The next morning Light woke up to find herself alone, and in the wrong bed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, remembering that last night really wasn't a dream and that Fang was okay. She leapt from the covers, only to realise she was still naked as she tumbled to the floor. Clambering awkwardly back in to bed, she heard someone approaching from outside
"Oh maker, please let that be Fang" she thought to herself as she huddled further under the blankets
"Light are you okay? I thought I heard a loud thud from in here" she mentally slapped herself as she heard the voice of worried little Hope
"Oh Etro, why must that kid always have bad timing"
"I'm fine Hope, go away."
"But I heard a thud, are you sure you're okay? And uh, why are you in Fang's bed?" The now irritated soldier screwed her face up and reluctantly slid her arm out of the bed, feeling around on the floor for something large and preferably hard. Much to her delight she found her boot lying there in reach and proceeded to throw it towards the small boy, resulting in a small wail and the sound of his departure.
She popped her head out of the blankets again to check the coast was clear and began fumbling around on the floor to retrieve her crumpled clothes. She began to dress herself as quick as possible to ensure no one saw her naked, and worse in Fang's bed. As she went to stand up and zip her pants she noticed they were on backwards.
"Oh Come on!" Finally she fixed her pants and sighed as she looked into the mirror. Seeing her hair a dishevelled mess she decided to fix that too, pulling it to one side and tying it up in her usual fashion.
As she emerged out of the small house, she noticed Hope watching her carefully, most likely expecting another boot to the head. She held back a smile and noticed everyone standing about, talking idly between themselves.
"Sorry guys, you could have woken me, but I think I needed that sleep"
"I won-" Vanille had barely started speaking when Fang wrapped her arms around the shorter girls neck, visibly blocking her mouth from saying any more.
"Mornin sunshine! Now, with the two of us being down for the count and all, we should probably get moving quick smart. What do you guys think?" She slowly moved her arms from Vanille's mouth and the small girl glared up at her subtly before skipping off towards Hope who still seemed to be sulking
"Well, we could always stay for one more day? Fang's only been up for a few hours and she probably needs to get some strength back, what do you say we go for a spar?" Light suggested.
"That sounds like a fabulous idea sunshine, but don't think I'll go losin' to ya just 'cause I've got some nicks and cuts." Lightning snickered as she drew her gunblade
"you're on" the pair of them began making their way to somewhere less crowded but had already began trading blows.
"you wouldn't wanna get stuck between those two" Snow mumbled as he heard the clangs echoing through the air
"I hear that" Sazh backed him up as they sighed, sitting down.
"So like, what are we supposed to do anyway, since they're off playing cat and mouse with their big scary weapons? Sit here?" Vanille sighed heavily and looked over at the other three she was surrounded by
"I want to follow them, they could have sparred here but instead they left us!" I don't get it. Stupid Fang. Stupid Lightning. Vanille sat cursing to herself and drew stick people in the sand between her feet and Snow laughed
"Vanille, they're just sparring, I can't see why they'd get mad if we were to follow them?" The small girl felt her eyes widen as she stared at the dirt. She made her friend a promise that she hadn't seen anything, which really meant don't let anyone else figure this out, it doesn't exist. She knew Fang well enough to figure that much out.
"I don't care; if they want to waltz off then fine, let them. I'll just go somewhere so when they come back they've been left! Come on!" Vanille stood up and began skipping off in the opposite direction, the others followed, exchanging looks of confusion.
Lightning and Fang had no idea how far they had drifted away but they weren't paying attention to anything. The sound of their weapons smashing against one another, the force they were both exerting, it had been much too long since they'd had a serious match.
"You're in trouble" Light teased, seeing Fang's expression turn curious
"Oh really? And what did I do to get in to said trouble?" Fang challenged back. Their weapons collided a few more times when Lightning flipped back
"Well you see Fang, you left me, naked, in your bed, and then to top it off I almost had Hope walk in on me when I was trying to change! So you definitely need punishing."
"I like being punished every now and then-" Fang winked "but you have to catch me first." Lightning gasped at Fang's response and fired a number of rounds towards the unsuspecting Pulsian
"Hey! Be careful soldier girl! We're supposed to be helping me recover not damaging me more!" Lightning grinned at her partner and Fang dodged yet another of her blows
"Feelin' tired yet sunshine?"
"Not on your life" Lightning smirked and flipped behind the Pulsian, attempting to trip her into the ground. They were sprinting as fast as they could possibly go, whizzing past trees and creatures alike, they were completely lost in the moment.
"I haven't felt this good in a long time!" Light called out, laughing as she saw the older woman stumble over what looked like a root. She slowed down and walked over, stopping a metre in front of her counterpart
"You're getting rusty, Maybe we shouldn't do this yet, don't want to break you do we?" Fang frowned and stretched as she felt a jab in her ribs
"Aye what was that for!" she rubbed her wound with a mock sad face and Lightning smiled, staring at the ground to hide her blush
"hey, c'mere, Fang closed the gap between her and the soldier, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her lightly
"I was going easy on you, next time you won't be so lucky. Catch me if you can!" before Light could recover from her momentary stun, Fang had taken off in the opposite direction again, laughing as the wind caught her hair, whipping it wildly behind her. Light sighed for a moment before realising what she'd done, sprinting quickly along after her.
"Cheater!" she called out, her target taking no notice of her taunts.
As she tailed the Pulsian, she began thinking to herself, where was this all going? Fang had wound up becoming her best friend. The others would start to get suspicious soon, considering they were at each other's throats. Without realising, the soldier had slowed to a walk, the older woman standing in her place a few metres up ahead, arms crossed
"Earth to Sunshine, you all right over there?" Lightning snapped up and finally realised she had slowed
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't actually realise I'd stopped"
"You never told me if you were okay or not, so Claire, what's going on in that little head of yours?" Light sighed and sat on the ground in her place, leaning back over the soft earth
"It's funny isn't it?"
"What is?" Fang asked completely confused as to what the soldier was going on about
"Well, I was just thinking is all, not that long ago we were constantly at each other's throats, and now..." she trailed off and Fang smirked
"Well technically we still are y'know, just not in the same sense." Light slapped her playfully and sighed
"We're going to get caught sooner or later, you know that as well as I do. Vanille will slip up or we'll get careless or something will happen to make this not work." Fang placed her hand over the younger woman's and lightly closed her fingers around it, caressing the top of her skin with her thumb.
"Light, I told you, it doesn't bother me if they know. Sure it's easier if they find out later but do you plan to tell them? Cause I surely don't feel like waltzing up and bein' all hey, by the way, forgot to mention, Light and I are bangin' each other, just sayin'." She noticed as Light flinched and inwardly scolded herself for such a choice of words
"I didn't mean it like that Light before you freak out on me" Lightning took her hand away from Fang's and huffed
"If you didn't mean that then why did you say it?" Fang scrunched her hand into a fist and rested it against her nose, remaining totally silent
"Farron, I swear you're a nutcase. I just meant I don't exactly have the best way to go about tellin' 4 people we've been travellin' with that we're emotionally involved, y'know? Seriously, imagine Hope, he'd be heartbroken knowing his crush likes me. Probably get himself killed." Light nodded slowly, her eyes still fixed on the ground
"I told you Light, I'm not just in this for the sex, and you gotta stop thinkin' that way. Ever since I first laid eyes on you, there was something special about you that made my heart race. There's something about you that keeps me coming back for more, if it was just sex I could stay away, but I can't. So don't try telling me I don't feel anything because I do Light, I feel a damn lot."
Before the older Farron could ask, she heard the obnoxious voice of Snow booming from a few feet away.
"Great" she muttered, before standing up and dusting herself off. Fang cleared her throat and as their eyes met, Fang looked more serious than she ever had,
"I fell for you Light" she whispered before sprinting to meet the others.
