Evening descended over Oerba in syrupy shades of gold, gilding the ruins and pressing sun-coloured kisses to blank windows. The night sky slowly unfurled, amethyst turning to violet velvet. Lightning breathed a cloudy sigh out into the night air, sitting on the stairway of the dwelling they'd chosen to camp in for the night. Gold melted to silver as the sun disappeared beyond the distant horizon.
"Y'know," murmured Fang, seating herself beside her. "It's just for a few seconds when the sun's in the right place at sunset, but you could almost dream this place was alive again."
Lightning glanced at the huntress, unsure of how to reply. The idea of waking up to the world you knew in ashes was an incomprehensible notion, though considering their Focus, it shouldn't have been. Bodhum would always be there, the same way the sun and sea would always be there, the same way Serah had always been there. Maybe it's not such a far-fetched thought after all.
"I'm sorry," she offered lamely, resting her hand on Fang's shoulder. Lightning had never been particularly physical with her affection, but at that moment it felt like the right thing to do. Usually, that would have rattled her, but she'd been going through the motions of humanity since Serah crystallized. Fang offered an uncharacteristically wan smile in response and rested her hand over Lightning's. A moment of sorrow and understanding seemed to hang in the air between them, blue-grey and trembling.
"Thanks, Light. Gets cold at night, c'mon, I'll sort out somewhere to sleep," Fang said, getting to her feet. "Don't wanna sleep in the bunks... Seems disrespectful somehow."
"Yeah," Lightning agreed quietly, following Fang into the house. It was a sparsely decorated room, still in reasonable condition considering how long it had been abandoned. Years of damp had not hit this particular house quite as badly as it had the others; the wallpaper here was nearly all intact, and if anything, at least it wasn't mouldy like the last one they'd scoped out as a potential camp spot. They'd chosen the house they found Bhakti in as it had an open area downstairs for whoever was on evening watch to sit and remain relatively protected from both the elements and the roaming c'ieth. Lightning looked down into the little town square where the majority of Oerba's c'ieth gathered as Fang rifled through a heap of their blankets and tried to find a good spot to bed down in. Sazh, Snow, Hope and Vanille methodically beat them back, their sunken forms melting into the darkness in defeat.
"We're not on watch for once, so we get the pick of the good blankets," Fang announced triumphantly, moving to rest her hand on Lightning's shoulder. "You'll do yourself no good watchin' 'em you know. We've got time."
"Not enough time," Lightning said grimly, though she appreciated the words all the same. "My brand's spreading."
"You think I don't know that? I'd never let Vanille go c'ieth... or the rest of you either. Believe it or not, I've actually come to be quite fond of you lot and I'd prefer if you didn't wind up like the poor buggers out there. Now stop staring at the locals and help me," Fang said, the softness leaving her voice. Lightning couldn't help but smile slightly at the reassurance; where Vanille was involved, Fang was pretty unstoppable. She found herself briefly questioning if Snow would be the same for Serah, and her insides shrunk away from the question. She pushed the thought of their fate from her mind and aided Fang in fashioning some sort of a bed on the floor. Lightning looked at Fang curiously. There was a strange rawness to every emotion, everything a flash fire. Her rage was a tempest and her smile was summer sunshine, there was nothing restrained or indecisive about her. Lightning conceded internally that she rather admired that quality; whilst her own rages and sadness were often violent and insurmountable, anything beyond a comfortable numbness or her two default settings of anger or sadness was an unwelcome inconvenience. Snow and Serah had always joked that she never smiled, and whilst Lightning couldn't disagree, she hadn't considered that perhaps her smiles or even her happiness at all was so rare because letting oneself simply be and experience happiness was a dangerous game to play. You can count on anger and a solid punch in the face. You can't count on happiness, it makes you do stupid things and never lasts quite long enough.
"Can't say we'll sleep like kings, but we'll be comfortable enough," Lightning said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "When do we changeover for watch?"
"Vanille and Hope wanted to listen to Sazh's stories, so I imagine they'll have him up all night at least. Either way, we'll get in a few hours," Fang replied, stretching like a cat and seating herself on their makeshift bed, setting down her spear and kicking off her sandals. She looked up at Lightning, green eyes full of a look of quiet concern she usually reserved for Vanille. Her expression took Lightning by surprise. She was thankful that it took rather a lot to make her blush, otherwise she sensed her cheeks would have reddened under Fang's appraisal.
"What?" she demanded rudely, pulling off her boots and dropping her gunblade onto the decaying sofa.
"You need it, Light," Fang said gently. "You've taken watch every night for the past three days now. You even slept since we left Orphan's Cradle?"
Fang spat the name of the Sanctum fal'Cie's dwelling with a type of hatred that might have made Lightning's blood run cold if she were anybody else. The name alone made her skin crawl. She avoided Fang's question; she'd been taking watch because she wasn't sure she wanted to sleep. She wasn't sure what might happen when she woke up. Fang had stayed with her the first and second night, on the third switching out with Snow out of pure exhaustion.
"Does it matter?" she asked, lying down awkwardly with her arms pinned to her sides as she tried to avoid occupying any of Fang's space.
"Don't tell me you sleep like a soldier too," said Fang, exasperated, propped up on one elbow to look at Lightning with mischief in her eyes. "You scared I'm gonna spoon you?"
"I can take watch again," Lightning responded, though there was a smile tugging at the edge of her voice. "Rather face the c'ieth than you mistaking me for Vanille in the middle of the night."
"If it's any reassurance, Vanille's the one who does the spooning, I'll leave you well enough alone," Fang replied laughingly, rolling onto her back, missing the glimmer of a look akin to jealousy in Lightning's eyes. "On the subject of spooning, you got anybody to keep your bed warm? When all this is over, I mean."
"No," Lightning answered quietly. "It's always just been me."
Fang sat bolt upright.
"Always?" she asked incredulously. For a moment, Lightning had forgotten that the community Fang and Vanille had grown up in on Pulse was far more openly loving than typical Cocoon society. Loners were probably kind of uncommon in that kind of atmosphere, where everybody's open and warm, but on Cocoon, her predilection for her own company was never really questioned.
"Yep, friendships and romances were never much my thing," Lightning shrugged. She laughed slightly. "Never even been kissed, Serah was always better with boys than I ever was. Well, I say that, but look at the bonehead she ended up with."
Fang paused for a moment, then leaned over. There was a brief heart stopping moment where Lightning's breath caught and her lungs were full of her, the smell of tree resin and cinnamon and flowers, before Fang's lips met hers. Lightning, having never been kissed, was not particularly sure how to respond beyond letting it happen. It was... strange. Warm and soft, and a little wetter than she'd expected but not in a bad way. And it tasted like honey. Something inside her stomach fluttered and she felt as though all of her bones had melted. Just as she raised her arms to loop them about Fang's neck and draw her closer, Fang pulled back. Her green eyes were full of a brilliant fire.
"Well you've been kissed now," she said, slightly breathless. Lightning could feel herself blushing furiously, partly due to surprise and embarrassment, partly because she was suddenly very conscious that she wanted it to happen again. She slapped Fang across the face.
"Bloody hell Light," she yelped, rubbing her jaw. "Again?"
Lightning fumed silently. The moment Fang caught sight of her face however, she started laughing uproariously.
"I didn't ask you to kiss me," Lightning protested hotly, trying to ignore the frantic stacatto occuring within her chest.
"Take it as a favour," Fang replied evenly, flopping back onto the pillows. "I'll be sure to ask next time."
Lightning sat glaring at Fang's reclining form for a few moments, her heart racing. Something inside her seemed to tremble, foreign and wanting. She thought of the branches of her brand slowly creeping outward on her chest. She supposed now if they should die in this final battle, she wouldn't go out as somebody who'd never be kissed. Lightning wasn't sure she believed in the afterlife, but she knew she could not take Snow's teasing if they were all to be obliterated without her ever achieving one measly kiss. Suddenly, Lightning realised Fang had mentioned a next time and wanted to punch her again, more out of embarrassment than anything else, but also partially because she wasn't sure she'd mind a next time too much. Fang's eyes were closed, but from the way her chest rose and fell, Lightning could tell she was still awake. She thought briefly of the c'ieth outside, of Orphan's Cradle, of Serah, of Vanille, of the crystal sand slowly swallowing Oerba, and decided to do something ridiculous. She moved to Fang's side, wrapped her arms around her and drew her into a kiss before Fang even had time to voice her surprise. Initially, she was unyielding, but after a few seconds she seemed to melt into Lightning's arms. Neither was really sure what was happening; time seemed to both slow to a crawl yet simultaneously go too fast. Lightning kissed her slowly, passionately, in a way she didn't know she had the ability to kiss, her breath hitching as one of Fang's hands tangled in her hair, the other arm wrapping around her waist to draw her close. Lightning felt a strange warmth flood the pit of her stomach as Fang parted her legs with her thigh, their breasts pressing together. For a moment, she was almost sure they shared a heartbeat. This was not what Lightning had expected at all; this was too warm, panicked wandering hands, gasping breaths, not the slow, heady romance novel kiss she'd been led to believe her first kiss would be. This was strange and wild, but then again, she was kissing Fang, not a sappy romance novel hero. Of course things would be different. Fang was the embodiement of strange and wild.
"Now we're even," Lightning whispered as they broke apart, both breathing heavily, a flush rising on Fang's chest.
"You're a good kisser for somebody's only been kissed once," Fang remarked with a grin. Lightning tried to ignore her bedroom eyes and the way her thigh was pressed against her.
"I had a great teacher," Lightning replied wryly, and Fang shoved her.
"Who knows, maybe this whole time you were a natural," Fang shot back, raising her eyebrows and turning to lie on her back, arms folded behind her head. Lightning imitated her, suddenly aware that the sun had set and the room had darkened.
"I'm sorry," Lightning said after a long moment of silence. "I hope this won't make things... awkward. And Vanille-"
"Nah, won't make anything weird," Fang replied offhandedly. "And don't worry about Vanille. I've never really had an interest in anybody else, but there've been others for her. Not... romantically, but just for when she needed affection I wasn't there to give."
Lightning noted a thread of sadness in her voice, but didn't broach the subject.
"Thank you," she said lamely, glad that Fang didn't seem particularly ruffled by their encounter, though Lightning was sure her heartbeat was stuck somewhere down by her hips. Fang rolled over onto her side to look at Lightning properly.
"Don't feel bad," she commanded with a mock serious expression, though her eyes glittered. Lightning smiled.
"I'm glad I did it," Lightning responded, trying to sound disinterested and ignore the tumultuous response to the kiss her body was still dealing with. "I can cross that off the bucket list."
Fang laughed at her.
"What, kissing in general, or kissing me?" she queried, gesturing grandly at herself.
"Oh both," Lightning replied with sarcasm. "They were right next to each other at the very top of my list of things I need to do before I die."
"Well we'll work on the rest of that list when this is all over," Fang said with a wink. "Now that you've got the most important part out of the way."
"Yeah definitely, not saving my sister or seeing all the beautiful things the world has to offer, I got to cross off making out with Fang off there so I'm pretty much set," Lightning replied, playing along and smiling despite herself. Fang laughed and pulled the blankets around herself.
"I'm gonna get some sleep," she said gently, tossing a blanket at Lightning. "You should too."
"I will," Lightning replied, feeling a little like a chastised child. She wrapped herself in the blanket and turned to face away from Fang so she could look at the sky out of the window. Something seemed to stir in her chest. It ached, but not the way she'd ached for Fang's touch and kisses earlier. This hurt more; if she'd been the type, it might have made her want to cry. She sighed softly and tried to focus on the slow burning glow of the stars outside, foreign and strange, different to the night sky she knew from Cocoon.
I hope Fang's right and Vanille doesn't mind, Lightning thought idly, pushing her rosey bangs out of her face. Somewhere outside, a creature shrieked, close enough to be unsettling but far away enough not to be a problem. Regardless, Lightning still shuddered slightly; the squalls of the c'ieth were... difficult to hear. She almost yelped in fright when Fang's toned brown arms wrapped around her chest and drew her close. Part of her wanted to fight, maybe to punch Fang in the face again, but a stronger, sleepier part of her brain that probably only came out for parties and inconvenient events like this wanted to just lie there in Fang's arms and pretend to be safe. Just for a little while.