I don't think I've been damned so many times in my life over a cliffhanger! Lol, anyways here's the next installment. It's longer than the others, sorry about the wait as well. I had to rewrite about half, I felt as if I was rushing and wasn't getting Lightning right.
:3
Closer
Stars
"There you are."
Lightning twitched, eyes opening cautiously. She was surprised to see the endless night sky above her, stars sparkling like diamonds. It was beautiful, but if she recalled correctly, it was created by the fal'Cie. It did in fact, end at some point. When you crossed over that threshold, you would be staring at Pulse's sky.
Was that endless?
"Light, aren't you going to get up?"
She blinked, sitting up slowly. She gazed at her hands like they were foreign objects.
What's going on? She wondered, scanning her surroundings. The entire place was stars; it was like she was sitting in the middle of space. She stood, watching as the unseen floor below her rippled like a pool of water. The faint silver light from the stars reflected off the invisible liquid beneath her feet.
Lightning didn't say anything at first, she spun around. Utterly confused on what was going on.
"Where am I?" She questioned, sounding ever defiant. "Where's everybody else?"
"At the Vile Peaks, where you are… Well, were. Sorta.."
That voice… Lightning's eyes went wide. "Serah?!"
"Hey."
Lightning jumped in surprise, Serah had appeared right next to her. She looked just as she did when she turned to crystal; wearing a white blouse and red plaid skirt. The sergeant didn't know what to think, Serah for all intensive purposes should be a glimmering formation on the Lindblum, not here.
Where was here, anyway?
Serah giggled at her sister. "Jumpy aren't you?"
Lightning crossed her arms. "Who are you?"
Her sister looked confused. "You don't remember me?"
"I remember my sister turning to crystal," Lightning snarled. "That's what I remember."
The girl looked sad, fiddling nervously. "You're in my dream, Light."
Lightning looked around at the sheer vastness of nothing particularly interesting.
"You're telling me, my sister dreams of endless stars?"
She smiled. "Aren't they beautiful?"
They were; there was no denying that. Lightning still didn't completely believe the girl standing next to her. She looked identical to her sister, and she even sounded like Serah. Maybe she was telling the truth, and somehow the leader of the rag-tag bunch of l'Cie had managed to infiltrate her sister's eternal sleep.
As farfetched as it was, she went with it. She didn't want to see this as just some crazed dream or hallucination. She wanted it to be Serah.
"How.." Lightning questioned suspiciously. "Did I get here?"
"You died."
~ * ~
"Lightning!" Vanille cried, spotting the body before the others.
The woman had been thrown to the other side of the road. Her body was slumped against the rising cliff wall, blood seeping from her ear. As the others ran over it became clear she wasn't in a good state, her body twisted into a form that wouldn't at all be possible without breaking a few things.
Fang reached her first, gently moving her so she was lying on her back. Lightning's eyes were open, but the pupils were massive and the cerulean irises had lost their entire luster. The tribeswoman gulped, glancing at Hope who seemed to be on the verge of tears or a behemoth-like rage. She shot a look over to Vanille.
"Get him away," Fang returned her attention to Lightning. "Can't work with children crying."
Snow knelt down beside her as Vanille hurried to Hope. He began to rummage through the pack he had brought. He dumped the supplies down onto the ground; potions, ethers and other random things clinking against each other as he madly looked through them.
"There's nothing here," he growled, slamming his fist into the ground. "Damn it, we can't let her die!"
"She's not gonna." Fang snarled, carefully she propped Lightning's head up. "Give me a potion."
"A potion doesn't-"
"Damn it Snow I know what a bloody potion does!" She roared, "Now give me it!"
He did it, watching as Fang ripped the lid off with her teeth and brought the bottle to Lightning's slightly parted lips. Her skin was beginning to lose any life it was holding onto, turning a horrible pale colour.
"Hold her up," Fang ordered, watching as the giant softly lifting Lightning to a sitting position. "Alright, let's see…"
She poured the blue liquid into her mouth. It refused to go down her throat however, and Fang found herself massaging Lightning's neck, hoping to get some sort of reaction.
"Come on," She grumbled. "Drink it you wretch, you don't get to die here."
It began to drain down, though whether it was into Lightning's stomach or lungs didn't matter much to Yun Fang. As long as it was in her, the problem was being solved. Carefully she reached over and picked up a small, crimson pouch from the contents Snow had dumped onto the ground.
"You think that will work?" Snow questioned uncertainly, watching with mouth slightly ajar as Fang reached inside the bag and grabbed a handful of something.
"I've seen it done on Gran Pulse once," Fang admitted, holding her fist over Lightning's chest. "That was a while ago though, not sure if your feathers are different…"
For Lightning's sake, they damn well better be the same.
She released from her hand, a clutch of shimmering, red and gold feathers. They fluttered down, touching Lightning's cold skin and abruptly turned to light.
Everyone held their breath.
Then, her fingers twitched. Ever so slightly but the movement was there, her eyes fluttered and she began to convulse.
"Fang…" Vanille sounded terrified. "I-Is that supposed to happen?"
~ * ~
"Lightning!"
Lightning looked around, bewildered.
"Fang?" She questioned, hearing the woman desperately calling her name.
"Come on, wake up!"
Lightning's chest felt strange, tingling like it was expand beyond its capacity. Her head was beginning to ache, and those beautiful stars were becoming brighter.
"What's happening?"
Serah looked around, smiling comfortingly. "They're trying to revive you."
"Revive me?" Lightning blinked. "What happens then?"
"Then you go back," Serah nodded eagerly. "Unless you want to stay…"
"And if I do?" Lightning narrowed her eyes; the light of the stars had merged together. It was almost like staring into the sun. She shielded her gaze, trying desperately to keep her eyes on Serah. "Serah?"
"I…" She faltered her voice shaky. "I'm being selfish Light, this one time… You have to go back."
"What?" She stumbled forward, but sheer pain made her tumble to the ground. "S-Serah?!"
It's not that she sought to stay if she was truly dead, but her sister was right in front of her. Leaving her was the exact opposite of what Lightning wanted.
"Tell Snow… I heard him… Tell him he's doing alright."
No! Lightning tried so desperately to make words come out of her mouth. But she couldn't breathe anymore, and the paradise around her was feeling more like a mountain side. Wait!
"I-I'm…" She choked. "S-sorry…"
"There's nothing to be sorry about Lightning," Serah giggled. How maddening it was that she was being torn away from her sister. "But if it'll make you forgive yourself…"
Lightning could feel someone holding onto her, she felt for an instance warm and safe. She could feel cool air on her skin and hear the yelling from Fang almost as clear as day.
"Then I forgive you."
"Lightning!"
Lightning choked, a rush of fluid was propelled from her lungs and out of her mouth. Her body trembled and her eyesight was blurry. Everything was a mess; she wasn't sure what was going on, only that it was focused around her. Her fists clenched as agony erupted through her entire left side. Her skin felt like it was burning clean off, and the air didn't help.
"Come on," the voice was still Fang's, who had insisted on yelling during her very strange, very confusing dream. "Light, you need to breathe."
She gasped, choking on the sudden rush of air into her lungs. Her vision was returning, and she found herself staring lazily up at the sky. It was clouded over; in fact it looked like it was going to rain. Lightning didn't really appreciate the rain, it was cold, and ruined perfectly good clothes.
Serah had always loved the rain.
Trying to speak was out of the question, as soon as she could breathe, a potion was shoved into her mouth. Lightning nearly gagged on it, desperately swallowing the drink they were so eager to shove down her throat. Painfully she could feel broken bones snap back into place and the fire on her leg being cooled.
"Ungh…" She managed to force the sound from her throat. It wasn't dignified nor intelligent, but it made her feel better that she could speak.
Or attempt too.
Of course, her brief encounter with consciousness faded. Her mind greatly protested to the sudden awakening from what should've been the beginning of eternal sleep. Her eyes fluttered closed, unable to stay open any longer. She did note however, that whoever was holding her was much too large to be Fang.
Snow…
* ~ *
She had woken up in a bed made of Snow's trench coat and the fur pelt off of Vanille. Her eyes took in the surroundings painfully slow, the darkness of night and exhaustion making it difficult to move. She was on her back, and her body felt oddly tingly. Lightning could hear the laughter of Snow and Vanille, along with a muffled cursed from Hope. She for the briefest of seconds wondered where Sazh was, but her memory fluttered back to her.
"Urgh…" There was that regal sound again. Lightning winced at herself.
"Well, look who's finally awake."
Fang… Light noted distantly, closing her eyes. The sergeant kept quiet, enjoying the darkness of her eyelids.
"Feelin' okay there sunshine?"
She hated that nickname; Fang had taken to calling her that for a while now. Lightning twitched, opening her eyes.
"What happened?" She groaned, feeling her back crack as she dared to move.
"Got yourself blown up, had to use an old Gran Pulse trick to revive you."
Lightning glanced over at the tribeswoman; she was leaning against the rock wall, eyes gleaming in the fire's glow. She reminded Lightning of a cat, with an instinctual predatory gaze and always so confident.
"What trick?"
"Pheonix downs are for the knocked out, not dead."
Lightning blinked slowly. I… died? Her mind drifted back to that strange dream, with stars and Serah talking to her. But she couldn't remember what her sister had said.
"Learned if you combine a phoenix down with a potent potion, you can jump start the body… As long as the fluids inside the body that is… " Fang tilted her head, seeing Lightning's distracted expression. "Something up?"
"… No." She went back to staring at the sky.
"Anyways, for the rest of the healing, thank Vanille. Hope was too busy raging about PSICOM to focus..." Fang snickered. "On a cure spell anyway, he could've certainly lit you on fire."
A long sigh escaped Lightning; she should be used to Fang by now. "… How pleasant."
"Yeah," Fang shrugged, "I advised him against it, didn't think you'd appreciate it."
Silence fell between them; Lighting caught that lingering stare of Fang's. She bit her tongue, groaning as she rolled over, back to the woman. This of course, didn't help at all. Now there was this itching sense that Fang was staring at her, an uncomfortable vibe that maybe she was getting closer. It was annoying, and as exhausted as she was, it seemed that emotion didn't need much energy to get started.
Why…? It kept replaying in Lightning's head, when there was more important things to worry about. Her dream for instance, she felt as if she had to tell Snow something, but couldn't remember what. Still, her mind floated back to Fang and that kiss.
"Fang…"
The woman looked up. "Hm?"
"… What's Pulse like?"
"Gran Pulse, jeez you'd think you could remember."
Lightning rolled her eyes. "What's Gran Pulse like?"
"Better." Fang smiled, her eyes tracing playful designs along Lightning's jacket. "It's better than this place, you people are babied."
The sergeant recalled her conversation with Hope, back when they were climbing through a food production facility. She had been staring at the fal'Cie Carbuncle.
"Pets." She noted dryly.
"Whatever you want to call yourselves, Cocoon is a walk in the park."
Lightning had never found Cocoon to be that easy, she turned over a bit to look at Fang, ignoring dull throb of pain in her abdomen. "So, nothing has given you a challenge?"
"No, well…" There was a flash of mischievousness in her green eyes. "One thing has."
"Has?" Lightning raised an eyebrow before turning back over and lying down. "You're implying the challenge is done with."
What the hell are you saying? Stop toying with the idea you lunatic.
Fang's eyes narrowed, she leaned forward as her interest peaked. "Was I wrong?"
No. It's over, whatever you thought there might be, and it's done with.
"… No.." Lightning closed her eyes.
"Ah, well then… Happy to be right I suppose.." Though Fang looked anything but glad, her eyes were downcast. Not that Lightning could see.
That gave Lightning some relief, and in return she shifted a bit to make herself more comfortable. This wasn't what it was supposed to be, she wasn't comfortable with the thought of anyone being closer then friends with her. Many would argue that she wasn't comfortable with having friends either, as she was quite cold to the lot of them that insisted on following her around.
Lightning felt Fang move closer, onto her bed despite the cold shoulder. Her bubble had been broken (again, much to her dismay), and as a result she shot up. Not making it to her feet but at least she was sitting. The pain that rocketed up her back and into her neck made her flinch. Fang was on her knees, arms crossed with an unreadable swirl of emotion in her emerald eyes.
Eyes that Lightning found herself hypnotized by for a long couple of seconds before she broke the gaze. She shuffled in dismay, putting a bit more distance between them.
"Don't get yourself into a rut." Fang stated rather bluntly, "You made your point."
"Tch." Lightning looked away, frowning. Get bitter then, I'm better off alone.
"I'm tired," the tribeswoman clarified as she moved closer again. "And since I saved your life, the least you could do is share the bed."
"What?" she blinked.
"Plain and simple then," Fang collapsed onto her back, taking half the blanket. "You owe me."
"Uh huh…"
"Not objecting?" She teased, though barely a faded smile appeared on her face.
"No." Lightning frowned, defeated. "I guess not."
"Good."
Lightning bit her lip, staring at the room Fang had left her on the bed. Her body moved without her mind really thinking about it, she shuffled over, though her expression was less then pleased about it. She laid next to Fang, eyes looking in every direction except towards the playful woman.
Fang rolled over as the tense woman lay down beside her, her expression hidden by the back of her head. She was glad the sergeant couldn't see her face anymore, she looked frustrated. Lightning hadn't resisted the kiss at all, but she had certainly shot the idea down. It's not like Fang should've expected different, it took time to adjust to the idea. But it still hurt with such a rejection, even after she toyed with the idea.
Not helping her frustration was the edginess of Lightning, who seemed to be reluctant to relax.
"I don't bite."
Lightning didn't quite believe that. "I'm sure..."
She turned over, their backs to each other. The silence though, wasn't a welcomed friend. It was heavy and awkward, even with the occasional giggle or bark of laughter from the trio at the second fire-pit. Funny, how any other time the silence wouldn't have bothered her, but she may have hurt Fang's feelings.
That hadn't been her intention, not really. Lightning wasn't out to hurt everyone around her it just… Always happened. She found herself not being able to bear the burden, and spoke first.
"What makes Pul… Gran Pulse so different?"
Fang rolled onto her back, eyes mostly closed; she didn't see the curious glance Lightning gave her from over her shoulder. "A real sky." For an instant, the woman sounded miserable. "It's..." She chuckled lightly. "Grand."
"Endless stars…" Light quietly noted, relaxing a tad.
"Hmm..." Fang's eyes drifted across the sky longingly. "Endless stars…"
Lightning stared at the three near the second fire, their bodies' dark shadows because of the glow. They were enjoying themselves, like there wasn't anything terrifying about the fate they had been handed. She was faintly envious, finding that such bliss hadn't found her since she was fourteen. Her mind inadvertently drifted to Serah, who had retained such innocence.
I miss you. Lightning thought, shifting so she was using her arm as a pillow. I miss arguing with you…
"Light…"
She snapped out of her thoughts, but didn't budge. She could feel Fang's stare on her back. "Hm?"
"What's so great about Cocoon?"
She snorted; Fang had that tone of disapproval in her voice.
"Why?"
"I don't see how anyone can stay cooped up in here," she sounded amused. "Doesn't it get boring?"
A small, unseen smile formed on the sergeant's face. "I like cities during night."
"Oh?" Fang stared at Lightning, baffled. "Why?"
"Because of what you'll see."
"And that is?"
Lightning rolled onto her back, she stared up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle. Her dream danced in her head, with space all around her and standing before her was Serah with a smile. It was an image she wanted to cling too; it gave her some sort of futile hope. But her mind drifted to Bodhum, Palumpolum, and Nautilus. How the lights shined so bright against the darkness of night.
Once had Serah convinced Lightning to get on one of those flying bikes Snow loved so much.
It had been near midnight, and she had involuntarily found herself clinging to Snow. They flew higher and higher into the sky, and she mentally remarked on how this probably violated the unauthorized vehicle height restrictions. Lightning was about to comment, but her eyes then caught the city, and the thousands of tiny lights shimmering in the shadows. Her fear of the brute's driving had diminished and she gently let go. Snow had seem surprised, turning to see if she was still okay, and more importantly, still on the bike.
He had turned to see Lightning gazing in awe at the sight before her. Bodhum had never been that beautiful. She had given up on it after her parents died. She couldn't even see Serah in the darkness, only the dancing lights of passing vehicles and houses.
"You okay Light?"
Lightning met his stare; she had never given him permission to use that nickname. But it was better than him saying 'sis'. She nodded, their stare lingering a second or two longer then it should have before she went back to gazing out over Bodhum.
Snow gradually went back to staring at the scene, uncertainty flickering over his eyes.
"Lightning?" Fang interrupted her memory, and Lightning just closed her eyes.
"Endless stars…" She replied coolly, sleep drifting near.