Pulse has invaded.

These words dominated the headlines across the continent of Cocoon, spreading fear and panic through the masses. They all lived in constant fear of the threat from the so called 'barbarians' who inhabited the continent of Pulse to the south of them. Now the Pulsians were on their doorstep and the people of Cocoon didn't know how to react. War was upon them or so most people thought, but very few of them knew what war was. Claire Farron had seen war.

Claire was lying in her bed in the house she shared with her sister, Serah. She hadn't seen the headlines yet so was unaware of the Pulsian threat, all she knew was that she didn't want to get up today. "Claire." A pounding, though whether it's from her head or from the door she doesn't know. "Claire, get up."

"Wha?" Claire's voice was unfamiliar to her, it sounded far too hoarse and thick to be hers. She cleared her throat loudly and reiterated. "What is it?"

"Come here, you need to see this."

She groans as she sits up to get out of bed, her head is pounding and her body is sore. Must have been a hell of a night last night. She remembered going out to the bar to have a few drinks but the rest of the night was a blur. She noticed she was still wearing the clothes she had on the previous night, never a good sign. She walked out to the fridge and poured herself a glass of water, Serah was sitting on the couch in their living room. "Are you watching this?"

On the TV screen was plastered the image of the primarch, Dysley something or other, and he was as usual ranting about the threat presented by Pulse. "We have confirmed reports of attacks being carried out in the border towns, attacks we can directly link to Pulse insurgents. There will be action, there will be retaliation..." By this point Claire had stopped listening and returned to her throbbing headache.

She sat down next to Serah and took a long drink from her glass. "Did you hear that, Claire? They say there's going to be war."

"They always say that. It's never true."

Claire had been listening to their crap for years now and had learned not to believe a word of it. The last war Cocoon had fought had been against itself, a war that Claire had been a part of. She had fought on the front lines when the militants had come to seize Bodhum City and she had been there when the militants were routed. She had seen war, she knew what it looked like, and it certainly didn't look like some old man on TV talking about retaliation and divine right. This wasn't war, it was bullshit.

"But what if it's true, Claire? Won't you have to go." Claire was still with the army, an army that was now under the Sanctum's direction. "I don't want you to go."

"There won't be a need. Trust me this is just Dysley posturing to keep the Sanctum in power." The last war had involved an uprising against the Sanctum which Claire didn't believe in but a paying job was a paying job and Claire happened to be good at it. "A war with Pulse wouldn't make any sense. They don't even use guns, it would be pointless."

Serah seemed unconvinced so Claire returned to her glass until her phone rang. "Lightning Farron, you are to report to headquarters ASAP."

"Yes, sir."

Her response was less than enthusiastic and when she hung up the phone she received a worried look from Serah. "I told you. This is how it starts. Next thing I know you're on the front lines again and I'm watching the news hoping to not see your name."

Claire puts her arms around her sister and pulls her into a warm hug. "It won't come to that, Serah. We're probably just going on standby, nothing more."

She gets up off the couch with a groan and makes her way to her room, lays out her uniform and heads to the shower. The steaming hot shower is refreshing, it takes away the last remnants of her soreness and her headache clears away by the time she steps out and wraps a towel around her. She put on her uniform and strapped her favorite weapon, a gunblade named Blazefire, to her waist. She checked the weapon closely to make sure it was operational then walked out into the living room. Serah was waiting for her at the front door. She ran up and threw her arms around her sister's neck. "Claire..."

"Don't worry, Serah." She put her arms around Serah's waist. "Whatever happens, I'll come back."

"You had better."

Claire gave her sister a kiss on the forehead then walked out of the door, seeing her face as the door shut and hoping like she always did that it wouldn't be for the last time. She hopped into her white, two seater car, a gift for her service during the war, and took off to the local headquarters of the Sanctum military. The headquarters is a flat building in the center of Bodhum that looks like a five point star with entrances at each point. Each of the entrances leads to a different division. Lightning, being a commissioned officer, took the door that led to the barracks.

"Sergeant Farron, you're late."

Her commander, Captain Amodar, stood waiting for her at the entrance to the barracks. She stopped and smartly saluted, a salute that he returned. "I wasn't exactly prepared, sir."

"None of us were, Farron." Amodar looked as if he had just crawled out of her as well, his hair a mess and his uniform wrinkled in certain places. "Walk with me." Amodar spun on his heels and Lightning fell into step beside him as they walked around the barracks. "As you must know by now there have been a rising number of raids on our border towns. The Sanctum had come up with evidence that it is Pulse who is orchestrating these raids."

"Why would Pulse attack our settlements? What could they find of value to them there?"

Amodar shrugged. "That's way above my pay grade. All I know is I've been ordered to send a squad to run some reconnaissance at the border. Lightning, I want your squad on this mission."

A feeling instantly overtook Claire, a feeling that something was wrong with the mission. She couldn't explain it, nor could she defy her orders, but the feeling was definitely there. "Yes, sir."

"I knew you'd be up for this. Get your men ready, you're shipping out at 1600 hours."

Amodar walked away leaving a stunned Lightning to return to her squad with the bad news. She had to remind herself that this was just a recon mission, just recon. This isn't a battle, sis.

When she entered her squad's bunk room she found them waiting for her. Her Lieutenant, Lee Trystan, saluted her as she entered. "Do we have a mission, Sergeant?"

She saluted back. "We're running recon near the border. Get everyone suited up we're leaving at 1600."

"Roger."

By four o'clock the squad was ready to roll and she waited with them on the landing pad for their transport shuttle. They spotted it flying low over the base before it set down on the pad. Lightning noticed it wasn't their usual shuttle and that the shuttle hadn't even come from the base. It had Sanctum markings all over it. Lightning shrugged it off, now that the Sanctum ran the military just about all of their uniforms and weapons bore some kind of Sanctum mark on them. It bothered her but not enough to say anything, her job was all that kept her and Serah in a place to live and she wasn't going to jeopardize that for such a small concern.

The five of them boarded the shuttle and strapped themselves in for takeoff. As they flew Lightning noticed that the windows that would normally show a breathtaking aerial view of Bodhum as they passed it were blacked out. A sinking feeling settled into the pit of her stomach and for the second time that day she had a bad feeling about the mission.

-SAVAGE-

It was a bright, autumn day and Dia Vanille was heading out to procure reagents. She was apprenticed to the clan healer and she needed to procure some broadleaf for their healing potions. She tied the laces to her knee-high boots, belted her reagent bag at her side and tucked her gathering gloves into her belt. She ran through her mental checklist and realized she forgot something, she fetched two bottles from her room and tucked them into her belt. The bottles were full of a substance that would smoke uncontrollably when it came into contact with oxygen. She would use it as a smoke bomb to escape some of the more dangerous predators of Pulse.

Her checklist fulfilled she was ready to head out. She stepped out of her house and took a deep breath of the clean, open air. She loved Oerba, the crisp mountain air, the steady source of game and reagents and the tight community to which she was a part. What she didn't like was the coldness of the winter, a season which was fast approaching. It seemed that no matter how many blankets she covered herself with she could never get warm. Today, however, was a perfect day for gathering, the temperature was just right and the surrounding area had been quiet over the last season. She had yet to see a predator this year and she wanted to keep it that way.

She walked through town and every passerby waved to her or bowed their head in greetings. As the youngest daughter of the Dia clan and the apprentice to the local shaman she was quite well known in the town. An old woman whom she had helped recently came up to her and took her hands. "Thank you so much, that balm you gave me works wonders."

Vanille patted her hands and blushed a little. "It wasn't all me, it was lady Reyna who showed me how."

"But it was you who made it, lady Vanille. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Vanille was beaming as she walked away from the old woman, it always made her feel good to know she was helping the people around her. As she approached the city gates she spotted a familiar face adjusting her spear on her back. "Fang." She called out to her best friend, who had been like a sister to her for all her life, and ran up to her.

Fang was tall and beautiful, her long dark hair fell down her back, her typical blue sari hung down to her waist leaving her arms bare to show off the hunter's mark she bore on her arm. As the eldest daughter of the Yun clan Fang had become one of the city's most decorated hunters, earning quite a lot of fame for one as young as she. Now she was standing with several other hunters preparing to leave the town in search of food. When Vanille ran up Fang faced her best friend with a smile. "Hey, Van." She noticed that Vanille was dressed to leave. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm heading out to the fields. Our stocks of broadleaf are low and it's a pretty day today so I thought I would gather some."

Fang snapped her fingers and one of the men that was with her stepped forward. "I'm sending him with you. It's not safe out there."

"We haven't seen a single behemoth all summer and if I do see one I have my escape plan right here." She patted her side where the flasks containing her smoke substance rested against her hip. "I'll be fine."

"You never know, Vanille. I just want you to be safe."

Fang had always been protective with Vanille. When they were younger no one would ever think about talking bad to Vanille in fear of getting a beat down from Fang. Vanille used to think she had a crush on Fang but as she grew older she realized what it was, Fang was the sister that she had always wanted. Still, Vanille would sometimes get annoyed with her sister's protectiveness, like now. "Fang, I'll be fine."

At seeing Vanille's face turned to a pout with her arms crossed cutely across her chest Fang gave in and decided not to press the argument further. She would only serve to make Vanille angry. "Fine, but if you see anything out there your run, hear me?"

"I know, sis." She threw her arms around Fang's neck and gave her a hug, a hug which Fang returned. "You be careful too."

Fang stood tall and smirked down at her much shorter sister. "You've got nothing to worry about." She turned back to the other hunter's and called to them, "Move out."

Vanille stood and watched the ten hunters file out of the city gates and waited for them to be out of sight before leaving the gates herself to head out to the meadows where she would find the herb she was looking for. She followed the path for several miles before she found the meadow and marveled at how lovely it looked on this day, the way the sun shone on the grass that swayed gently in the breeze, the smell of fresh vegetation that would soon die before winter's freeze, the soft buzz of insects that flitted from plant to plant. She loved this place and would often come here even when she wasn't looking for reagents, when all she wanted was to be alone and meditate on her life, but today she was on a mission.

She walked hunched low to the ground and scanned the underbrush until she found what she was looking for, a short plant with long, wide leaves commonly known as broadleaf that had a variety of medical uses including purifying toxins from the bloodstream. She put on her gloves and gently pulled at the leaf of the plant then, taking a small knife she had on her belt, cleanly sliced the leaf off and placed it in her bag.

She did this until she had filled the bag then stood and cracked her back which was sore from having been bent over so long. She stretched and yawned, she had been out here for almost an hour and was starting to get tired when she heard a deep growl behind her and stopped dead in her tracks. She turned her head and saw out of the corner of her eye a large cat that stood as tall as she did. It's fangs were bared and she had to calm herself. Okay, don't panic. That's what the smoke bombs are for.

The cat snarled as it circled Vanille, she took one of the flasks into her hand and gripped it tight. When she stood upright the creature lunged forward, jaws open and large teeth waiting to devour her. She turned to run and tossed the flask, hitting the creature in the face. The glass shattered and as soon as it's contents were exposed to oxygen they started to pour out black smoke. Vanille ran away, not stopping to see whether the creature was still chasing her. The cat, having been struck in the face by the smoke bomb inhaled a large amount of the smoke and fell to it's haunches short of breath. Unable to see or breath it abandoned the chase in favor of it's own survival and slunk away back to it's cave.

Vanille's feet hit the dirt of the main road but she still kept running. She ran for nearly a mile before looking behind her to see if the car was still after her. It wasn't and she sighed in relief. With her bag full and the cat routed she counted this mission a complete success. She made her way back down the road and to the village in high spirits arriving just before the sun set.

When she walked through the door to the shaman's house Mother Reyna, as she was called, was busily preparing some herbs into a poultice. She looked up when Vanille entered with her bag. "I've been looking for you. Where have you been?"

Vanille dropped the bag on a table and started taking out the leaves inside. "I went out for broadleaf. I noticed we were out."

Without looking up from her poultice she frowned. "You went by yourself?"

"Well, the hunters were busy and..."

"I'm not scolding you, Vanille. You're a woman grown, you can do as you please, but I urge you to be careful. The wilds are dangerous, do not underestimate them."

Vanille returned to her work. The mother was right of course, if it had been something bigger then she might not have gotten away and no one would have known where to look for her. She felt ashamed of herself for being so careless but a look from the mother quelled those fears and told her everything was going to be alright. "At least you were successful. Bring a few leaves here, I could use then for this poultice."

-SAVAGE-

The transport landed and Lightning's squad disembarked and looked around them. The sun was setting over the fields that they had landed in, the tall grass swaying in a gentle breeze with the silhouettes of trees and gentle hills on the horizon. To spite the peacefulness of their surroundings, however, Lightning couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

As soon as the last man exited the transport the doors sealed and it prepared for liftoff. The last man, a private first class by the name of Rogers, looked around him with a strange look on his face. "Sergeant Farron, I thought this was a border recon mission."

"It is. Why?"

"I'm from Rabanastre so I've been to the border and this isn't it."

At hearing his assessment Lightning's feeling jumped from bad to worse. "If we're not at the border then where the hell are we?"

"My guess is that we're further south."

"So the transport dropped us inside Pulse? We're behind enemy lines." The thought unsettled her but there was nothing she could do about it now. The transport was long gone and she had no way to get a hold of it. Radio silence was demanded for this mission so their communicators were disabled. She sighed. "There's only one thing we can do. Complete the mission and wait for extraction. Our target location is to the south so let's move out."

Rogers took point as he seemed more familiar with the area and the men fell into formation behind him. Lightning brought up the rear, her deepening anxiety about he mission hidden behind her practiced stoicism. They walked south past the field and into a jungle area with tight spaces and little visibility. As the sun went down the team lit up their flashlights to guide them amongst barely worn paths that disappeared only to reappear yards ahead. This place was wild and not many men had ever walked beneath these trees, Lightning was not happy to be the first.

The trees eventually started to give and before long they found themselves with some breathing room. The men eased up a bit and Lightning exhaled, maybe this mission wouldn't be a total disaster after all. She heard a rustle from the trees behind her and winced, maybe she had thought too soon.

"Fru kuac drana?"

The call came from their right and all five guns turned to that direction. A rustling from the trees behind them let Lightning know that they were surrounded. So much for an easy recon mission. "Show yourselves." Lightning called out into the darkness but there was no immediate response. After a few moments a figure stepped out of the darkness, the only thing visible was green eyes.

"I asked who goes there but I can clearly see you are from Cocoon. Ehcinkahdc vnus Cocoon." She could hear rustling as three more men stepped from the shadows, each with a bow trained at them. "What are you doing here, so far from your country?"

"We're lost."

At that the figure, a woman by the sound of her voice, laughed as did Lightning's men and the few in the trees who understood Cocoonian. "You sure brought a lot of firepower to be lost with."

"I won't let them take me. These people are animals, who knows what they'll do to us." Lightning heard one of her men whisper and the sentiment seemed to gain ground. If it came down to it none of these men were willing to be captured, they would die first. Great, I get the squad of lonely, chivalric men.

"Put down your weapons and we will show you to our village."

Lightning dropped her weapon, she for one was not willing to die here. "Everyone, drop your weapons."

None of the soldiers did, choosing this moment to be insubordinate. "You mean to enslave us, Pulsian. We have the guns so why don't you put down your weapons."

"Gemm res."

At the woman's command arrows flew out from the trees and struck down the man who had spoken. As his body fell to the ground dead chaos erupted. Four guns started firing and the woman who had been in front of them flipped out of the way. The soldiers stood in a row and emptied their guns at the darkness but didn't accomplish much as the enemy was hidden. As soon as the firing started more arrows came from the trees and with the soldier's poor visibility they were at a serious disadvantage. Lightning watched as one of her men was struck by three arrows from the front and back and go down in a bloody heap with his weapons still firing.

Lightning knelt to retrieve her dropped weapon. "Fall back to the trees, dammit. Retreat." She shouted but it was too late. She watched another man fall to arrows they couldn't see. It was down to her and Rogers and he ran towards her meaning to fall back. "Come on, Rogers. Hurry." From out of nowhere the woman, who must have been the leader, stepped up and jabbed her spear into his throat. Rogers gurgled as he fell to the ground and Lightning knew that she would soon join them.

She held her blade as the warrior turned to face her and their eyes met. Lightning sent off a prayer to any god that was listening, the woman raised a hand and the rain of arrows stopped. "Drec uha ec seha."

The woman and Lightning circled each other. If I'm going to die here, then I'm taking this bitch with me. Lightning attacked first, a simple jab to test her oppenent's skill. Fang dodged it and countered with her own jab. Lightning back stepped and they circled each other again. Both women were well versed in combat but Lightning had a speed advantage on the Pulsian woman.

Lightning took full advantage of this, using her speed advantage to hit and run her opponent. She would jump in for an attack and fall back before the counter strike could fall. The Pulsian woman stayed on the defensive, trying to counter Lightning's speed advantage by making her opponent come to her.

Lightning leapt in for the attack and the Pulsian backed up. Lightning, seeing this as an opportunity, kept up the attack. Her blade flashed through the air and came out red as she earned a hit on her opponent's right arm. This only seemed to anger the Pulsian, however, who seemed to have had enough of defending and decided to do some attacking of her own.

She used the reach of her spear to fend off Lightning's attacks and to corral her into a vulnerable position. Lightning fell back and winced when she felt a solid object hit her back, she had backed into a tree. With the advantage of her speed removed she was at the mercy of the Pulsian woman who rained blows at her with her spear. Lightning tried to deflect them but missed two, one to her right shoulder and another to her left abdomen.

Lightning wasn't out of the fight yet, however. After reflecting an ill placed attack to her head she stepped passed the woman and kicked her into the tree. The woman, not expecting the counter, hit the tree face first and felt the deep cut that Lightning's blade made in her back. She growled and spun around, dodging the follow up attack from Lightning.

They circled each other again, this time wounded and angry. "Oui'na kuut." Lightning can't understand her speech but her body language says it all. 'Let's end this'.

Lightning shouted a warcry as she charged the woman, her blade singing through the air as she spun around her opponent trying to create an opening. The Pulsian woman's spear moved fast but her anger was making her reckless and Lightning eventually found her opening. With a dramatic thrust she drove the point of her sword forward, catching the Pulsian woman in her right shoulder inches away from her heart. She didn't have time to revel in the hit as she felt a sting from her stomach and looked down to see that the woman had stabbed her with a knife.

She let go of the sword, which the woman pulled painfully from her shoulder, and took two steps backwards. Her hands were covered in blood and her vision was blurring. She fell to her knees and the Pulsian woman punched her hard in the face, knocking her to the ground. The last thing she heard before she passed out was the woman shouting, "Pnehk ran."

Author's Note:

The Pulsian language can be translated using the Al Bhed cipher from FFX. The reason the dialogue is in English in Vanille's POV and in Pulsian in Lightning's POV is that Lightning can't understand the language.