Chapter 8

I've got your back


Erin stood outside the Battle Strategy Room, awaiting to be called in, all the more senior soldiers and officers were in their discussing the mission. Two of the soldiers walked past Erin and stopped, "Didn't know you were back so soon! How you been doing?"

She smiled when she realised they were both part of the excercise that the incident occured. "I have been doing well! I do come in every now and again to train, but I have been doing very light duties, well until now.. I being sent of a Recon Mission to get myself back up to scratch on stuff, its more routine than anything else. But I am a little skeptical that it is just a nice and easy routine mission as they have been in their a while..." She nudged her head towards the Strategy Room.

The two Soldiers looked at each other, "Wait... your the one who is going on the Recon Mission? I heard that it is a little bit different to the other ones... Be careful alright? Well we need to head out for our routine patrol around Bodhum, see you when you get back!"

She smiled, nodding slightly, waving them off. Once they had dissapeared round the corner, she leaned against the door, frowning to herself, a little bit different to the other ones huh... what is that supposed to mean...

All of a sudden, the door opened and she felt herself going slightly, she stood up instantly, turning to face the person at the door, standing to attention. Her heart was racing and so was her mind, all she could think about was this mission. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Cid Raines, Lightning was behind him, she didn't look too happy for some reason.

Cid smiled slightly, stepping aside to allow her to walk in the room before closing the door. "Good to see you up and about, Erin. We have finished discussing the mission plans and I believe that its your choice if you go on this mission or not... We feel like if we push you into something like this for your first mission back and you do not feel ready, it might end badly for all of us. So what is it gonna be?"

Erin's eyes widened once more when she heard what they had been discussing. She looked around the room, there was a specialised table in the middle of the room, it was touch screen which had lines and little icons all over it on a picture of a terrain which looked like Vile Peak, but Erin couldn't be completely sure as Geography was not her forte. All the Officers of the Bodhum Security Regiment were present as well as The Cavalry's very own Cid Raines, as well as the most senior members of the Soldiers of this section, including Lightning. They all looked at her with anticipation.

Her mind went blank for a moment, then she cleared her throat, one thought jumped in her mind, so she ran with it. "I have only done small missions before... In the amount of time which you have all been in here and the way that you have asked me if I want to do this mission as well as the anticipation which you are all looking at me with, it makes me feel like this is not just a small basic Recon mission... The terrain on the table looks to be from a glance as the Vile Peak, but I can't be too sure as I have only lightly glanced at it. So my question to your question is why? Why have you choosen me to do this mission when there are more qualified soldiers to do this mission?"

The senior soldiers all looked at each other, expecting her to get a bollocking for what she had said. But the Officers all looked at each other and smiled slightly. Cid chuckled, "The way you just analysed everything just by what you had to go on from waiting outside and being in this room for only a few minutes shows us that you are the one for the job. When you enrolled to become part of the Bodhum Security Regiment, you were asked to complete an aptitude test which would determine if you were suitable to becoming a Soldier. No one truly finds out what their results are, they only find out if they are able to become a Soldier or not. Well, when your results came into the section, they immediately sent it over to me. I was in shock that a girl who hadn't even finished mandatory school like you had a score like you did. Your aptitude test is higher than mine was when I did mine for the very first time. You have the highest aptitude test in everyone from here, even Lightning. We wanted you because you are the person for this job. So what do you say?"

Her eyes widened, every nodded to confirm that this was true, she thought for a moment, "of course, I will do it.. But as I said, it is obvious that this is not a normal simple recon mission, so you have to tell me everything that you know."

Lightning went to say something, but one of the Officers cut her off, "It is not a Recon mission, that is merely a cover up for the true mission, we have reason to believe that there is a Pulse L'Cie in Vile Peak, we don't know how they ended up being their or where they came from, we believe that there may be a Pulse Fal'Cie in immediate area of Vile Peak, but we can not be too sure about this, your mission is to perform a reconnaissance of the area and detain the L'Cie if found, we also need to you to record all your findings on a potential Fal'Cie that might be in the area. Lightning over here will be your immediate source of backup. We do have a Squad of Soldiers from the Cavalry lying in wait also if things get messy. We would prefer you to bring the L'Cie back alive, but dead is the last possible option. If you do find the Fal'Cie, do not get too close to it, you are aware of the risks in which you would be putting yourself in if you did get too close. You will be out there alone, but Lightning will not be too far from you at any point. Having just you out there will reduce the risks of civilians asking questions."

Her eyes widened, "A L'Cie!? This doesn't seem like something we can hide for long... Why I we trying to reduce risks of Civilians asking questions? Is it so there is no panic? And is there any other way of eradicating the L'Cie threat?"

Cid shook his head, "We have been in here for the last few hours trying to find better solutions... but this is our only feasible option. Having a bare minimum amount of boots on the ground means that there is a lot less attention to the area, it is normal to have soldiers in the area as we use it as a training facility sometimes. If word got out that there was a L'Cie on the loose, we would have total panic and then we would have to inforce a Purge and that seems very extreme for one L'Cie and a possible Fal'Cie that might not even be in the area. Having you being our only person doing the main part of the mission is a great thing as you are small and agile, meaning that it should only take a couple of nights to locate and detain this L'Cie."

She nodded, "Alright, when do we leave?"

Lightning walked up to her, "We leave in ten minutes, go to your locker, I have stocked it with all the equipment you will need, a small rucksack has been packed also of essentials that you will need to survive whilst your out there..." She leaned in towards her so no one else could hear her but Erin, "Not that you need them of course..."

Erin looked at the Soldiers and Officers and Cid, she saluted, "I will not let you down... I will be back within the next few days with the L'Cie!" Lightning and Erin left the room.

Erin finished gearing up within 5 minutes, she stood in the large training room, she hadn't been in here since her incident. She walked over to where the grey floors were stained red, she knelt down, putting her gloved hand to the floor. Lightning watched her from afar. "You know... I really wish that they didn't pick you... but there is nothing we can do now... But I want you to know something, no matter what, I've got your back."

Erin smiled, standing up, "And I have yours!"


Author Notes: Things have been altered to the story line to fit my fanfic. Please note this is a cross over of the two games. Please comment after you have read this fic, I would love to know what you think of it ^.^ - I am truly sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but I have a working laptop and therefore I can start adding more to my fanfics!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 13 or Final Fantasy 13-2 or any of the characters, except my own characters and this story line / parts of it. I will also be adding Lightning Returns to this as I have now played through it and I know where to take it with that part of the story, but that wont be for a while.