So late update, however I have reason for it. I've recently started going through constant anxiety and slipping into a depression due to school and stress. I'm trying to get my life back on track so the story has not been my main priority but I thought you guys deserved a small update this month. I will try to get another update on Christmas break, depending on how busy I get, considering I have an English essay and CAT to put together on the holidays, as well as being involved in two Tumblr secret santas. We'll just see how it goes. Anyways, many thanks to Hidden Venia for following, favouriting, and reviewing the last chapter. Your advice was taken into account.


He is the flame
He draws me in
That burns within
It's a pain, it's so sweet, oh
The fix, the craze, by now he needs
Only I can't breathe
And I just can't pull away
Can't get away, oh, oh
From the fire, fire, fire
I never wanna put it out
Burning, burning, burning
Fire, fire, fire
I never wanna put it out
Burning, burning, burning.
~ Fire - Jessie J


The low peaceful sounds of the engines were the first sounds to hit Maeve's senses. Everything was slowly coming back to her as the raspberry blonde returned to the waking world.

The air was a cool touch upon her skin that was free of sweat and grime, giving the fifteen year old a slight chill. Her hair laid in damp curls around her head, giving off the scent of soap and cold cleanliness. But another smell also floated around her, one that triggered her memory.

It was a spicy scent with a hint of sweetness; it was a foreign smell that reminded her of the exotic wildlands of Cocoon, only less artificial. It was a brand new smell that had her eyes opening wide with alarm, her body forcefully upwards into a sitting position.

The raspberry-blonde groaned as a strong throbbing sensation flew through her skull, closing her brown eyes in pain. She cradled her head in her hands, her elbows coming to rest on her elbows.

"Careful, sweetheart. You've knocked your head pretty good over the last few hours. Managed to give yourself a nice concussion there, and there's only so much a potion can do for those." A lazy but mildly concerned voice drifted over from her left.

Maeve slowly opened her eyes as she turned her head just as slowly. Leaning against a wall across from the cot that she had been resting on was a tall dark haired woman. Her tanned skin and piercing blue-green eyes gave her a wild look, as did her lithe but muscular build. She was dressed in a blue sari, with a large black tattoo on one of her biceps. She was stunning in a feral way, which was new to Maeve.

"I know I'm beautiful but, I don't think it's polite to stare, sweetheart." Came the oddly accented voice again, causing Maeve to blush.

"Sorry, ma'am." The raspberry blonde teen apologized quickly, staring back down at her lap.

"Ah, I'm just messing with you, kiddo. Anyways, what's one of your kind doing, hanging around a Pulse l'Cie? They're your enemy, aren't they?"

"Pulse l'Cie aren't my enemies, they're the enemy to the Sanctum." Maeve managed to get out, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"And you're not Sanctum?" The woman asked with a chuckle, crossing her arms across her chest as she tried to humour the kid in front of her.

"No, I'm not. I'm simply someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got chosen as one of Cocoon's l'Cie."

"I see.." The stranger trailed off, her blue-green gaze roaming over the teen's face as she tried to gain more information from her posture.

"Well, as you can tell, you've been cleaned up a bit and any wounds taken care of. I tried my best to clean ya up while working around your clothes, but there's a spare set you can change into if you'd like." The woman said, gesturing towards a pile of cloth on a small night table, "I'll be just outside the door. Come out when you're finished, and I'll take you to see your friend."

With that, the dark-haired woman left Maeve to her own devices in the small sick room.

The raspberry-blonde slowly stood from the cot, shifting through the items of clothing to see what she could swap out.

The pants that had been provided were far too large for Maeve, and her leggings weren't too badly damaged, so that was set aside. A clean sports bra replaced her torn and stained one, which ended up in the garbage pail next to the table, a black button up shirt going over it. Her leather jacket was still in decent condition, so it remained on her person, but the sixteen year old coloured slightly when she came across the packaged military issued panties.

The dark-eyed girl swapped her underwear after calming down her embarrassment, although her cheeks were still slightly pink as she laced up her boots. She picked up her gray scarf, wrapping it around her neck to conceal her l'Cie brand. Pulling her hair-tie off her wrist, the teenager pulled her hair into a quick ponytail before walking out the door.

As promised, the woman was waiting for her, casually leaning against the wall beside the door.

"Alrighty kiddo, all set to go?" she asked in her strange accent.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Take me to Snow, please." the pinkette responded, nodding politely to her caretaker.

"Somebody has manners, I see. Too bad your friend doesn't have many." Maeve giggled at that, fondly remembering how Snow could be sweet but lack nearly any type of etiquette.

"By the way, I'm Fang, for future reference."

"Maeve."


"Couldn't run if you wanted to." Fang stated as she walked up to the muscular blonde, Maeve trailing behind her. The rose-haired teen noticed that Snow was cuffed by the wrists, a frown present on his face as he watched the many ships fly by on the screens.

Maeve rested a hand on the older man's shoulder, startling him a bit as he turned and looked at the petit girl in surprise.

"Hey, kid! You're looking better than when I last saw you. You get all patched up?" Snow inquired, obviously wary of whether she had gotten decent treatment from the medical centre.

"Yep, all healed, newly outfitted, and ready to go." She replied, drawing a small smile from the older man.

"You're not going anywhere, sweetheart. As a Cocoon l'Cie, your currently under the custody of the Sanctum Guardian Corps Air Force.

The reunion was short lived, due to the small aircraft docking into the main ship of the cavalry.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo, look at you! Wonder what's under the hood of that thing?" Snow thought out loud, ducking slightly to get a better look at the approaching airship, his face filled with interest.

"Keep your pants on. You'll get a peek soon enough. Just try to behave." Fang remarked teasingly, as if she were talking to a child.

"I'm not gonna make any promises." the blonde snipped out, looking a bit reluctant to be going onto the ship.

"Hmph, cheeky boy, aren't you? We'll see how long that lasts."

Maeve choked down a laugh, as the two adults bickered like an old married couple as their ship docked within the hanger of the larger one.

A group of armed guards escorted the trio off their ship and into the hanger of the Cavalry's headquarters. The trip was a bit uncomfortable and the silence was strained.

Snow walked at the front of the procession, still handcuffed and pissed about it; Maeve and Fang walked behind two guards, and were closely followed by another two. All of them had guns.

As they entered the main hanger, a soldier sprinted up to walk beside the blue-clad woman.

"He's come to meet you." the soldier stated, only getting a small grunt in response from Fang. The pinkette at her side nervously toyed with her scarf as their group came to a stop with a simple "Halt." from a guard, a finely dressed man came towards them. He walked with obvious power and command, no doubt in control of the situation about to take place.

"You must be Snow. Cid Raines, Brigadier General of the fleet." he introduced himself, extending a gloved hand out towards the restrained blonde.

"Hi, Cid. Thanks for the escort." Snow replied in a dead tone, causing Maeve to snicker from behind the larger man. Her little laugh drew the dark-haired man's attention to where she stood, partially hidden behind her companion.

"And you must be Maeve, the mystery l'Cie." He stated, causing the pinkette to pull herself away from behind Snow.

"Not much of an mystery if everyone knows who I am." She responded, locking eyes with the general.

"Your motives for helping a Pulse l'Cie are enough of a mystery before taking into account your non-existent past. Tell me, what drives you to help your natural enemy?" the dark-haired general inquired, stepping towards her.

Maeve stepped away from Raines, biting out, "My reason are my business."

"Apologies. I just have a few questions I'd like to ask." At that moment, three work drones floated by, carrying Serah's crystal form out of the hanger.

"If it works like they say and from what the legends say, she must have fulfilled her Focus."

Snow lunged for his crystallized fiancee, shouting "Serah!" before being restrained by Fang as she warned him not to struggle.

"Fulfilled her Focus, as a tainted Pulse l'Cie that is." Raines continued, ignoring the blonde's outburst.

"You think she was out to hurt Cocoon?!" Snow demanded, still trying to shrug off his restrainers.

"I'd hardly be alone if I did." Cid responded cooly, shifting his weight to bring him closer to Snow, "When it comes to Pulse, who could claim to know anything? I need the truth, for the sake of Cocoon."

"For the sake of Cocoon...We're from Cocoon. Shipping us out, Purging innocent people. That's how you lend us a hand?!" Snow asked, exasperated as the guards continued to try and push him back.

"Those are the Sanctum's methods. The public fears what it doesn't know. It's grown tired of living in constant terror of the world below. So, the Sanctum devised a plan for you l'Cie."

"I'll bet.." Snow grumbled, his raspberry blonde companion making a small effort to calm him down a bit.

"A public execution. Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babes." Raines' carefree attitude about the situation only seemed to anger Snow further, causing Maeve to take a step back.

"No!" The shout was quickly dealt with as Fang kicked the larger man to the floor when his rage got the best of him. Raines continued on with his speech, Maeve trying to pay attention as she tried to help Snow back up.

"The Sanctum has intelligence on the other l'Cie already. It's only a matter of time."

"You'll never catch them!" the winded blonde said with disdain.

"I see. We'll need your help then, won't we?"

Maeve rose from Snow's side quickly as the dark-haired woman approached her companion, prepared to come to his defence if he needed it. However, the man merely rolled onto his side, and quietly whispered, "Serah.."

A guard pulled the teen off to the side as the others began uncuffing Snow. Her staff and materials pouch was returned to her upon reaching a velocycle a few feet away from where they originally were standing. Maeve tucked the staff into it's holster after securing her pouch around her hips. Unzipping the pouch, the pinkette found that her stash of energy bars were untouched; the sixteen year old pulling one out to nibble on and fill her stomach.

Eventually Snow made his way over to where she stood, an empty wrapper in hand. He held Serah's crystal tear tenderly, looking at it like it held the answer to everything. Maeve looked at her friend for a moment before speaking.

"I know what her Focus was." the young l'Cie stated.

The blonde looked up at her quickly, his mouth gaping open from shock.

"I saw her Focus, it was when I got branded by Phoenix.. Her Focus was to bring other candidates to the Fal'Cie, so it could make more l'Cie...I don't know why, I just saw it in my Focus.."

A moment of silence hovered between the two before Snow was able to speak again, "So her Focus wasn't to destroy Cocoon..?" He asked with hope colouring his voice.

"No, it wasn't." The pinkette replied as she watched the blonde's face slowly melt into a grin as he stared at the crystal tear again.

The moment didn't last for long before Fang came charging from behind and smacked Snow in the back of the head. Both parties let out grunts of pain, the blonde rubbing the back of his head and the woman trying to shake the pain outta her hand.

"Ugh, I knew you were hard-headed-"

"Ow, that was-ow."

"Snap to it, we're rolling out!" The wild-haired woman told Snow, putting her hands on her hips as she faced him.

"Yeah yeah, hunting l'Cie right?" he replied sarcastically, drawing a small smile from the rose-haired teen at his side. Raines voice over the ship's intercom drew the groups attention.

"This is our chance. Do not let the l'Cie escape! Move out!" small fighter ships began to fly out of the hanger, Maeve crawling into the velocycle with Snow, considering she had no idea how to fly one of the things.

Giving the crystal tear one last glance, Snow tightened his fist around it as Maeve caught the tail end of his whisper.

"..I will keep my promise."


Please read and review, and I hope to see you all at Christmas!