Disclaimers and warnings: I don't own FFXIII or its characters, they belong to Square Enix. This story is an AU one and will have OCs. Will contain mature content, you've been warned! Hope you enjoy!
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A new day was dawning and the sun shone through the window, hitting the faces of the room's two sleeping residents. The pink-haired one was the first to stir from her slumber, opening her eyes ever so slowly, letting them adjust to the new brightness. As her eyes began to have their focus back, she noticed the familiar hand of her lover clutching around her tightly. She smiled and caressed the fingers with her own. The fingers and, by extension, their owner began to move behind her at her gentle touch.
"G'morning love. Did you sleep well?" Fang asked in her tired, low voice. Lightning spun around to face Fang, their faces only a few inches apart.
"As well as you can in a place like this." Lightning answered and Fang couldn't help but chuckle.
"We're used to it already. I remember how difficult getting even an ounce of sleep was in the beginning." Fang stated and shuddered visibly to make her point.
*knock knock*
"Gathering in the lobby in 10 minutes!" A strong female voice shouted from behind their room's door.
"Understood!" Lightning shouted back.
"Guess we have to get up. I'll check if Vanille or Serah have contacted us." Fang said in a hopeful tone and moved her face even closer to Lightning's. Lightning closed the cap, their lips touching for a brief but loving kiss. Their eyes met afterwards and both knew what the other was feeling right now.
Fang was the first one to turn around and get off the bed after one more minute of just lying there. She took her military-issue clothing from the floor and began to dress. On the other side of the bed, Lightning was doing the same. Their clothing consisted of boots, camouflaged pants and shirt (which both self-adjusted their pattern to fit the environment) and of half-gloves. They also had a harness to help carry some of their stuff around.
"You know, I've gotten used to wearing the same clothes every day. Granted, my clothing wasn't that diverse before, but this puts even that to perspective." Fang wondered out loud and Lightning nodded at her.
"Here, catch." Lightning warned just before she tossed Fang's weapon at her.
"Thanks love." Fang huffed out as she caught her weapon. She placed it in the holster on her back and then turned her attention towards the small computer they had placed on the table for the night.
"No new messages." Fang read out loud after a while and heard Lightning let out a disappointed moan behind her. Fang shut down the computer and placed it in her bag that she was carrying with her to hold her ammunition, food, water etc.
"They'll succeed, so I'm not worried. Vanille has been through worse than an archeological dig in her life." Fang stated confidently. Lightning had to agree with her, since she herself had taught Serah how to take care of herself as well.
"You're right, of course. Come, let's get to the lobby." Lightning said and began to lead them, first out of their room and then through the ruined hallways of the building that used to be a school, or so they assumed at least. They saw other people exit their rooms and head to the lobby as well.
"I hope Alexis has figured out a way for us to reach the old Capitol building without alerting the entirety of the city." Lightning murmured under her breath just so that Fang could hear. Fang nodded and took a brief glance around her.
"I can't imagine what it must have been like here fifteen years ago. All the children, running scared, without a way to…"
"Please stop." Lightning interrupted Fang before she could finish her sentence.
"Sorry…" Fang simply said as they finally arrived at the lobby. Around a hundred people had gathered there to stand around a fallen statue, atop which stood their leader, Alexis and his second-in-command, Mira. Mira had been the one to wake everyone up, including Fang and Lightning.
Alexis was a tall man, around 195cm's in height and well-built for the life he lived. He had medium-length, black hair that was mostly tied to a ponytail. His eyebrows were barely visible and there was a vicious scar running over his right eye, which was covered with an eyepatch, made from Kaiser Behemoth leather, or so the stories said. The eye that was still left was bright green in color. His nose was rather large, but not out of proportion with the rest of his face. The same could be said of his lips, which were charred, and of his ears.
"Alright, listen up men! Our target, the old Capitol building, is right in the middle of the city, which is full of all kinds of fiends, including several Behemoths. We cannot hope to kill them all, especially considering the findings Mira did with a few scouts during the night." Alexis's gravely, deep voice echoed well within the lobby. He stood aside to let Mira explain her findings.
Mira was sharply shorter than Alexis, just barely being 177cm's tall. She wasn't as fit as most of the women in their unit, but she made up for it with other traits. She had short, blonde hair that was neatly combed. Her face was flawless compared to Alexis's and her brown eyes shone with enthusiasm. She had a small nose and small lips that fit well with the rest of her face. Unlike the other women, she wore make-up, but only to highlight some of her more prominent features, such as her eyebrows. She also had a small diamond earring on her left ear, a gift from someone special to her.
"We found out that there are humans in the city besides us and that they are controlling the fiends. This means that they are guarding something, most likely what we came to retrieve. Our best bet of minimalizing risks and thus deaths, is to focus our efforts on the humans. We scouted out all their locations and we will split into ten teams of ten men to eliminate them." Mira's enthusiastic voice didn't echo, but it was surely heard and understood as well as Alexis's.
"Alright, Sergeants know their teams and their targets, follow them out. Move!" Alexis shouted his orders as he descended from the statue and approached Lightning and Fang.
"Sergeant Farron, your team will be with me. Our target is different from the rest of the teams." Alexis pointed out as he motioned for Lightning's team to gather around him.
"What's the target then Captain?" Fang questioned with curiosity and with a bit of fear evident in her voice. Alexis pulled a picture out of his bag and handed it to Fang first.
"Jihl Nabaat, a former high-ranking officer in the Cocoonian Army before the Exodus. The new government has deemed her as one of the reasons Cocoon was lost fifteen years ago. The sanction has been given to take her out, but they'd prefer her alive." Alexis explained their situation and Fang passed the photo along. Two of the men and Lightning were visibly shaking with anger to hear that she was still alive.
"I know what this means to the three of you, but we're mercenaries. We don't decide what is right and wrong; we do as we are paid to do, regardless of whom the payer is. And the money says to bring her in alive, if possible." Alexis made sure to look each Cocoonian in the eye to see that they understood what he was saying.
"Understood." Lightning said grimly, her voice gone sour. Fang placed her hand on Lightning's shoulder and squeezed firmly. Fang didn't have to say anything to know what was going on in Lightning's head at the moment. Hundreds of millions of people had died when Cocoon fell into chaos, Lightning's parents among them. And those responsible had never been found… until now it seemed.
As they began to move out, Lightning's mind wandered back to Serah and Vanille.
I hope they have as much success as we do…
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Serah gazed further ahead, using her flashlight to illuminate the seemingly endless hallway. Vanille was following close behind, watching the walls for any signs, but they were all empty and crumbling. That was true for most of Cocoon, but for this place, especially so.
"Do you think we can find one of the Portal Stones here? We haven't seen any signs of Gran Pulse anywhere near here…" Vanille trailed off, her voice chipper but doubting.
"The Archives of Paddra list this as one of the first colonization sites from thousands of years ago. If we can't find one here, I doubt we can hope to locate the others. They are too far into the heartlands of Cocoon for anyone to consider exploring there without proof." Serah stated in a sad tone and continued to push on through the hallway.
"Aren't the Archives proof enough? Or the fact that Cocoon lies in ruins, your people living in Gran Pulse?" Vanille spoke skeptically, but she knew what Serah was gonna say before she even opened her mouth.
"Because it's more convenient to believe that Gran Pulse and its clans were behind the fall rather than our own. But finding this Stone will convince everyone… if we get it to work. And even if we don't, it will be enough to ease the tension between our peoples, when we cast a seed of doubt into their certainty." Serah mumbled the same litany she had countless times to different Pulsians who couldn't understand the thick-headedness of Cocoonians.
After several more minutes of walking, they finally arrived into a room. There were empty bookshelves that had fallen and several destroyed desks and books. Serah scanned the ceiling and the walls, but found nothing obviously out of place.
"Alright, let me think… We should start by clearing the floor of what we can move easily." Serah ordered as she began to pick up books from the floor. Vanille shrugged, seeing no better course and also started to clear away the books. Most of the books were damaged beyond hope, but one book caught Vanille's eye.
"Serah, can you see any obvious scratch markings on the walls?" Vanille asked after she had spent a few minutes reading the book. Serah looked at her curiously for a spell, but then began to scan the walls more closely. After a while, Serah spotted markings, which looked like they were made with tiny claws.
"Found some!" Serah shouted enthusiastically and beckoned to Vanille. Vanille approached with her book opened and turned it around, placing a page against the markings. Surely enough, the wall began to rumble and then move to the side.
"It's so strange seeing something this old on Cocoon. Most everything was demolished and rebuilt after Cocoon separated from Gran Pulse all those years ago." Serah mumbled to herself as she moved into the room that had been revealed. Inside, there was a small pedestal, with a strange blue stone gently floating a few inches above it.
"Vanille, we did it." Serah simply stated, disbelief at their success ringing in her voice. Vanille smiled at her and took her hand, pulling her into an embrace. After a moment of shock, Serah embraced her back, savoring the warmth and the pleasant smell of her dearest.
"Let's pick up the stone and get out of here." Vanille stated after their embrace had lasted for well over a minute. Serah nodded her agreement as they let go of each other. Vanille searched her bag for a small box, made with the guidelines found in the Archives, that should be able to hold the stone without any danger.
Serah had made a pair of pliers with similar guidelines that she got from her bag and used them to pick up the stone carefully. The stone didn't react and Serah quickly placed it in the box and Vanille shut it as quickly.
"Okay, it worked. Let's get out of here." Serah said, her voice a little shaky for being scared just a second ago. Vanille simply nodded and began to follow Serah out of the old building.
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