Title: Beautiful Lies
Universe: Dissidia Duodecim - Cycle 11
Summary: While the war was endless, everything felt new to her. Lightning just kept fighting, unaware of who her enemy was, what the real truth was. When the old memories returned, so did the old feelings.
Notes: This was always my twisted theory on who should be Lightning's opponent in Dissidia. I never acted on it until I discovered that Zerrat supported the same theory. She expressed interest in how I would write it out, so my story might run similar to hers but I tried my hardest to prevent that. Also, not every story needs a happy ending.
The war was making her numb.
An empty shell with nothing, no story, no memories, no future. All she had was her name and the will to fight. Even then, was this who she truly was? Her mind screamed yes while her heart said no.
Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she ran a stone across the edge of her saber.
"I'll never understand that weapon."
While she couldn't remember having this conversation before, it felt old and overused. Like she had it another, no, several lifetimes ago.
"It's called a gunblade, Squall." she looked up at the scarred man sitting on the other side of the campfire her small group rested at. She might be the only female of the group but everyone decided to appoint her as leader.
"My weapon is a gunblade." Squall stated, holding up his rather impractical, in her opinion, weapon in the firelight. "That isn't a gunblade."
She just shook her head and continued to clean her weapon, all of these battles left her saber open to elements she didn't want it exposed to. Pulling out her survival knife, she studied it for a while. She knew it had a greater meaning to her, but for the life of her, she didn't know what it was.
"Well I think Lightning's weapon is more of a Dual Weapon." the third member of the four man team offered. Lightning looked up at the Weapon Master of the group for a second before proceeding to use her knife to try to pry the damaged magazine out of her weapon. The other warrior took the silence as a sign to keep speaking. "It's never a blade and a gun at the same given moment. Lightning has to transform it in battle for it to do what she wants."
"For the sake of this redundant conversation." Lightning muttered as she got the broken magazine to fall to the ground. "Why don't we just call my weapon a Dual Weapon for the sake of Squall's pride."
"I don't think-" Squall was stopped by Lightning's glare. The Farron always had an impact on the group. "Fine." Lightning's lips then held the faintest of upturns. His gunblade disappeared in a shimmer of light while she replaced her magazine.
"Firion." Lightning started, looking at the Weapon Master. For some reason, she felt like she knew the answer of the question he had yet to ask. Firion looked at her but Lightning just placed a finger on her lips. "Nevermind, I just answered my own question."
"I see." Firion idly poked at the fire. "Has anyone seen Kain lately?" he questioned the other two about the absent forth member of the team. Lightning bit her lower lip.
Kain Highwind, the only Dragoon in Cosmos' team. Lightning couldn't help but feel that the man's fighting style was similar to her, she proved it when they sparred for the first time, being able to predict his moves before he even struck.
It had surprised them both.
"What of it?" Lightning sneered. "Do I look like the leader of this merry band of misfits?"
"Well we are-"
"Kain can do whatever the hell Kain wants to do. It's not my problem."
"Leave her be Firion." Squall muttered, the other warrior quickly distracted himself with something else, leaving Farron to seethe in peace. She didn't wait long though, standing up she holstered her saber and checked to see that her Grav Con Unit was charged. The small unit had saved her from almost certain death several times.
Or what felt like several times, this world confused her.
Then she felt a chill like no other run down her spine. That was a first.
"Lightning?" Firion asked. He had seen the stoic soldier shiver, it made him nervous too. "Something wrong?"
"Not sure." Lightning muttered as she narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to go look into it, if Kain gets back, let him know. He should be able to track me." With that she was off, leaving the two sitting there dumbfounded. Squall turned to Firion.
"Kain? A tracker? Laughable." Squall muttered, Firion shook his head.
"I think she's getting Kain messed up with someone else she knows, but doesn't remember."
"Aren't we all like that?" The gunblader asked dully.
Dissidia012Duodecim
Lightning dug into her pouch and found one of her few flares. Lighting it, she got a better look of her surroundings. She already knew that she was in a forest of some sort but she had never ventured this deep, not even in the daylight. However, there was something pushing her forward, to keep walking deeper, as if there was someone waiting for her, but who? She had never seen anyone else from her world in this world, not like she would remember them if she had seen them again. Lightning knew she had a family of some sort but she couldn't remember their names, their faces were just blurs.
"Damn this place." She looked upwards, the trees blocking out the moonlight as she walked. Transferring the flare to her off hand, Lightning drew her saber and held it by her side. By no means was she battle ready but she knew better than to walk around without her weapon all but slung over her shoulder. Lightning knew that her magazine was full; she didn't have a loaded spare on her. The idiot Laguna aside, she was the only one that used a gun, Squall's bloody gunblade didn't count.
No, something, or someone was watching her. Lightning held the flare out to see if she could get a better look in front of her but came up short, it was too dark to tell. Continuing forward, she made it to a clearing that dropped off into a cliff side. Looking down, she knew that it was a massive drop that only a few, including herself and the Dragoon, could survive. Humming slightly, she looked around, behind her, just missing the movement in the shadow by a second. Slowly, she started to walk the edge of the cliff. She looked around. Why did she feel the urge to come here? Why a cliff? Looking down again, a stabbing pain ran through her head, stopping her. Opening her eyes she didn't know she had closed, she looked down again, dropping the flare down on the ground and sheathing her blade.
"Leap of Faith." she muttered to herself as she moved closer to the edge. Her toes just hanging off the edge, holding her hands out, she closed her eyes again. She made a move to lean forward, to leap off the cliff, but the sound of something snapping stopped her. Whirling around, she looked into the darkness, bending down to pick up her flare once more.
"Who's there! Come out!" she roared, pulling out her saber. She missed the movement from the forest but she followed her gut feeling and dodged to the side, just missing the airborne attack by inches. Lightning whirled around to face her attacker but they were gone again. Looking around, she finally looked up. She couldn't see the body but she recognized the position the body was being held at. She shouted the first thing that came to mind.
"Kain? Why!" she shouted out as she flipped backwards to dodge the Jump attack. Holding her flare out, she stared at the human who had attacked her, the pain in her head spiked again causing her to collapse, what was happening? That… that wasn't Kain.
"Oh, the little viper trembles before me."
Viper?
Lightning looked up, finally realizing what that pain was, it was her memories returning to her. The name of her sister, why she was a soldier, her real name… but this woman.
"Do I know you?"
"They say, as we fight our memories will return to us."
"You never do remember do you?" the sari clad woman asked. "We've been fighting for five cycles now and at the start of each one, you never remember me." she knelt down and held Lightning's chin up with a finger. "But I remember this little viper's name, the same one who always questions Cosmos' motives. Deep down, you're one of us, Lightning."
Farron gasped as she felt a stabbing pain in her stomach. Her hand dropped the flare as she looked down. The woman had stabbed her with a hunting knife. "So you have two choices." She whispered into the soldier's ear. "Die here, or join us." With that, she ripped the weapon out of Lightning, allowing the soldier to fall backwards. The lance wielding woman stood up slowly. "The choice is yours. I know you vipers never come looking for a fight, but you're different." she walked backwards and fell, no, jumped off the cliff to the ground below. Lightning knew that the woman could survive the fall.
She healed the open wound on her exposed stomach while gathering her equipment and shedding her jacket . Standing up, another memory came back to her, the woman's name. Fang.
That didn't make any sense. Five cycles of fighting? She remembered every face in Chaos' team, but why couldn't she remember Fang? Or any of the other battles for that reason? There had to be something Cosmos wasn't telling her warriors or was she forgetting over time as well? Fang probably knew, she could get the answers and maybe more of her memories off her. Without hesitating, she leaped off the edge of the cliff, falling head first, flipping her body around, and activating her Gravity Control Device before landing on the grassy field with ease.
She was alone.
But something confused her anyway. Fang was her partner, she could remember fighting along side her, for what? She couldn't remember, but she could remember fighting in a city with Fang at her back. So why was Fang her enemy now? Biting her lower lip, she looked around. It was an open field, it felt familiar to her. Off to the distance was the ruins of a city, but of what city?
"You don't know that this war is endless, do you?" Lightning heard Fang ask behind her. She turned around and held her saber out, the huntress just smiled. "We were summoned during the Sixth Cycle, we're on the Eleventh now."
"That's impossible! You're lying to me Fang." Lightning sneered. "Why are you on Chaos' side? We're friends! We should be fighting together!"
"And you say that every time after you remember my name." Fang's smirk wasn't her usual one, it was something else, something darker. "We're not friends!" With that, she attacked, not with her lance but with an Aero spell. Lightning stepped out of the way and locked eyes with her friend.
"Are you crazy? We fought together! To save… to save." She lost her train of thought, unable to remember what it was exactly she was fighting to save. Was it her sister Serah? Or was it something or someone else? She couldn't remember as Fang finally went physical, her lance clashing against the blade of Lightning's saber.
"Our reasons to fight are different!" Fang snarled at her as Lightning forced her off, their weapons grinding against each other. "Don't you dare tell me we're fightin' for the same damned thing!" Another strike. "Imma finish this war, save Vanille 'n tear Cocoon outta the bloody sky!"
The blood in Lightning's body froze, giving Fang the opportunity to slam her foot into the soldier's body, knocking her away. Farron landed on the grass with a grunt as she slowly sat up, watching the lancer prowl closer to her.
"Fang, I don't get what you're saying… unless." Lightning paused again when another memory spiked, the Hanging Edge, her focus, all coming to mind. "No! We promised Serah we'd save Cocoon! Don't you remember that?" She rolled out of the way to dodge a powerful swing that would have been a killer blow.
"You do this every time Lightning." Fang sneered as she threw another attack at Lightning. "You say we're friends, that we're fighting for the same thing! I tell you every freakin' time! You were the one that lead the attack of Oerba! You're the one that killed my family!" She struck, Lightning flipped backwards to dodge before lunging in, striking at Fang, her saber quickly transformed into Zantetsuken as she whirled the swords effortlessly around her, the final blow forced Fang back creating a distance between them as her weapon transformed back to her Blazefire. A familiar thought came to Lightning.
Chaos had messed with Fang's memories to get her to fight for him.
"Fang! In your home world. What's going on right now?" Lightning demanded as her weapon flipping into it's gunform. "Tell me!"
"Like I'll tell you anything." Fang sneered as she stood up. "You damn well know what the war is about, it was your people who started it!"
The War of Transgression.
Lightning paused her movement again, what was Fang thinking? Did Chaos really change her memories? Why did this all feel familiar to her but everything that was being said was all news to her? Unless…
Cosmos has been losing the war; she knew that the Goddess' motives, if there were any, were getting them nowhere.
Weren't the lies being fed to them just beautiful pieces of false hope? It made the soldier feel sick.
"Fang, I'm the same as you." she looked up, all of her memories were coming back to her now, she just needed to get Fang's back. "I'm a Pulse L'Cie."
"Bullshit!" Fang roared as she jumped up. Lightning smiled softly. So she was denying that claim, either Chaos kept wiping Fang clean of her knowledge or Lightning just never proved it to her. While her memories of her home world returned, she couldn't remember a thing of the past cycles. Lightning held her saber to the side, feeling the energy within her bubble upwards as the Blazefire transformed over to the Omega Weapon. Fang's body in the air sparked too and she landed, forcing Lightning off her feet.
"No."
It wasn't Fang that crouched before her, but the incomplete form of Ragnarok. It made sense to her now. Cosmos would never welcome the Beast of Destruction, Chaos would. However, Fang's current memories of what she had done with Lightning wouldn't have sat with Chaos well so he brought her back to the War of Transgression. Farron swore.
She had to fight.
Part of her just wanted to drop her weapon on the floor and let Fang have her way with her. She knew she couldn't, she needed to fight back.
"Fang."
A growl.
"Fang, please."
Ragnarok snarled at her. Lightning closed her eyes and took a deep breath. So be it. Holding her Omega Weapon up, she held her stance as Ragnarok lashed out, almost too fast for the Farron. Lightning dodged backwards before dashing backwards, charging a thunder spell in her hand as Ragnarok chased after her. Lightning released the attack as it struck down her friend. She quickly followed up with two more strikes, the power of the spell allowed her to change direction of the chase. Not waiting, Lightning followed her in the air, the Omega Weapon changing back into Zantetsuken as she struck. Ragnarok caught her blades and snarled, flipping the soldier around and slamming her down on the ground. Lightning gasped when her Grav-Con kicked in, saving her from the impact. Flipping around and landing on her feet, she threw a fire spell Ragnarok's way. As long as she didn't get caught off guard, she would be fine.
Unless…
"Damn!" Lightning shouted when Ragnarok slammed the ground seconds later, she had allowed herself to get distracted. She had no choice but to keep running until the transformation wore off. Lightning stood up but the transformed Fang was already in front of her striking at her with her claws. Lightning felt her clothing rip as her body flipped in the air, allowing her to land on the ground face first. Well, she would have if her unit didn't kick in again, allowing her to flip herself straight again.
"Lightning?"
Fang sounded confused, conflicted. Lightning looked at her friend again. The huntress was slowly backing away scared. "I… I don't get it." she muttered. Lightning frowned, confused herself, before bringing her hand up to her torn shirt.
"Fang?"
"Why?" Fang was in hysterics now. "Why are you a Pulse L'Cie?" The moment those words left her mouth, Fang dropped Lightning and stumbled backwards, holding her head. The memories Chaos had taken away from her were coming back. "You… you should be a Cocoon-!" She was clearly fighting against herself. "I don't… no…"
"Fang! Listen to me!"
"No! I-!" Fang's panic stopped when her scarred L'Cie brand started to glow, her Bladed Lance transforming into the Kain's Lance she was familiar with. Chaos was pulling her strings again.
"Fang, you're being used by Chaos! We're on the same side!" For once Lightning was happy that her memory had returned before Fang's. "We're fighting to get my sister back! To find Vanille! To save Cocoon!"
"Bullshit!" Fang shouted, her eyes wild as she turned to Lightning. "That's a lie! We're not the same!"
"Fang! Please!"
"No!"
Fang spun the lance once in her hand before making a stabbing motion at Lightning. Farron rolled out of the way to dodge the attack and lifted her own weapon to block the next. Fang was more than just enraged, she was confused, Chaos was trying to steal the memories back and Fang was doing the only thing she knew best. Fight.
"Enthunder!" Lightning shouted to herself as her weapon glowed purple with the power of electricity. She couldn't summon the power to bring back her Omega Weapon. She kicked Fang back and jumped up onto her feet, lashing out. Fang stumbled back as Lightning gasped, remembering everything that she once knew as a L'Cie. She locked eyes with Fang, the Pulsian was still snarling.
"You still want to fight?" she asked Fang slowly, wondering what her state of mind was. Fang just smirked.
"Bring it on." Fang grinned, provoking her forward. Lightning resisted it, wondering just what judgement was to be held over this battle.
"I'll bring you back Fang, I promise."
Then the real fight started.
The two fighters flew at each other, weapons clashing in the air when they struck. Lightning flipped her body under Fang's lance to avoid the whiplash and got above her. She charged a thunder spell but Fang flipped around, her lance glowing as she stabbed upwards. Lightning, unable to dodge in time, took the hit and was thrown upwards, Fang chasing her. It was surprising how much of this war took place in the air, as if each warrior had the ability to fly.
Fang, instead of striking Lightning with her weapon, reached out and grabbing Lightning's foot. Pulling her closer and with sheer might, she spun her around and threw her downwards, following up with a Highwind. Lightning snapped her fingers, happy to see her Gav-Con was not actually linked to her Omega Weapon like Cosmos had made her believe, and was able to get out of the attack's way just in time. She spun her saber over her head and as it transformed into Zantetsuken she unleashed a Razor Gale at the recovering Dragoon, striking her.
Fang swore as she recovered, standing up and wiping the corner of her mouth clean of blood.
"You're good, for a viper."
"Fang!"
"Don't use my name like you know me!" Fang cried out as if she was pleading with Lightning. "I feel like I know you… like I know you more than my mind is letting on."
Chaos can control the minds of his warriors but he can't control their hearts. It was just pieces of beautiful lies; it angered Lightning to think how much the gods had played with them.
"We're going back home Fang! Back to Gran Pulse! To our real family!"
"My family is dead! Your people killed them!" Fang snarled as she stabbed at Lightning. Lightning didn't dodge it, the attack only grazing her side. That was enough for Farron to know that Fang's heart was hesitating.
"Fang, I am your family! Serah, Vanille, Sazh and Hope, hell, even Snow! You remember them, don't you?" Lightning quickly asked. Fang shook her head.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Fang cried out. "Stop talking like you know me!" she pointed her lance at Lightning. Lightning shook her head and held her saber up in a battle stance.
"We're friends Fang, Chaos has been lying to you." Lightning muttered calmly. Fang just ignored her, charging her blindly.. Lightning moved her weapon downward to parry the lance but the weapons slipped against each other. Lightning grunted at the impact as she slumped forward against Fang, she could feel her life blood escaping her as she coughed.
"Li-Light?" Fang's voice stuttered. Lightning slowly opened her eyes and saw Fang staring at her, the look in her eyes, Lightning smiled weakly, she had gotten Fang back. "What? where? why?" Lightning released her weapon but failed to hear it clatter on the ground. Not only had Fang managed to wound her, she had hurt Fang too. She brought her hand up to Fang's cheek and smiled softly.
"Hey."
"Lightning… I…" Fang couldn't form her words, Lightning brought the both of them down to their knees, slowly pulling her saber out of Fang's body and placing her hand over the wound to try and cure it. Fang caught her wrist.
"Leave it, I'm done." she smiled at Lightning. "Chaos has no need for a broken warrior." Lightning shook her head and grunted when Fang removed her own weapon harshly without telling her, it was a something she would do. "You need to live Lightning."
"No, we'll go back to Cosmos, fight together, like old times." Fang placed a finger on Light's lips, but she didn't say anything as she slumped forward against the soldier. Lightning meant to panic but she felt her energy disappear as she collapsed beside her old comrade, Fang's name still on her lips.
Dissidia012Duodecim
Zantetsuken slammed against the ground as she looked up, fighting to breath. All around her she could see her comrades falling. The Manikin Army at the rift was proving to be too great of a force to defeat. After hearing Kain Highwind fall beside her she looked up again to see the rift close. Closing her eyes one more time she felt her lost memories return to her again.
"Fang…"
She eventually fell, her life escaping her.