.:.:: Chapter 3
.:.:: Prey

Rain beat down hard on the land of Gran Pulse. Almost as hard as Lightning's mud-soaked boots on the ground as she propelled herself through unforgiving foliage. Almost as hard as the stabs of what felt like a searing hot poker in the left side of her chest. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the scrapes and scratches at her body by the wild growth she was crashing through. The clash of thunder from above filled her ears and shook her body, throwing off her senses—as if they weren't jarred enough from the unfamiliar terrain.

"The accused stands charged with the murder of nine members of the Palamecian Guard and the attempted murder of the Primarch of Cocoon."

From what she could tell from the few hours since she'd been dumped on this godforsaken world, it was more or less early morning. But angry clouds blocked most of the sunlight, assisted by the blankets of rain falling from them. A miscalculated jump over a tangle of roots and stone sent her slipping. She failed to react fast enough as her entire leg slammed against a jagged-edge rock. The pained yelp that escaped her control was masked by the rain and the burning sensations from the cut in her leg was quickly replaced by ache in her side.

"By the order of Alistor Zaidl, Knight-Commander of the Palamecian Guard, you are hereby stripped of your weapons and armor."

Lightning knew she couldn't afford to stop. Even in the weather she'd be no match for what she was running from—who she was running from. Gritting her teeth, shutting out the pain and pulling herself back up, she continued. Her pursuers were as alien to her as the land around her. If she'd only had her armor—her weapon would have been enough even—to at least defend herself against her 'welcoming party' upon her 'arrival' on the new world.

"Your acts of treason require you forfeit your rank of knight and your title of Lightning."

Even if she retained her old identity it would do her no good where she was. There was no doubt in her mind that the natives of this world she had no place in, would not hesitate to cut her down. Like the land itself they would tear her to pieces should she let them. They had the numbers, and the familiarity with the terrain. It didn't help that she was injured beyond the point of even minimal combat effectiveness. But she could give them no quarter, show no weakness. She just had to keep moving.

"Your punishment is exile."

The harder she ran, the more the former Palamecian seethed. This was all wrong. She shouldn't be in this situation, she shouldn't be here, exiled to this godforsaken place. She would've thought the alternate punishment for her 'crimes' would have been preferable if not for the fact that giving up and accepting death was simply not in her nature. Even she knew she had an abnormally strong survival instinct—as if she were keeping herself alive solely because she had some unknown purpose to fulfill and could not cease to exist until she did so. She'd do anything if it meant keeping herself alive. Even if it meant pushing her body past it's limits while running from the monsters of hell itself.

"Do you have any last words?"

Damn this place. Damn the Sanctum. Damn the Knight-Commander. Damn it all!

"You're making a mistake."

Once again Lightning found her footing slip from under her. She scrambled to find something—anything—to steady herself with but to no avail. She'd reached some sort of embankment so she ended up landing in a roll, the combination of momentum and gravity dragging her down the rough hill. Roots, rocks and low branches beat her body without mercy until she reached yet another edge. Still unable to find a foothold or get a grip, she skid off the edge, her head clipping a rock in an unfortunate place. Her vision went black before she hit the ground.

::.:.

Lightning cursed, pushing to her feet. She only made it half-way as something around her leg kept her from fully doing so—kept her from doing much of anything for that matter. Looking back at it she found it caught in a vine. No, a rope? Upon closer examination, she noticed it was more of a mixture of rope and wire. A trap? That meant-

"We-ell, what do we have here?" A voice snapped the pinkette's attention away from her leg as there was movement from behind her in the trees. Lightning whirled around, maneuvering how she could with the restraint on her leg. She watched as a figure stepped into the small opening.

He was human—as far as she could tell—taller and bulkier than most men she'd encountered. His dark hair was wild as it curled down around his neck, past his jaw. His attire was simple and light, providing little to no protection one would expect wandering the wilderness of Pulse. Yet it seemed completely in place with the rest of the world. If anything, the little protective gear Lightning had on seemed strange, inappropriate and unfitting.

"Well, it's most definitely not that Humbaba we've been tracking for a week." Another voice drifted into the clearing. Lightning's eyes darted back and forth as she watched two—no, three others, similarly dressed, stepped into view. The Sanctum were usually the ones who traveled to pulse—be it on diplomatic terms or otherwise. And of the few Palamecians that, for whatever reason had accompanied them, Lightning had not been one of them. But there was no doubt in her mind the men closing in on her were Pulsian.

"Nah, looks like we've something much more... exotic." Lightning forced herself to remain still as the largest of the men approached her. She did not at all scare easily and had easily taken down men three times her size but something about this man—no, all of them—gave Lightning a sense of unease she'd never felt before.

"No way!" The smallest of the four practically jumped to land in a crouch a mere foot from the pinkette. Lightning couldn't help the reflex to scramble backwards, away from him. Well, as far as she could with the trap around her leg, "Hey, we trapped a viper!"

"That's one fine-lookin' viper if you ask me..." Another Pulsian grunted. Lightning cursed at her helplessness. Her mind raced with possible ways to defend herself against four opponents with limited movement. They didn't seem to be carrying much in terms of weaponry. The largest Pulsian looked like he was holding a spear of some sort, the others had smaller variations; one carried a bow, arrow at the ready.

In actually, he'd probably be the biggest problem. Even with her limited maneuverability, she could easily disarm one of the smaller Pulsians and at least defend herself against the spear-wielder. But she couldn't be sure she could evade an arrow shot at her from out of her reach. Dozens of different scenarios played in her mind but stress and general fatigue made it difficult for her to focus. It didn't help that the slow drizzle that had coated the rest of the morning seemed to be getting harder.

"Look how scared she looks..." Lightning jerked away from contact against her face. Shit! When had he gotten so close? She scrambled away from the Pulsian that had somehow managed to kneel at her side before she could notice. He laughed as he reached for her again. This time she smacked his arm away, again moving herself away from him—from all of them, keeping them all in front of her, in her line of vision.

"Oooh! Feisty too!" The Pulsian with the bow sneered.

"What do we do with her?" The man nearest the pinkette was looking her over. It took every ounce of Lightning's self control to not attempt to shove her boot into his groin.

"I say I decide." The other Pulsian near her spoke up, "I made the trap she's caught in-"

"It's only because she's a pansy from Cocoon that she's all tangled up in it." The one with the bow scoffed, "That thing was so poorly constructed it wouldn't have caught a baby flan."

"-Hey! At least I caught something-!"

"It'd be nice if it were something to EAT-!"

"Speak for yourselves..." The slow, suggestive voice made Lightning sick to her stomach, "I could eat her up-"

"Enough!" The largest of the four silence the others with the order. The others all but cowered like followers to an Alpha of a pack. If there were any doubt before, there wasn't any anymore, he was the leader of this particular group of hunters. He made his way over to Lightning, shoving the other Pulsian aside. Lightning couldn't have moved farther away if she wanted to, her leg was already pulling against the hold on it.

There was near silence sans for the grumble of thunderclouds warming up overhead. The unease Lightning felt tripled as the hunter leaned down towards her, though made no move to touch her. It didn't matter that they were from two different worlds, she recognized the expression in his eyes. It somewhat mirrored her own. He had nothing but contempt for her. The pinkette actually felt her chest hurt from the breath she was holding.

"We come what we came here to do." The Pulsian's gaze did not leave Lightning's as he instructed the others, "We hunt." He straightened up and moved away, motioning to her leg as he did so, "Cut her loose." For a moment Lightning was confused. She was nowhere near naive or plain stupid enough to believe they'd just let her walk free. Which could only mean that they weren't interested in a prisoner, they were interested in prey. And they'd chosen her.

She almost flinched when one of the hunters approached her with a small knife. She dared not move while he leaned down and started cutting away at the rope and wire near her leg. Gritting her teeth harder with every snap of the bindings, she prepared herself for when he finished.

As the last of the wires were cut, Lightning forced herself into action. Biting back her discomposure, the pinkette leaped at the nearest Pulsian, kicking the knife up and out of his hands. A quick jab to the face gave her enough time to snatch the knife out of the air, grasp the hunter by the shoulder and pull him into a hold, the small blade resting against his neck. By this time she had a bow and a spear aimed at her but the larger Pulsian remained standing, watching her with a look she couldn't quite read. There were several more beats of silence as the rain grew harder still.

"Damn... didn't take that long to get your hands on me, huh?" The Pulsian in Lightning's hold snickered. The pinkette let her hand 'accidentally' slip, drawing blood. It only proved to amuse the hunter more. Lightning didn't have time to think of anything else, before she could, she was elbowed in the gut. Hard. She doubled over and forced a recovery only receive a blow to the side of the head. She ignored the ringing as she blocked another attempt at her face. The ex-knight lashed out with the knife but swiped only air as the hunter evaded. Her vision slightly impaired, she missed the opportunity to block the hand that reached out and grabbed her by the hair.

"Oh I'm gonna have so much fun with you-" Lightning refused to let him finish—refused to let him keep his hands on her. She kicked out and up, fulfilling her earlier desire of dealing a blow to where it'd hurt most—regardless of who he was or where he was from. He collapsed with a grunt of pain. Though it released Lightning from his grip, it also now gave a clear shot to the hunter with the bow, now aimed at her. The third Pulsian with the smaller spear had also begun advancing on her.

With only a split-second pause, she spun, launching the knife in the archer's direction. She didn't need to hit him, she just needed to interrupt any shot he would no doubt take. As soon as she let the knife fly, she followed through into a kick to the third Pulsian's side. He blocked and held her leg but she jumped, swinging around her other leg and catching him in the side of the head. The maneuver sent both of them to the ground. She recovered first however and turned to assess the others' positions.

Before she could, she found a hand around her throat. It was not a life-threatening grip but it was enough to have her struggling for air, and enough to have been able to pull her clean off the ground. The pinkette grasped at the arm connected to it but the Pulsian it belonged to remained unphased by her attempts to break his grip. Then, without warning, and with the force that felt like a full on hit by a truck, his other fist connected with her side. Lightning couldn't contain the cry that escaped her as she felt more than a couple ribs fracture and break.

"Prey does not fight." He stated in a low voice, his dark eyes piercing hers, even through the blur of pain and panic in her eyes, "Prey runs." With that he released—no, threw her toward the treeline of the clearing. There was far too much force for her to not land on her back. She was barely able to shake off the shock and struggled to her feet, biting on her lip attempting to shut out the stabs of pain in her side, "You will run."

Whatever chance the pinkette had against the four Pulsians was shattered along with half her ribs. Lightning knew they'd won here. She had no other choice. She had to run. Damn them, damn them all.

"Run prey." The Pulsian continued to taunt, his eyes flicking towards the treeline behind her, "Run as hard and as fast as you can."

Too unfocused, in too much pain to do anything but ignore the laughs from the other hunters, Lightning backed towards the edge of the clearing. As she felt the brush of foliage against her back, she summoned what strength she had left to shut out the pain in her side, the sound of the jeers from the Pulsians, and the rage bubbling in her chest at the thought of running away.

Then she turned and fled.

::.:.

"GUUUGH!" Lightning choked as she tasted a mix of blood, dirt and water in her mouth. She was on her back. She felt the rough ground against it but her legs seemed... weightless. Paralysis? No, she felt them, they were just... floating. In water?

She attempted to sit up but let out a strangled cry at the sharp pain that shot through her entire left side. Tightening her jaw she tried again. She managed to lift her head and shoulder off the ground but the pain was too much and her entire body was already riddled with exhaustion. She managed to turn her head to see she'd apparently washed up on the shore of a small river. Her lower half was still in the water.

How long had she been out? She forced herself to focus, trying to take in more of her surroundings. She was not in a good position. There was little to no cover around the area she'd washed up on. It'd stopped raining as well and with the clouds clearing up, so did the cover of shadow they created. It must not have been long since she fell and the Pulsians couldn't have been that far behind her when she had.

She silently cursed when she heard movement from further away from the river. Even if she tried, she wouldn't have been able to see. Not that she needed to. She had little doubt it was the hunters that had driven her to her current position, current condition. Her willpower was almost as drained as her ability to move. But something in the back of her mind again forced her from letting it slip from her. She prepared herself for another attempt at movement.

"See? I told you I'd fished something up!" The distinctly female voice caused Lightning to freeze in place. She hadn't seen any other hunters among the pack she'd encountered before—and all four she'd dealt with were male, "Oh come on, you roll your eyes because for all the hunting prowess you have, you still can't fish to save your life!" There was a pain yelp after a low thunk of something hitting the speaker's head.

As far as Lightning could tell there were at least two that had approached her, and stopped just out of her view. She couldn't decide whether to move and attempt to see the newcomers or to remain as still as possible. She didn't get a chance to decide for before she could, something blot out the sun. As her eyes focused, a face came into view. It was a young, feminine face; with silver eyes and equally silver hair framing it.

"I think she's still alive..." Lightning couldn't quite describe how hard it was to pull away from the silver orbs. It was almost as if they glowed—sparkled even—reflected the light like water.

"Hey!" A voice, more familiar to the pinkette, pulled the girl's attention away. The voice had come from a direction Lightning could actually see, "Get away from our prey!" The four hunters from before emerged from the foliage further upstream. They made their way until they were standing on the other side of the river from Lightning and the two newcomers.

"Your prey?" The girl scoffed, turning to face them, but remained crouched near Lightning, "I fished this one outta the river just now."

"We've been hunting her all morning, she's ours." The irritation in the hunter's voice was evident. Hostile even. Too hostile to just be from another hunter taking their prey. Different tribes perhaps? Lightning decided to remain quiet through the interaction.

"All morning?" The girl by her scoffed, amusement as evident in her voice as hostility in the others', "This one? That's a little weak... even for Taejins."

"Why you little-!"

"Ah, ah, ah..." Lightning could see the girl shaker a finger at them teasingly, cutting the 'Taejin' off, "You even realize where you are?" There was a pause before she continued, "You're in Oerban territory, which means this here-" The girl motioned to Lightning, "-belongs to the people of Oerba."

"What of it? You're not even Oerban." Another of the Taejin hunters spat, "That hair, those eyes, you don't have any more right to her than we do."

"No but she does." The girl motioned over her shoulder to—who Lightning assumed—was standing behind her, out of view. She watched the hunter's reactions as closely as she could. Her vision was going blurry and it was getting harder and harder to keep conscious.

"Well so wha-!" The smallest Taejin began but was cut off by another.

"Shit, do you know who that is?" He answered his own question in a voice so low, Lightning couldn't hear. Whatever he'd said obviously shook the outspoken Taejin. Neither of them could say much else as the largest hunter stepped in front of them. He met Lightning's eyes and again Lightning felt the unease creep through the numbness settling into her body. He then turned to look at the two newcomers. He bowed slightly before turning and walking back the way they'd come. The others hesitated only long enough to throw a glare across the river before following.

Again, Lightning found herself letting out a heavy breath. Only when she did so, the pain in her chest returned. She bit her lip to stifle the yelp. It didn't miss the girl's attention as she turned back to look down at the pinkette. At this point, Lightning's vision was blurred past the ability to see much of anything. Her body was too tired and numb to feel any pain. And even her will to live was flickering out.

"-ng, you gonna stand there and daydream or you gonna help me?" Lightning sight went before her hearing, and even that was starting to fade as she succumbed to unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was a shuffling of feet on a mix of ground and water. A strong hand on her shoulder and a second voice from above her. It was heavily accented, slightly sarcastic with a tinge of irritation but bizarrely familiar and oddly comforting.

"Well... ain't you just a little ray of sunshine."

A/N :.

Hmmmm. Sorry Light =\