Title: Darkest Memory
Song: Seven Devils by Florence + the Machine
Lyrics: Seven devils all around you / Seven devils in my heart
They were there when I woke up this morning / And I'll be dead before the day is done
Seven devils all around you / Seven devils in your heart
I was dead when I woke up this morning / And I'll be dead before the day is done
Pairings: CaiusxLightning
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. Or the song.
A/N: So, hey you guys. I'm on spring break right now so I'm super bored... And I'm playing lots of video games. Every day I randomize my music playlist and see what comes up, and then I have to write a fanfic about whatever it is... so here's my first one for LR. Hope you like :3
Darkest Memory
Lightning walked out into the center of the temple of the goddess. Here the walls no longer closed in around her. The ceiling was a cracked mess of debris, opening to a sea of stars in an inky sky. But even though the fresh air was a welcome change from the cramped space of the bowels of the temple, she could still feel the unwelcome presences surrounding her.
"I know you're there," she whispered into the night air, her voice echoing in the space around her. "Come out and fight."
"Ah, so the savior finally calls," a voice said.
The voice rang familiar, but it was from somewhere deep in her memory. She had kept it buried there for hundreds—thousands—of years, after all, and something told her it would have been better off staying buried.
Caius Ballad's feet touched the ground in front of her, and his eyes locked onto hers, a smirk creeping onto his face.
"I have been waiting for you to come out and fight for hundreds of years," he growled.
Lightning drew her sword, and he mimicked her, drawing his own. It was a scene reminiscent of their duels in Valhalla so long ago, but though it should have elicited fury and adrenaline from her, she no longer felt any of it.
Instead, she felt an empty numbness, a hole in her chest where those emotions should have been. She felt the presence of thousands of souls surrounding the temple, souls that had been lost in the Void Beyond. She felt the curse he had placed on her when she'd entered the temple, eating away slowly at her strength.
And when she looked into Caius's eyes, she thought she sensed some of that in him as well. Did he feel anymore, after millions of years of watching his seeress die, after an eternity fighting Lightning in the middle of that timeless realm, with no result?
There was only one way to know.
Lightning walked closer to Caius, trying to bring back the feeling she'd come to grips with in Valhalla. One side of her had felt a furious want of blood, a screaming urge to end the fight once and for all. The other side of her had always wished she could step back and do what she was about to do now.
She stopped right where she was, and in one swift movement she disarmed him of his weapon, dropping her own on the stone floor next to her. Then, taking advantage of the quiet moment, she took one more step forward.
Lightning crushed her lips to his.
There was a moment, at first, when he tried to push her away, but that moment soon evaporated, and he was leaning into her. For a minute they stayed that way, neither of them moving.
Finally, Lightning stepped back.
Caius stared at her for a second longer before he slumped to his knees. "Lightning," he said under his breath. "I… I apologize."
Lightning laughed a short, sharp laugh. "And Yeul told me I couldn't save you," she remarked.
A/N: There will be more of these soon! R&R if you feel like it.
