You Don't Know Me Very Well
Everyone watched curiously as they rolled into the town of Edge. Not many people from different villages came, and the residents were spooked by the mysterious weapon that Lightning carried.
Nevertheless, Cloud continued to drive toward their destination: 7th Heaven, a bar reborn after the destruction of Midgar. As they parked the motorcycle close to the entrance, a man approached them with a package.
"Excuse me, Mr. Strife?"
Cloud turned to him as the package was stretched out. "My mother in Junon just turned sixty-seven. I wanted to go there, but there have been storms recently brewing. If you could deliver this present to her…"
Lightning watched as Cloud casually took the package and began scribbling notes on the attached piece of paper. She wouldn't have imagined him as someone who would go out and do society an open favor like this. Looking up, she noticed a swinging sign on the building: 7th Heaven Bar & Strife Delivery Services.
"You're a mailman?" she asked after the man left the package behind. Cloud cocked an eyebrow at the use of the word.
"I use the term 'carrier'. Since people don't usually fight the things out there, they can't travel to different towns and deliver things. That's where I come in." He began counting familiar coins the man left in his hand, and Lightning's eyes widened in fascination.
"That's gil."
"Yeah, our currency. You know this stuff?"
Lightning nodded her head. "We also use it back on Cocoon and Pulse." She sighed at this one similarity between the Planet and Pulse, and yet it didn't make a difference. For all she knew, Pulse could have just been a figment of her imagination, and that she was all alone in this world.
He could see the worry spread across her face again; tucking away the gil, Cloud opened the door and lead her through the bar's entrance as she followed closely behind.
"Tifa," he said to a dark-haired woman behind the bar stand. She looked up after setting down a glass that she towel-dried, her eyebrows lifting up in surprise at the sight of Lightning. Cloud gave a quick glance to Lightning and walked toward Tifa. "This is Lightning. She was in the church in Midgar."
"Midgar?" Tifa asked curiously as Lightning slightly dipped her head. Remembering her manners, Tifa rounded the bar to offer out a hand. "Nice to meet you. Tifa Lockhart."
Lightning shook her hand, and she couldn't help but notice how her rich brown eyes surveyed her from head to toe for the slightest moment. Perhaps Tifa and Cloud are together, she thought, although based on Cloud's demeanor, he certainly didn't act that way.
Tifa turned back to Cloud, who sat himself down at the bar with a full glass of water. "Cloud, when did you find her?" she asked in a lower voice while approaching him.
"Yesterday, when I went to Midgar."
"What do you think happened to her?" she asked in a whisper.
Cloud shrugged. "At first, I thought mako overdose, but it's not that her memories are lost. It's like she fabricated a world of her own in her mind."
"Like what you did with Zack before you came to Midgar?"
He was hesitant in continuing the conversation, looking over his shoulder to Lightning, who just stood there in awkward silence. Following his gaze, Tifa got the message and apologetically smiled at Lightning. "If you're tired, you're welcome to rest in the rooms upstairs." She motioned toward the stairs across the room.
"Thank you," Lightning replied before heading toward the stairs. On the way, she exchanged a quick glance with Cloud, and her cheeks immediately grew the faintest pink blush that she tried to conceal.
Upstairs, she peered into the first room she could find. It was set up as an office: papers were piled up on a desk, underneath a pin board with maps and details of errands. Among the items on the desk was a framed picture of Cloud, Tifa, and two children smiling toward the camera. She wondered how they were able to live so calmly and normally, for she and Serah had constraints due to her military enlistment. If Cloud was able to be like this while fighting, just what was his motivation? Lightning had a feeling there was more to this story only what she had seen.
Continuing up the hall, she found a room with two beds. Deciding not to press awkward questions, she settled herself onto one of them and became surprised at how exhausted she was physically and mentally. Her eyes were glued onto the window across the room; Lightning imagined herself back at Bodhum, and in her mind, she saw the calm blue water with seagulls flying along the shore. The townspeople were bustling around, preparing for the beachfront fireworks display. Amongst all that excitement and joy, no one could have imagined that there was a Pulse fal'Cie in the Bodhum Vestige just a few miles down the block. Her birthday was the following day, and had she known about what was to come, Lightning could have helped Serah instead of push her away.
But then she remembered: becoming a l'Cie was her fate, no matter how hard she tried. Whatever she chose to do, she had to destroy Orphan and save Cocoon. Perhaps it was destiny that led her here: to the Planet. Maybe she was meant to face reality, defy the Sanctum fal'Cie, and leave that theocratic world behind. Lightning was free, but it also meant she had to leave those she cared about behind.
Tears spilled down her cheeks and onto the sheets, and she hoped something would grant her wish of dreaming again.
By closing time, Tifa just finished putting away supplies when Lightning finally came downstairs. She was dressed in wardrobe that Tifa pulled out while she was asleep: a gray longsleeve that fell off one of her shoulders as well as small black shorts.
"Hey," Tifa greeted softly. "How are you feeling?"
Lightning nodded with little enthusiasm. "Better than yesterday. Thank you…and I'm sorry for intruding."
Tifa just shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She looked at Lightning warily, hoping that she truly was feeling better than when she arrived. "Are you hungry?"
Lightning silently nodded before being led to a barstool. Behind it, Tifa took out a glass and water jug and began pouring; her eyes looked around, finding what could offer as food in such a short notice. "Cloud's on an errand," she said when she noticed the woman observing her environment. "Went to drop off that package you saw him take. He'll be back in a day or two."
"He went far?"
"Uh huh. Junon's on the other side of the mountains, but the storm reached the peaks in between us, so he rented a chocobo to go around."
From behind her, Tifa heard a sigh of relief, piquing her interest. "So there are chocobos here, too." Once she finished preparing a plate, she turned back around and cocked an eyebrow before setting the plate down in front of Lightning.
"He told me…That you're from a place called Cocoon."
Lightning hesitantly avoided her gaze as she picked at the food. "It's where my home was, before Cocoon fell down onto Pulse." Naturally, she expected Tifa to react just like Cloud had when they first met: a crazy person talking about some other world. To her surprise, the bartender simply nodded with a deep look in her eyes, as if she was absorbing this information with ease.
"Fell down? Was Cocoon above ground or something?"
"It was an independent continent, run by fal'Cie – entities that, to put it simply, created our world." As she continued to talk, her expressions became darker. "They fed and nurtured us our whole lives, making sure millions of people lived in time for a great big sacrifice."
Tifa was almost speechless at the thought. "…That's terrible…"
Lightning tightened her hand into a fist on her lap, making sure her anger didn't get out of control. "My friends and I…we stopped the fal'Cie just before they destroyed Cocoon, but once the fight was over, I ended up here." After a moment, she frowned at how silly her story may have sounded to Tifa. "It's nothing to worry about: it probably is that mako stuff Cloud was talking about earlier."
However, she could barely believe that the twenty-one years of her life were just a hallucination. It was all real: Serah, NORA, Cocoon and Pulse…All of it couldn't have just been a lie if she never had a hint of it being so. Lightning had come too far to just easily accept that it was only in her head.
"I believe you."
At first, she thought she imagined those words…but Lightning looked up to see a comforting smile from Tifa.
"I've seen what mako intoxications can do, and they never go as far as to fabricate an elaborate world in the mind," she continued. "It couldn't have just been all in your head. I'm sure Cocoon and Pulse are really out there, somewhere in the cosmos."
"Cosmos…?"
"Yeah." Tifa looked over Lightning's shoulder and out the window, her eyes lost in the distance. "There's more than just the Planet…Your world could be out there, too." She said it so confidently that her words couldn't have just been lies to make Lightning feel better. Somehow, she was sure that there was more than just the Planet, mako, and materia.
And Lightning felt it: the small flame of hope igniting again, telling her to not give up and degrade into nothing. If it weren't for Tifa's encouragement, she probably would have been left to mope and lose herself into despair…But that wasn't going to happen.
"Thank you."
Tifa was slightly offset by the gratitude, but she smiled back anyway. "It was nothing."
Just then, two children came running in from a back room, giggling with excitement. One of them was a young girl with a braid held in a red ribbon; the other was a taller boy with messy brown locks. Lightning observed them curiously as they took their time to notice her presence.
"Are you the lady who was sleeping in our room upstairs?" the girl asked.
Lightning smiled in embarrassment. "I guess I am. Sorry about that." Her gentle attitude caught Tifa by surprise, who waited for a moment to see what she would do next. Lightning recognized the children as the other two figures in the photograph upstairs. "I'm Lightning. What's your name?"
"Marlene," the girl replied with a smile.
"And I'm Denzel," the boy said, jabbing a thumb back at himself.
Glancing over her shoulder, Lightning looked at Tifa curiously. "Are they yours and Cloud's…?"
Her words made Tifa blush wildly as she shook her head with a laugh. "Oh, no! Marlene's a friend's daughter. Her dad's travelling with an old friend, looking for an energy source different from mako. And Denzel is an orphan that we're taking care of."
"And Cloud and Tifa are just childhood friends," Marlene explained, prompting Lightning to turn back to the little girl. For some reason, her words made Lightning's chest feel a little lighter; the suspicion of a relationship never went away when she first arrived at the bar.
'Still, what am I getting worked up over…?'
It surprised her how calm she was in this new world. Back on Cocoon, before becoming a l'Cie, she feared deployment to Pulse, fearful of trekking unknown lands. After everything she's gone through, Lightning was just relieved that she no longer had to follow laws that people and deities restrict her to, just because she owed them her life. Anger and frustration was able to fuel her enough to get through her fate as a l'Cie.
But how was she supposed to leave her life behind? If what Tifa said was true – that Cocoon and Pulse were somewhere out there – how could Lightning find a way to put it in the past and make use of the new life in front of her?
Something caught her eye as she watched Denzel and Marlene chat with Tifa in the bar. Despite his terrible childhood, the boy was able to smile so naturally as if this was his real family. How often did Lightning see Serah smile like that after their parents died and she changed her name? Soon after that terrible incident, she already graduated and immediately threw herself into the military, spending less time with her sister, the last of her family.
Serah was soon to be on her own – to start a family with Snow, go to college, and begin a fresh life. No matter how she looked at it, she wasn't going to need Lightning to guide her anymore, not that she needed much guidance to begin with. The young woman was more than capable of handling herself…just like her older sister.
"Hey, Tifa."
The woman in question looked up to see Lightning stare off into space, lost in her own thoughts.
"Earlier, Cloud told me that people don't usually fight the things out there…roaming around between towns. Isn't there some type of system to help fight them off?"
Tifa blinked curiously before answering. "Well, there was a military branch of this mega company a few years ago that helped, but since the company's downfall, everyone's left to fend for themselves. So, pretty much no one leaves their towns, and it's basically up to Cloud to travel around and deliver things for them."
Intrigued, Lightning easily understood. It would have been as if Cocoon had no Guardian Corps to help deal with rampaging wildlife, and even though the branch wasn't as "important" as PSICOM, it was critical in maintaining peace for the citizens. If there was no one to protect the people, destruction would ensue and the citizens would pay the price. She remembered Colonel Rosch of PSICOM; though he was a bit extreme and cold, his efforts to protect Cocoon's people were earnest and strong, and it was probably due to those efforts that the Purge and l'Cie chaos was delayed for so long.
That was what these people needed: a strong group to protect them and create a calmer peace than they had ever known.
"Although…"
Lightning looked back to Tifa, whose eyes perked up as she remembered something. "I know someone who's forming a group to serve as a substitute military."
The young woman's aura changed: she wasn't confused or lost in a new world, but rather determined to make the most of it. Just as she resolved to change her name and overcome her painful past, Lightning decided to do what she can with this new opportunity bestowed upon her.
Cloud was lucky there wasn't much wildlife roaming the grasslands and Junon area. Thankfully, the chocobo farm had a gold chocobo for rent, though it was still pricey. It practically made the trip worthless since there wasn't very much income overall.
Once he returned the chocobo and mounted Fenrir, he wondered how Lightning was, especially when he left without a word. Tifa and the kids wouldn't have minded because they were used to it, but he was worried Lightning still had a hard time adjusting to life on the Planet. Cloud hoped the mako intoxication subsided…if it was intoxication to begin with.
'I wonder…'
Mako intoxication would have only melded what was already there in her conscience; it shouldn't have allowed her to fabricate a world of her own. What if she truly was from another world? Back then, Sephiroth was certain that he could use the Planet as a way to travel the universe; there was no way he could have been completely insane if he definitively knew he could do so.
Should he believe Lightning's story and help her get back home? Just thinking about her leaving in such short time somehow felt wrong. Though she was just a stranger like any other person Cloud could have just met, he wanted to know her more, to open her up and help her get used to life on the Planet.
He shook his head as he rolled into Edge, chuckling to himself at how soft he suddenly became toward Lightning. Once he parked by 7th Heaven, however, his eyebrows knitted together with curiosity as a familiar man walked toward the entrance.
"Reeve?"
The brunette man stopped in his tracks before turning toward the voice, a smile forming upon his face. "Ah, Cloud!" he said while changing his course. "How have you been?"
Cloud dismounted his bike and stopped a few feet in front of Reeve. "Doing good. What's going on?"
"Tifa called." Reeve jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, back to the bar. "Apparently, you two have a new friend who wants to work with the WRO."
"You mean Lightning?" Cloud asked in shock. He honestly didn't expect her to know much about Reeve and the rest of the Planet, let alone his organization. Doubt and worry started to fill his mind.
"Yes. I came to evaluate her skills."
"But she's injured; she won't be able to move around and fight for a while." For some reason, he became mildly irritated. Of all people, he was sure Tifa knew better than to let Lightning move around too much in her condition. How was she going to be able to prove her abilities to Reeve?
"Well, it was Miss Farron herself who requested this 'interview'."
Confused at this turn of events, Cloud made his way around Reeve and headed into the bar, where Tifa poked her head out. "Cloud," she greeted, blinking her eyes with surprise. "Hey, Reeve! Lightning's ready."
"Tifa, what's going on?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Lightning can't possibly be…" But a peer over her shoulder told him otherwise. On one of the tables, Lightning was dressed in her cleaned uniform, at the ready like a true soldier. She faced the opposite side of the table, silent and still, determined to see this chance through to the end.
"She wants to join WRO," Tifa told Cloud. "It's the closest thing to military…after Shinra and SOLDIER ended."
Striding in, he took the seat across from Lightning, looking into her pale aqua eyes. "This won't help you return to Pulse."
Her brow twitched, mildly irritated at the thought that would never leave her mind. "I'm aware of that. To tell you the truth, I'm willing to accept that I'm stuck on this Planet for the rest of my life." She took a deep breath, absorbing what she said so that she could stick with her words. "So, might as well use it to help people here."
Albeit noble, he was still edgy about throwing her into battle. Cloud was well aware that the WRO gave numerous sporadic deployments, meaning Lightning could be anywhere at any random time. It would be difficult to get a hold of her throughout her service, something that he for some reason would not let go.
"How are you going to fight?" he shot out, saying the first thing that came to his mind. "Your knee's not gonna do you any good."
"I've been able to fight with injuries before," Lightning answered immediately. "Materia will make things easier, once I get used to them."
"It's gonna be hell for you out there." From the look in her eyes, he was aware that there was almost nothing to talk her out of this. She was fierce and determined in whatever she set her mind to, but Cloud gave one last ditch effort to spare her from pushing herself to her body's limit.
But all he got was a tiny smirk as Lightning's eyes grew with an intense fire. "You don't know me very well." She had gone to the wild and untamed Pulse by her own free will, grew stronger, and returned to Cocoon to rebel against her fate. She fell many beasts and monsters, learned various skills and strategies…
This new hell wasn't going to stop her.
Interested, Cloud returned her smug look and leaned forward. "Then I guess I'll just have to see for myself."
Unbeknownst to them, Tifa was observing the two of them with intrigue, catching some unseen similarity. In her eyes, it was as if they were mirror images of each other, sharing an admirable trait that drew people close to them.
"Miss Farron?" they heard as Reeve entered the bar. Lightning got up from her seat and nodded toward him, a clear sign of respect.
"Mr. Tuesti."
"Oh, please. Just call me Reeve. A friend of Cloud and Tifa's is also a friend of mine."
Cloud relinquished his seat to Reeve, and Lightning also sat down from across the table. Within seconds, Reeve was already impressed by her mannerism and determination. "Have you ever been in service of any militia?"
Lightning hesitated for a moment; by the bar, Cloud and Tifa wondered what she would offer as an explanation. No matter how they looked at it, simply blurting out that she came from a different world would ruin her chances of making a good impression.
"I have, sir. I was in a branch of military responsible for maintaining peace and stability. The branch's goal was to protect citizens and secure cities in cases of emergencies."
He nodded while glancing toward her mysterious weapon propped against the leg of the chair. "How well can you handle that piece?"
Picking it up, Lightning turned it around in front of them for Reeve to see. "Perfectly," she replied. "I was testing it for the branch; it functions as a gun for long range shots…" With the flick of her wrist, the hilt extended into a sword next to her; everyone around her lightly jumped with curiosity. "While changing into a blade for closer strikes." After a few short moments, she folded it back up to rest in her lap, her eyes calmly returning to the amazed Reeve.
A gleam in his eye warned them of a change. After absorbing her words, he appraised Lightning one last time before nodding. "Congratulations, Miss Farron. You'll be the start of our new division: Midgar Area Patrol."
All three of them looked at Reeve in bewilderment. In such little time, Lightning had given him a frivolous background check that surely wasn't sufficient enough for employment. A few questions were all it took to get her a position?
"Reeve," Cloud said cautiously while taking a small step toward him. "You're serious?"
He pursed his lips and nodded, for he felt an explanation was bound to be needed. "What WRO needs is people who are more than willing to fight for the citizens, to throw out fear and lay down their lives for the sake of the future."
Lightning still wasn't convinced. "But sir, my background…I can't support that claim…" Right off the bat, her story sounded like a wild fantasy. She knew her world was far different from life here on the Planet, and she was sure Reeve wouldn't trust anyone who had only been on this land for less than a week.
"I could already see the experience already there," he replied. "You would help to protect these people you don't know, risk yourself for them…that is a true soldier. I don't need a certificate or license – what I would like to see are your skills."
They all thought of his words: it didn't matter that they were strong legends like Genesis and Sephiroth. What people needed to help them was the will to fight and people who had that will. At that moment, something clicked in Cloud's mind…
Heroes weren't chosen based on what others say. Years ago, Zack had been a hero long before his demise in the outskirts of Midgar. Cloud made sure his memory always continued on…inside him, his living legacy. Looking at Lightning, she already had the will and spirit of a hero, and that was more than enough for Reeve.
"You want to see me on the field?" Lightning confirmed while getting up to her feet.
Reeve nodded. "Just to observe the extent of your abilities."
"But Reeve…" Tifa was about to express her concern, but Cloud raised an arm before her, halting her efforts. He looked over to Lightning, whose confidence didn't waver in the slightest at the challenge, though it didn't come close to a challenge in her eyes.
"Where to?" he heard her ask. Cloud smirked, excitement building up inside him as well. It was time to get to know her a little better…something he had wanted to do since the beginning.
They waited at the midpoint between Edge and Kalm; the chopper dropped them off on a hilltop overlooking a wide field, perfect for baiting wildlife. Lightning was careful with her movements, making sure she didn't screw up her knee before she even started fighting. Looking ahead, she noticed a few creatures that had large pincers atop their heads, accompanied by a few violet birds. They scoured the land, looking for a meal or just fresh meat to tear apart.
"Formulas and Edgeheads," Cloud commented beside her. "They're pretty fair fodder, but can become serious when they act together as a unit."
"Is this your way of scaring me off?" Lightning asked with a smirk.
He frowned. "This is my way of making sure you'll come out alive."
She rolled her eyes before descending the hill. "Just sit back, relax…and don't get in my way."
It puzzled him as to why she was unwilling to take his advice. She was unfamiliar to these monsters; surely, Lightning was going to need the opinions of one who had fought them before.
"Distancing herself from others; determined and independent." Tifa forced herself back from smiling too much as she took Lightning's place beside Cloud. Together, they watched Lightning descend to the bottom of the hill, close to facing the challenge Reeve gave her. "Doesn't that sound like a similar someone?"
Cloud remained silent, understanding where her words were coming from.
"How long has it been since we saw that side of Cloud?" After an ephemeral giggle, Tifa watched Lightning with eyes full of sympathy. "Give her time; she's been through a lot before coming here."
He certainly didn't want to get on her bad side. Truth be told, he was already aware that she could handle herself in relatively gruesome situations…so why couldn't he shake of this feeling of worry?
After thinking for a moment, he reached into his back pocket.
"Lightning."
She turned around in time to see a familiar yellow orb flying toward her. Thinking fast, Lightning caught it in the palm of her hand before observing it: yellow materia, which granted the wielder the use of thunder magic. As she looked up at Cloud with surprise, she couldn't exactly decipher the blank expression on his face, refusing to unveil his motives for assisting her.
"You forgot that," he called out.
Turning the materia in her hand, Lightning reviewed the way to use it, intrigued by this new skill of magic. "Thanks," she replied while turning back around to walk toward her targets. There was a small tug at the corner of her lips – excitement grew inside her for getting to use magic once more.
With a deep breath, Cloud watched her approach the clan of monsters, finally eager to see her abilities put to the test. He, Tifa, and Reeve observed carefully, vigilant for any ambushes or changes in their plans.
Lightning stopped a good couple of yards away from the monsters; the pincers and claws looked pretty deadly, what with her low level of power and resources. Even if she finally started attacking, it would only be a matter of time before the fight became overwhelming for her condition. Before making a final decision, she lifted up her foot and tapped her toes on the ground in quick successions. 'It seems capable,' she thought. 'Nothing I can't handle.'
Pressing the materia against her skin, the nerves in her arm began to surge as a new power was at her disposal, free to use at will. The yellow orb illuminated in her forearm for a moment before fading away, and Lightning walked toward the creatures.
It didn't take long for them to notice her presence; one of the Edgeheads faced her with curiosity before releasing a shrill war cry. Within seconds, the other creatures snarled and screeched before dashing in Lightning's direction. She changed her stance, preparing for her first strike while unsheathing her gunblade in its gun mode. As they came closer, a large wave of her hand sent thunder bolts straight at the monsters, decimating a few of the front lines.
While the bolts continued surging out, she aimed her gunblade and already began shooting among the flying dirt and smoke.
"Impressive," Reeve commented. "Not one to waste time, eh?"
Though Cloud was impressed by her initial strike, it was just a one-shot chance. After unleashing the bullets, it took too much time to recoil her gunblade arm and start another wave of thunder to restart the process. Once she gave another strike and shoot, the remaining creatures were already too close for a third chance, and Lightning was surrounded by angered Edgeheads and Formulas, anxious to tear into her flesh. Even with materia, she was in close proximity to her targets that she could possibly be struck by her own attack.
"No!" Tifa clutched her hands into tight fists. "Even if she changes her weapon to a sword, she won't be able to get them all fast enough!"
Cloud was just as worried as her. With that knee, Lightning wouldn't be able to maneuver out of the way to properly strike, nor would she be able to run far for an escape. He reached behind to grab one of his swords until Reeve's voice broke through the tension.
"Don't go just yet," he said sternly.
Tifa looked back at him with confusion. "Why? Just to wait for her to get torn apart?!"
"She wanted this; a young woman like her was sure to know her capabilities and limitations in her condition. Lightning expected this from the beginning." Reeve chuckled at her determination. "Let's not dampen her efforts. Perhaps she'll surprise us."
Still worried, Tifa looked up at Cloud, his face expressing his frustration at how things were looking. "Cloud," she chastised. "You're not gonna let her go through with this, are you?"
Despite his opinion on the matter, Reeve was right: getting in her way would ruin her chances, not to mention angering her. With a small sigh of defeat, Cloud let go of his sword and returned his hand to his side.
Looking back to Lightning, Tifa saw the creatures circle her with a deep thirst for blood. Escape was not an option, but neither was defeat. With a growl, Lightning flicked her gunblade open into its sword mode, lowering her body into a slight crouch. She tapped her injured leg in rhythm, counting for the appropriate moment to make a move.
Unable to wait any longer, the Edgeheads charged toward her, prompting the Formulas to do the same. They blindly rushed to the middle where she stood…but in the blink of an eye, Lightning disappeared, and they were close to hurting each other. In confusion, they skidded in their tracks, looking around to find her again.
"What the-?" TIfa's eyes looked above the mob, widening in surprise like Reeve's and Cloud's. After leaping high into the air, Lightning curled herself into a tight ball until gravity made her descend back to the ground. The monsters were still confounded at the predicament, making her surprise attack better. When she was just inches away, she came out of her form and spun her sword around once her feet landed on the ground. Many of them took too big of a hit to survive while others were just severely wounded, but she planned a quick combo strike with a wave of her hand, sending massive amounts of thunder bolts to bring them to their doom.
"Amazing," Reeve breathed out while he observed her work. "Very strategic, indeed." Before he could comment any more, Cloud rushed down the slope, hurrying toward Lightning. Tifa instantly followed, but wondered what he was running for.
They ran through the corpses, and she finally saw how debilitated Lightning was; her injured leg was sporadically shaking with fatigue, and her balance was gone. Luckily, Cloud was there to catch her just before she toppled to her side, prompting her to clutch onto his biceps for support. "It's ok, I got you," he murmured to her.
When her gunblade collapsed to the ground, Tifa came over to pick it up for her. "Is it worse?" she asked, nodding to Lightning's knee.
Lightning shook her head. "Just a little stressed out, but it'll be better with some rest." She worked to turn around and head back to the cliff, but her first attempt to take a step forward almost had her eating dirt if Cloud hadn't caught her again. Without a word, he slung her arm over his shoulders, placing his own hand on her opposite hip to help her up on her feet.
She shot him a look of confusion, wondering why he was going so far to help her, but Cloud already began walking her back to Reeve and the chopper, and it was clear he was going to refuse any objections. Accepting his assistance, Lightning relented and did her best to hold onto him, which in turn surprised him of how quick she started to open up to him.
After they carefully traveled up the slope, Reeve approached them with a wide grin on his face. "Excellent, Ms. Farron. I had faith in you, but I certainly didn't expect those brilliant tactics. How do you feel about leading the Midgar Division?"
Initially, it caught all of them by surprise, but Lightning simply nodded with gratitude. "Thank you, sir. I'm honored." Tifa and even Cloud exchanged the smallest of smiles – things were quickly looking positive for her.
As they boarded the chopper, Lightning felt a part of her old self return. Her future was no longer the short-lived l'Cie who was going to end up either a crystal or a monster; she had a self-set duty to the world and the people who needed help. Her Guardian Corps days were flowing back…only now she didn't have to worry about leaving a younger sister by herself back at home.
Images of Serah flashed in her mind, along with Snow, Hope, Sazh, and everyone else back in her world. 'What are they up to?' she wondered. 'Now that I'm gone…' The heavy pain settled in at the memories, leaving Lightning to lean her head tiredly on Cloud's shoulder next to her. When he turned to her with surprise, her eyes were busy staring out the window with a forlorn look in them. Cloud could easily sense what was going through her head and heart, for she barely noticed how her body depended on him at the moment for support.
The rest of the flight involved his eyes never leaving her, and his pulse never faltered from its erratic behavior.
