the Fal’Cie again.

[Beebee]

Mina listened intently as Lightning described the Fal'Cie. It sounded like they ruled the pink-haired woman's world, reigning over the humans as gods. The concept was a little frightening in all honesty. She had no desire to run into another of those Cie'th, and from the sounds of things the Fal'Cie were even more monstrous. And they were intelligent on top of everything. It was a very dangerous combination.

Lightning was obviously uncomfortable talking about this, which became even more apparent as the conversation went on. But she had a job to do, and she couldn't really afford to play nice just to spare the other woman's feelings. She needed to press for information. What was the best way to get Lightning to push through her discomfort?

Mina crossed her arms in front of her and slowly closed the distance between herself and Lightning until she was standing right beside her. Hugging her sides tightly, she kicked her shoe against the ground, wondering how she should proceed. Luckily, the member of the Guardian Corps chose that moment to continue her story.

Blinking in surprise that Lightning had hit the nail on the head, so to speak, she slowly brought her eyes up to meet the other woman's. She was deliberately acting a little meek now, but not overly so. Lightning seemed like she was smart, so she had to be careful. "Y...yes, actually." She had seen the mark in passing on Rufus, but hadn't commented on it. When Tseng had sent her on her mission, he had told her the bare minimum of what she needed to know. But Mina could piece it together.

Her hair pulled free from behind her ear again, and she tucked it impatiently back to its place. "I'm afraid I don't know which Fal'Cie it was. How many of them are there?" she asked incredulously. They couldn't be that common if she was only just hearing about them now. Well, when she had been dispatched. Today was also the first Cie'th she had seen. She hadn't even heard of them before. It wasn't long before her thought process returned her to something Lightning had said previously.

"Wait! That thing we just fought. That used to be a human? How the hell did it turn into that?" Would Rufus turn into one of those? There was no way she could let that happen. He was their leader. Their icon. They needed him. "And how can I stop it from happening?" she asked belatedly. Maybe she could offer the Fal'Cie a trade or something. Could you even talk to a Fal'Cie? They must be able to communicate if they had humans doing their bidding on Lightning's world.

Mina's thoughts were swirling around in her head now, and she knew she needed to keep a lid on them. Her arms tightened around her torso and she gave an embarrassed grin. "Sorry for all the questions. It's just...you're the first person I've found in weeks that can tell me anything about them. And...about the mark." That was the closest she would come to divulging any more information about Rufus.

[Kupo]

It didn’t surprise her at all when Mina confirmed that her anonymous friend had been branded. She’d suspected as much and let out a frustrated sigh at the thought of another Cie’th or another person locked in crystal stasis. She remembered how Serah and Dajh had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Was this the case for her friend too? The way the Fal’Cie bound people to their will made her angry. She wished there was a way to do something about it but by the sounds of it they were too late to free this person from their fate.

Mina questioned how many Fal’Cie there were and Lightning didn’t know how to answer. She knew the main Sanctum Fal’Cie and she had encountered a few of the Pulse Fal’Cie too but she knew there were too many to list. She didn’t doubt that they lingered still but she hadn’t heard anything about them in a while. The fact they had killed many of this woman’s people ought to have spread some rumours. Again is sounded like something was being hidden. Was the L’Cie covering the tracks of the Fal’Cie? Was she the L’Cie?

Lightning was roused from those thoughts as Mina went on to understand what she had skimmed over earlier about the Cie’th. That was good intuition. Clearly this woman was sharp minded. “When the brand appears it means the Fal’Cie has bound the human to its will. The person has been made a L’Cie and has been given as task, a Focus, to fulfil for the Fal’Cie. Their only options are to complete the task and be bound in an eternal crystal sleep or not, in which case they turn into Cie’th and wander forever in torment.” She didn’t like having to explain this but it was cruel not to help. She wondered if the L’Cie had figured out the Focus yet.

She fell quiet as she considered how to answer that last question. Could it be stopped? Lightning and her friend’s had not prevented their fate. Cocoon had fallen, their focus was completed and they had turned to crystal. To this day she was still unsure how they had been roused from the crystal sleep though she suspected it was something to do with Fang and Vanille. She looked Mina in the eye. “I’m sorry,” she started. “I’m not sure if there is anything you can do to stop it. The focus is often cryptic and can take a while to figure out. The brand changes as you grow closer to becoming a Cie’th, showing how long you have to do something about it. Time is of the essence.”

She wanted to ask if she was a L’Cie but decided against it for now. She was silent as she allowed the woman a chance to take in all that Lightning had explained. It might well be a lot for her to take on board. The fate of the L’Cie was always grim.