There is chapter 20. Needed to catch up with my life so I made a short break. Hope you like this one and whether you like it or not we're coming back to action in next chapters ;)
As always big thanks to LadyWolvie82 for everything!
Fang was deep in her dream when feathery touches on her back started to slowly uncover her from under thick layers of sleepiness. She was lying on her stomach with arms tucked under a pillow, relaxed in her favorite position… well formerly favorite. Now the new one took its place. A pinch of distress poured into her heart when she realized that she was no longer felling the heat of another body. She didn't even know when the certain pinkhead slipped away from their tight embrace. Her limbs longed to entangle the coveted heat back but tender fingers, which just moved from her back to trace the curves of black tattoo on her arm, compensated her that loss, soothing the mentioned distress completely.
Fang raised her eyelid slowly, only a little bit. The view was heart-warming. Lightning was propped on her elbow, upper part of her body naked and exposed; the rest under the covers. Not even half of a worry in her cerulean eyes. They were following the movement of her pale fingers over the black shapes with curiosity. Gentle, content, even dreamy smile was plastered to her beautiful face. This smile… She wanted to open her eye wider to have a better look but used all her willpower to fight against it. The view was so rare… she praised herself for leaving her eye half closed originally. Fang could bet that she wouldn't witness that scene if Lightning knew she was being watched. Like that she could continue her secret peeping at the pinkhead.
After a moment, shadow of smirk ran through Lightning's face but it didn't change her previous, serene expression at all. Her eyes stayed where they were, when she spoke.
"You think I didn't know you're awake?"
Fang's eyes eventually opened wide. Well… Lightning knew… This time she praised herself that she didn't actually bet, she would lose all her money… not that she had any…
"Nothin' will ever hide me from ya…"
Anyway she would never expect to find Lightning Claire Farron with a dreamy smile and here it was. In addition she wasn't ashamed of that, didn't even try to hide it for one second. Maybe people do change… If Lightnin' is able to let herself go, then maybe Cocoonians will stand in our defence…
Sazh was right, they were both impressively stubborn but that night they broke. Fang started second-guessing her hater to Cocoonians, thinking that maybe she judged them too early, too harshly. Thought about years she had lost, about Light's friends and all people who offered her help. Earlier she had been sure that their plan sucked but then she started to wonder.
Lightning finally let a pinch of hope into her heart, the hope that this whole story could have a happy end… that maybe, just maybe she wouldn't lose something… someone she involuntary happened to care about so deeply. This small, shy hope… it felt surprisingly well to have it.
Her deft fingers floated to the tiny braid behind Fang's ear, trying to learn as many details about the stunning woman as she could. Silence between them was comfortable. Lightning slowly pressed her upper body to Fang's back, resting her cheek against it. Her arms went around the Oerban closing her in possessive embrace. Soft sigh was to pull her back from her world of dreams but it was difficult now, basking in a scent of her lover, sharing heat of their bodies. She was always amazed how warm the Pulsian felt against her, and how much she smelt of sun.
In turn, Fang was amazed how much affection the cold, strict sergeant could express without words. She was the one with a loud mouth and Lightning was never good with the words; she was more a woman of action than a talker. It didn't bother her at all. She closed her eyes again purring contently, feeling her eyelids still heavy. However, before she could even think about sleeping the delightful warmness and weight on her back disappeared as well as the arms holding her tightly.
"Is it mornin' already?" She turned on her back with a loud groan, seeing the pinkhead already outside a bed, looking for her clothes.
"Yeah..."
"Can't we stay there a little longer?" She said while she looked out of the window, pouting. It seemed to be still early.
"Oh, I thought that Gran Pulse huntresses wake up at dawn." Light tried to mock her a bit, counting that her pride will lure her out of a bed but Fang wasn't going to give up so easily.
"We do." That was a lie. Waking up early never was her strong point but could she admit it? Of course not, she had no weak points officially. "But there is no hunt planned for today. At least not before the 'mornin' news'." She winked at the pinkhead and started to stretch out lazily.
"Common, get your lazy but up. Vanille shouldn't wake up in an empty room first morning after getting away from Sci-Lore's hands."
Light's words were making sense but still Fang couldn't believe it was the real cause. She gave her very doubtful look, amused slightly by her elusion.
"Or rather shouldn't now that I spent the night with ya?"
Lightning rolled her eyes and continued to dress herself up without any other answer, still a tiny blush settled on her cheeks.
"Anyway Vanille already keeps nudgin' me about ya." She admitted with a soft sigh remembering how persistently nosy the girl could be. Light's brows shot up with question and she focused all her attention at the woman in her bed.
"How so?"
"She says we would be great match and that there is… how did she call it?" She took a few seconds pretending to think and accenting her next words. "Sexual tension between us." Small smirk appeared on her face and she sent pinkhead a provocative look. "So what do ya think Sunshine? Is there some or not?"
Lightning approached the edge of bed looking at Fang with scrutiny. She crouched and placed her finger under Fang's chin, raising her face a little, forcing their eyes to meet in challenging manner. With little space left between their faces, the air became a few times thicker. Smirk started to form on Light's face when she saw the irises of emerald green eyes growing bigger.
"Maybe…" Said Lightning in an erotic way and withdrew before Fang's lips could catch hers. She took a step back and started pinning her cape with a smirk still present at her face. "Has Vanille said any other interesting things?"
"Yeah…" She let out a low chuckle, keeping her eyes on the woman. She was amazed by Light's flirtatious attitude. There weren't a lot of chances to explore that side of sergeant Lightning Farron, or maybe Claire was behind this… she didn't know but she knew that she instantly loved it. "That I finally found someone who is equal to me and won't be totally dominated and submissive."
"Finally?" Lightning narrowed her eyes on Fang suspiciously.
"Umm…" Fang scratched back of her neck with a bit troubled grin. "Let's say ya're the only one pretty enough to stay in my memory." She shrugged helplessly, not forgetting to add her usual cockiness and apologetic smile which was telling 'it's not my fault that I'm hot and girls are crazy 'bout me'.
Light couldn't help a highly amused snort and Fang's wink and smile as cheesy as the line only deepened her amusement. She shook her head in disbelief but her eyes were still glittering with laughter. She leaned to place a peck on Fang's lips and left a room without rush, still visibly amused.
Fang was starring at the just closed door with bewilderment, wide grin on her face. Finally, a soft laugh left her mouth.
"Fuckin' Etro…" she told to herself still not quite believing she's awake and not in a dream. "She is… in a good mood…" A new record appeared in her memory. Make love with her as often as ya can. The effect is mind-blowing.
Everyone was still sleeping. Lightning switched the TV on and lowered the volume, browsed the internet. As she thought, there was nothing yet. She did all the morning activities and sat comfortably on a couch, cleaning and sharpening her gunblade, looking at TV once in a time. Indeed it was still early but she was used to short sleeping hours and that night… she slept incredibly well. Her mind again was as sharp as her blade and some strange easiness in her soul. However this easiness was slowly fading with every passing minute.
Some time passed before the rest started to appear. Sazh was first, than Hope, Vanille…
"Where is Fang?" Lightning finally asked. She saw Fang coming back to her room earlier but thought she would appear with Vanille, who looked rather exasperated now.
"I have been trying to wake her up for fifteen minutes…" A small pout appeared on her face while Lightning managed to keep hers impassive, despite laughing in her mind. "I hope we'll have more luck with Sanctum today." She let out a heavy sigh but moment latter her eyes glittered and she jumped joyfully with a happy squeak. "Oh! You've got something delicious here!" She appeared beside troubled Hope in no time.
"Um… y-yeah…" He stuttered looking at his half-eaten pancakes which started to disappear from a plate very quickly. "I can make you some more if you want…" Or rather myself… He added in thoughts, seeing his plate almost empty.
"Aww, would you? I'd love that!" Wide, charming smile appeared on her face, what abashed Hope even more and made him disappear in the kitchen.
Some more time passed before Fang appeared.
"Couldn't you sleep tonight?" Lightning couldn't restrain herself from making a derisive comment with a slight smirk on her face.
"Nah…" Fang narrowed her eyes on the pinkhead giving her best lopsided grin. "Actually I was sleeping so well that I couldn't wake up." She placed her hands at hips, still holding Light's seemingly plain gaze but she knew that a restrained playfulness is glittering under that lack of concern. "And how were ya sleepin' Sunshine?"
"Quite well..." Lightning answered with a shrug, giving all her attention back to the Blazefire Saber. Fang chuckled softly, letting Light off hook, because some pleasant aroma attacked her nose.
"Ah, somethin' smells delicious here." She stopped to localize the source of the pleasant aroma.
"What is it with you Pulse guys always thinking about food?" Sazh asked, looking at Vanille shoving large part of pancake into her mouth.
"Well… we need a lot of food to keep those muscles well-groomed."
Sazh laughed a bit, but it was Light's amused snort what made Fang's cheesy grin to widen even more.
Vanille finished Hope's breakfast and already started to eat the portion he brought for her seconds ago. Fang's sharp eyes caught one more full plate lying on the table next to the redhead. She immediately took her place and started eating just as enthusiastically as her sister. Vanille put a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a laugh when she saw resigned Hope just behind Fang's back, with a fork in his hand. He came back to the kitchen with a long sigh.
Just when he went out with another portion Dajh run into the room.
"Yay, pancakes!"
A cheerful shout startled Hope and the plate almost landed on the floor.
"Hope, could you make some more for Dajh? He loves pancakes." Asked the father of the little boy.
"Yeah… sure…" Hope's irritation started to grow but there was one thought that reassured him. Lightning and Sazh ate on their own earlier and there were no more people who could appear and eat his breakfast.
The teen finally sat at the table, pancakes in front of him. He warily glanced at everybody, ready to protect his food by all means. Just when he stuck his fork into it, big highlight exploded on the screen of TV. 'Breaking News!' Long irritated groan escaped his throat when he hit the table with his forehead. He gave up and like the others got closer to the screen to have a better look.
The program wasn't what they expected to see. There was not a word about any Pulsians, nothing about what happened on Gran Pulse. It was centered on Sci-Lore and their experiments on humans, which were overseen by Sanctum. There wasn't even any hard evidence, they had sent them. Only a load of suspicions and strange coincidences. It looked rather like someone was looking for hot topic not as if had reliable information. That wasn't something what could drive people out of their homes.
"What was that? They've got so many documents from us and that is all they could do?" Hope growled, in unison with his stomach, irritation finally taking over him.
"That was exactly how Cocoonians are goin' to help us. They'll do nothin'. I bet they're lookin' for us together with a Sanctum now, waiting for us to write again so they could localize us." Fang scowled angrily, not at all happy that she was right and angry at herself that she had just started to believe…
"But it doesn't make sense! Why would they do anything if they didn't want to help?" Vanille still didn't want to lose hope.
"That's the same in the internet… nothing more." Sazh said, scrolling through the website. "There're first comments… Some are indignant, the other rather suspicious, distrustful… and of course some people think that's bullshit."
Lightning was sitting in silence, deep frown on her face. Vanille is right it doesn't make sense… They wouldn't need time to prepare if that was all they could do. Sazh was still reading the comments.
"People are curious what Sanctum has to say in this matter."
Light's eyes widened hearing this one. It made some unexpected thought to appear in her mind…
"Sneaky bastards…" She said more to herself but it drew all eyes to her smirk. "They're waiting for Sanctum's answer. They didn't want to shoot all their bullets at the beginning of war and Sanctum has completely no idea how big artillery they have." She sneered thinking how the mighty government will answer to these accusations.
"If Sanctum says that nothing like that happened the proofs will appear. They will totally lose credibility." Sazh said, smashing a fist into his open palm with a wide grin.
"People will be furious that Sanctum tried to lie to them." Hope added, visibly more excited.
"Exactly. And telling something like 'don't worry we didn't experiment on our people only on Pulsians' will be a shoot in a foot. Especially when it comes out that they've almost killed the Pulsians off." Lightning finished the sentence pulling a sharpener through her blade for the last time and examining the edge with a pleased smile.
Vanille, all smiles, turned to still huffish brunette.
"Fang cheer up, we've almost got them."
"I hope ya're right…" She said with a sigh and smiled eventually stretching her arm up. Vanille immediately hit their forearms together with a happy squeal.
It quickly came out how well-thought this strategy was. Haste is the worst advisor and the government was forced to act under a pressure of time, people demanded answers. Sanctum made the worst possible decision - wanted to pass the buck to Sci-Lore. They were ensuring people that they had no knowledge in that matter, that the investigation had already been started in order to check if there were any abnormalities and if the suspicions were truth. They made a promise to the people of Cocoon that everyone who had broken the law, especially in the matter of fundamental human right would be severely punished. Their disgust to such activities was expressed without a slightest waver.
To their disappointment, Lady Luck wanted that all Nabaat's monthly reports were addressed directly to the primarch Galenth Dysley. People don't like being lied to, they like to fell important and respected. It was hard to measure if it was this disrespect what made people revolt or if it was really about a vile treatment the Pulsians get. Anyway, after uncovering all Sanctum's lies, the shameful way they tried to get out of that mess and the hell Pulsians came through, people started to gather in front of government's main building, encouraged by active participation of human rights' organizations and their incitement. There also appeared some politicians looking for their chance. People demanded freeing the captured Pulsians and immediate resignation of the primarch…
Until the second Sanctum's announcement appeared. This time…a bit less deceptive. They made an admission of kidnapping a few of the last living Pulsians and experimenting with their brains, memory exactly. The admission was followed by wide explanation why it was kept secret. Government showed statistics, complicated math calculations and models of the best and the worst scenario. It was proven that Cocoon is already overpopulated but what was worse all models were accordingly predicting that it is matter of a few to dozen years, that Cocoon wouldn't be able to produce enough food for all its citizens. This information was kept secret to not make a panic in society, to let people have their carefree life and trust the government to keep Cocoon safe.
In very rhetorical way they explained why they needed Pulsians' knowledge about their homeland and how dangerous the planet was. How they had lost contact with every scientific expedition they had sent no matter how many soldiers it had consisted of. Gran Pulse eventually was pigeonholed as cursed planet and there were no volunteers to examine it. Without this basic knowledge there was no way to build a settlement and start to colonize it. Hence the idea to get the needed information from still living Pulsians.
The long speech was smoothly polished by a sublime promise that they didn't mean to batter Pulsians more after what had happened on Gran Pulse but they were all the time acting in Cocoon's business and if there was any other way to save Cocoonians from starvation they wouldn't do what they did. Of course, the rumors about the biological weapon were sturdily contradicted. Sanctum accused Pulsians of bringing themselves to the edge of extinction but everybody already knew how deceitful Sanctum was and how they were always interested in saving only their own butt. People's appeals were indisputably rejected.
The mood in the Estheims' living room turned from excited to rather grim. To its occupants' concerns, Sanctum's arguments put into airy words could seem to make sense for some people. Striking fear into the hearts of Cocoonians, convincing them that it was the only option to save Cocoon, that it was all for them, was a cheap psychological play but always so effective. Earlier there were few comments in defense of the government but then more and more started to appear, some of them even thankful. They quickly went from defensive into offensive, growing more aggressive towards Pulsians, remembering the wartime and people that died then, praising the Sanctum for the solution they'd found, wanting them to continue their work. However, it couldn't stay without an answer from protesting people whose number grew visibly, partially because of hateful comments.
Cocoon was torn. In front of Sanctum's mansion was a crowd of resentful people ready to revolt, while on the opposite site of building supporters of Sanctum started to gather. Though their number was small it was growing constantly. It instantly cooled that pinch of hope which started to grow in Lightning's heart earlier that morning. Fang didn't seem surprised at all.
"I've told ya, Sanctum won't leave Pulsians alone, especially now when they have their own bunch of idiots defendin' them. I and Vanille are already gone, not a chance they'll give away their 'last resort'. See no point in sittin' here. If we want them, we'll need to take them back by force."
"Remember that we still have no idea where they're kept."
Sazh came back from a walk he took Dajh for and approached them at sight.
"I've got something." Both Lightning and Fang raised their brows, looking at him expectantly. "I still have some old friends in the army and I've just got some interesting intel. Army, as well as Cocoon is torn. Dysley ordered them to shoot to everyone who would cross the gate..."
"Yeah… he already showed us that it doesn't matter if it's Cocoonian or Pulsian, he's ready to remove everyone standing in his path." Added Lightning with a disgusted scoff.
"Not everyone agrees with his politics and the idea of shooting to their own people, especially after Dysley tried to sell that story about how he did it all for us Cocoonians. Group of soldiers is going to help our cause."
"Large enough for a coup?" Fang asked, not expecting any positive answer, but rather, trying to cool Sazh down.
"Not quite but there goes the main point." He made a small break to tickle their curiosity even more. "Caius, Noel and Yeul are watched over by the army."
"Wha-" Fang got to her feet in shock but Lightning interrupted her surprised outburst with more relevant question.
"Where?!"
"Main military base, just under Sanctum's nose. This group I've told you about could help to get them out but it still gives us nothing if Dysley stays in power. Maybe it's better to stick to our previous plan, not risk so much and let the events play out…"
Light and Fang looked at him like at an idiot, already standing at door with their weapons ready.
"Ya're kiddin' right? I thought I'd die from boredom here." Fang got much more vivid, already excited for an action.
"They want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door." Lightning's voice was grave, matching her narrowed, eyes and sinister smirk. Although they were again going into danger she felt relieved. Sitting idly was a tremendous pain in the ass… not only for her but also for a certain brunette whose wide grin was undeniably feral.
"Ahh… fine then I'm going with you." Said Sazh with a long sigh. "You need your contact, don't you?"
"Sazh…" Lightning faced the dark-skinned man with a worry painted on her face. "We can take care of that, stay with Dajh."
"Hey! These old bones aren't as rusty as you think." He winked at Lightning spinning two guns at the same time. Lightning still didn't look convinced. "You know what Dajh told me today? 'Daddy you're a war hero, why don't you do something? I'm sure you could save them.'"
"'War hero'?" Light's eyes grew to the size of tennis ball.
"Yeah..." He said as he scratched his head, abashed a bit. "I might have added too much splendor to the stories I told him once. But I can't disappoint him now, can I?"
Lightning started to rub her eyebrow, letting out a bit amused and a bit exasperated breath. She was conflicted, didn't know if she should laugh or wring her hands. It was obvious to her that Sazh stories were always exaggerated but she wasn't aware to what extent. "I guess the splendor was a main part… poor boy…"
"C'mon Sunshine, at least he wasn't bored. Boring story is the worst story." Fang said to Lightning, patting her shoulder with a laugh.
"Maybe that's why I've never been good at it."
"Yeah… you would also need to work on your attitude, cold tone, basilisk's gaze…" Sazh had to stop reciting when he got petrified. Fortunately Lightning's attention was caught by the redhead who jumped out from behind Sazh back with a wide grin plastered to her face.
"I'm coming with you."
"'Nille…" Fang started to protest but her sister didn't let her finish.
"Nah, nah… I'm not staying behind again." Vanille shook her finger with an angry pout on her face. "Fang… you won't leave me alone… will you?" This time Lightning could see with her own eyes what it meant to be a puppy eyes' technique's master. She had to admit that in comparison to Vanille Fang was only a beginner. Though thinking about Serah… well her sister also was quite good at this... Tch… Why have I never realized it's only a cheap trick… but a moment latter she realized that it wouldn't change anything. Fang perfectly knew what Vanille was doing, geez she had been even learning from her, but still she fell for it.
"Argh… Fine! Ya go with us…"As soon as she gave up, devilish smile appeared at the redhead's face and she jailed Fang in a bruising hug. "Ugh… don't make me regret this."
"I'll behave I promise."
If Vanille and Sazh were coming it meant that… Everybody's eyes shoot to Hope who raised his arms in the gesture of surrender.
"It's completely okay with me; I'll stay with Dajh and keep an eye on everything. Anyway, I prefer plastic guns to real ones."