Ah thank you all so much for the kind reviews :) Loves them. Trying to keep the ball rolling here, had a lot of work lately. Let me know what you think about where I'm taking this :P
Fang had once described Oerba as a beautiful paradise with a wide array of flowers and trees. A calm village alongside a lake where everyone was family. Divided into separate tribes, though everyone lived together harmoniously. Honing their skills to become mighty warriors, and fight the good fight against the vipers upstairs. Always fighting for their lives..
The mere thought of that had frightened the people of Cocoon into a stupor since the war. Fear of something that didn't even exist. All this time and there wasn't even a single person left on Pulse. There was no war being manufactured, all that was left of the people were the cie'th that roamed the place that they had once called home. They'd probably been here for centuries now... Lightning wondered horrifically if Fang had known any of them.
It was haunting to be in the place where it all began, to know that her ignorance was a direct cause of this place being annihilated. Seeing first hand the devastation that could be caused by man putting their entire faith into a false god was more frightening than ever. These people were not barbarians, they weren't the worthless pieces of trash Lightning had been told they were. People like Vanille? Despite the way she grated at Lightning's nerves, she was just a normal girl, a young minded one at that. Innocent. The tears she shed at the site of her home in a destroyed state were genuine, human emotions. When it came down to it, they were all human. It didn't matter where they came from. To be manipulated into a war with a bunch of of innocent people was embarrassing. And I just went along with it blindly, as a good slave would..
Fang.. What if she was right? What if part of the remorse I'm feeling is mourning for my home too? For my parent's home? Could it even be possible?
Lightning wasn't sure it would even make a difference at this point. In the day they'd spent waiting for the injured to heal enough to continue, she had found nothing of immediate interest in Oerba. Thus, her spirit had dropped tremendously. It didn't help that Fang hadn't woken up yet. Lightning missed her despite her conflicted feelings for her at the moment. She was still angry about the wild accusations about her past, right now, all she wanted to do was be able to talk to her. Was she going soft?
As her forehead hit the cool glass, Lighting knew the fight had left her. The last twenty-four hours leaving her so emotionally drained, she found it difficult to keep her head upright. The moon outside was gigantic; It looked like it sat cradled on the mountains in the hills silhouetting the village. Lightning could see the cie'th from here wandering the empty roads. Her fingers moved slowly, unhooking the buckles around her jacket. She slid out of it, setting it on a chair beside her, before she let her hands wander to her skirt, unzipping it and stepping out of it. She had an overbearing curiosity to know exactly how cold it was outside, she pushed the window open and felt the cool night air crash against her through her thin, black shorts and turtleneck. Her eyes closed, morbidly wondering what it was like to be a monster, knowing that she could have been staring at her very fate.
"Light.." The voice was hoarse.
Lightning's head shot around. She took a deep breath as though she hadn't been breathing at all for the last few hours, before stumbling to the side of Fang's bed, falling to her knees. Color was returning to her face.
"Did we win?" Fang asked, wearing a lazy smile.
"That was a very stupid thing to do." Lightning's eyes narrowed, but the action didn't hide the overbearing relief behind them
Fang's smile widened, she let her head fall to the side towards Lightning staring into her eyes blissfully. "Nah. Better me, than you." She went to extend her arm to touch Lightning's face but winced from the soreness, her muscles seemed extra tight. It was a side effect of all the curing spells.
"Are you in pain?" Lightning asked, standing upright. "Where does it hurt?"
Fang put her hand to the side of her bare stomach, surprised to find it bare. She glanced to her side to see her sari on the chair underneath Lightning's uniform, she was left wearing only her tank top and shorts. A smirk came to her face. "You didn't have to wait til I got knocked out to undress me, ya know. You were going to take advantage of me weren't you?" Her eyes fell to Lightning's body.
"Ha. Caught me in the act." Lightning said dryly, leaning over Fang to press a palm to her side. The cure spell that surged from her fingertips gleamed faintly, causing a green glow to immerse everything in the room. Fang leaned her nose into the side of Lightning's face smiling from the soothing current that ran through her wound.
"You were worried about me." Fang stated.
"Of course I was.." Lightning whispered.
"But you're still mad at me, so you don't know how to act." Fang said as if she were reading Lightning like a book.
The soldier stood upright, turning her back on Fang as she folded her arms. She didn't want to give away the confirmation in her face. She heard movement behind her. With much effort, Fang was trying to scoot over in the bed. As Lightning turned, Fang pulled aside the covers and patted the spot beside her.
"Not enough time to be angry, Light.." Fang said, a soft expression on her face.
How right she is..
Lightning's head dropped before she slid onto the mattress beside Fang. Immediately, the tribal woman cradled her, pulling her head into her neck. Warmth, comfort, relief. Lightning closed her eyes, exhaling slowly against Fang's neck. Where would she be without this?
"How bad is it?" Fang asked, rubbing Lighting's back.
"Hmm?" Lightning grunted, muffled against Fang's neck.
"I know where we are.." Fang murmured. Lightning was dreading this, knowing this would probably hurt Fang more than anything else on their journey thus far.
"It's.. not good, Fang. It's not like you told me it'd be.."
"Can't say I didn't expect it to be in ruins.." Fang frowned. "Wish you coulda seen it in it's prime. Or remember it at least.."
Lightning rolled onto her back, frowning slightly. "You aren't going to let that go are you.."
"Nope.. Are you going to hit me again?" Fang smirked sideways at Lightning.
"No.. I'm sorry.." Lightning muttered.
"I know you just want it to go away. I understand how hard it must be to hear but there's no denying where you came from. It's.. clear as day. It's Pulsian characters, Light.."
Lightning winced, knowing the Pulsian alphabet had been all but extinct since the war. She rolled onto her side, facing away from Fang, "What exactly does it say..?"
Fang pushed Lightning's hair aside, glancing at it. "Same as mine, mostly.. Three lines of text on top of each other.. 'Made in Gran Pulse' 'Pride of my parents' 'Oerba Yun.." Fang paused..
Lightning rolled over, "Oerba Yun what?" she asked fervently.
Fang cocked her head to one side, her eyes going soft. "Is your name.. Éclair?"
Lightning's face went blank. fal'Cie... No. But that's damn close. Oerba Yun Éclair.. She could hardly wrap her head around it. She paused.
"... Claire." Lightning corrected.
Fang's eyes went wide, she let her head fall back against the pillow. "Maybe.. they altered it after the move, so it didn't sound so foreign."
"What does it matter, Fang?" Lightning said, slumping her shoulders.
"Don't you want to know where you came from?" Fang asked, trailing a hand into Lightning's hair.
"It's pretty much confirmed.." Lightning sighed. "There's no denying how close that name is to mine. And no one here could have told you what my name is because no one knows.."
Fang smiled, "Now we find out how ya got to Cocoon. And why."
"There's no time, Fang.." Lightning complained.
"Have we found a way to Cocoon yet?" Fang asked.
"No.. There's nothing here."
"Sound's like we've got time then." Fang said with a smirk that fell when she saw the defeated look on Lightning's face.
"C'mere." Fang held out an arm, Lightning scooted into her grasp. "We'll find a way back, don't worry about it. Something has to come for us. Think about it, Barthandelus needs us, right?"
Lightning said nothing, just grasping the zipper to her turtle neck, pulling the zipper down halfway and pushing it aside, revealing her brand once again to Fang. The red eye in the middle glowed, three quarters of the way open.
"There's still time.." Fang whispered. "I won't let anything happen to you, Light. We'll have a look around tomorrow, just get some rest. You can't give up yet. Not while we can still fight it, love."
Lightning felt as though her body was melting against Fang's. She let her hands wander over Fang's skin, exploring the contour of her muscles. The warmth and steadiness of Fang's pulse was soothing. No one had ever made her feel this way before. Fang was almost like a shield. If Lightning was close enough to her, she felt protected against everything. This unspoken connection she felt, could it really have something to do with her uncertain lineage? Éclair.. Pride of my parents.. Lightning would never be able to describe how incredible it felt to hear those words.
"So.. You think they were on the vestige with us?" Fang asked Vanille. The three girls walked along the empty roads, entering every building they passed to look for clues. After the initial shock of the state of Oerba had worn off for Fang, she insisted on including Vanille in their discussions of Lightning's parents.
"I've never heard of anyone traveling to Cocoon any other way. Maybe they were crystals with us and got released before we awoke." Vanille speculated. "They could have conceived Lightning after they made a regular life for themselves."
"The tattoo says 'made'. That means born on Gran Pulse." Fang said.
"What does 'made' mean..?" Lightning asked uneasily.
"We always said 'made'.." Vanille started, "Because children were a gift from nature. And the nature we were surrounded with in turn gave each child a gift in strength and character. It made us stronger than people made on Cocoon. Any human can give birth, but if you were born on Gran Pulse it was said you would be made stronger because of your surroundings."
"The tattoos themselves were a way we we could show our enemy who we were. If we got captured or killed they would see that the Yun tribe stood together, united. And naturally, that we had an advantage." Fang finished.
"How could I have been an infant l'Cie? I would have never been able to complete my focus at that age. And they couldn't have done it for me because they would've had no idea what my focus was." Lightning rolled her eyes. "If i was old enough I'm certain I would have remembered."
"Maybe he just gave you the tattoo because he and your mother had the Pulsian blood." Fang said. "Maybe they wanted a way for you to figure it out later."
Lightning shook her head. "Serah never got a tattoo.. She would have the same blood."
"Hmm, tricky." Fang muttered as they all walked up the stairs of a three story structure. All of these dwellings fascinated Lighting. They were all still furnished and comfortable looking as if someone had just moved out yesterday. Beds, kitchens, plants, pictures, everything you would normally see in a house, even in Cocoon, but it was so simplified. Everything appeared to be hand carved out of wood, fashioned by human hands.
"Oh!" Vanille shouted. "Bhakti!"
Lightning turned in time to see a tiny robot roll up to Vanille, the girl knelt down beside it. It looked like it was made of the simplest form of technology. Something that would have been obsolete even five hundred years ago.
"I was worried about you!" Vanille crooned to the thing. What the hell is that thing supposed to be, a pet?
"He's pretty damaged.." Fang said standing behind Vanille. She glanced at Lightning to see the soldier's confused visage.
"He's sort of like Vanille's little pet, but he holds a lot of information that could help us. Shame he's damaged.."
"Information?" Lightning asked.
"He's sort of like a record keeper." Fang said, "He'd probably still have some old journal entries from us." A smile came to Fang's lips. "And.. you know how I told you the Pulse fa'Cie made more l'Cie than they knew how to do with. Well, we had kept a database of everyone that was branded, so their families could keep track of them."
"That's exactly what we're looking for." Lightning muttered.
Vanille picked the robot up. It emitted a weird beeping noise that strangely sounded like protest, "I'm gonna take him to Sazh and see if he can fix him!"
Lightning stared after Vanille in disbelief as the girl ran away. How could anyone be so squeaky on a day to day basis?
"She's sweet." Fang said, her eyes still on Lightning. "You wouldn't know it just by looking at her but she's in just as much turmoil as everyone else." Fang sat on the bed. "Guess we play the waiting game now."
"Snow's still injured." Lightning muttered. She crossed the room to open the window, letting the air blow in. She loved the way it felt here.
Fang leaned back on her palms, her eyes running over Lightning's body. The way the air blew through her hair was stunning. It looked like Lightning belonged here in Oerba. She would have fit in perfectly with the natural grace she possessed.
"You're so beautiful." Fang breathed.
The soldier turned at the window, her eyes locking with Fang's. How much time was left? Even if they found a way to Cocoon, would they even have the time to steal a look at each other at that point? She could have lost Fang once already, there was no way that she would let that happen again. The time is now. Lightning crossed the room to the front door, sliding the old fashioned lock closed. She froze then, not sure what to do next.
"Light..?" Fang stood up.
"Please.." Lightning whispered, unable to look Fang in the face. As she walked slowly to stand in front of Fang, she unhooked the holster that was bound to the back of her skirt, letting it fall to the floor. Her hands landed on Fang's hips, willing her gently down onto the bed before straddling her lap. Their lips met roughly before their bodies crashed against the mattress.
Serah.. forgive me..
