Oh hey, is this a story? I guess it is and you just stumbled on it.
I should warn you, if you can't deal with sadness or gore, or are just plain wimpy…this chapter is not for you…at all…in any way…period.
\/\/\/
Fang found herself walking next to the stoic soldier. Hope, Sahz and Vanille had wandered off ahead as a scouting party, while Snow, herself and the little ray of sunshine followed them, mopping up any resistance left over.
"Hey Fang?"
Fang turned her head to look at Lightning, and for a second their eyes met and fire seemed to flow in Fang's veins. "Oh, so now you want to talk to me."
"I wanted to apologise." Lightning said simply.
"For what?" Fang grinned. Her grin widened when she heard the soldier splutter in indignation. "Go on, what are you apologising for?"
"Erm. For hitting you?"
"And…"
"Hitting you again?"
"And…"
"Calling you a Pulse whore?"
"I wouldn't have minded that one if you used the proper name."
Lightning looked puzzled. "Proper name?"
"Gran Pulse. How hard is it to say one extra syllable, but you Vipers always forget it. Anyway, what else?"
"Not apologising sooner?"
"That's do Sunshine, that'll do." Lightning bristled at the use of Fang's little pet name.
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: don't call me that." She growled at the warrior.
Fang grinned, this was her favourite way of passing the time. Once she had got Lightning to go from sleepy to furious in only three minutes. "What'd you prefer to be called then? Sparky? Jumpy? Slugger? Sweet cheeks? Miss Stab Happy? The most beautiful thing under Cocoon? Look Sunshine this list goes on and on."
They continued walking for a few minutes, letting the group get further and further ahead. "Fang?"
"Yes, slugger?"
Lightning scowled at Fang for a second. "Are you and Vanille…"
"Are me and Vanille what?"
"You know…"
"No, I don't."
Lightning mumbled something and her face blushed. Fang was amazed that she could even do that. Snow had told her that the Guardian Corps had removed the emotion centre of her brain. Now that she thought back, he had been grinning as he said it. "What was that, Sweet Cheeks?"
"I said, are you and Vanille together." At the puzzled look on Fang's face, Lightning felt the need to expand a bit. "As in, are you two in a loving relationship. With intimacy. Of a carnal nature."
"Oh! No. But can you imagine how hot, we'd be? With my natural sexiness and her cuteness, we would make heads explode! Why are you trying to get in on that?"
Lightning blushed again. "You are! I didn't think you were into girls, or anything for that matter." Fang suddenly jumped slightly. "We'd be a Neapolitan!"
"Come again?"
"Like the ice cream, did you not have ice cream up in Cocoon?"
"We did. I know the type you mean, but I don't get the reference."
"Well, I'd be the chocolate, obviously, Vanille sounds like Vanilla, and that leaves you as the strawberry! We'd be so hot, that noon could stop our sexy rampage!"
The two returned to silence. Lightning out of awkwardness and Fang with a far-away look in her eyes and her skin slightly darker. Every so often Fang's tongue would slip out of her mouth and lick her lips. There was no sign of the rest of the l'Cie, only their footprints.
"In all seriousness, Vanille means everything to me. If something were to happen to her…I don't want to think about what'd happen." In that short sentence, everything that needed to be said had been said, from over protective sister to over protective sister.
There was a roar in the distance and the two ignored it, until there were human screams. In a second they took off towards the sounds of battle.
\/\/\/
Snow crossed his arms and winced as he took blow after blow from the trio of behemoths. He had seen the behemoths approaching the forwards scouting party, but was unable to warn them. Instead he ran as fast as he could to reach them, to find Sazh unconscious and Vanille and Hope barely holding them back with constant waves of magic. He could barely get off the defensive, even with Hope applying every buffer he could thing off and Vanille pouring healing spells into him. The biggest behemoth smacked him sideways, winding him and he dropped his guard. It raised its paw for another attack, only to miss its target.
Snow looked up and saw Fang stood over him, twirling her staff around her hand. Snow pushed himself to his feet and stood next to the Pulsian. Behind them, Hope and Vanille started to throw everything they could at the largest behemoth. With a roar, it started the transformation process to stand on its back legs when Lightning burst from the treeline.
The behemoth closest to her swung its giant paw. Lightning effortlessly flipped over it, as she landed she rolled forwards under the body of the large beast. When she was clear, her feet touched the ground and she kicked off, soaring high into the air. The largest behemoth, now on its back legs turned to look at her. The soldier hit his chest with a dull thump, making him recoil from the impact. Lightning's gunblade slipped into the fleshy part of his throat easily and she gave it a twist as she removed it, making the hole bigger. Holding on to the collar bone with one hand, she switched her gunblade to its gun form and plunged it into the hole. Two quick shots and she kicked away, confidant she had severed the spinal cord.
The second behemoth felt something hit its back. Sadly it didn't feel anything else. Lightning kicked away the head of the second behemoth, wincing as the hot, sticky blood splattered up her leg.
"Vanille!"
Lightning turned from her latest kill and watched in horror as the last behemoth charged and smacked Fang and Snow out of the way, allowing it clear passage to Hope and Vanille. There was no way that either of Fang or Snow would be up before the behemoth reached them. The answer was clear in Lightning's head.
The behemoth felt four large concussive blasts hit the side of its head, and it promptly forgot about the two unprotected teenagers and turned to face the new target. Lightning whipped her gunblade around in a slow arc as the behemoth started to run. As it picked up speed, Lightning started to move as well. The beast heaved its head backwards, which would have ripped Lightning's insides to shreds if she hadn't done something with amazed the onlookers. One hand caught the horn on the front of the behemoth's head, as it was whipped upwards, she swung around it. Lightning hooked one foot in the behemoth's jaw and the other planted next to its eye. Three successive bangs later from her gunblade and it was blind in one eye. Still holding onto the horn on its head, Lightning swung round again so she was on the right side of its head. The soldier flicked her wrist to change her gunblade back to its blade form and pushed it into the beast's good eye. With a pained scream the beast died, its back legs still twitching.
"You've been holding out on us, Sunshine." Fang remarked as she dusted herself off.
Lightning shrugged. "Just another battle. Now can we get to Oerba before nightfall?" Vanille did her weird skip-run up to Lightning, and pulled her into a tight hug that startled Lightning. Fang sniggered at the uncomfortable look on Lightning's face.
"Thank you, Light!" Vanille said, before letting go and walking off next to Fang.
\/\/\/
Lightning walked behind the main group in silence. The one person she completely didn't want to speak to right now, or ever for that matter, cleared his throat and let whatever bumbling thought that passed through his thick skull spill out of his mouth. "Hey, Sis-"
He was cut off by a quick jab to the stomach that had him bent double. He fell to his knees winded and looked up to see Lightning's BlazeFire pointed right between his eyes.
"We are going to clear a few things up, right now. One, I am not your sister. Got that?"
Snow nodded, his eyes never leaving the barrel that tickled his forehead. He was going cross eyed with the effort of keeping it in focus. "Two, do you love her?"
"What?" He received a back hand to the face, Lightning's knuckle dusters tearing the skin. A droplet of blood splashed on his coat.
"I'm asking the questions here. Speak back, and it'll be your balls next time. Do you love Serah?"
"Yes! I love her!" Snow answered, his eyes switching between the gun and the glove. In the terror of his mind, a small part of him wondered who thought of attaching bits of metal to Lightning's gloves. She'd hit him quite a few times without her gloves and that hurt enough, but spikey bit of metal was unnecessary.
"Would you do anything to protect her and give her the best life you could provide?"
"Why are you ask-" He received a left hook to the throat, silencing him effectively.
"Answer me, Snow!"
"Yes!" He choked out. When the pain subsided a bit he finished. "I would do anything for Serah, you know that, Light."
"If I were to die here, right now, would you take care of her? Make sure she finished school, help her get a job, take her in?"
"Yes! Yes! I would die for Serah!" Lightning moved suddenly and Snow closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to arrive. It didn't. He cautiously opened his eyes to see Lightning's open hand right in front of his face. Gratefully he took in and felt himself being pulled up onto his feet.
"I guess you're good enough for her." Lightning drew up a ball of curative magic, and let it float to Snow's face. It itched as the skin and muscle knitted itself back together. "Welcome to the family, Snow."
"Does this mean I can call you 'Sis' now?" He asked. His stupid grin was plastered on his face.
Lightning smiled faintly, it would be easy to miss unless you were really looking for it. "Not yet, Snow, don't push your luck."
\/\/\/
Fang walked down the stairs of the orphanage she and Vanille had lived in, and now the l'Cie were taking shelter in. Hope had come into the girl's room to tell her that it was her turn to go on watch. Fang smirked at the memory of his face when he saw her state of undress, and then Vanille's similar lack of attire. He looked like he was about to faint. For some reason the other side of Vanille, where Lightning had slept, had been empty. The reason the Fang insisted that Vanille be between them was that she didn't think she could control herself if she was next to a naked Lightning. Not that she said that to the soldier, she said it was the best way to share body heat, something the soldier agreed was a good idea.
She spotted the soldier sitting in her turtle neck and shorts at a table. "Lightning, what are you doing up?"
Lightning turned to look at the intruder. "Couldn't sleep. So I decided to fix Bhakti, didn't I Bhakti?"
The little robot warbled and bleeped in confirmation, before testing out his new wheels. Fang didn't mean to, but she ignored Vanille's little friend. She was too busy staring at the soldier. She'd never seen this side of her. Caring, happy, sweet, and without personal walls thicker than Snow. "Zing!" She thought to herself.
"Hey, Light?"
"Wossat, Fang?"
Oerba Yun Fang, fearless huntress, terrible flirt had never been in love. There had been a few flings over the years, but never an attraction like this. she didn't know what to say. "Do you think that-" we could be lovers? Fang couldn't say it, she didn't know how. Hastily she thought of something else to say that wouldn't seem odd. "-we could have been friends? If all this hadn't happened I mean."
"Yes, Fang we would have been friends." We could have been so much so much more, was the part Lightning wanted to say.
Lightning stood up from the table, alarming Fang who had been enjoying the view. "Where are you going?" She asked.
"Getting my boots and BlazeFire. I'm going to come out with you." The soldier replied, making Fang's heart soar. Ten minutes later they were perched on top of the orphanage looking out at the ruins of Oerba. Lightning broke the silence.
"So this is where you grew up? Looks pretty."
"This heap? You must be joking. Oerba in its prime was beautiful. Everybody knew you; it was a really tight knit community. Every year we would hold a party celebrating…well, just celebrating." Fang's eyes grew glassy as she was lost in memories of a time long gone by. She and Vanille were relics of a history few people would ever get to know. It was a harsh reality, but true all the same. "I was seven when I first met Vanille. She was four. They brought her in, wrapped up in bandages, and even if I didn't realise it at first, I knew I had to protect this girl. It only took me two days to warm up to her, and when I did we were in separable. She lost her parents in a Cocoon attack. She was the only survivor, you know?"
"What about your family, Fang? Where were they?" Lightning asked, thinking of her own parents.
"Don't know. Mother died in childbirth. I was apparently half a set of twins, but the other didn't survive. There was some complications during the birth and I barely made it." Fang sighed. "Any my good-for-nothing father? He left me at the orphanage when I was still a baby. Gave me a name and dropped me off. Don't know what happened to him, don't care really. All I hope is that he had a slow, painful death."
Lightning said nothing, thinking deeply. They were so alike. Their entire rag-tag group was. She lost her parents when she was fifteen. Fang was abandoned. Vanille lost hers in a Cocoon attack. Snow's parents died in an accident. Hope lost his mother during the purge. Sazh lost his son. They lost their family, and found each other.
Slowly Lightning put her arm around Fang and pulled her in close. The sudden display of personal contact startled Fang slightly, but she melted into the gesture. "At least we have each other now." Lightning remarked.
\/\/\/
Barthandelus sat on his haunches, launching magic at the six l'Cie. He had expected them to become angered at his use of the girl to attempt to manipulate them, but the sheer anger and loathing pouring off the big blond one was staggering, let alone the fast pink one. He laughed, they were falling perfectly into his plan, and it did not matter if he was destroyed as long as Menvra survived.
"Ragnarok. Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn. That fallen souls might bear our plea. To hasten the Divine's return. O piteous wanderer, Ragnarok. Make of this day a brave epoch. Deliver the Divine, Ragnarok." He chanted again in Serah's voice.
The pink haired one bristled and leapt up striking quickly at his face, before kicking off to land on the ground lightly. She swung her weapon in a circle by her side as the brutish man charged forwards, to punch at the same spot on his face. As he fell to the ground the pink haired one ran forwards and leapt. Just before they were level, the man grabbed the woman's arm and flung her upwards faster than she had ever moved before. Five quick slashes lated she fell to the ground. Barthandelus felt a crack appearing in his face, which was quickly exploited by a barrage of magic. The pink haired one started charging again. She seemed to be the key to this strategy, giving orders as well as leading the charge.
Lightning ran up the leg of the puppet master fal'Cie, and kicked off to land on the hand that swiped at her. As she flew towards the massive hand it suddenly sped up, hitting Lightning out of the air. The pink haired woman hit the hard metal of the pier and bounced. She landed again for a second and her gunblade left her hand. In the end she was far from the sword and further from the fight.
Fang's knuckles whitened on the shaft of her spear. She wanted nothing more than to leap forward and smash that damnable liar to tiny pieces for hurting her Light, but the soldier had instructed her to guard the magicians and that was what she was going to do. Beside her, Snow slipped into his sentinel pose. "Hey, Hope, can you give me a pick me up."
Before he finished the curative magic was already touching his chest, after a quick thanks Snow was off again, closely followed by a round of magic from Sazh and Vanille. He was knocked out of the air, much as Lightning had been. He landed and fell with a crack; a white shard sticking out of his trouser. The hulking fal'Cie loomed over Fang, who simply flipped him off, something Rygdea taught her as a joke. With a lazy sideways swipe she was knocked into a wall, her spear spinning off into the water. The magicians were left defenceless.
Sazh dropped in defeat as Hope moved in front of a praying Vanille with a determined look on his face. Fang watched in horror as Snow tried to stand up on a broken leg, but fell to the floor howling in pain. He cried out, but the only thing she could hear was the fal'Cie laughing at their failure. One hand, larger than any of them hovered over the standing l'Cie. Hope looked up at his impending doom and lost all resolve for a moment. It was just a second but Fang saw the sheer terror is his eyes. She scrambled to her feet, aware that there was very little she could do without her spear. Something knocked her out of the way.
Lightning moved faster than she ever had. Faster than she had ever been able to. There was nothing in her little world but her, Barthandelus, and Vanille. She looked to the side of her and saw Sleipnir galloping next to her. In a flash of white light the horse was gone. The soldier jumped.
Hope closed his eyes. There was no reason to look his fate in the eyes, he knew what was going to happen. Strangely, as he waited for the great weight to crush him, he wasn't sad that he was about to die. Or that he was about to disappoint both his mother and Lightning. He was sad that he never got to say good bye to his father.
Behind him, Vanille kept her hands in the praying position. She wasn't afraid to die. Far from it. All she wanted was for her family to be safe, and now she was feverantly asking for Divine Etro to spare them this fate. She watched the hand fall. Suddenly nothing. Her eyes opened to see Lightning lay on top of her.
Lightning screamed as Barthandelus' claws ripped down her back. She stood on wobbly legs turned to face the fal'Cie that had ruined her life. There was nothing in her mind. No pain, no fear, just anger. Lightning knew anger. She could just about turn anything into anger. And this monster had taken everything from her. And then had the nerve to mock her with an apparition of what he stole. Finally he tried to take her new family. Enough was enough.
Even though her muscles were torn to shit, she ran.
Even though blood ran freely down her back and legs, she ran.
Even though tears blocked her vision, she ran.
Even though she knew what was going to happen, she ran.
Even though she was going to miss them, she ran.
Barthandelus swiped at her, to meet thin air. Lightning flipped in the air and hit the ground running. Somehow she found even more speed. A barrage of ruinagas hit the ground around her feet, each a miniature concussive blast. She stumbled slightly, but kept moving. The short distance was closed quickly and she leapt, bouncing off every surface she could to reach the crack on his head. Her hand grasped for her gunblade, to find nothing. In her panic, she brushed something else. Her birthday present from Serah. How long had it been since that day? Weeks? Months? Years? Or 6 days?
Lightning raised the knife above her head amidst laughter. It plunged through the metal-like substance the fal'Cie was made of, with ease. Fang watched as she dropped the knife and grabbed the crack in two hands, straining to widen in. Barthandelus shook his head trying to throw her off, but Lightning was having none of it. She let go with one hand and held it up. Small red and black sparks crackled between her fingers. These grew larger, into a ball that expanded to become the same size as Lightning's head. Fang's eyes widened in horror when she realised what Lightning was going to do. "NO! LIGHT!"
Lightning's hair was being whipped around her head by an invisible breeze the other l'Cie would never feel. I'm sorry. Her hand sank into the hole. Nothing happened for a seconds. Then everything went white.
\/\/\/
Fang stood up as soon as the ringing in her ears died away and she could see again. Sazh was helping Hope patch up Snow, and Vanille was knelt praying by…
"Light!" Fang ran, stumbling on the tiny pieces of fal'Cie that littered the pier and edge of Oerba. She fell next to Lightning's right side as Vanille poured on cure after cure.
"Fang." Lightning croaked, her voice weaker than a newborn kitten.
"I'm here Light. What do you need? Look at me Light, what do you need?"
"…stood on…arm…can't feel…"
Fang hastily took her foot off Lightning's good arm, the other arm being at the centre of the blast and now a lump of burned flesh. Lightning rolled her head so that she was looking right into Fang's eyes.
Up till that point Lightning had been lay so that the left side of her face was pressed to the ground. The Huntress was no stranger to gore, but this was terrible. It was like someone had taken a ruler and drawn a straight line down the middle of Lightning's face. The right side was fine, unblemished and as perfect as it had been last night. Someone was sick behind Fang, but she could tear her eyes off the ruined side of her face. Raw flesh blended seamlessly into patches of blood. Lightning's left ear was burnt off completely and blood poured from the hole. Black lines of charred flesh covered her face in a spider's web pattern, especially around her left eye, which was white and blind.
"Snow…need Snow…important…" The man knelt beside her
"I'm here, Sis. What do you need?"
"Serah…look after…Serah…for me…"
Snow took Lightning's good hand in his own massive paws. He gave it a gentle squeeze she couldn't feel. "I promise. You don't need to worry, Light."
"Thank…you…bro…" Lightning gasped. Breathing was becoming hard for her. The world darkened.
"Fang…"
"Yeah, babe?" Fang smiled at the fallen soldier, who tried to copy her, but only ended up screaming in pain.
"I'm sorry…I…."
"You what? You're sorry for what? Please Light, don't leave me here." Fang pleaded. A single tear, her first, fell down her face and into Lightning's azure eye. There was no reaction from the woman, but Fang's tear rolled out of Lightning's eye, giving her the appearance of crying. Fang could count the times she had cried on one hand, and have fingers left over. She cried when she was left behind by a negligent father. She cried when she saw the bandaged little girl being carried into the orphanage, no parents to help her through the pain. And she cried now. For the fallen soldier. For lost love and crushed dreams and abandoned friends.
She grabbed Vanille roughly by the arm, the first time she had ever hurt her sister. "Heal her, make her better. Now!"
"Fang, we can't." At that moment she saw the grey shade of Vanille's skin, and the way Hope was swaying where he stood. They were exhausted, so Fang turned to their next best healer, then realised. "Well, use some Phoenix Down."
Sazh turned the bag with their medical supplies over. All that fell out was an Antidote. "We're all out, Fang. I guess Lady Luck just isn't on our side anymore."
"SHE CAN'T BE GONE!" Fang screamed at the world. In the distance some birds were startled and flew off.
Snow placed his fingers over Lightning's eyelids and pulled them down. "There, now she could be sleeping."
Vanille leant over Lightning and pulled her sister into a tight hug. "It'll be all right, Fang."
"No it bloody well won't."
\/\/\/
There we have it chapter 1.
I'm not ashamed to admit it cried whilst writing that. It was sad. However it was probably worse in my imagination, so that saved you readers from the blunt of the blow.
Don't worry, it will get better. It'll be sad at first, then get a bit better, then sad again, more sadness, then everything will be ok, followed by even more sadness with a side of despair, then Happiness! Lots and lots of pure happiness. Ok? So when we get to the end and y'all are full of sadness and start to look at pictures of dead kittens and puppies because you're so sad that they actually cheer you up slightly BAAM! Happy ending. I promise. also SPOILER ALERT!
If you feel you need a quick pick-me-up of happiness feel free to check out any of my other stories about FF13. They're a lot more cheerful than this one is.
And on that note:
=)