"Ma'am, you can't possibly tolerate this! PSICOM is being completely uncooperative!"
"It's only business, Wanda. They'll come around eventually."
"But, Miss Schiffer…"
The young woman whined loudly, secretly grinning when she got her superiors mouth to quirk upwards in a smile. She brushed her light blonde hair out of her eyes, squinting at the woman sitting behind the desk before her. Wanda was only an assistant, but she was practically glowing with the fact that the great Marion Schiffer- the woman who was her idol- had chosen to work with her personally. She wasn't sure why Miss Schiffer seemed to be fond of her, but she definitely didn't complain.
Marion Schiffer- the recently instated head of the Schiffer Corporation, and niece to the former head, Adriana Schiffer. A slightly taller than average young woman, with looks that had many of the men in Eden admiring her from afar. Dark, wavy brown hair tumbled down her back, and green eyes that seemed to pierce straight through you. Wanda didn't really care about that though- it was more of Miss Schiffer's charisma that caused her to try to emulate her.
She just had a way of conducting herself; she was graceful, witty, and clever- everything that Wanda herself wanted to be. Of course, seeing as she was the head of the largest weapons manufacturing company in all of Cocoon, she would have to be. Miss Schiffer could be very charming when she wanted to, as well.
Currently, Marion had calmly explained a situation about a business deal with the infamous military group, in which they had refused to conduct a bargain deal with them. Naturally, Wanda was outraged; how dare they snub Miss Schiffer?
"Wanda, could you deliver these to the fourth floor, please?"
She was incredibly polite, too. Wanda nearly stumbled in her eagerness to do what Miss Schiffer ordered.
"And while you're there, send Derrick up, would you?"
Wanda's joy quickly turned to discontent. She hated hearing that name, her rival for the attention of Miss Schiffer. They were both eager to help her and gain her favor, though not for the petty reasons of wanting to be named heir or anything. She had been shocked to learn of the assassination attempts on Miss Schiffer, and would never dream of having enough ambition for that.
As she left the room, Marion Schiffer watched her go almost wistfully, before sighing and slumping in her chair.
"I hate this goddamn job," she muttered.
The rhythmic clang of metal on metal was interrupted only by heavy breathing and grunting. Sidestep, slash, duck, slash, switch to gun mode, shoot… it was a pattern that had been going on for quite awhile. Sweat coated her limbs from the exertion, and she felt satisfied when she finally made a rent in the shell of her opponent. The only move that was required next was to stick her Blazefire Saber in the gash and then quickly leap back to avoid the ensuing explosion.
Pulsework Knights were incredibly dull-witted, but they required a great deal of patience to deal with single-handedly. Beside her, Fang danced around her opponent, managing to somehow lop off its head before it could take another swing at her. Lightning relaxed her pose slightly, finally allowing her guard to be let down. The machines were more of a nuisance than anything; they took ages to destroy. She flourished her weapon, transforming it back into a gun and placing it in her sheath with relative ease. Fang was doing some kind of victory dance with her lance.
Lightning rolled her eyes in exasperation before giving Fang a pointed look, prompting her companion to clasp her weapon onto her back. The Pulsian warrior noticed the look, jade eyes brimming with amusement.
"What?" she asked, the usual feral grin hanging on her visage. "Have I got something on my face?" She sauntered up to her, slapping a hand on Lightning's shoulder in a way akin to Snow. Sometimes she wondered if Fang had actually grown up around boys, or if that was just the way she was.
Lightning had stated her intention to scout up ahead, while Fang insisted that she tag along for the ride. Her excuse was that Lightning was a trouble magnet, and that she wanted in on the fun. She hadn't complained; another fighter could be useful, just in case she suddenly found herself surrounded by Greater Behemoths or something of that nature. Pulsework Knights were easier, but it would have been a pain to take on two single-handedly.
"We ought to get moving, eh, Sunshine?" suggested Fang, already striding confidently down the tunnel. She still had her smirk plastered on her face, and Lightning only stood with her thoughts for a few more moments before following. The Pulsian had insisted on taking point, much like their first encounter in Palumpolum. The soldier didn't argue with that, since she knew that Fang would just ignore her protests.
Their encounter with Raines had left them all exhausted. Seeing as how Lightning was the only one in their group to be able to keep fighting for hours on end, she had decided to clear a path through the Ark for the rest. They would find a suitable place to stop and wait for the rest to catch up later; right now, they were just trying to get through it.
Lightning smoothly pulled out her Blazefire Saber again to stab an Ahriman that flew out from the shadows, about to shoot a Fira at her. She wasn't fond of the idea of looking like a barbecued soldier.
"Aww," groaned Fang, looking envious. "You couldn't have left that one for me?"
"You can have the next one."
"You're a darling, Sunshine."
"You owe me," warned Lightning, a smile playing at her mouth. She couldn't help it; she enjoyed the banter that went back and forth between the two of them. It provided some much needed entertainment when there wasn't any to be had.
They emerged from the tunnel to find themselves in yet another colossal, open room. Water thundered down from the large drainage pipes, filling up the dark lake far below them. They edge along the wall, neither of them eager to fall to their deaths in a place like this. Lightning herself wasn't too worried, as she had an extra Grav-Con unit at her belt, but Fang had no such device. Sure, she could always dive after her- but then there would be the problem of getting back up.
Once they managed to slip into another tunnel, she turned to Fang. "Any clue where we are?"
Fang and Vanille seemed to have some kind of strange intuition when it came to getting through the Ark. None of them could say for sure yet whether they were right, but at least they hadn't ended up in the same place twice or something. In answer to her question, Fang pondered for a moment, before shrugging.
"I'm guessing that we're getting closer to the edge of it. There's probably some kind of gate somewhere," she mused, running her fingers through her hair. She glanced out at the area they'd just exited. "Seems like a good place to camp, yeah? I say we hunker down and wait for the rest here."
It was a reasonable suggestion, and normally Lightning wouldn't have argued. However, that day she was particularly restless, for reasons unknown. She wanted to keep moving and give herself something to do, and she made her decision quickly.
"You stay here and wait," she ordered. "I'm going on ahead."
Fang blinked a few times. "You sure? I know you hate fighting those knights." When Lightning only glowered at her, she raised her hands defensively. "Fine, fine. Whatever floats your boat."
She nodded, grateful that Fang understood. Lightning went on ahead, leaving the Pulsian whistling to herself.
The pink haired woman kept a sharp eye out for monsters that could be lurking about. No corner went unsearched, and she even checked some spaces twice. It was a habit of hers, from scouting the outskirts of Bodhum; a wild Behemoth had once gotten the jump on her when she'd let her guard down. That had not been a pleasant experience, and she was certain she still had the scar on her right arm.
The silence felt heavy as she continued to walk briskly. The Fifth Ark was an eerie place to be in alone, and she hadn't encountered any monsters for quite a while. A door appeared ahead of her after awhile, opening on its own in a sophisticated manner that could hardly be believed of such an ancient place.
She cursed when she realized that she had stepped inside a Hibernatorium. Several Berserkers wandered about listlessly, not really paying any heed to her presence- at least, not yet. Lightning took one slow step backwards, and then another, knowing that to take on one alone was not something she could do easily.
Perhaps now was the time to retreat and go back to Fang and the rest. The nearest Berserker froze, and she was certain that its eyes- wherever they were- were fixed on her form.
Options flew through her head. The thing would be on her in a single bound; there wasn't enough time to get back through the door. She could always summon Odin if need be, but she felt like it would be wasting her Eidolon, as her crystal would take forever to charge back up again. They engaged in a staring contest with one another, neither one making a single move.
After a while, the monster seemed to decide that she wasn't worth it, and began to crawl around the room slowly again, all but ignoring her presence. Lightning let a single breath of relief escape from her, and she backtracked out of the Hibernatorium, eyeing the other monsters warily in case one of them was bored enough to attack a Pulse l'Cie. Then the door shut in front of her, closing her off from the danger.
She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Whirling around, she realized that there was nothing there; just the shadows dancing, then. Shrugging, Lightning headed in the direction she'd come, now even more eager to rejoin her allies.
Everything seemed to have gone downhill.
Lightning dove to the side of a blue fire blast, feeling how close the intense heat came to scorching her skin. Fang shouted something incoherent at Bahamut, while Vanille cried out in pain as one of the Eidolon's claws scored her arm. The summon showed no signs of yielding to the three of them, despite the fact that they were fighting all out. At her own insistence, Snow, Sazh, and Hope were keeping to the sidelines, offering Synergist assistance and (in Hope's case) healing when necessary; they were still recovering from the battle with Raines. Sazh had a particularly nasty wound from getting hit directly with a Ruinga.
At long last, Fang seized the initiative, forcing Bahamut to switch to his Gestalt Mode. The unusual mechanical dragon was quite a sight to see, but she preferred Odin a thousand times over. Her friend grinned at her, giving her the thumbs up, spirit restored, before her smile faded and she collapsed to her knees from exhaustion.
Vanille hurried over to her, looking concerned, but Fang waved her away. "You look after that gash of yours," she instructed firmly, despite Vanille's protests. Hope made his way over, kneeling next to Fang and casting a couple of Cures while Vanille tended to herself. Lightning just watched, turning to where an illuminated path had appeared out of nowhere.
"I wonder where that leads?" mused Sazh, walking up beside her. Lightning didn't answer; she didn't need to in order to let him know that she didn't have the slightest idea. Sazh accepted that, and they waited for the others to finish up with healing.
At the precise moment that they were going to move on, Lightning heard Vanille scream. Then the world suddenly became upside down for a split second and was whirling around her before she collided with something solid. She slid down what she now knew to be the wall, trying in vain to right herself and aid the rest against the… thing.
It was some kind of Cie'th, that much she could tell; it had the telltale eye on its back (or was that its front?) and it was shrieking in the manner that many Cie'th did. However, it was tiny, probably shorter than Hope, and didn't look like it could pose a threat to anyone. So why were they standing in defensive positions, not making a single offensive move towards it?
She had her answer a moment later, when Snow had barely enough time to activate his Steelguard in order to block an enormous, ethereal fist that seemingly came out of nowhere. It had somehow sprouted from one of the Cie'th's stubby limbs, and hit Snow with enough force to knock him on his backside. Lightning was on her feet and running towards it when another fist appeared, catching her full force. The wind was knocked out of her as she flew into the air yet again, hitting the wall and going back to square one.
It took all of her effort and concentration not to black out; she forced thoughts into her head to keep her conscious. Her vision blackened at the edges, but nothing serious happened. She was on her feet again, noticing that the others were trying to get to her, but were being repelled by the monster's ability to conjure fists.
Lightning dimly registered that it shouldn't have even been possible; what kind of Cie'th was it, anyway?
She was now facing a dilemma. There was no way she could move past it, not with the summoned appendages able to predict and block her every strike, and there was no way for the others to get to her. Desperation seized her; she did not want to be stuck in the Fifth Ark, but she couldn't risk the others becoming trapped by this thing along with her. They could take the ship that Hope had sighted to Pulse, and find a way to get rid of their brands.
She, meanwhile, would have to resign herself to her Focus.
"Get out of here!" she shouted, forcing herself into a standing position once again. "Get to Pulse! I'll distract it!"
"No way in hell, Sunshine!" bellowed Fang, sprinting furiously at the Cie'th again, only to be pushed back. The Pulsian woman let loose a string of curses, her green eyes blazing in rage. She charged again, and Lightning thought she saw a tear fall.
"I'm not needed," she called, more calmly now. "You all can do this, I know it. Go on without me, before you all get trapped too!"
"We can't just"- Hope began to argue, but she shot him a cold look that shut him up immediately.
This time, she cast around until she locked eyes with Snow.
"Rescue Serah," she called urgently. "Protect her with your life."
"Sis"-
"There's no time! Get going!" she all but screamed, taking out her crystal. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her power stir within her. They snapped back open, and she called out her Eidolon's name.
Odin appeared in all his glory, and she was relieved to see the others moving away down the glowing path. Fang was being dragged along by Vanille and Snow, while Sazh placed a hand on Hope's shoulder. She sighed, relieved, before turning back to her opponent and narrowing her eyes.
She would have to have Odin provide a distraction so that she could swoop in and deal a fatal blow with her Blazefire Saber. Her Eidolon, already knowing what she was thinking, gave her a slight nod before charging. The Cie'th shrieked as he rained down Thundaras on it. All of the fists converged on him, trying to force him back to whatever world that he came from.
Lightning waited for a suitable opening, so that she wouldn't have her brains bashed out while trying to kill it. For a while, it seemed as though it wasn't ever going to come; the fists flew faster than she could follow, and Odin was slashing back, trying to keep it at bay.
She would have to wing it.
Taking a deep breath, she charged in blindly, dodged left and right and diving for the Cie'th in the middle of it all. It let out an unearthly scream as her blade pierced it through the chest, darkness oozing out of it. Her eyes widened in alarm as the body flashed for a moment, then exploded.
The darkness engulfed her, and for a few seconds all she could do was stumble around blindly. She had managed to kill it- that much was certain- but she didn't know what it had done to her in dying. Lightning groped around her until her hand hit something more solid. She sheathed her gunblade, placing her other hand against it.
Whatever the surface was, it was cool, and made of metal. The blackness around her was beginning to clear, revealing… an alleyway?
Enormous steel buildings rose up all around her, gleaming in the dying light of what she guessed was Phoenix. The alley was deserted, thankfully, but she had to get moving. She stumbled along, feeling sick as she realized exactly where she was.
Eden.
Right in the hornet's nest.
Author's note: Not saying anything! You may have your suspicions, but I'm not giving any hints. Yes, this is Cid/Light, and no, it is NOT related to the 'They Walk…' series. So Lightning's not nearly as guilty about killing Raines… yet.