In the path of awakening

"Fang!"

She felt her soul breaking apart when she saw the other girl fall, the blow struck and filled the air with a sound much like the one a branch does when it breaks. Her body was motionless and the enemy was dangerously close. It was about to finish its work but the distraction that Vanille caused, who was protecting her friend's life, prevented it from doing so.

Our heroine, seeing that her companion was creating a diversion, took advantage of it to eliminate the small monsters that were so annoying. She was getting rid of the last, when a cry rushed her. Vanille was covering the body of the unconscious girl. A stone crashed into the beast's skull, which turned its face, annoyed. "Hey, freak, your objective is me." And with this she finally got its attention.

"Fang? Fang, wake up, "Vanille was bent over the other girl's body trying to make her react. Their faces were too close; just a few inches separated their lips. Rage was what Lightning felt when she let her mind create images that distracted her from the coming blow. The pain made her cry out and she fell a few feet away from where she was standing.
"Light, look out!" Had she not rolled on her back, the blow would have been fatal.

"Vanille?" The taller girl's voice was weak and hard to understand. Her hand traveled to her friend's face.
"Fang! Thanks to Etro, "She took her hand in hers and relaxed while calmly looking at the other girl. Lightning felt anger when she saw the scene, so much that she had been about to receive another blow. It was her time to strike. With the first blow she broke her enemy's defense, with the second one she killed it, the third one she concealed while the body was falling, and the fourth one was for her own mental health.

"I think it's dead, sunshine." Fang casually said as she stood with difficulty. Lightning just turned her head to look at her and thrust her sword into the skull of the fallen enemy, defiantly.
"We should go back to the others," Vanille suggested after a moment's thought. The cheerful tone of her voice irritated the leader.
"I'm sure you can keep going, am I right?"
"I've been through worse," She actually didn't remember feeling such pain in her life, it was as if she remembered much anyway, but she knew she was not going to be able to make Lightning change her mind without a fight. And at the time she did not feel like arguing.
"Then let's go." It was with this order that they continued their journey without knowing that they would not get very far.

"Wait, let me get some rest." Fang was pale and was walking slower every time; she hadn't told any of her companions she was having trouble breathing with every step she took.
"If we keep stopping the night will fall and we will not get anywhere."
"Whatever you say, boss." Lightning clenched her fists. She was angry, she knew that Fang was injured but had no idea how to help her. Both she and Vanille had done all they could with what they had without achieving anything. She didn't know how to direct all that frustration. Managing her feeling had been never her thing. But that wasn't it; the mere idea of leaving Fang behind caused her anxiety. Was that it? Or did she really didn't want to leave her alone with Vanille? A cough brought her out of her thoughts.

"Are you okay?" The taller girl looked at her in a hostile and sarcastic manner. "I'm ... Sorry. It's best that you wait here. I'll go get something that can help us. "
"But Lightning,"
"No Vanille, I need you to take care of Fang. Also, if I go alone, I'll have more chance to evade the enemies that could appear. "
"Just as you will have less chance of surviving. Leave the sermons about heroes to Snow, we are in this together. And I will not go back until we have access to some help. So let's keep going. "
"Fang,"

"No, Light, I won't leave you alone." The resolution in her voice surprised the leader of the group, who felt her stomach lurch. Were not for her training, her breathing would have accelerated. But no, she would not let her feelings be revealed in front of the girls who followed her. She couldn't let them see any kind of weakness in her.
"Okay. We will keep going together, but I forbid you to do anything risky. "Fang smirked at her; they both knew that doing risky things was the girl's favorite action. Even with that, Lightning had to withstand her weight on knees that for a moment went weak.

The sky got darker by the second and there was no sign of help. Fang was obviously hiding her pain and was trying to keep up even though it was hard for her to do so. The other two had proposed setting camp, but there was no force in the universe that could take an idea out from that stubborn girl's head.

They took a break, Lightning delved a little into the trees for some privacy. All day her mind had been clouded. She felt confused. She couldn't stop thinking about Fang. Sure, she was worried about her injuries, however that was not all. From the day they met, Light saw in her someone with power and determination, perhaps even more so than hers. She still remembered the time when she had slapped her; she had done it out of anger, but also to show her who was in charge. At what point, she wondered, did she begin to be jealous of Vanille? At what point did she begin to wish for the other girl to look at her? At what point did she manage to pass through her emotional barriers to make a place in her heart? Just at what point?

She didn't know the answer, but she had known for some time that she was attracted to the other girl. At some point she lost sight of the line that separated rivalry from attraction. Now she wanted to be next to Fang, to fight beside her, to carry out their mission and promises, and to lead a happy life when this nightmare ended. She wanted to be a part of her life. She wanted to be her new family and more.

She would have to tell her. Now more than ever she felt the need to tell her. Or maybe not. She knew that Fang loved Vanille. She was someone who she had spent her entire life with, destiny intertwined them and that was a powerful force. Destiny ... destiny could be changed, right? Wasn't that why they were doing all this travelling, just to show that their hopes and dreams were the biggest force that could exist?
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a beating of wings among the trees.

A shrilling cry came to her ears seconds later. "Stay away!" Vanille was doing her best to distance the bird from her friend, who was standing in a defensive position with the help of her spear.

When Lightning managed to go back she threw a magic attack that was ignored by the bird which kept trying to get a hold of Vanille, who was getting closer and closer to a precipice. "Light! Help her, please!" begged the injured girl.

She let out a sigh; she couldn't refuse a plea like that. She ran as fast as she could and used the momentum to jump and connect a direct hit to the creature that was stunned. But the satisfaction didn't last long because it still managed to fight back, hitting her directly. The attack threw her towards the ravine.

It seemed that time decided to change its path, because as she was falling, her mind traveled faster than ever. She thought of Serah, of how she could never see her again; of Hope, who had grown so much because of the situation they were facing; of Snow, whom he didn't hate as much as before; of Vanille and Sazh, their strange new friends; and of Fang , who would never know how she felt about her.

She didn't think someone would save her, let alone that someone would be Vanille. Perhaps after all she wasn't as weak as she thought she was.
"Vanille, let go of me. Save Fang. "
"No! We can do it, I can't let you die." And then she mumbled something to herself, something she couldn't hear very well, it was something along the lines of "I would never forgive myself" or maybe it was something like "Would never forgive me". Was she speaking in first person, or was she speaking about someone else? Lightning wondered. A roar warned them of the aerial attack their enemy launched. It rose in the air above their heads and then plummeted towards them.

With its jaws it caught Lightning and with its tail it hit Vanille, knocking her unconscious on the spot. Lightning stuck her sword in the first soft spot she found, causing the creature to release its grip and let her go into a free fall. The collision knocked the air out of her lungs. With great effort she tried to get on her feet but her body felt as if it were a kind of jelly. She turned her head, she didn't see Fang anywhere. That was a relief, at least she had escaped. She breathed a lot more relaxed. With Vanille knocked out, the creature would no longer pay attention to her and she would be safe, maybe she could even find Fang.

She looked at the sky again. She took a deep breath and used all her remaining strength to get up. With her Blazefire Saber she began to shoot the bird that was flying overhead, lurking. She expected the blow when she saw it plummeting towards her, but she did not expect the blue robe that passed next to her at high speed, let alone the jump that put that person on top of the enemy.
"I will show you hell!" With her spear buried in the neck of the creature, Fang began to direct it toward the cliff, falling uncontrollably.

She barely caught a glimpse of her face and with a soft smile she disappeared along with the bird.

"FAAANG!" Her body moved impulsively, and she felt no pain at all. All she felt was fear. She was not afraid of her own death, but the fact that Fang would give up her life to save her terrified her.

She ran to the edge of the cliff and searched through the trees until she spotted some that had their branches broken, among them was a wing. She didn't even notice how she got to Vanille's body, much less how she carried her even though her body was so badly hurt. She was only worried about finding her friend.

She tried to get to her as fast as she could, but the road was full of obstacles and wouldn't let her. She arrived where the wing she had seen before was, but Fang was nowhere to be seen. She left Vanille in that place and began searching for the other girl. It didn't take her much time to hear the voice that made tears form in her eyes.

"I didn't think you would be coming,"

"Fang, you're hurt."

"This? It's just some scratches. How's Vanille doing?"

"She's unconscious but I think she's not hurt" Silence filled the air. Fang was lying with her back on a tree. Her spear was a few feet away from her, broken in half; the remains of the creature could be seen a little further. A trail of blood joined the attacker and the one who killed it.

"It was a pretty rough landing," she said as she saw Lightning examining the scene. "I'm relieved you're okay"

"Fang, you shouldn't have—"

"But I did, and I would do it again if I could. You told Hope that it isn't a question of can or can't, there are some things you just do. This was one of those things. I would never let anything happen to you."

"But you're dying!" Impotence mixed with the anger that ran down her face in the form of tears.

"Light, I would rather not spend my time arguing with you. Could you sit next to me and keep me company?" As she got closer to her, she wiped her tears with her hand. She sat next to her and could not resist caressing that dark hair she loved so much.

"Thank you for saving me."

"It was my pleasure" They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the moment. "I always thought you were a very beautiful woman."' The statement took Lightning by surprise who couldn't help but blush. "The other time I told you about how it was my fault that Serah would become a l'Cie, for a moment I thought you were going to kiss me but instead you hit me. I could never figure you out and that's what attracted me to you the most. "

They stayed in silence again; Lightning was uncomfortable with her friend's sudden confession. The sky was dark and the stars lit up everything around them.

"Don't you have something you want to tell me?" The other girl tensed but said nothing. "Always so proud. What a shame. I'll sleep now. Tell Vanille that I regret I won't be able to keep my promise. Good night, sunshine. "
"No, you can't sleep. If you sleep ... "
"I know, but I can't anymore. It's better if you let me go in this moment of calmness. This moment I'm really enjoying. "
"No, Fang, please. Fang, I lo... I love you," I love you; it was as if the words resonated in and out of her mind.
"I know," was the last thing she heard before waking up.

"Oh, you're waking up. It was about time, dammit. You really had us worried about you when that damned beast hit you it was like someone had split a tree in half. Vanille was screaming at me to do something, but I'm not a doctor, so the best I could do was beat that bastard and carry you to this place.
It was a good thing we were not so far from this village or who knows what we would have done with you."

Lightning touched her forehead, she had a headache and felt disoriented. She could not understand what had really happened. "Are you hurt?"
"Me? Haha sweetheart, I'm tougher than a rock and just as clumsy perhaps, but there's nothing that can break me in this or any other world."
"But you ... you were hurt," she got up resting her weight on her elbows.
"No, Light. You must have dreamed it. You should keep resting, don't worry about tonight. We will leave tomorrow." She helped her lie down again and went to the entrance of the room. "Don't you have something you want to tell me?" The other girl tensed but said nothing, the dream still fresh in her memory. "You're too stubborn, even to die."

She gave her one last smile before closing the door behind her. She leaned her back against it, feeling slightly disappointed and said in a voice that was barely a whisper, "I love you too, sunshine."

FIN