Author's Note: This is primarily a retelling of FFXIII from the primary focus on Fang and Lightning, though other characters will be touched upon to further the story. It will develop into a Flight romance. Read and enjoy!


When Fang woke up, everything was blurry and her throat was sand dry. She blinked and looked up at the unfocused figure shaking her arm. She recognized her face but could not remember the girl's name.

"Fang!" The girl shouted. Fang...is that my name? She thought. And little by little, the memories began trickling in. Her name was Oerba Yun Fang, that girl was Oerba Dia Vanille, they lived on Gran Pulse, they were marked by the Pulse Fal'Cie. And their focus...

Suddenly the memories halted. She racked her brain but it was as if she'd fallen asleep as soon as she'd been branded. But she remembered bits and pieces of their journey, her and Vanille traveling all over Gran Pulse, the conversations they had, the places they went. But she could not grasp at what their focus was.

"Are you alright?" Vanille asked. Fang groaned. Her body felt stiff, as if she'd slept in one position for too long. She looked around at their unfamiliar setting.

"Where...where are we?"


Lightning first noticed someone following her when she heard the soft footsteps fast approaching her. It wouldn't have been Snow, he was too slow to follow her and even if it had been him, he would make the ground shake with the way he ran. Hope could not jump the gap she'd made a minute earlier and soldiers were too loud, with their uniforms and guns shifting and clicking.

She whirled around a corner and waited until she saw the shadow of the person – tall and lithe. She clutched her gunblade and waited. As soon as she saw the person's feet, she jumped out, bringing her gunblade down hard. In a red flash, that same person brought up a spear, blocking her strike with speed Lightning had never seen before in her life. She stared into dark, feral eyes and was surprised by their intensity. She was used to the complacent, dull eyes of Cocoon residents, not this. These were the eyes of someone born and raised in danger so that it had been bred into their very being.

"I'm a friend!" The person shouted. Lightning jumped away and studied her "opponent." First and foremost she was surprised by how tall the other person was. She thought Snow was giant but this...

And it was a woman.

Lightning blinked. She was unused to fighting women, especially non-soldier women. But this was no ordinary woman. Her body was toned and tense, her eyes searched and anticipated another attack. She looked familiar and foreign at the same time. Lightning wondered why but it wasn't until she noticed the blue of her clothes that she remembered. This was the woman from the market, the one Lightning thought of as wild and fearless. Lightning sheathed her sword and the woman put her spear away.

"Phew. You almost split my head in half." The woman said. She relaxed her stance a little, though Lightning noted that she never fully loosened her body. This woman was not stranger to the battle field and knew not to let her guard down for any reason. How else could she have avoided decapitation?

"Who are you?" Lightning demanded.

"Me? Oerba Yun Fang at your service. You can call me Fang." She replied. "I came here with that lughead brother of yours, Snow." Lightning bristled when she heard that.

"He's not my brother." She snapped.

"He's not? He shouted 'sis!' all the way here." Lightning scoffed and turned around. She had better things to do than sit around and explain why Snow was not and would never be her brother. She walked briskly away. "Hey wait!" Fang chased after her. She was definitely not blood related to that oaf. Seeing how she reacted to any mention of him, Fang guessed that she was not pleased with his relationship with Serah. I wouldn't be either if it was Snow. Fang thought with a smirk.

"Young fools." She laughed to herself. "Hey!" She followed Lightning as she rounded the corner of the next hall. "Why the rush? You left those two back there..."

"Shh!" Lightning hissed. "You'll give away our position to all the guards here." Lightning peered around the corner where four guards patrolled the stretch of walkway. She huffed and sat down to think. "I can't take them alone." She muttered to herself. Fang tried not to laugh. So this was the Lightning Snow spoke so highly and fearfully of. She half expected Lightning to be a lot taller and maybe more broad-shoulder. But here she was, short, skinny and with a foul temper. She was strong though. Fang's whole right arm still tingled with the shock of Lightning's gunblade clashing against the rigid metal of her spear. She remembered how she'd been able to block a King Behemoth's charge no problem. Either Lightning was much stronger than a King Behemoth or Fang had gone soft in her crystal stasis. She hoped it was the former as the latter meant that returning to Gran Pulse would find her at the mercy of the resident beasts. Fang pulled the spear off her back and over her shoulder. At least these Cocoon soldiers were weak.

"You're not alone." Fang said and rushed out from their hiding spot. "Hey! Right over here!" She jumped over them, surprising Lightning with how high she soared and how gracefully she flipped and landed. The Sanctum guards all turned their attention to Fang who immediately took up a defensive stance. The guards had their exposed backs to Lightning.

Lightning shook off her shock and silently rushed out from the corner. By the time the guards realized they were being flanked, two had already been cut down. The third and fourth turned back and forth rapidly, unsure of who to attack. Fang stepped out of her defensive stance and struck one of them hard while Lightning filled the last one full of lead.

The two took a moment to catch their breaths. Lightning sheathed her sword. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she had a competent companion. And damn she was strong. Where was she from?

"See, work together and we get it done." Fang said triumphantly. She strapped the spear back onto her shoulder and sighed, looking at the carnage. "Well, we'd better get out of here before our friends wake up." She turned around and began walking. Lightning opened her mouth to object, but really she had nothing to object about. They were going in the same direction, what harm could come of them traveling together for a little while. If anything, she was a lot more helpful than Hope.

"Just don't get in my way." She snapped, running past her.

They walked a distance away, with Lightning watching their backs. Finally they reached a relatively safe spot, far from their previous battle and it looked like no guards patrolled the area. Fang stopped.

"Let's rest a while, yeah?" She asked. Lightening wanted to keep going but Fang stretched and leaned against the wall. "You left the boys in a hurry. You don't care what happens to them?" Lightning frowned.

"It's not that. I had to draw their attention. Hope wouldn't last a second..." Lightning stopped and went quiet but she'd said enough for Fang to understand. Lightning felt for Hope the same protective feelings that Fang felt for Vanille. She'd done the same thing not so long ago, drawing the guards away from the person she needed to keep safe.

"Well, we might as well check in on them." Fang said. She produced a thing communicator and Lightning immediately recognized it. It was an army issue device. Did that mean that this woman was part of the Sanctum? Who was she? She eyed Fang suspiciously, not wanting to trust anyone who was under Psicom influence. She heard a voice at the other end answer and immediately Fang exploded.

"You damn well know what's up! Why haven't you called in?" Lightning knew only one person could elicit that much of an angry response. It had to be Snow. She heard the voice on the other end and it confirmed her suspicions. But if Snow had one of these army issue communicators, then was he working for the Sanctum was well? A hundred questions swam through her brain, none of which could be answered while Fang was still on the line. "Right...what's your status?" She walked a short distance away. Lightning noted that with all the shouting Fang was doing, they would attract every guard in the sector. She half expected a swarm to come around the corner, yet none appeared.

"I'm great, you're great everybody's great." Fang took a step back to Lightning and handed her the communicator. "Reunion time. Figure out a rendezvous point." Lightning's eyes widened with surprise. She hadn't thought that far ahead. She took the communicator tentatively. Her hesitance must've shown on her face because Fang smiled and reassured her. "Don't sweat it. That line's hyper-encrypted." Lightning frowned. Was she getting that obvious? The thought of being so transparent unnerved her, but not as much as the idea of talking to Snow for the first time since they'd parted. She tried to think of something to say to him but all that came out was a unsure noise. Silence greeted her on the other end but it was Snow who spoke first.

"Hey sis, is that you?" It was instinctive that Lightning responded with "I'm not your sister." Her mind was still focused on Fang's retreating figure as she scoured the area for potential enemies. She shook her head. She needed to focus on finding a place to meet up. She could ask all the questions later.

Fang peered around the corner. So far so good. No one had come after them and she hadn't seen any influx of activity which meant no one had discovered the bodies of their previous enemies yet. She placed her hand on her hip and turned around. Lightning was busy chatting away to Snow. She looked Lightning up and down. She laughed to herself. Lightning reminded her a little of Vanille in a strange, twisted way. They were both stubborn, both innocent in their own way and both wanting to do everything the right way. Fang shook her head. They were nothing like her, they weren't monsters.

She leaned against the wall next to Lightning. Vanille...she had to find Vanille. She swore from the first day she met her that she would always protect her, no matter what that meant. But how could she protect her now, not knowing where she was, what their focus was, what their enemy was? Things were simpler on Gran Pulse where the enemy was tangible and often hard to miss. Here on Cocoon, the true enemy hid behind soldiers and Fal'Cie, wrapped safe behind layers of protection.

"Hope? Hope! Answer me!" Lightning's voice cut into her thoughts and she pushed herself off the wall. Lightning's shouting was going to get them killed and it wasn't going to do any good. "Hope!"

"Yelling doesn't fix it. It's called interference." Fang commented. She felt a smug smile creep up the corners of her face. It was funny that she was lecturing a Cocoon resident about "interference" when she did not know the meaning of the word two days ago. Lightning let out a frustrated sigh, wanting to tell Fang that she wasn't stupid, that she knew what "interference" was but she could only put the communicator back into Fang's hand, too exasperated to yell but still angry enough that she wanted to. And Fang sensed her emotions again.

"I'll take point, you fall in behind. And see if you can't cool off that head of yours." Lightning opened her mouth to object. Who was she to give orders? And who was she to call her hot headed? But by the time she came up with the words, Fang was already scouting ahead. Lightning didn't like it one bit. This woman jumped into her life and read her like an open book, something even Serah couldn't do. Yet all she had was a name. She couldn't tell what Fang was thinking, what she was doing, why she was with Snow. She had no answers when Fang seemed to glean them from her by the minute.

"You coming or what?" Fang called out, her head poking out from behind the corner. Lightning looked back the way they came to check if they were being followed. Fang waited expectantly. She had no choice. Get to a safe spot first, questions later.

Fang found Lightning to be every bit as adept as she was in combat. The girl was fast and precise, a marked difference from Fang who relied on strength and power to defeat her foes. But they made a good team. It was a good thing that Lightning knew healing. Fang relied on Vanille for that as she never quite got the healing arts down. And Lightning, despite her coarse demeanor, was actually quite gentle when she healed.

"Stay still!" Lightning snapped. Fang crossed her arms as Lightning tended to a bullet wound that grazed Fang's leg. Fang hated waiting. It was only a scratch after all but she knew it was better to take care of it now than have it flare up in the middle of a battle. As soon as Lightning finished, Fang took off again, with Lightning trailing. She hit the wall and peered around the corner. There was no one in the immediate vicinity and she sighed in relief. It was time for a breather. Lightning came up right beside her. She waited for Fang to give the word that it was ok. Something white caught her eye and she looked at Fang's arm. A distorted mark resided on the skin; ash white but not dissimilar to the L'Cie brand that they had. She wondered why she hadn't seen that mark before, it was so obvious. She's a L'Cie? Lightning questioned.

"Who are you?" Lightning demanded. Fang looked back at her in surprise, then glanced down at her arm. You just noticed? Fang thought with some amusement and then the realization sunk in. She would have to explain that she was a L'Cie. Not just any L'Cie, but the one who was responsible for Serah's own branding. She had to come clean if they were going to travel together. She clicked her tongue and paced a short distance.

"Where do I start?" She wondered aloud. Her hand automatically brushed her distorted L'Cie mark. She laughed when she noticed. It wasn't even active anymore but it didn't change who she was or what power coursed through her veins. She turned around and Lightning looked on expectantly.

"I've got a few screws loose, but I'm a L'Cie, same as you." She said. It was simple, it was clear and it was a good place to start. Lightning stared at her skeptically, her eyes flitting from Fang's face to her abnormal mark. It was clear that she wasn't buying the idea that they were the same. Fang smiled at her skepticism. Smart girl.

"Difference being..." Fang began. She wondered how Lightning would react. Lightning was trained as a Guardian Core, she was born and raised to hate people from Gran Pulse. It was so ingrained in her and Fang hesitated before she went on. She had to say it. "I wasn't born on Cocoon." Lightning let out a small gasp. She searched Fang's face for any hint of guile and found none. If she wasn't born on Cocoon...then...Gran...

"I'm from Gran Pulse. The 'world below' that you all hate so much." Fang finished. Lightning's thoughts raced to keep up with the information Fang imparted. Fang could tell that she was surprised, that she probably expected some sort of hairy, mangy beast of a woman instead of someone who looked, talked and acted just like her.

That's why she has a wildness to her...Lightning thought. Every fiber in her told her that Fang was the enemy, that if she came from Gran Pulse, she came to destroy everything and everyone on Cocoon. But...I guess that's me too. Fang was partially surprised when Lightning's first reaction was not to attack her. So she went on.

"My partner and I turned to crystal there and gone to sleep. But when we came around...here we were." Fang chose not to tell Lightning that the reason they wound up on Cocoon was that their precious Fal'Cie pillaged and stole everything from her home and probably murdered hundreds of thousands of residents by doing so. No, she had to contain her anger. Lightning was not the enemy, the Cocoon Fal'Cie was the one to blame. She took a step forward to see if Lightning would back away in fear or in distrust. But Lightning did not.

"The reason Cocoon is in such an uproar is the same reason you're here now." But they were crystal...Lightning thought. They came around...Serah...and even though Fang didn't explain it, it dawned on her. Fang could see the realization sink in as her mouth dropped and her blue eyes widened in shock.

"Vanille and I woke up."