III. Aries – The Behemoth, of Assertion
At the airship landing, hundreds of PSICOM and Guardian Corps soldiers surrounded the Ragnarok. Vanille and Fang stood behind me at the top of the gangplank. I went down first. Heat of the summer afternoon overwhelmed me after leaving the artificial chill of the airship. I narrowed my eyes against the sudden brightness of the sunlight. When my eyesight focused again, I saw all of the soldiers with their machine guns pointed above me—right in Fang's direction. Yaag Rosch and Cid Raines stood at the fore of their regiments. They might have changed their minds about being fair with us. With one order from either of them, their men would have gunned down my best friend without a single thought—without caring how I'd feel, or how Vanille would react…
If they didn't give a damn about me, or Fang, then I couldn't show them mercy, either. I wasn't going to let anyone hurt her. Enemy of the state or not, Fang meant too much to me. I refused to just stand here and let them gun her down.
I reached over my shoulder. As I was about to grab the hilt of my blade, the soldiers in front of me faltered. I kept my hand there, watching the fear in sheer numbers before me. They looked around, leaning in to mutter to their fellow men. Their guns lowered and raised again, trembling. Far down to my left, I heard thousands of snapshots from cameras—the media was here, all standing behind Jihl Nabaat. She watched me in silence, waiting to see what I would do. I drew my Masamune to show them I wasn't bluffing. The soldiers panicked more. They stepped back in unison. Rosch turned to yell at them for shirking their duties. I didn't care that I was only one person against two armies. If they wanted a fight, I'd give them one.
Cid held his hand out. "Savior," he said, walking toward me. "Please, lower your weapon. We have no intentions of harming your comrade. This is only standard protocol."
"Standard protocol? That's rich," I soured. "Fang helped me bring all of you to Chrysalis! Without her, none of you would be here! And standard protocol lets you bring out two full armies against her? This isn't fair at all!"
"I understand how this appears…"
"If you understand, then tell your men to back down! I'm not letting you hurt her!"
Cid sighed. "Bodhum is on high alert, Savior," he explained. Behind me, I heard Fang and Vanille's footsteps echoing along the metal gangplank. "We must display the strength of our armies in order to make the citizens feel safe. As you can see, the media are all here watching us. If you allow your friend to come with us to the laboratory, only then will I issue the order." I didn't buy any of it. He had turned his back on us before, all in the name of duty. There wasn't anything stopping him from doing it again. "This was part of our agreement, was it not? We only wish to perform a few tests to prove your claims."
"And if she fails your tests?" I asked, gripping my hilt tighter. "Do you plan on killing her?"
"No," replied Cid. "She is not an isolated incident. We have numerous cases of citizens with abnormal levels of chaos in their system. Several fragments of crystals in their minds are missing, offsetting their inner-balance between light and chaos. Your comrade is a special case, thus we would like to see if our hypothesis is correct. We want to help her. All we ask is that you come in peace."
I wasn't convinced. This had to be some kind of trap. If I listened to him, and he went back on his word, I'd never forgive myself. It was better not to take that chance. Unless…
Fang approached me. "Light," she said, putting her hand over my shoulder. "Stand down. Do what the man says. I don't want trouble." Her calm tone and touch softened me right away. I sheathed my sword. When she walked past me, I bowed my head to her. She stopped to lift my chin with her fingertips. As but a whisper, she said to me, "Well aren't you precious?"
She smoothed her hand up to my face, caressing down to my patched neck. I stared at her in surprise. Fang smirked at my silence. She continued ahead. Cid gave the order, and the Guardian Corps soldiers lowered their weapons. Rosch did the same and his PSICOM soldiers followed suit. Countless clicks of guns shifting sounded as Fang walked ahead without a care in the world. Vanille smiled up at me and gestured for us to follow her. I stayed at Fang's heel, thinking the whole way to PSICOM's towering headquarters glittering in the sunlight.
All she'd had to do was touch me and say a few words. My focus had shifted from protecting her to obeying her. If anyone else had told me to stand down, I would have ignored them. With Fang, it was like I didn't have a choice. That and I wanted to make up for our argument earlier. I really did…
.
Draklor Laboratory – PSICOM Division
I wasn't allowed in the lab room where they'd taken Fang to. I waited just outside the room, sitting on the cold ground next to a wide wall made of bulletproof glass. The rest of the walls were lined with patterns of blood red crystal and steel. Dozens of automated doors down the halls led to rooms filled with prototype military weapons. Scientists in red lab coats scrambled around with their colleagues, speaking in excited tones about getting to test out their hypotheses. They kept using the term fragments of memories. PSICOM had put Fang and me both in quarantine. We had to stay within Draklor's boundaries for forty-eight hours while they analyzed the results of Fang's tests. It was supposed to only be Fang in quarantine, but I'd refused to let her stay here alone.
Hope found me leaning against the wall. He smiled as he walked over to me. "Hello, Light," he said. "I see you've made yourself comfortable." It was strange seeing him as a twenty-four-year-old. I had gotten so used to him perpetually being fourteen. "Are you sure you don't want to wait in the room we've assigned you? It'll be at least four hours before we've finished with the procedures."
I tapped my knuckles against the glass. "I'm waiting for my visitors to show up," I explained. "My sister will be here soon. Jihl Nabaat promised to find me after."
"That's good to hear," replied Hope. "I was afraid you'd get restless while waiting around."
"I've prepared myself not to. We're in quarantine. There's no point in me making another scene."
Hope nodded to one of his colleagues passing by. "I'll admit that was quite the show earlier," he commented. "Everyone in Cocoon and Nova Chrysalia's city-states are talking about it. I'm sure the media will be running the same news cycle for at least a month. This is the first big thing we've had since we all arrived here. You've made history!"
I rolled my eyes. "Like that's gonna do me any good…"
"Maybe it will," tried Hope. "You stood up to two full armies. Most people respect you for it. I think it'll go a long way if you need to get things done." He looked over to the lab where Fang was. "It's about that time. I'll keep you updated on Fang's status as we proceed."
"Good luck with that," I said.
Hope cringed. He understood what I meant. Fang may have surrendered to the military's terms, but that didn't mean she was the best test subject. She wasn't one to be pinned down and prodded for hours. Serah waved to Hope as she came in from the other side of the glass wall. He waved back and took his leave to the lab room.
"Hey," greeted Serah, sitting down. Her voice was somewhat muffled from the glass. "I got here as soon as I heard the news! It's all over TV and the internet. You wouldn't believe what some of them are saying about you and Fang…"
"What are you talking about?"
Serah pulled out her phone. "Look," she said, pointing to the picture. "Fang has her hand over your face. This was right after you put your sword away, wasn't it? Everyone's wondering what it could mean."
"It means I listen to her," I answered. "Don't they have anything else to do?"
"There isn't much going on in a world that's only been around for a month…"
I sighed. "I guess you're right."
Serah leaned against the wall, looking me over in worry. "Claire, how are you doing?" she asked. "You got hurt while you were gone… Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, Serah," I promised. "Don't worry. It'll heal up soon enough. Fang took care of it for me."
"Do you think she's handling things well?" she wondered. "I can't really see Fang liking these tests. She's too much of a free spirit for something like this."
Then we heard Fang's outrage coming from the lab room, "You wanna stick that where?!"
"Believe me—it's taking everything I have to not break her out of here. I want her to have an actual chance to live in this world without being everyone's enemy again. She and Vanille both deserve that. I'm going to do everything I can to make it come true for them."
Serah and I spent a few hours catching up. Once the day passed into night, the lights in the halls lit up, and the rest of the lab's employees steadily left the building. I learned that my sister also had fragments of memories missing from her mind. They affected her emotions, too. Because of that, she'd had to break up with Snow until she could piece things back together. From the sounds of it, Snow seemed like he was optimistic about things. There had to be more to his side of the story. For the time being, Serah wanted to focus on getting her history degree and becoming a teacher.
"We know a few things about the fragments," explained Serah. "They seem to come to you naturally as you do the things you enjoy. I really miss school. As long as I can take my mind off of Snow for right now, I should be able to find my missing pieces. I've found a few so far…"
"How did they show up?" I asked. "Were they crystals that appeared out of nowhere?"
"They did come out of nowhere," she replied. "When I went to go visit Nautica College down the street, I found some in the halls, just waiting for me. No one else could see them."
"Maybe it'll be the same for Fang," I wondered.
"Something tells me it is, but things may be a little different for her," added Serah. "She's a special case, after all." I noticed Jihl coming down the hall behind my sister. Serah turned at the sound of Jihl's heels clicking along the ground. "They told me someone else would be here to see you. Is that her?"
"Yeah, it is. She's the one who offered me that job."
Serah stood up. "Oh, right," she said. Jihl waited quietly a few paces away. "I'd better go, then. Be good, okay? We'll talk again soon."
Jihl took her place, standing against the wall instead. She held her hand out when I was about to stand up. "You've had a long day," she spoke. "Several days, in fact. I have a feeling you haven't had enough time to properly think about my offer. In light of that, I'm not here to play the recruiter again. I'd like to talk about something else."
"What is it?" I asked.
"During your absence, I was assigned to PSICOM's Gran Pulse Relocation Project," she explained. "My research so far suggests that there are two sole survivors from that region. Both of these survivors are friends of yours, aren't they? Your actions earlier today made that clear."
"They are," I confirmed. "I don't think they'd be too happy about a bunch of strangers populating their lands. They deserve to have a say in what happens."
"I agree," said Jihl.
I widened my eyes. "You do?"
Jihl nodded. "It is only fair, isn't it?" she replied. "They are the only qualified representatives. However, if not for one tiny detail, I would have turned this project over to them by now…"
"Let me guess," I said. "If it has nothing to do with them being civilians, it's that Cocoon's people are afraid of them. They haven't gotten over the Sanctum's lessons about the savage barbarians from the underworld. Is that it?"
"Unfortunately, yes," answered Jihl. "The people's view of your friend hinges on the results of these tests. If you can provide proof that Oerba Yun Fang is not a threat to the state, I will work with you to give her more power with the Relocation Project. If things go well, she will need a number of licenses, certifications and accreditations in order to lead the Project as a civilian. Unless, of course, she is interested in joining PSICOM directly."
"I can't see Fang in the military," I told her. "She isn't one to take orders."
"I see," said Jihl. "That would be your expertise, wouldn't it?" Yeah, it was… Fang finally came out of the lab room with Hope. She scowled as he spoke to her, looking irritable. "I trust that you'll pass this information along to her. This also falls under my previous offer. You can think things over together."
"We will," I replied. "Thanks for letting me know." Jihl bowed and took her leave.
Fang held her hand out to me. "C'mon—up you get," she said, pulling me to my feet. "We're bein' banished to our room like the filthy scum we are."
"What?"
Hope sighed. "It's only for the night," he explained, leading us to our suite. "There are facilities for you to use. It's a full suite as well. You won't be cut off completely. Just so you know, your airship's been impounded for the time being. We'll allow you to use it again once you have the proper licensing."
"A license?!" barked Fang. "It's our ship! Who gets to say when we can use it?"
"It's for safety, Fang," said Hope. "We have to make sure you're qualified to pilot it. It'll be in the same place you left it." When we got to the room, Hope entered a code on the keypad nearby, opening the door. "We'll let you know the results as soon as we've gone through everything. After we've analyzed them, we can go from there. Get some rest until then."
"Yeah, all right," said Fang, flippant, entering first.
I followed after her. "Thanks, Hope."
"Glad to help, Light," he replied, closing the door behind me.
Fang's voice sounded over the clangs of pots and pans from the kitchen, "That was such hell!" she complained. "They stuck all these probes in my head, then told me to get in some machine. I bet it gave 'em a front row view to all my nasty thoughts. No wonder Hope couldn't look at me after!"
I looked to the adjacent bathroom and asked, "Don't you want to shower first?"
"Nah, they made me take one before and after the test," she said loudly. "You go ahead, Light. I'm gonna make us somethin' to eat. I'm starved." I made my way over there. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang rummaging through the metallic cupboards. She growled. "Where's the damn salt? I can't eat without it!" I smiled and closed the bathroom door. Fang had so much energy—I nearly forgot she'd spent hours as a test subject. That was part of what made her so special and unforgettable to me.
.
We sat across from each other at the table near the kitchen. As we ate together, Fang gave me more details about the tests. I had my Equilibrium garb folded in the bedroom behind us. I wore a white short-sleeved shirt and shorts instead, with fresh gauze wrapped around my wound. My throat kept stinging while I listened to Fang's story. I wanted to believe it only had to do with Fang's cooking. I liked the pork chops, but Fang had a bad habit of putting too much salt on everything. I didn't want to be rude, so I did my best to eat without letting that bother me.
Once that was over, Fang pulled out the board games from the nearby cabinet. She sorted through them, setting the boxes over the table. I recognized all of them from when I was younger. Serah and I used to play these when our parents had been alive. After I joined the Guardian Corps, I'd never had time to do that anymore.
"Could you hand me that one?" I asked, pointing to it. "Life. It was Serah's favorite."
"Huh? Oh," said Fang, absent-minded. She handed me a box without looking at me. "Yeah, here you go."
I frowned. "Fang, this is Monopoly, not Life," I told her. She tried another one. "This is Scrabble! How can you get these mixed up? They're nothing alike. Are you even looking at the boxes?"
"I looked at 'em just fine!" argued Fang. "The one you want ain't there. Tough luck."
I pulled the Life box from the top of the pile. "It's right here," I said. Fang put all of the games back and closed the cabinet. She leaned against the surface, subdued all of a sudden. Then it dawned on me… "You can't read Cocoon script, can you?"
Fang collapsed in her chair. "No, I can't," she admitted. "The damn War of Transgression took over Oerba. We were supposed to learn it 'cause the Vipers said so. The teachers at our orphanage turned a blind eye if we accidentally turned in our homework in Pulsian script. Vanille learned it in no time. I followed her lead whenever we had to read signs to get around in Cocoon. I didn't have to bother."
"But now you do," I reminded her. "If you want to fly the Ragnarok, you'll need your airship license. Before that, you have to get a regular driver's license. There are written parts on both exams." She folded her arms against the table and rested her head there, defeated. "I can help you, you know…"
Fang growled loudly against the table. "Ugh, this is embarrassing!" she yelled. "I can't get around in this world 'cause I fucked off with homework when I was a kid?! I don't want you wastin' your time on me."
"You're never a waste of time," I assured her. Fang didn't acknowledge me. I went to get some pencils and paper from the desk across the way. "As long as you're willing to learn, you can get through this. All you need to do is memorize the alphabet. And…well, there are a lot of different grammar rules. Do you know what a comma splice is?"
"A come of what?" she asked.
After a few hours, Fang had gotten a good handle of Cocoon's alphabet. It helped a lot to know that she was a visual learner. I had her come up with similar symbols that reminded her of each letter. Fang's favorite letter was W. Once she realized it looked like a pair of lopsided breasts, she wanted to write out any word with a W in it. I suggested that she work on transcribing her favorite fal'Cie chant from her village. I could watch her progress that way. She seemed eager to work on it, grinning every time I let her know she did well. This must have been why my sister wanted to be a teacher. It was nice to watch Fang learn like this—a definite change from fighting or exploring.
When it was time for bed, I actually had no idea what time it was. This room didn't have a clock anywhere. I'd lost my innate sense of time now that I no longer had my powers from Bhunivelze. While Fang got into bed, I folded her sari and set it next to my clothes. I looked over at her once I finished. Fang was on her side, facing the wall. She was oddly subdued again. Whenever she was like this, I knew she had a lot on her mind. Unless she decided to tell me, it wasn't my place to ask about her thoughts.
Above all, I was glad that she was safe. I could rest easy knowing that she was all right. No matter what happened with these results, I wasn't afraid. As long as she was with me…
Fang regarded me through the faint moonlight. She stared for a long while, obviously thinking about something. I breathed slower with her eyes on me. I wanted to ask what was on her mind, but she wasn't going to tell me. "You gonna come hold me or not?" she asked.
I knew to not ask questions. It would only complicate things with her. I got under the sheets with Fang, holding her from behind, as she wanted. This wasn't the first time she'd asked this of me. But there was still something new about this. Fang felt different that night. She had so many words on the tip of her tongue that she wouldn't give a voice to. She rested her head over my bicep and pressed the small of her back against me. I smelled traces of the medicinal soap she'd had to use in her showers earlier. Her skin heated up by the second. I felt Fang's efforts to not shift her waist too much. I moved my hand away from her shorts; she moved it back, pressing her hand over mine. I breathed in the jagged lengths of her hair, closing my eyes against them.
Shadows in the dark shifted—in my imagination… I listened to them slither between Fang's body and mine. They whispered images to me: of Fang turning around, cupping my face in her hands, and breathing into my mouth. Telling me all the things that were on the tip of her tongue. Not with words. She traced that wet tip against my lips, biting a little. My eyes shot open against Fang's hair. I mentally brushed those thoughts away, except they kept returning. My heart pounded harder against Fang's back. I held my breath to make it stop, or to at least control it. I could barely pass as calm against her. Some minutes later, once she fell asleep, she curved her back a lot, pressing against me again. When I heard her groans though her sleep, I bit my lip to keep from reacting.
I had no idea where the hell any of this came from. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to ask questions. I didn't want to acknowledge its existence. If I ignored it, maybe it would go away and I'd forget all about it. The shadows in my head laughed, sounding too much like Fang. They refused to let me sleep for hours. I forced myself to stay still throughout the night. More diligently, I remembered all of my military training, and banished my emotions away. That didn't stop the thoughts. I had no control over those. If I had to think about them, I didn't want to react—not even with Fang breathing harder against me as she dreamed.
