Destinies Intertwined (Lightning x Male Reader)

Chapter 06: On the road to Gran Pulse

The eight of us started to make our way through what I knew was the fifth Ark, when I heard Snow call "Lightning, (Y/N)!" We turned around to see him walking slowly towards us. "Hey, uh, I've got to apologize. Looks like I was wrong." he said. "About Serah's Focus?" Lightning asked, and he nodded. I was confused. "But why are you apologizing to me?"

"Along with Light, you were the one who tried to tell me I was wrong. But I didn't listen, so now I'm apologizing to you too." Snow explained. "Not like you to second-guess yourself." Lightning commented. "Yeah well, even heroes make mistakes." he replied. "What about your plan to protect Cocoon?" Lightning asked. "Either way, your faith in Serah was strong. That strength got you this far." "I had it all wrong." he said.

"Yeah. You tried so hard to convince us that even fooled yourself. You've been a total idiot." Lightning said. Snow looked ready to protest, but then I said "But while you were an idiot..." Lightning nodded. "That idiocy saved me. You trusted Serah. Let that faith drive you. It even made me want to believe." she said. I nodded, and Snow followed, talking to Serah's crystal tear.

We walked farther into the structure, and Hope commented "I can't belive we're still in Cocoon." "It's kind of creepy." Sazh agreed. Once we reached an open area the floor began glowing. Then it flashed, and a red sign of Pulse appeared. I clutched my right hand, my brand on the palm of it burning, and I saw that except for Sofia the others were being affected the same way. Then the light and pain faded, and a siren began sounding.

A pillar in front of us began steaming, and it rose to reveal a pair of Pulsework Knights. Instantly I drew Indomitus and began attacking, but while the machine had its armor on I could barely make a scratch. "We need to hit it with magic!" I called. The others nodded, and I stepped back while they began casting. Since I had given my powers of magic to Sofia I had next to no casting abilities, and with the Pulsework Knight's high defense the powers I still had were useless.

Vanille and Sofia cast Brasier while Lightning, Snow and Sazh used Foudre. The Knights trudged forward and spun around, knocking them all of balance with their arm, and I decided that I needed to do something other than stand on the sidelines. So I focused what magic I had, and an orb of silver-blue flame appeared. "Hey, Screw-bolts!" I called, throwing the orb at them.

The Knights turned to look at me, only for the orbs of flame to hit them in the face. To my surprise though the Brasier didn't fade, but burned along the machines' body like Brasier on oil. They both whirred in alarm and came after me, but then the others cast another barrage of spells at them. Getting the idea they used Brasier-related spells, adding the Brasier already blazing along the enemies' bodies.

The additional heat began to actually melt the metal of the Knights' armor, and then with one particularly powerful Brasier spell from Hope, the top of half of one Knight slid up to reveal its weal core. Instantly I ran forward, Indomitus in hand, while Lightning did the same. I give the core a wide sweeping cut and Light made a small stab, breaking the crystal that the energy generated from. The Knight gave a few panicked beeps before the light on its head went out and it fell on its back, the Brasier slowly melting it.

To our right the other Knight suffered the same fate, with Sazh putting a bullet in the core before Snow literally punched it out. Now that that fight was over we kept going, leaving the two Knights to melt into puddles of steel. After that we reached a platform, which lead down a flight of steps into what looked like a warehouse. However, I had never seen a warehouse this large, and pillars similar to the ones that held the Pulsework Knights were scattered through the area.

Vanille looked at the area and gained a thoughtful expression. "This place... it must be an Ark." she said. "An Ark?" Lightning asked. "That's what they called 'em." Fang said. Vanille explained. "Long ago, the fal'Cie who made their home on Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside. As part of their battle preparations, they created an army of living weapons. They stored those weapons in Arks, and they hid the Arks all over the world."