The story starts in 'Chapter 2.' I wanted to keep this overhead information separate.

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Summary: Anima wakes Fang early to save Claire Farron from an outbreak of Grave Fever.

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Genre: Action/Drama

Rating: T - language, same-sex attraction, psychological themes

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Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns Final Fantasy XIII. The author owns whatever is here that they don't.

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As neither a musician nor artist, I can only recommend existing pieces to accompany this fic.

Prelude: "The Romantic Piano (Beethoven's Revelation by Moonlight)" by Beethoven Consort. (Found on iTunes.)


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Call Me Lightning

by S.R. Kabala (aka. metacog)

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Contents

Act 1: A Child, A Child

_ Chapter 1: Butterfly

_ Chapter 2: Those That Lie Beneath

_ Chapter 3: Joins the Party

Act 2: Fever and Flame

_ Chapter 4: She Who Wears the Mantle

_ Chapter 5: Finishing Move

Act 3: Wake to Follow

_ Chapter 6: The Legend of Highwind

_ Chapter 7: By Fault or Fortune

_ Chapter 8 (1/2): The Living Shrine

Act 4: Life or Death Wish

_ Chapter 8 (2/2): The Living Shrine

_ Chapter 9: A City in the Sea

_ Chapter 10: Goodnight, Princess

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Foreword

I fell in love with Final Fantasy in my teens. It's poignant drama and fantasy, spellbinding music and imagery, legendary heroes and fiends-I loved everything about it. The sixth installment was my first, and I waited a long time for another female to lead the adventure. Finally she appeared and stole my breath away, Lightning Farron. Nothing against the intervening males, but it's nice to play my own gender once every fourteen years, or so.

This adventure is set six years before the game Final Fantasy XIII and stars the native huntress Oerba Yun Fang, the future soldier Claire Farron, the young sergeant Leon Amodar, and a deliciously evil Jihl Nabaat. (I love me some evil.) It doesn't directly conflict with in-game canon, but it does defy out-of-game material. I want to write backstories and can't let minor gaidens take away all my fun. For the sake of uninitiated readers, I'm avoiding the game's more awkward terms and replacing them with what I feel they actually mean. I'll call a god a god.

I'm an ardent Fang/Lightning shipper (i.e. I favor the idea of a loving, sexual relationship between the game's two leading ladies). However, this story is not really romantic. There's an age-appropriate bond between Fang and teenage Lightning-that sort of chemistry is innate. I hope only to show readers that these gals' minds and hearts lace together beautifully and to leave readers yearning for them to reunite and perhaps fall in love in the future.

After the first act, I tried to plan an adventure that could translate into game levels, boss fights, and an ending movie without sacrificing any drama or character development in the process. That's why I worked so hard to include Sgt. Amodar. I'm thrilled to have him in the party. His character adds a lot.

I think that what one person considers 'in character' can in turn be what another considers 'out of character.' Mostly because people project their own ideas into the gaps and walk around convinced they are right. I'm like that, anyway. I may drift a bit from what you find most plausible for these characters six-years before the game, but I want to write about characters that are fun for me and compliment the plot. I don't think they're too far off; they're simply my versions of the game's characters with six-years of life taken away.

I've decided to release the first draft of this story as I write it. When that's done, I'll take a couple of weeks off, edit the whole thing, and release a polished final version. I would wait and hide the shame of my first draft, but I'm terribly impatient. I hope you don't mind. You could wait a few months if you have more willpower than I do. I guarantee the final version will be better than the first.

In the end, this will be about as long as a movie or graphic novel-about 30 scenes. I plan to update late each weekend if I complete a chapter. I'm not prolific by any means; so, it may be that I only update once every two weeks.

Square-Enix owns Final Fantasy XIII-it's world, lore, and characters. Anything in this story not originally created by Square-Enix is the copyright of the author. No profit is being made.