Sleep eludes Lightning for the third night in a row. She'd managed to nap, but only for half an hour or so, judging from the looks of the fire still blazing in the center of the team's circle of pallets. From the moment they set foot on Pulse, she's been growing more and more restless. She doesn't know what the problem is—could it be that all of the enormous beasts roaming around are keeping her on edge? The Archylte Steppe is a dangerous area, and she does feel a responsibility, as the group's unofficial leader, to stay ready to protect her friends.
Still, she wishes she were sleepier. She's tired—exhausted—but despite her aching bones and burning eyes, she can't seem to doze off. When she tries to clear her mind, thoughts of Serah invade it. All she can think about, in her rare moments of blank silence, is her sister. Finding her. Saving her. The image of her face, so beautiful and young, but frozen in cold, unmoving crystal, haunts her. Gone is the pink flush across her cheeks and the way her eyes lit up with energy and life whenever she smiled. Will Serah never smile again? Lightning grunts and rolls over, fidgety and physically uncomfortable just at the idea.
A sound interrupts her thoughts. Her mind snaps to attention, instantly focusing all of its compartments fully on determining the source of the noise. She listens, holding her breath, poised for the moment the quiet crackling of the fire is broken.
It's a few seconds later that she hears it again, more clearly this time: a sigh. It came from the other side of the fire, female and high-pitched; she could almost mistake it for Serah. Lightning runs through the mental checklist: beside her own pallet are Hope and Vanille. On the other side are Sazh, Fang, and Snow, in that order. That would mean…
She opens an eye and squints through her lashes. Vanille's pallet is empty, the blankets rumpled and tossed aside. What is she doing? Everyone is supposed to be asleep. They all know they have to rest up fully while they can. Tomorrow will be full of perils and hazards and battles. The last thing any of them needs to be doing is wasting valuable recharge time on traipsing around in the middle of the night. She would love to be asleep right now. If she can't sleep, Vanille needs to be sleeping for her, damn it.
She cranes her head to be able to see without sitting up and drawing attention to herself, wanting to see exactly what Vanille is up to first. She catches a glimpse of the back of the girl's head through the flames. They flicker and give way to a clear but erratic view every few seconds. Vanille is sitting up, or half sitting up… no, holding herself up on her wrists, Lightning realizes.
Vanille lets out another long sigh, edged with a whimper, and dips back down. Most of Lightning's line of vision is swallowed by the fire. Silently, she inches sideways, just far enough to where she can barely see around it.
Vanille is in Fang's pallet, her skinny body practically swimming under the enormous Lobo-skin blanket. She's hovering inches above Fang's face, her lily-white fingers resting on Fang's cheeks. Lightning's eyes widen as Fang leans up to kiss the girl deeply on the mouth. Any plans of interruption dissipate; she'd be too shocked to say anything even if she were going to scold them for not sleeping.
They hold each other's faces, their mouths working wider and harder against each other with each rhythmic movement they make. The wet sound of Fang curling her tongue in Vanille's mouth and sucking on her lip defeats even the snapping of the fire, and something tightens in Lightning's chest. She knew they were close, but not like this.
A soft moan reaches Lightning's ears and then a whimper. The kissing noises stop shortly before Vanille rolls off of Fang and snuggles into her, lying on her side. Fang tugs the blanket up and tucks it under Vanille's chin and runs her fingers through that red hair, slowly. Tenderly, Lightning notes, almost like a mother would in soothing a child.
"I'm scared." Vanille's voice is faint, barely audible over the fire. Lightning has to strain to hear.
"I know," Fang murmurs, kissing her on the forehead. "I know. Everything's going to be all right, though. Don't you worry."
"I looked at my brand earlier. Fang, it's gotten worse. What if we don't make it in ti—"
"Shh. Hush, now, missy, don't you go talking like that. You won't be a Cie'th. I will save you. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes," Vanille whispers, sounding unsettled and unconvinced.
"Hey, now," Fang says, her voice low and soothing. Her hand moves and it takes Lightning a moment to make out that she's running it over Vanille's chest. Heat rises in her cheeks. "You've got to trust me. I didn't let anything happen to you last time, did I?"
"No," Vanille says. She barely managed to squeak the word out, really, to Lightning's ears—she sounds even more broken and afraid than before. Lightning frowns. What happened between them all those centuries ago?
"Oh, no," Fang says, pulling Vanille into a firm embrace, clutching at her pale, shaking shoulders. "What's this? Tears?" She tries to inject some lightness into her tone, a playful, teasing note, but her voice trembles as she speaks. "Come on, now, there's no need for all that. No tears, that's right. There's a good girl."
Vanille hiccups. She sits halfway up to reposition herself and regain her composure. Fang reaches to wipe a few persistent tears from her cheeks, then cups her jaw in her hand. Vanille lies back down and wiggles until she's comfortable, then lies still, staring silently into Fang's eyes.
"I love you," Fang says, so softly that Lightning almost doesn't catch it. "Don't you ever forget that, you hear? I love you. I will do whatever it takes, Vanille, I swear. I will always, always protect you. You don't have to worry."
Vanille pauses for a moment. Lightning can't see her face, but she imagines that she's smiling—maybe a small, upset smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I love you too," Vanille says in a whisper that's nearly drowned by the fire.
Lightning closes her eyes. Darkness covers the image of Fang and Vanille kissing again, gently, slowly. Lightning sighs and rolls back over. They should still be asleep, but they're adults. They can do what they want, and now she definitely doesn't have the heart to interrupt them.
She delves back into her thoughts, mulls her rough schedule for tomorrow over. Occasionally she still hears kisses over the fire. It's almost… comforting. She's glad to know that some of the group have found some solace. As the minutes drag on, their whispers, their sighs, the rustling of their clothes under the blankets, they all melt into the backdrop of the flames.
Lightning's restless mind finally begins to slow. The sounds lull her into emptiness, into… peace. Almost, anyway, until tomorrow, barring any disasters before then.
She falls asleep just as dawn's first light breaks the horizon.