Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or anything to do with it.
The Beast Within
Fang ducked behind a wall seconds before an explosion ripped through the nearby area, destroying everything in it's path. The wall she was crouched against shuddered violently and began to crumble, forcing her to desperately seek new shelter. Bullets ricocheted by her feet and knives flew past her head just inches from impaling her. Inhuman shrieks and the screams of the dying ripped apart the air, but she could not afford to look back. Fang forced herself to run faster, to reach relative safety before she, too, was ripped apart. Salvation presented itself in a scalable wall as she rounded a corner at high speed. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps spurred her to action. Using her lance as a pole she vaulted over the wall and rolled before leaping up to begin running again. Her pursuers wasted no time in effortlessly jumping the wall themselves with clicks and growls of annoyance. It was a testament to their monstrosity.
Another explosion sent Fang sprawling to the ground. She cursed as the leading enemy dodged a falling building and pounced on her with a triumphant shrill of sound. As it descended, Fang counted her blessings that it was just the one - if even one more had gotten through, she would undoubtedly die. She brought her lance up just in time to block the wicked blade from skewering her intestines onto the ground. More clicks issued in irritation as the thing went for another strike, this time opening it's maw to pierce her soft throat. Throwing her head to the side barely in time, Fang switched her grip on her lance and elbowed the thing's face while simultaneously throwing all her weight up to toss it off. It went flying away with another shriek, and Fang wasted no time in rolling to her feet and throwing her lance into it's head. Dark shrouds of energy seeped out of the body and into the ground as it fell over, the corpse slowly disintegrating into nothing. Breathing heavily and with shaking hands, Fang gathered up her lance and continued on her way.
The rest of the way was clear of enemies, leaving Fang ample time to mull over the chaos that had erupted without warning. The attacks had come from nowhere, without warning. Entire villages had fallen in minutes, all at the same time, long before any form of help could have been organized. Destruction and decay had swept through Gran Pulse like an unholy wild fire: unquenchable, uncontrollable, unstoppable. Oerba had remained untouched until a few short hours previous, when a horde unlike Fang had ever seen had risen from the ground in a cloud of death. The local militia had rallied and fended off the invasion through a nearby pass that allowed only a few enemies at a time through the gap until the Guardian Corps had been able to respond. A battle for survival had sprang from nowhere, and was now being fought in every corner of the world.
But the worst part was that the people had started turning on each other.
After the initial attacks, the populace became anxious and jittery, loudly urging the Guardian Corps to do something about the strange monsters destroying their homes. When the military had not been very successful in fending off the attacks, the people had takens matters into their own hands. Driven by a profound terror so deep it robbed the mind of common sense, the people had formed mobs in the blink of an eye and troops sent to defend the remaining towns and villages were ambushed mercilessly. Factions rose from these rebellions and each actively sought out military bases to procur arms and ammo. These bases were effectively surrounded and trapped, left no way to call for help or escape. Caught by surprise and cut off from command, the soldiers stationed at any besieged base had done only what their instincts had told them to: survive. Wholescale slaughter was the result of this frenzied need to survive, to defend, and the insanity of a terrified mindset. Heavy losses occurred on both sides and a full scale civil war broke out. It was citizens against the military and monsters, the military desperately trying to defend anything left standing and fight off the invasions, the monsters out only for blood and destruction. War amongst the people, war against the invaders and their leader, Death.
A vicious circle of death, betrayal, and trepidation.
Fang was brought back from her throughts by a deep Cracking sound and another explosion that sent her flying several feet ahead of her. She choked out a cough when her arm broke her fall, and in the process, her bone. Smoke and debris caught in a shockwave hit her next, this time throwing her into a building. A sickening crack resounded as her head slammed into the concrete and her vision swam. Muttering curses under her breath, Fang summoned an intermediate healing spell to deal with her injuries. She sat leaning against the wall for several minutes as her strength steadily drained away. She was weary beyond belief - she had been fighting for days with little sleep and a deep-seated rage that boiled her blood. It was both her saving grace and Achille's heel, pushing her forever on to punish anything and everything that got in her way. Even now, as she sat injured and weak, the rage sang through her very core, demanding justice; demanding blood; demanding she tear apart every servant of Death she laid eyes upon.
Someone was speaking to her, shaking her shoulder. Fang forced her eyes open, not realizing she had shut them, to see a young man in a Guardian Corps medic uniform. He was kneeling next to her and adding his strength to hers through his healing unit; an innovation made by the military after the enemies had started forming weapons of formidability and annihilation. He was speaking again, this medic, and Fang forced herself to listen.
"-alright, now?" he said, handing her an energy shot and helping her to her feet. "Commander Amodar sent me this way after the explosion - we need you on the frontlines."
Fang downed the shot - another necessary innovation made better by the wars - and instantly felt energy brimming at her fingertips again. She grinned ferally and motioned for the young man to lead the way. He jogged off without further preamble and Fang followed with blood-thirsty anticipation, eager to tear apart Death's minions. As they continued, Fang saw she had not been far when the explosion had ripped through the area. A group of soldiers were gathered on a platform near the entrance to the passageway where the main bulk of the army was fighting off the invasion. War machines and computers were stationed around the mini command center, and Fang instantly spotted Amodar directing orders to the engineers and pilots. The medic she had been following motioned her to continue on to the Commander, and went off towards a giant tent with the universal medic's sign emblazoned on the top. Amodar motioned her over as soon as he noticed her.
"Glad you're here, Fang," he greeted amiably, the relief in his voice evident. He shook her hand vigorously and gestured for her to follow him to a nearby console. "We need your help to coordinate a defense against the next wave," he explained, pointing to the screen. Fang saw a detailed map of the underlying earth in the passage in front of them and the valley beyond that. Amodar continued, "The enemy has nearly finished constructing a weapon that will take down our shields and render all of our defense systems useless. Our leading engineers you've seen at the camp have developed a prototype pulse bomb that will, hopefully, absorb the attack and reflect it in a backlash wave. They have only to put the finishing touches on it before it's ready to go, and we need to clear out that passage long enough for it to burrow underneath the earth, preferably just as they're about to activate their own weapon." He turned to Fang completely and began picking at his mustache. Fang knew what she had to do.
"Alright there Commander, say no more," she said, smirking confidently. "You want me to get down in there and give your boys a hand in cleanin' up the riffraff and keep the way clear until that thing is down underway. Consider it done."
Amodar nodded and gripped her shoulder heartily in thanks, then began leading the way to the path into the passage. He handed her a dual shockwave and EMP grenade, one of the many prototypes the military had been forced to develop and release in the wake of the wars. "This will keep the entrance on the other side empty for a few minutes," he stated, his eyes dark with the unspoken high possibility of failure. "Hopefully it will provide you with enough time to get out of the way of the enemy's weapon. We'll alert you when it's about to fire so you can throw it and run like hell."
Fang nodded solemnly and hooked the grenade to her belt. Amodar gave her a few more standard grenades that they had discovered worked best against the strange monsters. She saluted him and was about to voice her farewell when the ground shook violently once more. Amodar shouted something in the deafening din and within a few seconds another, stronger shield was erected around the command center. The shaking of the ground was diminished greatly and everyone present was able to look up and gasp in combined despair and awe. An enormous mushroom cloud swallowed the sky and pushed into the boundaries of earth, air, and generated electricity. The shields immediately began to groan under the weight of power, and a powerful shockwave slammed into the command center. Fang thrust her lance into the ground and desperately hung on, eyes squeezed shut and ignoring the pain of dirt and debris tearing at her skin. Screams and the sickening squelch of squished human beings tore the air. Fang swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.
It ended in a few seconds, though the whole thing had felt as if it had lasted hours. Fang released the grip on her weapon and gently scrubbed the dust and dirt from over her eyes before opening them. She bit her cheek in suppressed anger as she took in the state of the area. The whole place looked as if a raging behemoth herd had torn it apart: most of the consoles had been knocked over, the medic tent blown completely on it's side; the war machines had slammed into each other and the unfortunate engineers nearby. Almost all of the technicians were injured heavily, having been thrown into rocks and the war machines. Bodies littered the area, squished and torn apart, blood splattered everywhere and organs thrown around haphazardly. The shields were completely gone, and Amodar was nowhere in sight. Fang took a deep breath and forced herself to look at the valley beyond.
A crater half the size of Cocoon burned and smoked with dark clouds of energy - Fang could only guess at the depth of it. The immediate area around it looked as if Titan himself had steamrolled through the rocky and mountainous terrain. Fang didn't have the heart to turn and see the state of Oerba behind her. Behind the crater, the mass of seething darkness that was Death's army waited contentedly. All of the enemies on Fang's side had been decimated by the blast. Her stomach lurched with hatred at the knowledge that Death threw his servants' lives away without a second's thought. She clenched her teeth together and ripped her lance from the ground, rage coursing through her once again. A prickling of her senses and the sudden feeling of forboding made her look up, stopping her unconscious advance on the valley.
At first glance, Fang would have said darkness incarnate was hovering above her, but as she continued to study it, she realized it was a portal of some sort. It's size was indeterminable, the colours a seething, twisting mass. A figure emerged and flew gently down on wings of abyssmal darkness and freshly spilt blood, beautiful and enrapturing. Glittering pink hair swayed in the passing wind, shining gloriously. A long cloak attatched to both shoulders the colour of night on one side, and the darkest blood on the other. Armor of the cruelest sort encompassed the feminine body - sharp spikes protruded from every conceivable point, all angles suited for brutality and violence. As the figure landed just a few feet in front of Fang, the colouring became apparent. It was onyx trimmed in red, splattered permanently with the brightness that signified life. Hard, inhuman eyes an impossibly bright shade of red, seeming to glow, regarded the Oerban with unveiled desire..and hatred. A sharp, jagged blade was clasped in the right hand, long and curved. The handle was pommeled with a glittering ruby, and the edge forever dripped with it's conquests. An ominous, siphoning aura surrounded the figure, and Fang could only choke on her breath in anguish and unbridled joy.
Lightning Farron advanced slowly on Fang, mouth curving into a ruthless smirk. She brought her once proud and noble gunblade around to touch Fang's chin with it's wicked tip. Her eyes were full of malice, gleaming unashamedly with bloodlust. Fang trembled beneath the touch, unable to force herself away and into a defensive stance. She was instantly lost in the crushing grip of the presence of her beloved, so changed and irrevocably gone. Lightning bared her teeth at Fang in a depraved smile, reaching up with a gauntleted hand to caress Fang's cheek. The Oerban closed her eyes and relished the touch, even as she felt a blade rip into her gut...
Fang startled awake, blinking rapidly at the ceiling above. She slowly sat up and stared with wide eyes at the wall, clutching her head in one hand. Terror and despair were gripping her heart in a tight clamp, the reason for which not forthcoming for many minutes. When the memory of the dream finally hit her, she was suddenly aware of a strangled, erratic sound emanating throughout the room. She realized it was her, gasping out for breath as if she was dying. Fang forced her mouth shut and made herself breathe normally, eyes shooting towards the peacefully sleeping figure on the other couch. The beating of her heart slowly returned to normal as she assured herself that Lightning was right there, recovering uhindered, not on Death's side in a world torn apart by war. Fang stood and walked over to the prone form, kneeling to clasp Lightning's hand lovingly and gently. A happy smile graced Fang's face as she watched Lightning slumber.
In a corner of her mind, Fang realized Serah must have laced her tea with something to make her sleep - the last thing she remembered was downing half her cup and watching Pyres stir some mixture. She wanted to both hug and put the youngest Farron into a headlock for doing that to her. But as she stroked Lightning's hand and thought logically on her dream, Fang knew it was something much more than a dream. It had been too detailed, too palpable. She frowned and closed her eyes, not wishing to think on the gravity of what had just occurred.
A hand resting on her shoulder made Fang glance up and see Pyres standing nearby, face unreadable. Fang looked back to Lightning and brushed those soft bang's out of the soldier's eyes. The hand on Fang's shoulder disappeared - Fang was grateful. She wanted to be alone with Lightning for awhile to temporarily settle her mind and soothe her fears. Her hope that Pyres had left was shattered when the woman spoke and broke the comforting silence.
"Something is troubling you," Pyres stated, moving silently behind the couch Lightning was resting upon to face the Oerban. Fang didn't respond, continuing instead to stroke Lightning's hand. Pyres raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. It was such a Lightning-esque gesture that Fang laughed bitterly and without humour. She stood and mimicked the woman, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Pyres held her ground and waited patiently for Fang to crack, a tactic that had always worked in the past. The strategy held true, and soon Fang scowled and angrily stalked towards the couch she had been sleeping on earlier. Pyres' lips quirked into a small smile before following Fang's example and sitting across from her in a giant chair.
"What's it to you?" Fang grumbled, still scowling. Even though the woman had helped Lightning, Fang was still incredibly wary of her. Pyres only crossed her legs and clasped her hands in front of her, gray eyes boring endlessly in Fang's own emeralds. Fang ground her teeth together, frustrated that Pyres was using strategies that had always worked in the past, and still did when Lightning enforced them. Fang didn't want to be known so well by this woman who had saved her, who had been Fang's object of idolization for many years, who had betrayed and hurt a guileless and young Fang. The suffocating emotions swirling in her chest made Fang want to cry and scream her frustrations at the woman sitting across from her. But she couldn't, and she wouldn't.
Fang stood and paced restlessly, refusing to look Pyres in the eyes. "It's none of your concern," she growled, staring hard at the ground. "Absolutely none of your bloody fucking concern. You think you can just show up outta nowhere after all these years like nothin's happened, like I've forgiven you and everything's just bloody well peachy?" Fang stopped and whirled suddenly to glare hatefully at Pyres. "Well, that ain't fucking happenin'. I'm grateful to you for savin' Lightnin' and explainin' all that about Death, but now that you've done your part you need to GET. THE. FUCK. OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
Pyres returned her glare calmly, a flash of sadness flickering in her eyes. But it was gone as soon as Fang blinked, and the Oerban watched as the planes of Pyres' face became harder, more angular, the set of her mouth more callous. Her eyes crunched in on themelves slightly, and as she stood, the stance of body and the way she moved was supremely confident. Arrogant. Apathetic. Fang's heart dropped into her stomach as she realized what she had just caused, of what she just unleashed. The anger that had been searing her heart just a moment ago was completely doused, replaced by a burgeoning fear.
Pyres stalked towards her slowly, a cruel glint in her eyes. Fang felt a sickening twist in her gut as she remembered the endless amount of times Pyres had done just this so many years ago. Pyres had once tried to explain a part of it to Fang after a particularly..painful episode, in apology. Fang had never been the same, and while it did little to change her feelings at the time, it was too confusing to make much sense. Pyres had said that too many pieces of her were lost, fragmented, distorted and warped by an occupation she had been forced to live. Compensation results in a darker, brutal side of her, a side that revels in the brutalizing of others and the shedding of blood. To dance with the other half is to dance with pain itself. It is both a part of her, and it is not. Being too incomprehensible to the young Fang, it had been drowned under the confusing swirl of unholy adoration and agonizing pleasure. There was Pyres as herself, and then there was Pyres as a pitiless and cold-blooded goddess: all-powerful, all-consuming. To deny her who demands everything is to embrace death.
Fang's stomach twisted harder as Pyres wrapped her hand around Fang's upper arm in a steel grip and pulled her close. The woman clutched Fang at a distance of helplessness and submission. Her head dipped low and snaked up Fang's neck in a slow inhalation of scent. A tongue licked up Fang's ear next, an action that caused Fang to shiver both in fear and pleasure - two things she realized dishearteningly she had missed deeply. Etro help me. "I've missed you, Fang," Pyres whispered seductively, tightening her grip. Fang winced but otherwise stood still. Trying to fight her off would result in bad things. Pyres's hands left her but she stood immobilized, only able to move her eyes and speak. The woman stepped back and sauntered around her in a slow, lazy circle. Calculating. Devouring. It was all Fang could do not to whimper.
Fang was suddenly pushed back into the wall, Pyres' hand wrapped tightly around her throat. Fang gasped and sputtered uselessly, clutching at the vice-like grip. "I love it when the prey struggles," Pyres whispered, grinning maniacally. Fang tried to swallow and mostly failed. She was at the mercy of Pyres, this beast within. "You know you love it, Fang," Pyres breathed, licking her way Fang's cheek. She loosened her grip on Fang's neck just enough that Fang could breathe again, and the Oerban coughed gratefully as she gulped down air. She choked the next moment as she felt a hand rubbing and groping her breast roughly, causing her to squirm helplessly against the wall. For all Fang's strength, Pyres was stronger. Always.
"Pyres," Fang coughed, deciding it best to try and halt the woman's advancement in spite of any highly possible punishment. Part of her was crying out for it to continue, to be taken and ravished violently. This part of her deeply troubled Fang, and she knew she needed to stop things. Now. The hand on her breast moved lower, and Fang couldn't breathe for several seconds. "Pyres...s-stop," she tried, weakly trying to push the woman away. Pyres only sniggered and continued her ministrations, causing Fang to groan loudly. When she went further and pushed into the Oerban, Fang gasped aloud and clutched at the arm holding her throat, digging her nails into the luscious skin. "I said stop," Fang growled, eyes narrowed. Pyres finally looked up to sneer at her, but stopped when she saw the look in Fang's eyes. Fang watched Pyres blink once, twice, and before Fang could blink herself, she was on the receiving end of a hard fist to the stomach.
Fang collasped to the ground, clutching her gut in pain and trying to breathe. Pyres left without another word, her steps quick and poignant. For awhile Fang just lied there, letting the pain slowly fade to a dull ache and the fire in her stomach to die. She slowly stood when she felt she could handle it and moved back towards the couch to flop down onto it. So many things were running through her mind - everything about her was in turmoil. She burrowed her head into the cushions and desperately tried to sort everything out.
Despite her past love for Pyres, Fang loved Lightning. Completely and utterly, with all her being and soul. But as she thought on the encounter with the darker side of Pyres, a sense of despair slowly crept into her heart. She realized she still had feelings for the complicated woman, a fact she didn't admit easily. Even after all these years and the hurt Pyres had inflicted, Fang still loved her. Damn that woman. But even worse, Fang craved her touch like she craved Lightning's. Her next thought made Fang's heart stop and a sob to work it's way up her throat: Did she only love Lightning because of her feelings for Pyres? They were, after all, related and nearly identical in every way. Fang vigorously shook her head against the cushion and took deep breaths. That couldn't be it. It just couldn't. She hated Pyres deeply in spite of her more benevolent and desirous feelings towards the woman. I love Lightning for her, not for her similarites and link with Pyres. Besides, I didn't even make the connection until Pyres showed up, after I fell in love with Lightning.
Fang refused to note that she didn't sound very convincing, even in her own mind.
"Erm, Fang, are you..alright?" Vanille's asked, close to her ear. Fang jumped and turned to face her adoptive sister with wide eyes. Vanille was standing hesitantly by the couch, eyes uncertain, and biting her lip. Fang instantly sat up and regarded her with concern. "I'm fine - are you alright, Vanille?" she inquired, noting the way Vanille slowly moved to sit by her. The young woman didn't respond for several moments, fiddling with her clasped hands and gazing dejectedly down at her lap. Fang's sense tuned only to Vanille shot through the roof, all previous transgressions between the two forgotten. "Vanille?" she asked again, moving closer to her younger sister. Vanille finally looked up and locked eyes with Fang. She took a deep breath and braced her hands on either side of her on the couch.
"We..I think we need to talk, Fang," she finally responded, voice subdued and very quiet.
Fang's stomach twisted around itself with a lurch, and she barely resisted shuddering. "About what, 'Nille? You know you can talk to me about anything, you don't have to be so fearful 'bout it. If it's about earlier when I yelled at you-"
Vanille smiled uncertainly and took another deep breath. "Well, ah..that's kinda what I wanted to talk about." She poked her two pointer fingers together slowly, not looking Fang in the eye. "Not..because you yelled at me, I know it was my fault for disobeying you in the first place, but..I.. I just don't understand why you made me swear not to go there ever again." She bit her lip again and looked away from her hands towards the table near the couch. "A-and I think we should talk about Pyres, also."
Oh, fuck.
A/N: I hope I didn't confuse you too terribly with the beginning. I wanted to use this chapter to give you a taste of what's to come, to flesh out the relationship between Pyres and Fang while giving you something else to mull over, and establish a Love/Hate thing with Pyres. Perfect characters are a bore - it's the ones that make you leap for joy and curse in anger that really mean something. Anyway, this long wait is due to a long string of things. This posting (finally) was brought about by great and sudden motivation..from playing GoW 3. Mmhm, I know, seems a little off to get motivation for a fanfiction of one game from another, right? But honestly, war's a'coming, and the whole GoW series is about vengeance, killing, atonement, and, well..more killing. Who doesn't enjoy ripping into foes in such powerful, rage-driven ways? It helped me establish a link of emotion in this chapter - I've felt communicating the emotions the characters are feeling was severely lacking, hence why I popped in one of the most angry games ever. Part of why it took me so long was because I was suddenly having trouble with tenses and I felt I needed to work on getting the inner emotions across. I think I accomplished that to some extent, and will continue to work on it... Hopefully successfully. I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter shouldn't take as long - I'll have oodles of freetime soon to waste away to my heart's content.