Relief
Part 1

Summary: After a botched attempt at bringing two lovers back together even if for a little while, Lightning finds herself in a compromising position and contemplative. Could she maybe feel something other than the haunting emptiness she had been cursed with since she awoke?

Disclaimer: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.

She had arrived at Luxerion through the North Station. She was finished with the five main quests that Hope had sent her on. Now…she was only waiting for the world to end. Her body ached from the constant battles with monsters. Her eyes burned from the Chaos clouds. She was thirsty and tired, but there was no rest for the savior. Not really. She laid awake. Each time she checked into an inn and laid her head upon the surprisingly soft pillows, her mind would not let her rest. She thought of all of the people who counted on her. All of the souls she was going to save and the ones that she would fail to save. There were thousands of people out there with problems, but…she couldn't save them all. She had already saved so many: Noel, Snow, Sazh, Daji, Fang, and countless others from Luxerion, the Wildlands, the Dead Dunes, and Yusaan.

Her mind was filled so much with those thoughts that she missed the man coming toward her. She collided with him. The force caused her back to slam into the corner wall a few feet from the phone booth. Strong, calloused hands wrapped around her upper arms. The warmth of those hands soothed the bruises the large had left. Around one wrist was a metal ring and a leather wrap. She chuckled and looked up at Noel Kreiss.

"We really gotta stop meeting this way, Hunter," she told him. He smirked. Lightning couldn't help but look into his blue eyes. They were the windows to the soul and she truly was concerned about his. Had he fallen back into the darkness? Had the pain in his heart-so plain to her eyes-taken over his mind again? Despite his will, she knew that it was a possibility. "How are you doing?" Noel's hands slid down her upper arms. His fingertips skimmed against her skin as he pulled his hands away. The throngs of people passing behind them refused to let him back away. A partially hard bump had him bracing himself with one arm against the wall over her shoulder. Lightning looked up at him even more. Her blue-green eyes were slightly wide. His blue eyes were serious.

"I've…come to terms with it. Yeul…isn't…coming back." Lightning swallowed the words were on the tip of her tongue. She sighed. She had to tell him. She couldn't keep it from him. She licked her lips.

"Noel…" Lightning sighed. He tilted his head. She could tell that he would have stepped back had it not been for the many people passing through the walkway. "In the Wildlands there is a place called the Temple of the Goddess. It fell from Valhalla. I fought Caius there." His eyes widened.

"But-" He started. Lightning knew what he was going to say. He had killed Caius when he shoved his blade through the Heart of Etro.

"He can't die no matter what you do because Yeul can't let him go," Lightning interrupted.

"But-" Noel interrupted her again. She could tell that he wanted to say Yeul was dead. She supposed that was true. Yeul had died, but…she still existed.

"Stop interrupting. I'm getting to that part. When Yeul was reincarnated into her proceeded versions, her soul was split and cast off into the Chaos. As you know the many Yeuls are similar but different. One wished for Caius' salvation, the other his damnation. They were a walking contradiction. So even if one Yeul wishes for Caius to be saved, the other wishes for his eternal life. I was called to the Temple by Yeul's wish for Caius to be saved. She is there with him in the Temple. Every single version." His eyes were wide and filled with hope by this point. Lightning swallowed. She hated to tell him this next part. "In order to get there, you are going to need the Angel of Valhalla. It's a chocobo loyal only to me." His eyes dimmed. "But I think I can get him to answer to you." They lit up again.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked. "Let's get to South Station!"

It was short work convincing the chocobo to let Noel ride him. All she had to do was bribe the bird with countless amounts of greens.

"Thanks for this, Lightning," Noel told her as he climbed atop the Angel of Valhalla. "I'll come find you in Luxerion when I'm done." He promised.

Lightning sighed. She was still so sleepy. She had arrived back at the South Station around midnight. She stumbled toward the closest inn at Idol Avenue. She let her head fall onto the pillow and closed her eyes. She was still sleeping when Hope beamed her up.

"Three days left…" Lightning whispered as she looked around the busy station. She had just arrived from the Dead Dunes. She hadn't wanted to wait around Luxerion for night fall-when she usually saw Noel. Still, Noel's situation wouldn't leave her mind. With a small sigh, she started walking toward the Temporary Route. She wanted to see if the Forge had anything new. She was unhappy with one of her weapons. Her attacks were dull because the weapon was so heavy.

A sharp gasp escaped her lips as she was shoved back into the shadows in front of the Temporary Route. Her eyes widened as her back hit the wall. She readied to grab her dagger out of her belt, but the familiar of a leather wrap and metal ring caused her to stop.

"What the hell, Kreiss?!" She coughed. Her back had vicious looking bruises from the blow a Chocobo Eater had left on her. Her eyes widened slightly as Noel's fingertips curled over the brick. She looked toward his face. His blue eyes were tortured and filled with pain.

"Yeul told me to let her go," he whispered. "She said that she had lied to give me comfort…" The raw pain in his tone made her sick. She wanted to be angry at the girl, but she understood why she had said it. Lightning believed Yeul would stay back with Caius, stay as the world was destroyed around her. She loved Noel enough to let him go to the new world without her. Lightning bit into her bottom lip and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He tensed.

"I'm sorry, Noel…" She whispered to him. He slowly relaxed and wrapped both arms around her waist. All she could hear on the other side of her communicator was shocked silence. Hope had been shouting her name once she was tackled back into the darkness. She swallowed back an amused chuckle. She probably shocked him into silence. Noel's arms were tight around her waist. She could feel the contours of his muscles pressing into her waist. 'This…isn't supposed to feel good to me…' Her thoughts whispered as she embraced Noel. 'It isn't supposed to…but it does.' And it wasn't really all that surprising to her. She had always found Noel attractive. She wasn't blind. She could see the finer points in men. Noel had great arms. Snow had amazing abs. Lightning mentally shrugged. Noel surprised her by resting his head on his shoulder. 'How long has it been since he's had human contact? Since someone hugged him, shook his hand, hell, even just waved at him?' She hadn't thought of the loneliness his isolation must have inflicted on him. The thought forced her to run her fingers through his brown hair. It was surprisingly soft as it slipped through her fingertips.

"You're being surprisingly touchy…" He whispered. Lightning chuckled.

"I couldn't resist…" She teased. Her eyes widened as Noel's warm lips brushed her neck. "Noel?"

"Sorry," he whispered. His warm breath fanned against her neck. Lightning pressed herself back into the wall to suppress the shiver that threatened to rip through her. "Sorry…" He started to pull away from her. Lightning wrapped her hands around his forearms.

"What…were you…?" She didn't want to finish the question in case she was wrong. Maybe it was a simple slip up, but he had to move his head to the side to even be able to reach her neck. It was that "but" that caused her to wonder.

"It's nothing," he muttered awkwardly. He didn't try to walk away. He feared for the skin on his forearms if he tried. Lightning narrowed her eyes.

"Noel, tell me," she said. Noel furrowed his brows. He had honestly thought that she was going to brush it off as if it had never happened. It seemed more like her style. So, why would she press now? His blue eyes widened slightly as a thought rose into his mind. 'Unless she wanted me to continue?' His eyes darkened slightly at the prospect. He wasn't blind. He saw that Lightning was dangerously attractive. It was only his love for Yeul that had stopped him from acting on that attraction before, but now that she demanded he let her go…He bit into his bottom lip. But did he truly want to use Lightning that way? He released his bottom lip and licked the sore skin. His eyes widened slightly as Lightning's eyes followed the movement. The urge to step forward and kiss her was overwhelming, but he needed to know…

"I…" He sighed. He wasn't good with words. He was a man of action. Words were always Caius' forte. So, at the risk of impalement by dagger, he stepped forward, slid a hand over Lightning's cheek, and bent down. Lightning's blue-green eyes widened.

'He's going to kiss me.' She knew with certainty. 'And I'm going to let him…' She realized with a small shock. This man had just gotten his reason for hoping taken away from him. If she rejected him now…what would happen? There was that curiosity as well as the fact that she didn't want to stop him. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to feel something other than disturbing emptiness. His lips descended onto hers in a chaste kiss. Her lips tingled from the gentle brush. He gave her time to push him away, to stop this madness before it went any further. So, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips harder onto his. Noel froze for a moment in shock then he wrapped his arms around her waist and fully committed to the kiss. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, leaving tingly trails in its wake. She shivered and opened her mouth for him. Then, Noel proceeded to take Lightning's breath away. She had been kissed very seldom in her life time: there was the stolen kiss of Caius Ballad, the fleeting peck that Cid Raines had left before she went off on a mission they all thought would kill her, and the awkward barely-a-kiss that Snow had given her in high school because his friends had dared him to kiss the "scary" Farron chick. Noel's kiss however took home the gold.

"Oh my god!" An embarrassed squeal came from behind Noel. Lightning jerked back and smacked her head against the wall behind her, but she never left Noel's arms.

"Ouch…" She whispered as she reached back and rubbed the place that had struck the wall. Noel chuckled quietly before looking over his shoulder at the woman who squeal. Her bubblegum pink hair and small, bright blue hat stood out heavily in the pale lighting.

"I'm so sorry!" The woman gushed. A large blush lit up her pale cheeks. Her gold eyes were as wide as saucers. "I just came over to take a phone call," she waved her cell phone around, "but…yeah. Um…I'm gonna go this way!" She started to jog toward the Temporary Route. "Sorry! Again!" Lightning couldn't help it; she laughed. Noel looked back over at her. A small chuckle escaped his lips. His blue eyes danced with his amusement. She wondered if hers were doing the same. Her laugh died in her throat as she looked into his eyes. She licked her lips out of nervous habit. His blue eyes followed the movement. And just like that, the amusement she had seen in his eyes was replaced by want. It made her shiver lightly.

'I can feel amusement, pity, sympathy, and pleasure…but how far can this train actually go?' She wondered. 'How long will these feelings actually last? Will I be able to look back on this memory and actually have an emotion with it instead of nothing?' She wanted to push this to see, but…just how far would the both of them being willing to go?

(A/N: Sorry to those of you who were waiting for "Saving Me". I just don't feel comfortable posting it yet. I haven't gotten enough chapters written for me to fully know where it is going. Part 2 of this story will be posted later at .org )