Slightly AU. Eventual Flight, and major spoilers. Hope you enjoy it, R&R :)
It had been two years…
Lightning brought the damp wash cloth to her face, washing away the dirt and grime of a hard day's work. She regarded herself in the mirror and frowned, realizing that a simple rinse and change of clothes would not cleanse the stench of rot that had seeped into her pores.
She sighed ruefully. Why was it every time she went with Snow's party, she found herself unwittingly thrown into a mess, or in this case, a nest of Wyvern hatchlings whose mother just happened to be regurgitating some tasty bits of whatever carcass she found?
The little adventure happened when their party had been scouting for a good place to construct another watch tower near New Bodhum. Though Gran Pulse offered miles of beautiful vegetation and flat terrain, erecting a watch tower would help alert the denizens if any hungry or ornery wild life wandered too close.
It had been two years since the near destruction of Cocoon. Two years since the destruction of Orphan and the near sacrifice of an entire civilization with the hopes of reuniting the fal'Cie with their maker. The citizens of Cocoon were evacuated; without Orphan and Eden to sustain Cocoon, the artificial city quickly became inhospitable. Lightning, Snow, Hope and Sazh became instrumental with the evacuation proceedings, working closely with PSICOM and the Guardian Corps to ensure a safe, if not entirely seamless, migration into the harsh wildlife of Gran Pulse.
Lightning stepped back from the sink as she heard someone rapping on the bathroom door.
"Lightning?"
She rolled her eyes, "What?"
"Are you done in there? Serah won't even let me near her; she says I smell like a sewer."
"Good. I think I'll spend the rest of the night in here."
She allowed herself a small grin, though she wasn't really kidding. Snow grew on her over the last couple of years, like mold. That's exactly what she told Serah the other night. Yes, she appreciated his loyalty and devotion to Serah; well it was more than appreciated - she demanded it but that didn't mean she ceased believing he was an idiot. He was a well intentioned idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.
"Oh come on, Sis! You know today was not my fau– "
"Don't call me Sis."
Throwing the soiled wash cloth into the hamper, she opened the bathroom door and was greeted by the aroma of dinner wafting throughout the house. Her stomach let out a growl, a grim reminder that she hadn't eaten in several hours.
Snow smirked at the sound, "Dinner is almost ready. Sazh and Hope are on their way over."
Lightning nodded and stepped through the hallway, hearing the front door open to the sound of Sazh's voice.
"Oh yeah, that smells good! Not a minute too late and I'm starving! I'm surprised too, after seeing that Wyvern –"
"No! Stop Sazh! I don't need to hear the story again; I can still smell it on you." Hope quipped, stepping through the foyer and nodding at Lightning.
Over the last two years, Hope had a growth spurt that almost put him head to head with Lightning. Despite the hardships he endured over the last two years, he had managed to maintain his boyish innocence. He trained daily with Snow in close combat and martial arts and had developed a swiftness in his lanky form that made Lightning proud.
"Dinner's ready! Get in here!" Serah hollered. Everyone rushed into the dining room, Snow and Sazh fighting to get through the narrow doorway, their shoulders colliding.
"Move it old man, you're in my way!" Snow exclaimed as he continued to try and squeeze his massive shoulders through both Sazh and the doorway.
"No, you're in my way and you're going to eat all the food again and that ain't happening."
"Guys, relax. I made sure that there was enough food this time so please, no fighting or no food, your choice." Serah set the steaming casserole dish on the table and promptly placed her hands on her hips.
A chorus of sighs resounded around the room as everyone ambled in, properly chastised.
Lightning raised her eyebrows at her sister, showing her approval at Serah's diplomatic yet effective method of getting the hungry hounds under control.
Two years and everything had changed around them yet it really hadn't. She observed Snow wolfing down his dinner like it was his last. Serah shaking her had at him in amazement. Sazh and Hope bickering about Chocobos and which rider would win the next race and…that was it. Something was missing. Lightning looked down at her food, idly playing with the noodles on her plate. Something was missing wasn't it? She glanced around the table, taking in the jovial scene and fondly listening to her adopted family bicker. Fate brought them all together the first time and though she wasn't a woman of emotional and sappy outbursts, she did acknowledge that they all had a magic together that enabled them to turn the tides of destiny and survive the insurmountable odds. Her eyes settled on two empty seats at the far end of the table. A pang of sorrow, like a derailed train, burst through her chest as she thought of the missing pieces of her almost-complete family. Lightning looked up from her reverie and noticed Serah's eyes on her, compassion and understanding shimmering in their blue depths.
"I hear there's a Behemoth wandering around by the ravine next to town." Serah stated, hoping to snap Lightning out of her solemn state of mind.
"Ah yeah, PSICOM can handle that one. I've had enough of those damn things." Sazh muttered, "They're more thick-headed than Snow over here."
Snow laughed, "C'mon old man, or is your age finally catching up to you?"
"That's fine, he can sit at home counting his grey hairs while we have all the fun." Hope teased, noting the smirk on Lightning's lips.
"Hey now, I don't have any grey hairs!"
"Yet." Lightning pointedly finished.
"Fine. Fine. Count me in. Those PSICOM guys wouldn't be able to handle it anyway."
After dinner, the group retired to the living room to continue their ritual. Lightning unsheathed her gunblade, polishing and cleaning it, an action that soothed and comforted her. Serah went back into the kitchen to prepare some tea from tea leaves she hand picked outside of town. She and Snow often went scouring through the heavy brush in the denser parts of Gran Pulse looking for exotic spices and herbs to add to her growing palette of Gran Pulsian delicacies. Usually when the group retired to the living room, melancholy and an inkling for profound thought and universal truths somehow became the topics of conversation.
"Do you think they'll ever wake up?" Hope looked directly at Lightning, praying for optimism.
She sighed, "I don't know. They completed their focus. I don't see how they could. Any remaining fal'Cie are not a threat and just about everyone's moved to Gran Pulse. Why would they wake up? How would they wake up?"
"There's gotta be a way though, right? I mean, we defied the odds once before, we couldn't' do it again?" he pressed on.
"It's not that easy kid, couldn't even begin to tell you where to start lookin'." Sazh replied, borrowing one of Lightning's polishing cloths, he began to buff his pistols. He silently thanked Fang and Vanille hoping they heard him, wherever they were, for returning his son to him. A silent thank you he had uttered every day for the last two years.
"We can't just give up that easy!" Snow smacked his massive fist on the wooden table, belaying his frustration, "They belong here, with us and we owe it to them to find a way."
Lightning gritted her teeth, her hackles on the rise. She couldn't place her anger and old habits die hard. It was easier to be angry at Snow than to allow herself to feel any swell of hope from a task that seemed so futile.
"And how should we do that?" she countered, "How are we supposed to wake them up? We don't even have our powers anymore. No more brands, no more magic, no more Eidolons. So what's your plan?"
Snow sighed, rubbing his forehead as if to stave off a migraine, something he found himself doing whenever the topic of Fang and Vanille surfaced. He didn't understand why she protested with such vehemence when he knew that she wanted them back just as much as the others.
"We've done this dance before, Lightning, when it was Serah - and look how great that turned out."
"Yeah and that took a lot of angry fal'Cie, Ragnarok, and two l'Cie. It was nothing short of a miracle, so good luck with that." Lightning sheathed her gunblade, her eyes cold and her mouth a grim line. "Sazh, Hope, I'll see you both tomorrow morning to scout the area for that Behemoth, good night."
They stood up, sensing their evening had come to an end and not wanting to be caught between the two fighters. As she passed Snow she sighed softly, reigning in her frustration, "If there was a way to wake them, I would do it. You know I would." she whispered, trying to mask the emotion in her voice.
Snow turned to her, his blue eyes solemn, "I know, Sis."
Lightning gave a curt nod, too exhausted to berate him for calling her that again, and climbed up stairs where she could crawl into bed and recover from an exhausting day.
She tossed and turned, hours later, burying her face into her pillow, willing sleep to take her away. Frustrated, she sat up and glanced at the clock on her bedside table noting that it was 3:45am. Well, she managed to sleep for a few hours, a small luxury she rarely afforded herself. Sitting up, she ran her hands through her strawberry blonde hair and stepped onto the balcony outside her bedroom. Inhaling deeply, she savored the smell of fresh air and nature – something they didn't really have back on Cocoon. The atmosphere on Cocoon was generated and maintained by a series of complex mechanical systems which enabled them to breathe clean and fresh air despite the factories, traffic, and dense populace that surrounded everyone. There was just something different, something more pure about being able to smell the raw and uncorrupted air around her without a mask of fal'Cie controlling every single facet of Cocoon life.
Her eyes fell on the massive pillar underneath Cocoon. Her thoughts went back to the evacuations and the rebuilding they all found themselves inundated with as soon as the hysteria settled. Engineers and scientists salvaged as much technology as they could, hoping to replicate the exact standard of living they all enjoyed and took for granted in the city. PSICOM and the Guardian Corps were lacking leadership, their soldiers unprepared to be thrust into battle with some of Pulse's more predatory creatures. With growing dismay, the city turned to the four of them to guide the new world through its infantile stages. Two years into the fray, New Bodhum had come very, very far – Lightning glanced at the row of houses next to hers with a proud nod and looked further down to the pier, enjoying the faint sound of waves splashing on the shore.
She stepped inside, noticing the sun was rising. Snow and Serah would soon be awake. Sazh and Hope would arrive shortly, no doubt expecting breakfast of some kind. As soon as those two realized her sister was a fantastic cook, they spent just about every night and morning dining at Lightning's house.
"What about you, Lightning? Can you cook?" Hope had inquired one morning while they were all enjoying the eggs Florentine Serah had prepared.
"Don't push it kid, you probably won't catch her dead in an apron." Sazh dryly noted, earning a well deserved snort from Lightning. She had taught herself how to cook years before, shortly after her mother died, and she had the same culinary gift her sister did. No one but Serah and Snow knew that, a secret she made him promise to keep unless he one day decided he no longer valued life.
The midday sun glared angrily across the sky, the stifling heat making minutes tick by like hours.
"You'd think we'd have seen some kind of track marks by now." Lightning muttered, shielding her eyes from the sun. They had been walking along the ravine for a few hours, searching for an elusive Behemoth that that had given some of the other patrolling parties in PSICOM a rather hard time.
"Maybe he just left – found some other area to terrorize." Hope sat on a nearby rock, scanning the surrounding areas.
"No, he has to be around here somewhere, maybe further along the bank in one of the caves." Lightning began to walk forward again, shaking her head at Sazh who had plopped down next to Hope, grumbling about being too old for all this hiking.
"You can both rest here for the time being. Snow and I will check out those caves over there" she pointed further down the bank, "and you can catch up after you've had your break."
"Ah, thank you, thank you thank you! If you find him just yell, we'll come running. Just need to rest for a few." Sazh took out his canteen and handed it to Hope, "Go on kid, fill it up."
Lightning and Snow turned around, trekking through the rocky ground and into the caves ahead.
"He has to be in here, we've covered almost every inch of this whole place." Snow punched his palm, readying himself for a fight. They stopped just short of the largest cave, lighting a torch from Lightning's sack.
"This is the biggest one. If he's hiding in a cave, it will be this one. Get ready." Lightning unsheathed her gunblade, satisfied with the way it gleamed in the sun. Crouching down, she and Snow entered into the cave, the torch giving an ominous glow as the lights glimmered off the cave walls.
Their footsteps echoed as they silently trekked further. The air around them stilled and an eerie silence deafened them. Lightning gripped her gunblade tighter as Snow put his foot forward, resting his weight on his toes, ready to attack. A low rumbling shook the cave walls as heavy steps padded through the dirt. Canines grinding and saliva dripping, the Behemoth emerged, standing on his hind legs.
Lightning immediately launched herself, brandishing her blade as she sliced through the air, quickly landing a blow to his stomach. She flipped back, aiming for his neck and firing a shot. Snow moved in, landing a series of swift and devastating punches to his side. The Behemoth recovered, its massive limbs catching Snow and throwing him against the side wall. The angry beast charged at Lightning and with skill borne of a natural killer, she somersaulted onto his back, thrusting her blade into his neck over and over. The Behemoth bellowed, arms flailing trying to dismount her. Snow recovered from his backhand, unleashing a torrent of punches, his vest granting him the strength to crack several of the beast's ribs.
Lightning skidded off the side of the Behemoth, hearing the rapid footsteps of Hope and Sazh behind her. The Behemoth charged at her again, its massive claws like poisonous daggers aching to bury themselves in her flesh. What transpired next took mere seconds but she felt like it was hours. Lightning prepared to dodge the attack when a fierce pain reverberated inside her head. A white flash of light behind her cerulean eyes blinded her and she staggered, dropping her gunblade.
"Lightning!" Snow yelled.
"Are you ready?" A low voice whispered in her mind. Lightning snapped her head up and fell backwards. She glanced around, her breath ragged, and realized she was no longer in the cave, and with a cold shudder, she knew she wasn't anywhere near Gran Pulse. She was on a field, a barren wasteland that stretched over the horizon in all directions. She was cold, she was hot, she had ample amounts of air yet could not breathe. She looked up at the sky where there was no sky but a dim grayness that seemed to envelope itself around everything.
"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"
She gasped as a painfully familiar voice reached her ears, coming from behind. She turned around slowly, refusing to believe - yet there she was. Fang, just like she remembered. Dark hair with red highlights flowing down the ebony locks. Emerald eyes peered into hers with that familiar playful twinkle. Her blue sari somehow managing to ripple in this windless desert.
Lightning swallowed thickly, "Fang?"
"Who did you expect, Sunshine?"
"Where's Vanille? What are you doing here?" Lightning glanced around and took a cautious step forward.
"She's off looking for flowers, poor thing. She can't stand it here. I guess we're preparing again, aren't we?" Fang raised her eyebrows, grinning at Lightning.
"Preparing for what?" Lightning furrowed her brow, cold chills running up and down her spine.
"You'll see, at least that's what I keep hearing. You have to go back now and it's going to hurt, but don't you worry. We'll be seeing each other soon and when we do, Vanille will patch you right up."
Fang started to fade out of Lightning's view. The pink haired soldier ran forward, hands outstretched, "Wait!" Lightning stumbled as her vision narrowed and nausea forced her to her knees. The gray world started to tumble and turn, the pain was back and she fainted.
"Lightning!" She heard Snow call out, trying to reach her in time. She blinked, disorientated, dimly noting her gunblade on the ground next to her. Looking up she saw the Behemoth looming over her and then its claws were sinking into her shoulder, tearing ligaments and nerves. Sharp, stained teeth perilously close to her throat, she cried out in pain, thrashing against sinews of muscle, the smell of blood making her dizzy.
Shots rang out behind her, a turret of bullets firing in succession, nailing the Behemoth in the head. The beast let go, howling in pain as Sazh continued to fire at his head. The Behemoth finally staggered once more before falling over, grunting and groaning as death finally took pity upon him.
"Hope! Get her out of here!" Snow frantically yelled. Hope nodded, his command mask set in place as he easily picked her up, carrying her out of the cave. Snow didn't understand what just happened. They were winning and suddenly she just stopped, like she was spooked. He angrily punched the cave wall, denting it as rock crumbled around his fist. It was unlike her to get spooked, she probably didn't even comprehend such a thing. She was a veteran warrior – the best they had. No, something else happened, but what?
"Come on, call into headquarters, we need to get her to medical." Sazh holstered his gun and picked up Lightning's fallen gunblade, eyeing the blood on the ground and knowing that a good portion of it belonged to his friend.
They ran out of the cave, breaking into a sprint to catch up with Hope.
To be continued...