CLASHING BLADES

In the chaotic battle that raged in between the two groups, Lightning glided and readied her blade. She had spotted him, the tall, white blond male that stood imposing, already defeating one of her allies.

Sephirot.

She had clashed blades against him before, she knew he was strong, maybe stronger than her, but she was faster, and the strongest of her group. The responsibility of defeating him was hers.

Lightning became her namesake and took him by surprise, swords colliding against one another, the kiss of metal against metal creating sparks. His speed was high, but indeed couldn´t match her own, so she easily landed a few strikes against him. Unfortunately, as fast as she was, he was definitely stronger, so the man was able to receive many of her attacks with apparently no damage whatsoever, and, to her anger, he even managed to smirk at her face. After a particularly strong set of blows, he finally staggered backwards, losing eye contact.

Now! It´s the time!

She procured all her magic on the palms of her hands, and the beautiful twin blades, the Zantetsuken, appeared on each side. She crossed both blades in front of her, readying her most powerful attack, when a surprise attack from the man took advantage of the delay needed to execute her move, and attacked her first, breaking her inertia, and after it, he sent her a rain of strikes that wouldn't allow her to recover; blow after blow made her stagger backwards, until the last strike sent her flying back, only to crash against the invisible wall the virtual arena had formed for them. The air had left her lungs, and the moment she tried to force herself to separate from the wall, a blinding pain was born from her left side, while a figure hovered in front of her, and then she noticed the long blade piercing her flank, blood freely oozing from the wound. She looked up, only to meet blue-green, cat-like eyes full of mirth inches from her face, breaking her personal bubble.

"Tch… Sephirot…"

"Up close and personal, you look more beautiful than I would think." He licked his lips, and she felt revolted, the moment his free hand touched her face. "So beautiful. Too bad you have to die here."

"Don´t count on it."

Lightning kicked him hard in between his legs, making him stagger, she took advantage of the precious fraction of a second and hit him harder on the face, which sent him flying backwards and away from her, the offending blade retreated rather forcefully for her taste. She yelped the moment the metal left her flesh, and fell on her knees as she pressed a hand to her wound. She had spent all her magic on the summoning of Alexander, so she wouldn´t be able to cure herself for a while.

"Tch."

She spotted one of her team mates and ran towards him, hoping he could help her, but then spotted Sephirot recovering from her kick and, against all rational thoughts, she turned around and launched herself against him, hitting him hard on the back and embedding his face on the ground.

"Get up, Sephirot! Let´s finish this you and me!"

Angered by the assault, he slowly raised from the ground, locking eyes with his enemy. "I admire your courage, woman, but you should´ve thought better than to stand in my way."

He immediately clashed his weapon against hers, sending sparkles with each strike. He was stronger, indeed, the numbing in her arms were proof of it. But he was nowhere near as fast as her. They both attacked, their forces leveling to one another, until they clashed their blades and brought their faces inches apart from one another, glaring daggers. The next second, the man took advantage of their stance and kicked Lightning´s injured side, drawing a scream and the kneeling of the woman, out of pain. He hit her again and sent her rolling away, and he ran to catch up.

"You made a mistake by attacking me while still injured. You might be faster, but you still have a long way to go in words of experience."

He swung his blade upwards, readying his last strike, not caring the woman was still on the ground, grunting in pain. But the moment the sword fell onto her, she turned around before it touched her, slashed as fast as she could and hit the man´s fingers, forcing him to let go of the blade, which flew so far away from them, only to embed itself in the ground, meters away. Stunned, the man just barely blocked the woman´s kick, but wasn´t fast enough to block her blade, which sent him hard against the ground. He tried to rise from it, but her blade blocked his path, resting on her chest, the point threatening his Adam's apple.

"You´re wrong. You might be stronger, but I´m faster, and have a millennia of experience against you."

"I would have to disagree." Lightning raised a delicate eyebrow, as the man smirked at her. "In all the years you fought, you were never able to defeat your biggest enemy."

The woman´s rage picked, and she felt her face burning, but only grinded her teeth.

"You know nothing about me."

The fallen man smiled wickedly at sensing her struggle. "It would seem at least I know more of you than yourself."

Lightning, seething in rage, pushed the blade harder, drawing a thin trail of blood, in spite of which she wasn´t still able to take the hateful smile from his lips, which made her heartbeat quicken due to her raw fury. Fortunately, before she could do anything else, the pinkette came to her senses and she managed to reign over her emotions. For a moment she stood over him, glaring, but immobile.

"You can say whatever you want to. You´re still defeated, Sephirot. And by a woman."

He glared at her but then smirked. "Fine. Kill me now. I accept my defeat."

Not baffled by his words, she slowly withdrew her gunblade from his throat. "No. You´re defeated, but I won´t kill you. I would like to face you next time. And next time try to be less…"

"Then fix that weak spot you have every time you attack with your blades. Because I can´t promise I won´t take advantage of it next time we meet."

She paused, and then nodded, accepting his words as a positive criticism. She had always been a professional, after all. And the words came from one of the best warriors she had ever met. In spite of her wounded pride, she had to admit there was some true behind the teasing.

"Understood. Thank you for the advice."

He sat straighter, now that the threat was out of his way. "Hmph. Don´t mention it. And I really mean it. Don´t let anyone know of this."

She was about to respond, but a sudden ball of fire separated the two enemies. Iffrit came to the man´s rescue, so the woman had to run faster than she ever had, since the monstrous summoning was searching for her flesh. In between the battle, she spotted Sephirot´s form away from her, and rushed to confront him once again, but before she managed to reach him, the bothersome cadet, Squall, had defeated the last of the enemy team, and so the fight was over. She was forced to stop and reach for her team, not before sending a last look at her enemy.

Next time, Sephirot. I promise you I won´t make the same mistake.

ooooOOOOOOOooooo

A/N:

I don´t own Final Fantasy nor any of it´s characters.

I don´t know why there are so few fanfics about Dissidia NT. I really like the game, and the personalities they´re giving each character (I hate Ramuh, though, I just can´t defeat him! Sniff…) But the true reason I wrote this piece, is because I get frustrated all the time, because Lightning´s delay in her attacks give her enemies A LOT of time to counterattack. Isn´t she supposed to be faster that them?

Short, because I really don´t have much time, but at least this fic is my contribution to this wonderful Dissidia world. Hope you liked it!