Friends For Life
-AN: Short oneshot. Quick inspiration. Stirring tragedy. This is an AU of sorts—a 'what if' fic about the God-Generals setting a trap the group in the Isle of Feres. I have yet to beat the game, by the way. This contains spoilers.
PG-13 for the use of blood and violence.
Summary: So, this was it. This really was the end. But…he didn't do it because he was Luke's servant.
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Something about the uniform layout of the city made it all too easy.
One moment, the group was inadvertently picking on Anise and swapping mildly aggressive banter: the next, a Fonic explosion ripped apart the stone promenade. Guy, Anise and Jade were thrown onto the lower path along with a gathering of rubble. Luke, Natalia and Tear, who were further away from the event, managed to stumble in retreat but the element of surprise was already against them.
They had been ambushed.
Guy had not fallen very far, though he could still feel the heat of the blast on his face and taste sulphur—more Fonic technology?—which probably meant that the bomb wasn't intended to kill them. But it had separated them. Now wasn't a good time to let their enemy pick them off in smaller groups. Now wasn't even a good time to be in smaller groups.
Dammit! He had to get back up—back to the fight. Knowing Van…
He thought for a second that he was imagining things, but yes—there was an arm right in front of him, one with a familiar glove and a dark sleeve that could only belong to the Colonel. Shell-shocked, he grabbed the offered limb and with Jade's help, climbed back to his feet.
"Are you all right?" the Colonel asked evenly, which held less concern for Guy's actual well-being and more for his capacity for battle.
"Yeah…" Guy focused briefly on the shape standing next to Jade. Anise was there. Great, so no one was injured, but…
He heard voices from several levels above, too muted by the condensed buildings to distinguish clearly. There were also the obvious sounds of fighting mixed in with the angry exchange. Luke and the others were battling their ambushers and by the sound of it, they didn't have the upper hand.
"Did you by any chance see who cast that Fonic Arte?" inquired Jade with an edge of intensity that suggested he would rather be moving than standing around. Guy knew just how he felt.
But he didn't see the caster. No one had. That put them even more at risk, not knowing their enemy's face. Or how many there were. The battlefield was too far away to make any clear evaluations of the problem at hand.
Jade read their expressions and his did not change. "I thought as much," he admitted reproachfully. "I have a distinct feeling that we're dealing with more than just monsters here. Our enemy's intention is to divide our numbers so that we cannot effectively react with our gathered strengths."
"Colonel!" Anise chided with her fists balled. "Luke, Natalia and Tear are all in big trouble! Can't we wait until after we've rescued them to do this stuff?"
"Anise is right," Guy found himself agreeing. "The longer we take to analyze the situation, the worse off they are. What's the quickest way back to the top?"
"A very good question," replied Jade, shrugging modestly. "I honestly have no idea. No doubt whichever path we choose will be flooded with monsters and soldiers by now…we are assuming this is a trap, after all."
His candidness was met by identical glares of hostility from both the twelve-year-old and the blonde swordsman.
"…but, I suppose we have no choice but to charge heedlessly into the heat of battle. We cannot simply abandon our allies when we're needed most, can we?"
It was impossible to measure the Necromancer's sincerity, but this was nothing new to Guy. Right now, he had two more important things on his mind. One: his friends needed help. Two: they were running short on time. If there were twice as many monsters between here and the battlefield, then they'd just have to fight twice as hard to get there.
It was times like these he worried most about Luke—especially if the God-Generals were involved. Especially ifVan was involved. Luke was driven by reckless anticipation, and not much else. He was still young—not only in terms of age, but in experience. If he was pushed just a little too far…
The explosion had pushed them onto a terrace outside the stone building. Luke and the others were on the flat roof, fighting for their lives. They had to go inside in order to reach the top—but inside, the chances of being ambushed again where high. The God-Generals' tactics were starting to become a little bit irritating.
Jade took command, directing Guy to enter the building before Anise. Guy didn't argue, well aware that his reflexes were the sharpest of them all, Jade's included. It took a moment of silent dedication after he passed through the door, and then it all broke lose.
Guy twisted—the blade passing within inches of his face—and thrust his sword into the soldier standing closest to him. He swiftly parried the next blow from another soldier, as Jade and Anise both began to glow from their positions outsides.
There was a faint trembling in the ground under his feet. Recognizing the familiar Fonic Arte, Guy dodged out of the way just in time for the congregated fonons to created immense spires of jagged stone to slice through the handful of legless monsters.
When the room was cleared, Jade gave the corpses a sweeping glance. "Well, the monsters confirm the presence of at least one God-General," he remarked. "Which makes it even more likely that she is not alone."
"Come on, let's go!" Anise cried energetically, bounding towards the stairs.
It took another three rooms of monsters and Oracle Knights before the exhausted group reached the last staircase. Guy could hear Luke's strained voice through the opening in the ceiling. The battle wore on. There was no doubt that the others were tiring just as quickly at Jade's group, and probably wouldn't last much longer.
Together, they raced into the open skirmish.
They arrived neither a moment too late, nor too soon.
Arietta and Tear were exchanging Fonic blows—and Tear's barrier managed to block many of the attacks, but also prevented her from striking back. Natalia was combining her Fonic Artes with a barrage of arrows that Sync somehow managed to dodge perfectly.
Luke was locked in a hand-to-hand contest with Legretta, the former parrying each of his laborious swings with expert maneuverability. Largo was nowhere to be seen—dead, or just not nearby—but Guy had no time to register the details in full.
He saw Van, and he knew that Luke wasn't going to notice in time.
Jade noticed as well, but Jade was also governed by his unflappable logic. Out of the three watching the events unfold, Guy was the only one with the instinct to react against his better judgment.
"Luke, behind you!"
At the sudden appearance of Van, there was a chorus of voices—Jade's the angriest and loudest—they all knew his intention—but the warning was surpassed by Guy's sudden dash forward, sword flying in makeshift defense—
The group's warning came too late.
Guy made it just on time.
Tensing at the sound of his friends' alarmed yells, Luke only managed to half-turn when he next heard the sound of metal slicing into flesh. His expression became ashen under the glaring, hazy sun. Everyone stood as statues to take in the unbelievable madness of the scene.
Van was poised behind Luke, sword extended in a fatal thrust meant for the Replica who stood not one arm-length in front of him. That fatal thrust had instead pierced through Guy's abdomen. The swordsman's fingers trembled slightly around the hilt of his weapon and he stood as though frozen, facing Luke's failed assassin with mixture of pain and triumph in his eyes. His sword finally clanged unto the ground, stirring dust with memories.
"G-Guy…?" Luke's voice was wrought with stunned disbelief.
"What?"
Van's voice split the air like thunder inside a volcano. The astonishment that lined every facet of his expression quickly turned to anger. Without so much as a minor hesitation, Van pulled the sword free of Guy's body in a sickening display of blood and cold metal…and withdrew several paces to scowl at his own inability.
"Why?" he growled. "Why…for this piece of Replica garbage?"
"G-Guy!" As the swordsman collapsed backward, Luke caught him. "Wh-what…no...I—"
The gears of battle had come to a grinding halt; no one moved or made a sound to break the broken atmosphere. Van had a civil understanding that connected him to the man he had just slain inadvertently, and the God-Generals present were not particularly evil enough to take advantage of that. The rest of the group, including Jade, simply stared in desolate silence.
There was no explanation for the blood on Luke's hands. No explanation for this at all. Luke wanted an answer, like he wanted one for Akzeriuth, and the miasma, and his own existence…but all he had was fear. Fear snared the words before he choked them out, so he could say nothing to Guy, whose deathbed was right here in his arms.
Guy was barely breathing now, but he used what he had to speak. "Don't…blame…yourself…Luke," he said with a wet cough. "Stop…blaming yourself…for everything." He gave an attempt at a good-natured chuckle, which was not much more than a wheeze. "It's…actually…kind of…lame."
"No, Guy…" Luke's voice almost broke. "D-Don't just give up like that, okay? T-Tear will heal you, r-right, Tear?"
She looked as though someone had slapped her. Her folded hands trembling at her chest, she bowed her head and said, "Luke…I'm sorry…"
"What?" Luke couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Tear!"
No one defended her. No one censured Luke.
They all knew what was going to happen. Even the God-Generals seemed to know.
"M-Mary…" The name escaped Gailardia Galan Gardios as he breathed for the last time.
At the cease of movement beneath his hands, Luke shut his eyes in grief. "No…"
A heavy silence followed thereafter, where the only voice belonged to the breeze that stirred the battlefield. Then Van spoke, severely abusing the gathering.
"Pathetic," he said. "To think you would waste even your own life on this worthless Replica. I had thought better of you, Gailardia."
Natalia was on the verge of lashing out at him with all of her verbal fury, but Jade was abruptly there, raising a hand to silence her. She painstakingly clenched her jaw shut and endured the still scene with all the self-control she could muster.
A small, blue cheagle peered out from behind Tear's leg and muttered a sad, despondent, "Mieeeuuuu…"
None of this could penetrate the cloud that Luke had entered. He focused on Van's words only. That was all there was to hear. Van, Van, Van…Van this, Van that. When Van treated him like a piece of trash, it was painful enough to accept the partial truth of it. But Guy…
Van was going to pay for what he'd done. Guy was gone, and Van…acting like it was all meaningless?Pathetic?
"Rrrraaaagghh!" Luke seized the hilt of his sword and lunged forward with murder and revenge in his eyes.
"Luke, be careful!" Tear yelled.
But Van sidestepped and easily parried Luke's weapon with his own. Startled, Luke stumbled backwards, regained his balance and lunged again. This time, he ended up throw down onto the rough stonework. The tip of Van's blodstained blade suddenly appeared at his throat.
"Hmm," his former teacher grunted. "Foolish Luke. Even after all those years of training, you never did learn, did you? I cannot be defeated by the likes of you. If there really is common sense in that second-rate brain of yours, I suggest you make it easier for your friends and throw yourself into the fires of Mount Zaleho."
"Sh-Shut up!" Luke growled. "If you really want me dead so badly, then what are you waiting for? Go on, kill me!"
"Impertinent little Replica," came the harsh reply. "You've forgotten how my forefathers gave their lives in the protection of the Gardios family. No matter how unwisely, the last surviving Gardios gave his life to protect you. I will not disgrace that name by making his sacrifice in vain. At least…" The blade withdrew as Van stared coldly. "…not on this day."
With that word of finality, Van turned and began to leave. "Arietta; Legretta; Sync. We're finished for now. Your orders are to withdraw."
Natalia and Anise both made sounds of protest; Tear merely shut her eyes and looked away. Even though ever fiber of her being screamed at her to chase after him, she was resolved to stay. Stay here, with Luke. Luke needed everyone right now.
Maybe he didn't need her. He probably didn't want to see the sister of his best friend's killer, but…despite what had just happened, she had to stay. She had promised him that she would be watching him, and she intended to keep that promise.
Oh, Guy…why did this happen? Why did Van want Luke dead so badly? This never would have happened if she'd paid more attention to Luke during the battle, but…
The God-Generals were removing themselves from the field of battle, each with their opinions etched on their faces.
Luke was still on the ground with his head bowed, his face obscured and unreadable. He was still trembling—fighting against his desire to rush after Van and finish what they had started. But now he knew…if he let Van kill him now, Guy would have died for nothing.
Soon, Van and his counterparts were swallowed by the uniform labyrinth of buildings of the city. For some time, there was nothing but calm on the rooftop, where several forlorn faces—and one expressionless—were abandoned to the thought of all that had occurred.
Slowly, like someone suffering from great exhaustion, Luke pulled himself to his feet…and stood motionless. Natalia was the first to approach him, using more caution than a huntress would the most rewarding of prey. Luke refused to respond even when the Kimlascan princess opened her arms and embraced him.
The darkest of Tear's worries were starting to surface. He had never looked so lost, not since the fall of Akzeriuth. None of them had ever fully recovered from that incident. None of them would ever fully recover from this, either.
In war, there were casualties, as Jade would later remark in the grave aftermath. In life, there was conflict, and in conflict there resulted death. Guy used to speak about how people clung to life, thus bringing about the continuation of humanity. Sacrificing oneself for any cause, no matter how great, was not always the best course of action. Once you were dead, there was nothing more you could do. Alive, you were far more useful in fulfilling your purpose than simply being a martyr.
What he did not say, however, was that self-sacrifice was rarely an option. In her reflections, Tear knew that Guy chose his own fate not because he was Luke's servant, or even a noble of Hod and a member of the Gardios family. Guy would not have given his life because he thought Luke would be the savior of the world…worth being protected because of his role in the world.
Guy died because he was Luke's best friend.
Best friends for life.
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FIN