I have another chapter for you. I wish the happy new year for everyone and special thanks for LadyWolvie82 for beta reading after such a long time of my absence.

Enjoy!

2. The Huntress

She was falling, hard. She could feel that. She was falling with her back to the ground… except that there was no ground. Grand Pulse disappeared from under her feet and there was only black, dark emptiness engulfing her from each side. Was she even falling or was she just hanged in the emptiness? Some doubt nested in her mind. But just a while ago she was getting further and further away, throwing her hand up, trying to reach… What was she trying to reach? There was nothing above her no matter how far she stretched her arm. She was already far away, gone, abandoned in the void thick of sorrow.

Her eyes shut ever so tightly, and her arm reached up once again, as a last resort. Full of desperation, stripped of hope yet still, she kept searching for what was already lost. No… wait. Don't go… She heard herself whisper into the very emptiness, but sound waves seemed to not propagate in there. She wanted to try once again, to call but the last breath of air had already left her lungs. With no air to make her vocal chords vibrate, all she could do now was to mouth the name she knew so well, the one she wasn't ready to let go yet… the one she wasn't ready to forget ever. The name's owner… that's who her hand was trying desperately to reach but the warmth of another hand never came.

The void and the stupor started to slowly give place to slight pain. Barely noticeable at first, easy overlook, then harder and harder to ignore when it started to escalate with every single beat of her heart. For a while she thought her organs must have been misplaced as the pumping of blood was the most intense in her head instead of her chest. Hell, it was getting strong enough to slowly drag her out of the nothingness she found herself in. By the time she started to distinguish sounds, she was sure that the crimson liquid, which was responsible for distributing oxygen in her system, would rip her skull apart.

She opened one of her eyes ever so slightly, with a painful grimace on her face. Stone. Lit torch. Stone passages. Pulsian warrior. Stone columns. Wooden table. Even more stone. Well… she seemed to be in the exact the same place as before. At least this time the pounding in her head distracted her from the pain in her wrists.

Her knees straightened up to put out the pressure from her hands. As she moved her leg, she heard quiet clinging this time. Her eyes dropped down to the space between her ankles and her gaze focused on the chain hanging from one ankle to another.

Tch…looks like my vain attempt to run away made them dust off their brains and maybe they'll start to use them… unfortunately.

The guard acknowledged that the woman woke up, but this time he didn't go to inform his boss. He just looked at her and went back to whatever he was doing… which was sitting in the chair and doing nothing.

The light of the torch was dim, but it still was too bright for her and was only deepening her headache. Despite the pain, she whipped the grimace out of her face, equipping it in its typically dissatisfied expression.

"Indifference. That's the only way. The moment they see the slightest piece of your weakness, you lose it. They will feast on that like a predator, feeling that they're close to breaking you. Do not show them anything. Any emotions, any pain, any needs. Do not make it easier for them. Be an impenetrable stone." The man in sumptuous, military uniform stopped in front of the modest group of recruits to sweep them all. "You'll train the captive situation in pairs for five days then you change places. Everything that doesn't make permanent damage for health or physical condition, allowed. Interrogators, I count on your creativity. Captives, good person at your right is your pair." The pink haired woman looked to her right but there was no one there. She was on the verge. She looked left to check if there is anyone without pair but then she spotted the man stopping just before her eyes. The exact man who was speaking a moment ago.

"Farron."

"Yes, sir?" She asked, her voice full of confidence and unwavering, back perfectly straight. He had his hands crossed behind his back and was watching her carefully as if measuring an opponent.

"You train with me." His eyes narrowed when the thinnest smirk appeared on his face. "And since I no longer need to train the captive side, it's whole 10 days for you."

Impenetrable stone, huh? She looked around seeing the passages and different shapes hollowed in stone by water. So much for impenetrable…

The pink fringe was falling on her eyes but… well, she couldn't use her hands to brush it off and she wouldn't risk any sharp movement of her head. Trying to blow it from her eyes was an option but she decided to not bother. The picture of the surrounding was safely stored in her mind anyway and there didn't seem to be anything different.

She had time. There was nothing more she could do to improve her situation now, so she started to rummage through this storage of memories. Analyzing the recent ones was harder than she thought. The whole attempt of escape was blurry, probably because of the head injury. With enough amount of effort, she was able to recall most of it though. The number of crossings, the turns she took, and the location of the dead end. The last one was the most crucial. Stumbling across it again would be just… well, it would be just stupid of her to not learn on her mistakes and it would probably cost her 's not some mindless moth bumping the light bulb once after another. Every piece of information was useful for the next try. Supposing that there would be the next try. She would have to do something about the chain between her ankles first, though. Then find a way out of that labyrinth, avoiding being knocked cold again in the meantime.

Right.She thought, taking a cleansing breath. A piece of cake.

Suddenly there was some rumble down one of the passages and female voice could be heard. It was still too far away to distinguish exact words but gradually it was getting more and more audible. She stopped listening. Her attention snapped back to the guardian who stood up from his chair and started his lazy walk towards the same passage the voice was coming from.This one must lead me to the exit.

"Heeey, Shammu. Anythin' new?" Now she could hear the voice more clearly. It was low pitched and had a thick, strong Pulsian accent but also definitely feminine. Its tone was clearly indicating that the woman she was about to see was the confident one and doesn't give a shit about what people think about her. "How is the sleepin' princess?"

The sleeping princess? The woman made an actual effort to try to remove the pink fringe from her eyes with a move of her head, that only gave her more pain.

"Awake." She heard an answer from the man who was guarding her just a while ago. I guess it does refer to me. Tch...

"Too bad, there is no need for a wake-up kiss."

The prisoner's brows shot to the roots of her pink hair when she tried to imagine this absurd situation. For a moment here, her mind was more blank than her face, but she quickly composed herself again, hearing the steps of the owner to this intriguingly perky - but also a little bit intimidating voice.

The woman was approaching in a quite quick but brisk pace. Her steps were steady and graceful at the same time. She was tall, and her shoulders were muscled from years of weapon wielding. That's at least what the pinkette assumed seeing red spear at woman's back. She was wearing a blue, Pulsian sari. It was spreading from her left shoulder to the right hip and then went behind her back, tied in some wicked way, which made it cover woman's backside and hang leisurely covering completely woman's right leg but leaving convenient split for the left one. On her legs were almost knee high, leather, strapped sandals. Airy but, thanks to the sturdy leather, able to protect shins from minor injuries and scratches. Made for Gran Pulse climate and wildlife.

The huntress. The prisoner noted to herself. She did her homework before getting to Gran Pulse, and she knew that the attire the woman was wearing was traditional sari of Gran Pulse huntresses. She read a lot about how it is precisely sewed and tied, to give full comfort in a fight. How it completely does not restrict any movement human body is capable of, how the fabric is of best quality and carefully selected, enabling noiseless sneaking and silky enough to just perfectly cling to the body where needed or just falling freely and dancing in unison with a wind where loosely released. However, she couldn't help huge doubts from forming in her mind. Does not constrict any movement? I do not know how she is even able to walk in it without tripping or walking on the front part. No one is going to convince me this bullshit is the actual truth. Well… unless I try it myself and am proved wrong… which is, considering my current situation, highly unlikely.

"My, my, what a prey we've caught 'ere." Mused clearly entertained woman, stopping just in front of her prisoner, who decided to ignore the derogatory comment. She was aware that being humiliated and beaten was going to happen daily - so the sooner she got used to it, the better.

Her muscles tensed in alert when she saw the huntress leaning closer with the hand reaching toward her face. How surprised she was when the slender fingers brushed the rest of the pink hair off her face and tugged them behind her ear.

"Ahh… That's way better, isn't it?"

Cerulean blue eyes rose to measure the Pulsian, who stood there with her hands on her hips and with clearly satisfied with herself expression. Then, when nothing was obscuring her vision and the light was better, she could see some more details. Her complexion was slightly darker than most people she knew back on Cocoon, but it wasn't brown yet. Sun over Gran Pulse can be scorching as hell, she doubted that it's sun's fault, though. The pieces of Pulsian's body, which weren't covered by the sari, undeniably showed a rich amount of solid muscle everywhere from the base of her leg, through half-uncovered abs, slender fingers, sculpted forearms to finish with strong shoulders. She could tell just after a few glances that the woman had to be strong but, in contrast to the guard she saw earlier, her muscles weren't overgrown. They probably let her maintain a good proportion of strength and agility. This one will probably give me a little bit more trouble… The biggest problem was getting a weapon. Once she had that she could deal with most of these apes. The truth is, the bigger they are the slower are their movements and she knew just fine where to cut to slow them even more and finish the job if there was time for this one though, it was hard to tell… and her confidence was unsettling. Unless it's only boldness out of stupidity. When she finished estimating the level of hazard her eyes went further up. The woman was half of the head higher with a thick mane of dark hair wildly blown by the wind. They were mostly let looseand falling on her back over the shoulders. Some tiny braids were visible on each side of her head and tugged behind her ears. Probably an attempt to keep the hair in check to some purple earrings in the shape of fangs were hanging from her ears. There were also two necklaces. One of them was short, finished with a colorless crystal on the height of her collarbone. The second one, longer, made from a variety of colorful beads and ornaments, hanging down her cleavage to the black top, which kept her breasts firmly in cerulean eyes decided to not linger too much on this specific part of the huntress' body and went back to the face only to see her lips, a little bit fuller then her own and curved in a lopsided grin. She noted also shapely nose, high cheekbones and a beauty spot just under her right eye. The lopsided grin grew bigger when their eyes met finally. Green…that's a rare color. However, that wasn't about color. The eyes were narrowed and piercing, clearly intended to be intimidating. Even she could feel the slight spike of adrenaline when these eyes were trying to drill through her and reach the core of her being. You know how it is when you look into predator's eyes – you cannot avert the gaze. That would be the sign of weakness and signal for a predator to attack. You want to survive, you need to hold the gaze and fight back. That's what she did. She stared back into the jade eyes with unwavering confidence. Her cold cerulean eyes shooting icicles and sustaining the impenetrable wall of ice just behind them. Oh, she was aware her own gaze could be… or not only could but most of the times was intimidating and seeping with scorn. Once she heard rumors among young recruitsthat she could freeze the water with a stare. Complete absurd… Though, she never really proved them wrong.

So that was what she did, she fought back the scrutinous gaze what seemed to excite the Pulsian even more, as her smirk grew bigger. Any other expression was unnecessary, so she just kept it how she liked it – plain and impassive.

"Well… I like what I'mseein'." Commented the dark-haired woman letting out a small laughter.

Go fuck yourself.

The Cocoonian was always proud of her ability to control her emotions. It was harder with her tongue. She had tended to snap back at officers with a higher rank, what had caused her decent amount of trouble but after years she finally mastered the ability to bite her tongue too. She was taught in a hard way that talking back when you're in no position to do so wasn't the best idea. Saying some thoughts aloud, when it wasn't necessary, could bring her only more inconvenience. Especially when she was still Guardian Corp sergeant and had orders to follow. Her employers didn't like her talking her mind, so she found it unnecessary to inform them that she was going to take care of the problem her way. Just if she was effective, they didn't ask the questions. It didn't mean that the retorts to didn't come to her mind, though.

"Oerba Yun Fang. I'm 'ere to watch over ya and make sure ya won't do anythin' stupid. Ya can call me Fang."

Tch… I doubt I'll need that.

"It's your turn to give me your name I guess."Fang added; and when she got no answer, it didn't help at all. She let out a resigned breath. "Yeah, they've told me ya are not the talkative one but ya are stuck with me for the rest of the day and probably more in the nearest future. It's just more fun talkin' with someone than talkin' to someone." The Pulsian shook her head huffing under her nose with a mild amusement. "Still not a word, huh?" There was a small pause and the pinkette started to wonder when the Pulsian would stop waiting for her answers. "I heard that even Caius wasn't able to make ya sing."

Caius. He must be the one who should interrogate me.

"Unfortunately, he's not the one to give up easily. He'll be back." Fang's expression grew more serious and for just a tiny moment she could swear that she saw the trail of concern in the jade eyes."With less and less patience every next time. That's your choice." She shrugged and started to walk back in the direction of the table and chair. She unclasped her red spear from a harness on her lower back and leaned it on the wall then she grabbed the backrest of the chair and started dragging it closer to the prisoner. The chair made the screeching noise, its legs scraping on the raw stone, before it was spun around with its back towards the prisoner and the huntress sat, straddling it with her legs and leaning with her forearm on the backrest.

"I have to admit, I've been excited to meet ya. Ya're already a legend 'ere. Ya gave us a lot of trouble to catch ya. Many fine warriors have died because of ya. I heard about your quickness and how ya're able to exploit the terrain against us. Ya, the foreigner, exploitin' our home against us. Intriguin' as hell. I wish I was there, so I could try ya myself or at least watch ya in action. To check if ya really are as good as they say - or they only exaggerate your prowess, because it took them so damn long to take ya alive."

The pink haired woman stood there attentively, watching suspiciously the Pulsian. She couldn't get, what all that talking was for. Were they going to play a good and a bad cop? If you think I'm going to fall for that you're seriously mistaken.

The Pulsian seemed rather relaxed, sitting leisurely in the chair. "Yeah, I know ya won't tell me. There is some way to check how good ya are, though." She twirled the bunch of keys around her finger a few times and the provocative smirk appeared on her face.

The prisoner's heart quickened but she tried to look just as impassive as earlier. Is it even possible to be so foolish and cocky? Well, she always tended to underestimate people's stupidity but this one didn't seem to be a total idiot. Cocky, yes. Stupid, no. Anyway, she made sure to get ready in case the huntress decided to free her. Her eyes observed watchfully as her jailer got up from the chair and slowly closed the distance between them with lips curved, eyes a little bit shady.

"That's one heck of the way to check."The Pulsian stopped just in front of her as if weighing the options or just to taunt her. "That's temptin' as hell to see what ya're really made of…" She bit her lip seizing her opponent and considering options."Ahh… But I'm no fool." There was a decent amount of disappointment in brunettes voice before she winked and pinned the keys back to her belt. "They would skin me alive if ya escaped."

The playful attitude of Fang started to irritate her. Somehow, she wasn't in the mood to play.

A small frown appeared at Fang's face as if she was considering her earlier words. "Though I pretty much doubt that." The frown quickly gave place to a confident smile. "No person or beast I haven't been able to hunt down so far." She blew out a long, disappointed breath, having to turn down the challenge she was so eager to take. "If not for Vanille, I would gladly take the risk… but it's not only my fate I'm responsible for." The imprisoned woman stored another piece of information. Vanille. Whoever she is, Oerba Yun Fang seems to be deeply concerned about her well-being. You never know when some information may come in handy… And Fang doesn't seem to be secretive one. Good.

"Boss is oddly interested in all of ya. I wonder why."

The sentence caught her attention. It confirmed her assumptions. I'm not the only one here. All my squad is here… or dead by now.

People always underestimated the value of good reconnaissance. They prefer to run headfirst into a battle. Surveillance is a key when you need to take care of something quietly, minimize losses or to survive in a hopeless situation… Just like mine.

"Ah, anyway. We need a name for ya, don't we?" The Cocoonian didn't answer but Fang expected that this time. "Since ya won't tell me, I need to make it up on my own." She furrowed her brows thinking deeply and leaned her chin on her fist. "Hmm…" She murmured traveling slowly with her eyes up and down the prisoner. Finally, her eyes stopped at the height of the Cocoonian's breasts. A little smile appeared on her face was what surprised the pink haired woman at first, and then caused the anger inside of her to grow. It grew even more when a trace of embarrassment started to appear in her head.

"What do we have 'ere?" The Pulsian leaned down to take a better look. The pinkhead's anger peaked and her cerulean eyes were the killing ones. Her hand was itching, yearning to slap the insolent woman. Unfortunately, both of her hands were tied, and balling and straining them didn't do a damn thing. She saw huntresses hand reach toward her chest to take… The pendant…She was looking at the pendant. For a while, she felt like an idiot. She even blinked twice before her eyes went back to express nothingness. The situation already gone from her mind. She decided to just leave it behind, seeing no point in analyzing it, wanting to just forget, too embarrassed to dwell upon her mind's interpretation of the situation.

"Lightnin' bolt, huh?" The brunette took her back to reality with her low voice. She let the lightning bolt shaped pendant go. "Lightnin'. I like it." Her smile looked satisfied. "I hope ya like it too because ya didn't give me much of a choice."

Surprisingly, she did like it. To tell the truth, she liked it more than her real name. Surprisingly, it was familiar to her… Not that she showed it somehow. Her eyes were still staring back at the brunette coldly. The brunette who took a few steps back and was sweeping her eyes through the prisoner, stroking her chin and nodding to herself with deep satisfaction.

"Yeah. Lightnin'." The familiar smirk appeared on her face. "Quick, deadly and stunnin'."