A/N: Hey folks, thanks for the support of my experimental Chapter 8. Some good review, some not so sure... all appreciated! My thanks go out to all my favourite, constant reviewers, OerbaFarron, hubble, swampert, lala... Thank you Ineffable Sunset too for the note. Oh, and Chelisa1031... though I don't really understand half of your review, you reminded me alot of an energetic Vanille, and I like it... so thanks...?
Again, will like you wonderful readers out there to R&R :)
IX. See the Light
I slipped in and out of consciousness, willing myself to come awake. There were distant voices, blur images, and an unbearable expanse of white light. I could feel myself heat up, so much so that I must have been in the fiery centre of Bahamut's blast flare. Then I was plunged into freezing depths, feeling the ice cold crystal forming anew over my skin once again. The cycle repeated every so often, while I struggled against my bonds, my focus on breaking out of this crystal prison that was my fate.
I could feel Vanille close by. Sometimes she held my hand and whispered encouraging words to me. Other times she sounded far off and desperate. Was she crying? No, I wouldn't let Vanille cry again, I promised that. But didn't she feel the torture in trying to escape her own crystal walls too?
I was raging wars within myself, pleading with Anima, praying to Etro, bargaining with Titan, believing in Lady Luck and miracles. Anything, I would do anything, just to see her again. Tear down the sky, crumble the crystal pillar, crack Cocoon's shell, blast Orphan out of his watery grave… Anything…
Light…
An oppressive burden suddenly lifted from me. Melted away.
I drew in a sharp gasp of air, my lungs coming alive once more, burning and exploding with my first breath of life. My back arched from this sudden and forceful intrusion of the outside elements, everything assaulting my senses at once.
"Fang!"
I heard Vanille's endearing cry. My eyes felt heavy, I couldn't move just yet. I think I moaned in answer, the noise like sawdust grating against my raspy throat.
I did a mental check. Appendages accounted for so far, I'm getting some feeling in my extremities little by little. Memories intact this time? Hell yeah, I remembered a certain strawberry blonde soldier walking out of my life. The pain was still fresh and tingling and raw.
I'm coming for you woman... ya best be ready when I do.
As awareness slowly seeped in, I heard something out of place.
Beep, beep, beep…
Wha? Machines? The hell's machines doing in our crystal pillar?
I forced my eyes open a slit. What I saw immediately made my eyelids snapped wide open and I lurched backwards hastily, a snarl curling at the back of my throat.
"Nabaat!" I spat.
My eyes darted around. Vanille was sitting in this coffin like capsule next to mine, her face anxious and fearful. I was lying under the sheets of a similar capsule, with wires taped to every possible pulse points on my body, all leading to this monstrous machine which was making the beeping sound. I ripped the cables attached to my forehead, causing a monitor screen nearby to flatline and siren lights to whir in warning.
What's this? Hell?
The white and silver sterile walls with light blue luminous discs were enough to clue me in on where I was. Did we go back in time? The Narthex.
The dark blonde figure approached, clicking her heels on the marble floor and removing her glasses as she did so. Her long fringe fell and covered most of her face, but I could still recognize the fanatical glint in her light green, almost colourless eyes. She stopped so close that I could make out the intricate designs of her military robes. I clenched my fists, ready to launch myself at her.
"Most interesting, l'Cie… You're a fascinating case study of conscious crystal sleep. A self-induced crystal stasis that need not the powers of our almighty Fal'Cie."
"Whacchu talkin' about, ya old hag. I saw ya die by Barthandelus' hand. Stop messin' with me."
She laughed, tracing her gloved finger across my right bicep. I shuddered in revulsion and twisted away, my left palm clasping protectively at the area she had just violated. I looked in astonishment at where my l'Cie brand used to be. It was now just a mesh of light scars. Flesh toned scars, mind you, not the white, burnt out kind.
"Hah… you saw me die? Just like you watched Cid Raines die did you?"
Nabaat turned and walked to gaze out at Eden from the windows. Vanille hopped off her side and snuggled next to me. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.
"Our gods see us as tools. We will be disposed of at whim, and brought back to life at their caprice. You have seen Cid Raines as Primarch, have you not? And yet before that, his crystal ashes were scattered in the wind before your very eyes."
She glanced sideways at me. I hugged Vanille tighter.
"I did not die at the Palamecia, if you must know. The Fal'Cie must have let me live for another purpose. To continue my research on all things l'Cie. Which brings me back to why you both are here."
"Vanille, ya wanna crash out of this party?" I whispered during her self-absorbed ramblings.
"Not now Fang, it's too dangerous! We don't have magic or weapons!" Vanille mouthed back.
"This woman is boring me to death! I'd rather take a flying leap."
"Hush!"
Nabaat swiveled in her boots to face us.
"Your dear friend Captain Lightning Farron has been such a wonderful help by the way."
My ears perked up. "What has Light gotta do with ya, woman?" I growled.
"Didn't you know? She was trying ways and means to bring both of you back. Building that other thing to keep Cocoon stable and dispatching scientists and researchers into the field. I must really thank her for making it so easy for me to disguise some of my men in and extract you out from the pillar before she did. Saved me a lot of effort, but kudos to her for working at it for so many years. She simply couldn't understand why her team didn't find any trace of you two." She cackled mirthlessly.
"You what?"
She swung her baton to point to my sister. "Vanille there was branded by Anima with the same Focus as the rest of your motley crew. She should have woken up together with your Captain ages ago. It was a simple matter of bringing her out of your crystal labyrinth, and she naturally broke the Fal'Cie curse a few days later."
I gaped at Vanille who was looking earnestly at me. She gave an affirmative nod to confirm that the snake wasn't lying through her teeth.
Now she pointed the tip of her baton to me. I felt like pouncing on her and snapping her toy in half, shoving it up hers, somewhere where the light won't reach.
"You, on the other hand, were quite intriguing. I had my best team working on you and still you remained in stasis. But the signs were so very enthralling! You have an affinity to Ragnarok's crystal. Your thoughts, your dreams, that pillar out there shimmered with your every subconscious desires."
"Which led me to believe that the crystal and you are one and the same. After all, you are the embodiment, the essence of Ragnarok, not that little girl over there. You controlled the crystal, and something was making you stay as crystal. A promise to save Cocoon perhaps?" She sniffed sarcastically. "How heroic."
I was confused. How much of truth was there in her convoluted words? Vanille squeezed my hand reassuringly.
"So… Taking into account that you and Vanille are kindred spirits," she expelled the two words like something venomous, "I decided to perform an experiment. Put the two of you on the same brain wavelength, so to speak. She entered your dreams and spoke to you, perhaps you remembered some of that." She gave a small flourish encompassing the two capsules and all the complicated cables and baubles, monitors and machines.
"Imagine my surprise when she reported that you've been having out-of-the-body experiences with Farron all these years." I sniggered at the double entendre and earned a dig in the ribs from Vanille's elbow. "Of course, your powers were restricted to the vicinity of Ragnarok's crystal and so very weak. But it proved the theory that those in crystal could still communicate with the outside world. That girl, Serah, she did the same through her blue crystal tear, did she not? Her fiancé seemed to think so, but given his level of intelligence, he could be hallucinating."
My brain was still trying to slowly process this information. So I had powers that I didn't know I was capable of wielding! And I let Light suffered alone because I could not find my way out!
"And so, little Vanille here gave you the push you needed to wake from your slumber. Of course, the disappearance of Farron contributed a lot to your resolve eh? We thought you weren't going to make it, the way your crystal flared with light and heated up. Ragnarok's crystal gave us quite a dazzling light display while you were at it! The goons sitting at the head of Eden's bureaucracy could hardly keep from wetting their pants at the thought of the crystal collapsing."
Light disappeared? Why? Where did she go? My heart twisted with guilt and longing.
"Nabaat," I sighed, "What d'ya want? Why keep us here?"
She smiled patronizingly at us, as if trying to impart simple knowledge to little children.
"Why? Why do you think? Like I said, my focus is to study all things l'Cie and serve my gods. I have a terrible need to understand why the Fal'Cie Eden and Orphan could be defeated by the likes of you. With that kind of knowledge and power, I might even be able to revive Orphan and make sure he doesn't fall yet again!"
"You're crazy! Orphan's dead and people like you will never begin to grasp the strength of human emotions!" Vanille cried.
"Atta girl!" I concurred.
This time, Ms Know-it-All seemed provoked. She whipped her baton once and electricity crackled from it. I jumped to my feet in front of Vanille. I'll throttle her pretty neck with my blue sari if I had to.
"Oh, I know all about human emotions alright, little girl. You claim to know love, I know all about hate. You want hope, I've got despair. Every spectrum of human emotions, I have the antonyms of them all. I will keep you here for as long as I want, for as long as it takes for your human spirit to rot and wither. And there is nothing you can do to stop me, pitiful l'Cies, deprived of power."
She strode out angrily and the heavy doors slid shut with an air of finality.
Vanille turned to me.
"What do we do now, Fang?"
I hugged her close. "First of all, hey kiddo, it's great to see ya again. I'd thought I'd died and gone to heaven. But where's heaven without my Light, hmm? Second of all, we did say we'd raise some hell. Not against Anima though, I was sorely mistaken. My bad. It's against that B, with a five-letter word."
"Fang, if you have to say bitch, then just say it already alright?"
"Vanille!"
"What? I'm more than five hundred years old, ain't that earn me the right to cuss and swear?"
"Actually, I was gonna say beaut or broad, but I guess bitch works fine too…"
Vanille rolled her eyes at me and I rewarded her with my irresistible grin. "Whatever Fang. We need a plan."
"How 'bout I seduce her with my winsome good looks and killer bod? She's actually quite a hottie ya know…"
Vanille slapped my arm hard, the scarred one.
"Oww! Hey, watch it young lady! Just outta crystal, fragile and handle with care 'kay?"
"Get serious, Fang! You wanna see Light again or what?"
"Okay okay… so I don't suppose I could just snatch her glasses and make her blind as a bat too huh. Plan, plan, plan… what plan? Oerba Yun Fang don't make no plans alright? Let's just beat up some PSICOM asses and be on our way."
Vanille sighed. "Fang, I hate to tell you this, but I don't wanna be responsible for bringing a corpse back to Lightning, regardless if the body is still goddess perfect or not. I can try something, but it's not guaranteed to work. Better than sittin' here twiddling our thumbs…"
She beckoned me over to whisper her plans. A smirk spread across my face.
" Why… ya little schemer you… Let's just try this out. She needs us alive anyway, right?"
