I know, it's been a while. well wait no longer, the next chapter is here.

...

Chapter 9

"First one there wins?" Fang asked, looking at the pink haired woman next to her. Having just come into the area by way of cie'th stone teleportation the entire group immediately knew the area, they had been here before.

"Fang, it's a trial, not a race." Lightning responded, though she knew it would do nothing to stop Fang's competitive streak.

"It is when we're fightin' the slugs. Those things die when you look at 'em real hard." The warrior responded with a grin. She locked eyes with the smaller woman, staring at her and daring her to make the first move. Lightning stared back, seemingly unfazed by the taller woman's challenge. All of a sudden Lightning took off like a shot, leaving Fang barely enough time to register that she was now staring at the ground instead of Lightning's sky blue eyes. The huntress recovered quickly however, chasing after the woman. Fang wasn't even sure if her target was the group of rafflasia they were here to kill, or the woman who was currently about to kill them.

Lightning closed in on the small creatures at a rapid pace, leaving no chance that she could be passed. She knew Fang was right, one good swing or powerful spell and the animals would be no more. That meant that the first person there got to kill them. Lightning was just about to attack when she came to a hurried stop, her feet sliding across the ground as ice suddenly erupted out of the ground in front of her. The magical ice quickly faded away, leaving the dead animals in its wake.

Lightning turned around to look at the group, seeing Fang do the same. Vanille was standing closest to the two of them with her hand stretched out, making her the obvious source of the spell. They watched as she simply skipped past them both to stand in the exact spot that her spell had hit, turned to face them and said with a smile "I win."

"That's just not fair." Fang said, shaking her head lightly at the red head.

"Well I can't let the two of you have all the fun, now can I?"

"I guess not." Fang said and then looked around, "Well, looks like this one's over. Where to next?"

"The Ochu." Lightning said, walking past Fang and Vanille to lead the group, leaving both women to fall in step with the rest of the group.

"Ain't we already fought that one before too?" Fang asked.

"You know we have to go through the early ones to get to the stronger ones."

"Yeah, but why go through these ones? There are other ways we could go."

"Yes, there are other ways, but none that lead this way. After were done here, then we will have new things for you to kill."

"Sounds good to me, just so long as I'm killin' somethin' bigger than those things. It ain't worth it if we don't got a challenge."

"Can we get a move on already?" Snow said, butting into the conversation, "You two aren't the only ones who want to kill stuff."

"Right. We need to keep moving. Fang, Vanille, take a step back. Hope, Snow, you two are up." Light ordered.

Fang narrowed her eyes at Lightning as she fell back to join Sazh and Vanille at the back of the group. In truth she wasn't really bothered by being taken out of the fighting for a moment, but she still didn't want Lightning to get to full of herself and think she could order everyone around. That was something she could deal with some other time though. She returned her thoughts to the real world just before Lightning put her hand on the cie'th stone and sent them all to another section of the Faultwarrens.

Just a few moments after being transported to their new position Lightning already had their next target in sight. Despite the large size of the creature she was not at all nervous about the upcoming fight. She knew that they had defeated others of its kind before so there was no need to worry. She picked up her pace somewhat as she began to get closer, knowing the others would do the same behind her. When she finally got close enough she unsheathed her gunblade and charged in, not even bothering to try and be subtle.

She set fire to her weapon as she attacked the first mirochu that happened to cross her path. She struck at the oversized seed multiple times, attempting to break through its shell like body, before ending with a reverse handspring and a gunshot. She raised her blade reengage the small plant, but before she could three fire spells collided with the side of it, and then Snow ran forward and landed four powerful blows, leaving it done for. She barely spared a glance at the dead creature before moving on to the next one.

Even with help from the much larger Ochu, the smaller beasts never stood a chance. The group dismissed the others in a similar fashion to the first, using fire based magic and attacks to deal as much damage as possible. After this was done they turned their attention to the much more difficult parent. Lightning charged in at the larger monster, no longer bothering with putting fire on her blade as Hope had taken care of that for her. She charged the Ochu on one side while Snow attacked the other and Hope began casting spells from a somewhat safer distance. She slashed and hacked at the large wall of fur in front of her, occasionally moving back to fire a shot or cast a spell. Despite the lack of any open wounds on the creature, she knew they were making progress.

It wasn't long before the Ochu knew it was being beaten, and decided to try to summon some reinforcements. The seeds it planted grew rapidly, and in moments there were more mirochu on the field. Lightning didn't go straight into attacking the creatures, but rather focused on creating the most powerful fire spell she could manage. She held the spell in her hand and looked to Hope and Snow, who each nodded and did the same. In just a few seconds all three of them held fire magic at the ready. On Lightning's signal they all released their magic into the center of the mirochu group. What they hadn't expected was that each spell would strengthen the others, making an explosive blast of fire magic that created a mushroom cloud at least twenty feet tall and knocked all of them, including those outside the battle, flat on their backs.

Lightning sat up slowly, so as not to hurt herself. She hadn't been injured by the blast, but it had thrown her for a loop, so to speak. This was the first time any type of their own magic had had a negative effect on them. She looked around to see the others getting up as well, and also saw that the Ochu had been killed and all the mirochu were nowhere to be found. She looked at each person to make sure they were okay and notice that everyone seemed to be like her, unharmed but surprised. Her eyes finally moved to Snow as he sat up and she couldn't help but notice the thin wisps of smoke coming from his head. "Snow," She said while still sitting, "Your hair is on fire."

"It is?" He asked, scrunching his eyebrows and tilting his head. Then he reached a hand up and gripped his hair, before pulling it back down to look at it. He held only a few loose hairs in his hands, but they were singed and still had small, nearly invisible wisps of smoke coming of them. "Huh, I guess it was."

By this time everyone else was up, including Lightning and Hope, so the large man quickly got up and dusted himself off. "My question," Hope began then paused to give everyone time to start listening, "is what in the world happened? Why did our own magic throw us back?" This left everyone else agreeing as to the oddity of the situation.

"Well," Vanille started with one hand across her waist and the other on her chin, giving the impression of thought, "My guess is that the combined power of the three different spells of the same type created a concussive force that was strong enough to knock us all down, but not so strong as to overcome the fact that it was you who made. So it threw us back, but couldn't actually hurt us, except for Snow, who got singed because he was the closest to the center of the blast." As she finished talking, Vanille turned to look at everyone with a smile on her face and was met with blank stares and slack jaws. This in turn caused her to give a look of surprise say "What?"

"No offense intended," Hope said, "but I don't think any of us expected you to say something that sounded so…" He trailed of as he finished, looking for the right word. "Intelligent?" Lightning offered. "Yeah, that's it. Something that sounded so intelligent."

"Hey! I'm smart." Vanille said, obviously offended despite the fact the he had said not to be. "Just because I'm a happy person doesn't mean I'm not smart." As she finished she crossed her arms and held her chin up high.

"Actually, it makes sense." Fang said. "Vanille is a healer, and the healers always studied magic, even if they couldn't use it; just in case they had to cure it. So aside from the Fal'cie, Van here probably knows more about magic than anyone alive."

"Well in that case, I guess it makes sense." Sazh said.

"Whatever the reasons, it doesn't matter. We should get moving." Lightning spoke over her shoulder before walking away, and towards the next cie'th stone. Not wanting to get left behind, everyone else followed quickly. A moment later they found themselves in front of the next stone, and a moment after that they were taken away to another location they had seen before. A few borgbear showed resistance, but were barely able to slow them down as they approached their target.

It wasn't long before they found it, the borgbear hero. They were spotted just seconds after they were in sight, making a first strike out of the question. On being spotted the first thing Snow did was charge in headfirst shouting a battle cry. Lightning simply sighed and followed, trailed closely by Hope. They dove straight into battle, with Lightning targeting the nearest creature and Hope taking a second to set all their weapons ablaze before casting fire magic on the same target. The small creature barely lasted a moment, and then Lightning was onto the next one. By the time Snow finished with his first creature, Lightning and Hope had already taken out two. Snow immediately began attacking the borgbear hero, while Lightning and Hope spared a second to take out the last borgbear before joining in on the attack. Between the three of them it never stood a chance. After a quick and relentless assault they backed up for a moment as the beast was near death. It immediately decided to attack Lightning. She easily sidestepped the attack and returned with slash from her gunblade that sent the creature in Snow's direction. As it spun around to face him Snow grabbed the creature's head in his left hand and held it in the air above his head. He let go and as the beast fell he drew back and landed a powerful blow to its face causing it to hit the ground and continue to slide until it hit the cliff face. No one even had to check twice, it was dead.

"Wow." Hope said, staring at the dead animal, "You hit that thing hard."

"Looks like the hero killed the hero." Fang said, "Kinda ironic, don't ya think?"

"Yeah well, it's dead. That's all that matters." Lightning said, before turning to look at the rest of the group. She looked at Hope, who appeared fine, but was breathing just a little too heavy for her liking. Snow was slouching slightly and rolling his shoulders. Normally these wouldn't be problems, but she knew what was coming next and needed people at their best. "Sazh, you're up, step in for Hope. Fang, you're in for Snow. And both of you be ready, this next one is gonna be big."

"How big we talkin'?" Sazh asked, unlike Fang a big fight wasn't something he was excited about.

"Zirnitra big." Lightning said, causing everyone's faces to drop, even Fang. Lightning didn't wait around for any more questions, instead she started towards the stone that she knew would take them to one of the toughest fights they had had. In the blink of an eye they found themselves in Titan's throne. A short walk put them just outside the field of battle. "Alright, time for a plan. Sazh, you be ready to counter any status magic it throws our way. Fang, I want you to try and draw its attacks, but don't get yourself to badly hurt. Also try and throw a few ailments back at it. I'll be on healing duty when someone gets hurt, so try to limit that, obviously. As for offense, whenever you see an opening, throw everything you got at it. This is going to be a real challenge, but it's still just an animal. Barring any seriously bad luck, we should be able to come out on top, even if it takes a while. So is everyone ready?" Lightning received five synchronized nods in response. She turned to face forward, but didn't move just yet. Instead she took out a few of their precious shrouds. One fortisol and one aegisol to make sure they started their battles in top condition. After this she led them forward to face the challenge that Titan had set before them. She watched as the gigantic fal'cie reached forward and deposited the wyvern in front of them. The fight had begun.

Neither side hesitated to act. Lightning bolted forward, narrowly avoiding a toxic attack from the beast, before leaping into the air to begin attacking. Sazh immediately began firing at the large avian as fast as he could manage, while Fang began putting all of her energy into debilitating the overpowered creature. Fang barely managed to throw up an imperil on the creature before it started attacking again. She immediately began provoking the creature into targeting her, followed by a quick transfer into the mediguard technique. She barely managed to get her guard up before the Zirnitra's toxic magic hit and sapped her of her status boosts. Sazh noticed and started setting the defenses back up before any real ailments could be thrown at her. Luckily for her, her guard technique also rapidly increased regeneration, meaning Lightning didn't have to stop attacking to heal. All the while Lightning continued to attack the flying monster; repeatedly leaping into the air for direct assaults as well as throwing both fire and wind magic at it.

Fang dropped her guard for a moment after Sazh had managed to rebuild her defenses. Instead she attempted again to try and get more status magic on the beast. She already knew her slow spell wouldn't work, so instead opted to drop its defenses. She threw deshell and deprotect spells as fast as she could. It took way too many tries in her own opinion, but Fang finally managed to get a deshell to stick. She hadn't realized how long she had taken to do so until the Zirnitra fired off its toxic attack at Lightning instead of herself. She felt even worse when the attack caught the woman mid jump and knocked her to the ground and rolled her.

Fang didn't even hesitate to draw the large monster's attention back to herself with a stream of insult so that Sazh and Lightning could get to healing and boosting. She shrugged off one of its toxic bolts, but felt her defenses drop with it. Lightning was already back up and attacking, her fire and wind magic dealing hefty damage due to the weakening magic laid on the creature. Fang took a moment to rest from her rigid guard when Sazh moved his focus from Lightning to herself. He had just started doing so when the Zirnitra spun around so that its second, and larger, mouth was facing Fang.

It was barely a second after Fang quickly threw up her guard that the oversized maw collided with her lance. It was unable to gain enough purchase to actually bite her, but the immense force behind the blow knocked the wind out of her. Fang used her spear for support after the attack as Sazh finished with laying down his enhancements and took up magical attacks. Moments later Fang felt her energy return as she was hit with multiple green bolts of healing magic. She looked up and nodded at Lightning, showing she was fine now. The soldier returned with a nod of her own, then set about attacking the beast with magic once again.

By now the creature had forgotten about Fang and moved on to a more aggressive target; in this case, Sazh. The older man barely dodged another one of the beasts crippling magical attacks before returning with a few bolts of his own fire magic. Fang grinned before shouting at the creature, "Hey jackass! You wanna piece of me?" The Zirnitra shrieked in reply before letting loose another blast, this time targeting Fang again. The pulsian huntress easily stepped aside to avoid the anticipated attack, and then threw her arm out to cast a deprotect spell at the angered wyvern. To her luck, it stuck. "Well lady luck must be on our side today." She said.

With its defenses dropped to physical, magical, and elemental attacks, Fang decided a rush attack would work best. With her weapon already cloaked in fire from Sazh's enhancements Fang went in for raw power. Leaping just high enough to attack the bulky avian, Fang put all her strength into her swings. Lightning was soon beside her, though the smaller woman chose to augment Sazh's fire with her own when striking. Sazh supported the two women from the ground with fire magic of his own. Lightning and Fang returned to the ground at about the same time. Lightning immediately threw multiple blasts of wind magic into one wing of the creature to knock it off balance for a moment, which gave Fang enough time to dodge the beasts counter attack.

A volley of fire imbued gunshots hit the creatures head and neck as Sazh quickly distracted the creature, and then switched his duel pistols into one larger rifle to get off some more powerful hits. The beast swooped down for a moment, attacking Sazh with its whole body. The force of the blow landed him on his back. Fang drew the attention from her partners as Lightning ran at the beast, launching a few bits of healing magic at injured man as she did. The soldier then threw a blast of fire magic into the creatures face as she leapt into the air, clouding its vision so she could land a flurry of blows on its body. Fang took the opportunity to reinforce her status magic and keep it from failing. Another set of gunshots followed by a blast of fire magic from behind her told Fang that Sazh was back up.

Lightning hit the ground and jumped backwards out from underneath the target. Rather than jump back into attacks, she took a moment to catch her breath and summon some healing magic to her hand. She looked over just in time to see a blast of powerful degenerative magic hit Fang and she let loose the magic she had been holding. Fang took a second to give thanks for the magic before turning back to the battle. More boosting magic from behind told her Sazh was still keeping them all up in their defenses. The protection magic was just in time too; the Zirnitra suddenly spun in the air and swooped down with its larger mouth for the second time. Fang barely managed to raise her spear to guard herself from the snapping jaws that might have easily swallowed her whole. Despite this she still took the brunt of the blow, forcing her to need to use her spear to support herself.

Fang didn't have to stay out of breath for too long, as it was just a moment before healing magic washed over her once again. As she straightened up she took stock of the situation. The rush of the creature had weakened it quite a bit, however they had lost the advantage and were now barely able to get in a few attacks before healing; and she herself was stuck on defense to keep the other two from getting hit. Maybe if they were stronger they could simply stand up and take the beast on, but at the moment a turn of bad luck could cost lives. They needed a way to take this thing down as fast as possible. A look around at the environment set the gears in her head to turning. It only took a few seconds to come up with a good, though risky, plan.

"Cover me!" Fang yelled out to Sazh and Lightning.

"Whad'ya mean cover you? You are the cover!" Sazh said as he raised his guns, but Fang was already in action. She sprinted off to the side directly at the cliff face, covering the area in just a few seconds. She jumped into the air at the wall of rock and planted one foot on it. She coiled up against the wall and pushed of in an instant sending herself even higher, well above their current airborne target. Twisting in midair she started to come down, landing on the wyvern with enough force that it dropped half its distance to the ground.

The beast recovered quickly but protested loudly at Fang's presence on its back. "I gotcha now ya big bastard." She said before striking at the back of the creature's neck. The powerful blows were answered with another loud screech, followed by an attempt to buck the huntress off. The erratic flying forced the woman to stop attacking in order to hold her balance. A moment's pause in the action was all Fang needed to find a solution. "Teach you to try an' throw me off." She said before she stood up, raised her lance above her head in both hands, and then brought it down on the joint where one wing met the main body. The force of the blow broke bone as well as jammed the weapon into the creature's body, render the wing useless. With only one wing remaining the beast began to drop rapidly down away from the cliff face.

Fang pulled at the weapon stuck into the creature, but was unable to get it free. With her lance stuck she fell with the wyvern even as its one good wing still worked to keep it up. They fell to the side of the arena and down towards the near bottomless drop. As they just passed the edge of the area the monster's wing collided with the solid ground the rest of the l'cie were still standing on, breaking it as well. The collision occurred just as Fang finally pull her weapon free, but it was a moment too late. Both Fang and the wyvern went spiraling down rapidly into the darkness below.

"Fang!" Lightning screamed as she ran toward the edge of the arena. She threw herself to the ground with one arm reaching over the edge at the woman who quickly disappeared from her sight. She laid there for no more than ten seconds, but it felt like ten hours. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders pull her up and away from the edge. It was Sazh, standing behind her as she sat staring at the edge. "Nothing we can do for her now." He said.

Lightning almost couldn't believe it. She could've sworn she could hear her world shattering, like the sound of glass breaking in the distance. Was she imagining it or had it even gotten darker? She turned and looked away from the edge when she heard whimper. Vanille was standing there with her arms at her sides, her eyes were watery and her bottom was quivering as she stared ahead. Lightning stood up and took a step towards her, but then stopped. The younger woman looked so fragile that Lightning was afraid if she touched her, she would actually break down into tears.

Sazh had no such problem as he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. Lightning had been right though, as Vanille quickly burst into sobs. She threw her arms around the older man and began crying into his shoulder. "It'll be okay." He said as he held one arm around her and patted her on the back. Vanille continued to cry even as he consoled her, which came no surprise to anyone. The somber mood kept them all quiet except for Vanille's tears, which made the only new sound much more apparent.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Hope asked, breaking the silence. It only took a moment for the others to pick up on the sound, a few second later and it was loud enough it couldn't be mistaken. It was the sound of a very large set of wings. The tension rose as everybody prepared for the worst. "That thing couldn't have survived could it?" Hope asked.

As the sound got louder even Vanille stepped away and reached for her weapon, though she still had tears in her eyes. Then something began to appear over the edge of the cliff that left them stunned. It wasn't till they were halfway visible that anybody realized what was happening. As smoothly as if she was floating on air, Fang was rising up in front of them with her lance on her shoulder and a smile on her face. As her feet came even with the ground they realized she was standing on Bahamut in his dragon form. Fang stepped off of her summon as easily as if she was walking. She took a few steps forward and then turned around to wave him away as he took off into the air. "What a sweetheart." She said.

Lightning stared as Fang turned away from her departing eidolon to face them. She probably would've ran over and hugged the woman, but Vanille beat her too it. The small redhead collided with the taller woman with almost enough force to knock her down. "Wow there, you all right?" Fang asked, actually concerned as Vanille had begun crying again. "Never ever scare me like that again." Was the response she received through a break in the tears.

"What, you really thought I'd go down that easily?" Fang said, trying to cheer up the scared redhead, "I mean, I know it was big but gimme some credit."

"This isn't funny Fang, you could've died!" Vanille said as she took a step back and wiped away some tears as she began to calm down.

"But I didn't now did I? I'm alive and well and right here. Maybe I could be dead, but I'm not."

"But we thought you were." Lightning said, "You were down there a while, we didn't think you were coming back. For all we knew you were dead down there with the Zirnitra. For all we knew, you couldn't come back."

"She's right." Sazh said, "You scared us all, we thought we lost ya." He turned so he could face everyone, "But Fang's right too, she's alive, so let's just be happy for that."

"Yeah, I like that idea." Snow said, "Besides we shoulda known she was alive; after all, the hero's never die."

"Well, I just say we get outta here." Vanille said with a smile. She had stopped crying but her face was still red from where she was minutes ago. "I don't like this place right now."

"Sounds like a good idea." Fang said. She took a few steps forward, but then stumbled a bit. Lightning caught her with both hands on Fang's shoulders as a look of worry came over both her and Vanille's faces.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lightning asked as she looked Fang up and down for signs of injury.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little worn out." Fang said as she straightened up. See the look on Lightning's face, and then on Vanille's she added, "I can walk on my own. I'm fine, I promise." She patted Lightning twice on the shoulder and the smaller woman removed her hands. "Alright, if you say so."

Fang turned around as Lightning kept her eyes on her to see if she would fall again. Fang appeared fine though as she faced the edged where she had fallen off earlier and shouted, "Hey you! We could use a ride outta here!" Lightning wasn't sure if the fal'cie could actually hear them, but even if it was just a coincidence Titan's massive hand still stretched out to send them out of the arena.

….

Back at camp things were settling down pretty well. Night had arrived a few hours ago, and with it a much stronger chill. With the cold settling in for the night everyone was gathered around the fire. It wouldn't be much longer before everyone turned in for the night. As usual Lightning sat just apart from the rest of her fellow l'cie, watching the conversations rather than taking part unless she was asked a question. Her gaze shifted between each member, but kept returning to Fang. Despite her claims that she was fine, Lightning couldn't help but notice that the huntress still seemed on edge and just a little shaky, even here at camp. It was most likely temporary, she had probably just not calmed completely from her fall with the Zirnitra, but it still worried the soldier. What if Fang had been hurt and just wouldn't admit it? That did seem like something she would do.

Before Lightning's thoughts could get any worse, the woman in question stood up. Fang brushed herself off and picked up her lance. "Well, my blood's still pumpin from before. Think I'll go for a walk, calm myself down before I hit they hay." She said.

"You okay Fang?" Vanille asked as she looked up from where she was sitting with worry on her face.

"I'm fine. Just need to calm my nerves a little is all." Fang said, hoping to put Vanille's worries to rest. The smaller woman smiled and nodded. "Just come back safe." She said, and then turned back to her conversation with the others.

Before Fang could leave Lightning stood up, "Hold up." She said. "I'm going with you." She picked up her gunblade from where it had been laying behind her and put it in its sheath.

"Oh you are, are you?" Fang asked as the soldier strode across the camp to stand beside her. Lightning responded simply with "Yes." Fang straightened to her full height and put her hands on her hips as she looked down at the smaller woman. "Why's that? Ya know, I don't need a babysitter. I can handle myself."

"Maybe so, but it's still better not to risk it."

"Well, if you insist then why should I argue? Let's go." Fang said before turning and leading the way out of the campsite. After only about fifteen minutes of walking they found themselves in a small clearing with the trees surrounding it having grown together fairly close, providing good cover. Fang entered the area followed closely behind by Lightning, both of whom had been silent for the entire walk so far. Fang spun around to take a quick look at the area and, on deciding this was a fairly safe place, decided to break the silence.

"This seems like a good place to stop." She said. She then turned around and faced her companion. "So what made you decide to come with me? Not that I mind."

"I don't know, I guess I just thought it was a good idea." Lightning answered as she walked past the huntress to stand in middle of the clearing with her back to her.

"Oh come on now. I don't buy that for a second. We're to different people, Light. For example, unlike me, you always have to have a reason to do something. So, I ask again, what's the reason?"

Lightning didn't answer but rather just stood there for a moment. She ran her fingers through her hair once, and then let out a deep sigh. She turned around to face Fang who raised an eyebrow at her, still waiting on an answer. Lightning stayed where she was for a moment, and then walked quickly toward Fang. Before the woman could react Lightning's right hand came up, grabbed Fang by the back of the neck, and pulled her down into a kiss. After a moments shock Fang recovered, she kissed the soldier back as her own hands came to rest on Lightning's hips.

Lightning broke the kiss first, leaning back to look at Fang. The huntress grinned a little and said "Well that was unexpected. But I don't think it was an answer." Lightning took a step back from the taller woman when she said this, breaking eye contact and looking at the ground. "Don't go doin' this again, hun. You gotta stop shuttin people out."

Lightning looked back up and Fang with her mouth open as if she was about to speak, then closed it and turned around. She let out another pent up sigh and returned her gaze to her feet. "I was scared, okay. Today when you fell off that cliff, I was scared beyond all thought and reason. I thought you were dead, Fang." At this Lightning turned around to face her as she spoke. Her eyes were watery, she wasn't crying, but the emotion was clear. "It was just like Serah all over again. Just like my parents. I lost them, now I've lost her. I don't want to lose anyone else Fang. I don't think I can."

Fang took a step forward and put her hand on Lightning's shoulder. She looked her in the eyes for a moment before pulling her into a hug and holding her. "Don't you worry one bit about losin' me, I ain't goin' nowhere." She said to the soldier who was resting her head on her shoulder. "I know what it's like losin' your parents, I lost mine too. But that's also why you should know I won't leave, cause I know how it feels to get left. As for your sister, you didn't lose her, remember? She's in crystal, she ain't dead. You'll see her again."

"But what if I don't." Lightning said as she held on to Fang, "It took you and Vanille five hundred years to wake up. What if Serah sleeps that long? She's the only family I have left Fang. How am I supposed to go on knowing she's in there, so close but so far away?"

"You just gotta hold on. If you keep goin' then things'll work out. You gotta fix what you can and just forget about the rest. Cause if you get to worryin' about things you can't fix, you'll drive yourself nuts. I should know, I didn't get this crazy bein born during peacetime."

"Thank you," Lightning said as she began to calm down, "but don't say things like that. You are not crazy, you're just a little different. You're a lot of things, but you're not crazy. You're strong, independent, and a better sister to Vanille than I was to my own flesh and blood. Serah deserved so much better than me and I failed her."

"Come on now, don't you go there. You're a great person, Light. And I may have never met her, but if even half the things I've heard about Serah from you and Snow are true, then you did a helluva good job takin' care of her."

"Thank you. Again." Lightning said as she took a step back, out of Fang's arms. "Look at me, I'm getting as emotional as Vanille, I'm mess." Fang put out an arm and lifted Lightning's chin with one finger to look in her eyes, "You look fine. And trust me, you ain't nowhere near as bad as Vanille." Lightning allowed herself a small smile at that.

"So did you just wanna talk about bein' sad, or was there any other reason you came out here. As much as I liked you sharing, well, it isn't somethin' you usually do, so what did you really want."

Lightning appeared to be in thought for a moment about how to say what she wanted to. "Promise you won't laugh?" she finally asked. Fang was taken aback by the question but quickly responded, "Well now I'm really interested. I'll do my best." Lightning took a deep breath as if preparing to say something difficult again. "The reason I came out here was, after today, at Titan's throne, I realized how little time we'd actually spent together and I just wanted to be with you. I know it sounds stupid and idiotic and I sound like some pathetic teenage girl, but that's really it."

"No, it don't sound stupid." Fang said as she smiled, "In fact I think you're right. We've had some fun, but we ain't just been together a whole lot with no one else around." At this Fang turned and walked towards the edge of the clearing. She pulled her spear from her back and laid it on the ground as she sat down and leaned against a tree. "Well what are ya waitin for? Sit down and we'll have ourselves a little chat."

"Really? You just want to sit and talk?"

"Sure, why not? I'm still a little worn out from the fight, so I'm not really planning on anything more vigorous, if you know what I mean. Besides, when's the last time you just sat down and talked with someone? And I don't mean small talk on guard duty like we pulled last night."

"Well, I guess this could work." Lightning said as she walked over and took a seat next to Fang. Not too close but within arm's reach. "And it was with Serah, when we were younger. Before I got too caught up with the Corps we would have night where we would sit and talk. Not about anything important, just sisters spending time together. When I started getting promoted though, that stopped. So I guess it's been a while."

"There, now was that so hard?"

"Harder than looked."

"I can believe that. I'm still glad you're talkin' though. It's good to share. I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite for sayin that, but it's true."

"Well I'm glad you like it. It still makes me nervous."

"And look at that, you're sharing some more. See, it gets easier. And I do like it, but you can still make it even better."

"And how's that?" Lightning asked. Instead of a response though, she was shocked as Fang suddenly turned and scooped her off the ground, and then proceeded to set her down on her lap.

"Like that." Fang finally responded, grinning at the soldier. She then asked "Comfortable?", though the woman looked anything but.

"Not really." She answered, and it showed. She was tense and had her hands fisted in her own lap. She had a very nervous look on her face and her eyes kept darting around. She turned her head to look at Fang and saw that the woman almost looked hurt by the comment so she added, "But I think I can get used to it. After all I am still new to this whole relationship thing."

"Oh so this is a relationship is it?" She said raising her eyebrows at the soldier.

"Well, I don't know what else we would call it."

"No, it's okay. I like that we put a name on it. I know we pretty much agreed on it before, but it's nice to hear it out loud."

"It is kind of different when you say it, isn't it? It's also something I've never been able to say before, I am in a relationship."

"That's somethin' I always wondered about. How is it that an amazing person like you never got involved with anyone, even once?"

"Simple, I spent all my time working. When I wasn't working I was taking care of Serah. Between the two I pretty much shut out my chance at a personal life."

"I guess I can see that."

"What about you? I know that you've been with other's but was there anything serious?"

"Not really. I dated a few but not a lot. There weren't a whole bunch of girls in Oerba who went for other girls. Tryin to branch out to bigger towns didn't help much either since the trip was so long."

"So you're almost new at this too?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I got a little more experience, but not much. The few dates that I did have never lasted very long. Most of them either couldn't keep up, or just didn't want to."

"What about Vanille?"

"What about her?"

"I know you two are close, but how close? I remember when we first met you called her your 'partner', and when I asked if you were ever with her you said no, but that you had thought about it before.

"Dang, way to pick up on the details there. Well by partner, I meant we were branded together with the same focus. As for the rest, well, that's kind of a long story."

"Aren't you the one who said you wanted to talk?"

"Alright then. I've known Van for a long time. We both lost our parents in the war, and we met at the orphanage in Oerba, when we were young. We got to be pretty good friends as the years went on, obviously. Of course, at some point, we started getting interested in dating. Vanille was interested in boys, and I wasn't. I didn't even have to think twice to know I was into girls, it just came naturally. The problem was that the girl I knew best was Vanille. I enjoyed her company, we had been close for years, she wasn't bad to look at, and I knew I cared about her. I never actually told her I had a crush on her at the time, I was afraid I would ruin our friendship, since I knew she wasn't gay. When I actually got a girlfriend I realized my feelings for them were much different than for Vanille. I did love her, but more as a friend or a sister than as a potential date."

"So you realized you cared for her, but you didn't have feelings for her."

"Exactly."

Fang took a moment to look at the soldier during the break in the conversation. Lightning had relaxed more, no longer sitting in her stiff backed, near perfect posture. On closer inspection Fang also realized that Lightning's skin was starting to raise a little, and she had a barely noticeable shiver. "Cold?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Lightning said. Fang just continued to look at her. "Okay maybe a little. But I'm fine."

Fang wrapped her arms around the soldier. "I'll keep ya warm. So long as you'll do the same for me." Lightning relaxed some more into the taller woman, leaning in and resting her head on Fang's shoulder.

"This is nice." She said. After a moment's pause she added. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is this so nice? I'm not exactly one to get all cuddled up like this, but I seem to a different person with you. It's just so easy to let myself go. I was just wondering why."

"I don't know. I guess you just never know who you're gonna fall for. If someone had told me back in Oerba that one day I'd be holdin' someone from Cocoon in my arms, and not trying to kill them, then I'd have called them a liar. Yet here I am."

"I guess after all that's happened this probably isn't the strangest. After all, I never thought I'd ever be on Gran Pulse."

"Yeah, sometimes life throws ya for loop."

"That's true, but all you have to do is keep on walking your own path, and you'll eventually find where you're going."

"How about if you don't like the path you're on?"

"Then you cut yourself a new one."

"I think I like that idea."

Lightning sighed and was silent for a moment. When she finally spoke, she didn't sound near as relaxed, "I hate to say it, but I think we should start heading back." Fang grinned as she responded "And why do you hate to say it? Did ya finally get comfy?"

"Yes I did." Lightning answered as she sat up more and stretched a bit, "But we really should be getting back. Lightning went to stand up and Fang moved her arms to let her. After she stood up Lightning turned and offered her hand to Fang, who accepted in and stood up herself. The taller woman picked up her weapon and sheathed it behind her back.

Neither woman bothered to say a word as they worked they worked their way back to the camp; they simply enjoyed each other's company in silence. On returning they found all three male members asleep and Vanille waiting for them. The younger woman turned and grinned as they entered the camp. "You two have fun?" She asked.

"Yeah we did. What about you, these lazy jerks all leave you up on watch?" Fang answered as she sat down next to her.

"Nah, I told them I'd take watch, that way if the two of you came back with sex hair it wouldn't raise any suspicions."

"Well thank you for that, but ya didn't need to. Me and Sunshine had a nice little session of talkin', nothing more. Besides, I don't get sex hair."

"Yeah, your hair's so wild you wouldn't, would you?"

"You know what I'm not even going to ask." Lightning said from her spot a short distance away from where the two Gran Pulsians were sitting.

"You don't know what it is, do you?" Vanille asked with a grin, and then turned to Fang. "What have you been doing wrong that she doesn't know?"

"Just so you know, I ain't been doin' nothin' wrong. It's just that—" Fang started to say, but was cut off by Lightning clearing her throat.

"You two can go to sleep if you want." Lightning said with an almost overly calm look on her face, "I can take the next watch."

"All right, I read ya." Fang said, and then turned to Vanille. "Let's hit the hay." The look on Vanille's face looked like she had just been deflated. Seeing this Fang leaned in close and whispered quiet enough that Lightning couldn't hear, "I'll tell you tomorrow." This immediately perked her back up. With a few quick good night's said between the three of them, Fang and Vanille went to sleep and Lightning settled in for her time on watch.

...

Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I know it's been a while but i've been fighting with writer's block, it's getting better though. That and getting sucked into a couple other games. As for the story, i knew going into this chapter that i wanted Fang and Light to have a real conversation, i did my best so i hope it turned out well. I also knew i wanted the Zirnitra battle to be big, i think it turned out alright. I would like to thank all my reviewers, you've really helped me out, and ask that any and all review some more; i've gotten much better because of them. Obviously constructive critisism is welcome, it has helped me quite a bit. I hope to have the next chapter up quicker, if possible. Thank you all for reading, see you soon.