She moved slowly, stealthily. Crouched and hunched, like she wanted to make herself as small as possible while taking careful steps despite the adrenaline pumping through her veins, begging her to move faster. But she needed to avoid sprinting, she couldn't let the sound of her feet slapping against the cold tiles echo through the halls. A PSICOM employee could be around any corner, ready to ruin her plans and alert Nabaat.

Only a little farther until she reached Noctis' room and she felt confident. This time it was her moment to take control. No more following anyone else's lead. She peeked her head around the corner and quickly pulled it back. A kid—older than Hope, but still not old—walked down the hall towards her in a PSICOM uniform identical to Hope's, but better fitting.

Although she knew what needed to be done, the necessity made it no easier. She waited and listened as his footsteps grew closer. Once he turned the corner, she clamped her electrified hands on either side of his head. The convulsions his body went into all but stopped after his body crumpled to the floor. It was over in a moment, but Light felt the guilt weigh on her already. He never hurt her, but was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Killing innocents was not part of her soldier training, but she reminded herself she wasn't a soldier anymore. This wasn't the Guardian Corps. This was a different side of Eden and she was a Nightingale now.

Most people felt nauseous after they first killed a human being. Countless times during missions to stop a gang attack in the city, she looked to the side and saw a comrade of hers doubled over vomiting. The rookies Amodar entrusted her to lead.

She didn't feel nauseous about killing anymore, but the guilt always weighed on her. Having to take a human life was something no one should have to experience.

"I'm sorry," she said, unclasping his name tag from his uniform. "You should have been allowed to live a full life, and I took that from you."

'Noel' was his name, according to the name tag. She used the tag to open one of the nearby cells, listening in to see if it was quiet before scanning Noel's tag. Whoever this cell belonged to, Light didn't know him. He stayed asleep while Light dragged Noel's body into his cell and let the door close him in.

She moved as quickly as she could, while still staying somewhat quiet, the rest of the way to Noctis' room. Bursting through his door was the greatest relief she felt in a long time, since her last visit with Nabaat and the PSICOM doctors beginning to draw her blood, run tests, and give her frequent injections to 'keep her in optimal health'. Or so they told her, but she knew they were doing this in preparation to start using her as a breeder. As a tool, a means to an end. Her window of escape was continually closing and she couldn't afford to let it slip away.

Noctis' hands found their way to her shoulders and she met his eyes, dark and beautiful. The perfect shade of midnight blue she remembered from their first encounter so long ago, but this time they weren't cold and hateful. "Time to break out," he said.

Her soldier training kicked in, putting all thoughts of Noel to the side. She'll deal with it later. "Yeah. Finally."

"Finally, indeed. I've been itching to use my power again. It's been too long." He stretched his arms over his head. "This is gonna feel good."

"You're incredibly relaxed about this."

"Well, this is the best day of my life so far. I'm facing my lifelong enemy with a beautiful woman by my side," he said. He took a long look at her, starting at her feet and ending with him meeting her eyes. "But this doesn't seem to be the best day of your life."

She held up Noel's name tag, his name now belonged to a body beginning to decompose in the cell of a man he likely never knew beyond the basic information PSICOM provided. She saw the initial recognition in Noctis' eyes melt into surprise and finally amusement as seamlessly as day melts into night. She wondered when his expressions shifted from cryptic to easily readable and added that to her list of things to think about later, after she tasted refreshing freedom again and bid this building an eternal farewell.

"You knew him."

"I did," Noctis admitted. "He acted as my escort around the building a few times. But you can't beat yourself up over this, Light. You were a soldier. You know that unsavory things are sometimes necessary."

"I wish they didn't have to be. I always have."

Noctis' hands found their way to either side of her face, the pads of his thumbs grazing over her cheeks. She thought about how she ended up loving him, but never found an answer. By every ounce of logic, she should hate him. Despise him. Instead, he stood closer to her than any other man had in years. His lips found hers and she decided that it didn't matter. How she came to love him didn't matter. She did and, for now, that was enough.

The cool touch of Noctis' hands startled her and she broke the kiss. Without restraints on, Noctis slipped his hands under Light's shirt to rest them against the sensitive skin of her abdomen.

"Am I going too far?" he asked, making no apparent effort to move his hands.

She covered his hands with hers and pried them away from her stomach, holding them. "We'll figure out our relationship later. This just isn't the time. We need to focus right now, not flirt."

His demeanor sobered to seriousness. "Alright, I understand. Let's finish this."

"Who is this?" Yeul asked.

He was large, the man who stood before her. Large, but still muscular with short brown hair, a neatly trimmed mustache, and a somber expression on his kindly face.

Serah smiled at Yeul. "This is Lieutenant Amodar. He's part of the Guardian Corps and was Claire's superior."

"Why is someone from the Guardian Corps here?"

"Gaining access to a high security PSICOM building is not an easy task, but it's a little easier when it's the Guardian Corps that wants access."

Amodar laughed, a full laugh that bellowed up from the pits of his belly. "I should be thanking you NORA members. We've been itching for a chance to show PSICOM they're becoming too big to control all of their members, but you know the situation is bad when Cid Raines himself believes something's not right at a PSICOM facility."

Fang entered the backroom of NORA and leaned against the wall. "But it's even better for him when he gets to push the task of investigating to someone else and not have the reputation of his precious Calvary on the line."

"Ah, Fang. It's been awhile," Amodar said, giving her a clap on the shoulder.

She kept her arms crossed, but her feral smile spread across her face. "Wish the circumstances were better."

When she caught sight of Yeul, her smile faded into a scowl. The grudge she held against the Nightingales was too hefty for Yeul to ever alleviate, but she understood it. Fang's hatred was like Yeul's own against Caius and, for a long time after his betrayal, anyone outside of the Nightingales' main circle of members. She wanted to hate Light when Noctis first brought her in. She wanted to despise her and tear her mind to shreds just to have someone to blame for Caius leaving. Someone other than herself. But she couldn't. Seeing Light for the first time, chained and pathetic in a makeshift cell, she felt a connection. The way Light looked at that time reflected how Yeul felt on the inside. Beaten and bloody without an escape from the torrent of emotions tearing her apart. Pathetic and weary.

Weary was still a fitting description. Since the other day, Yeul's power hadn't been strong enough to feel the emotions of anyone, merely the presence of their mind. After such an overwhelming shock to her abilities, she wasn't surprised that they needed to recharge before being usable again.

She returned Fang's scowl with a blank expression and Fang looked away shortly after. Whether it was because the sight of her was that angering or she didn't want Serah to scold her again, she didn't know. Expressions couldn't kill, so Yeul didn't care for the reason. But she found it odd to not know while her powers recuperated. Experiencing the world as a normal human felt foreign after growing up with the constant presence of her power.

"Well, everyone's here now," Serah said, her voice large for someone so small. "All that's left to do is make our move. Does anyone need to be reminded of the plan?"

Everyone present shared glances that shifted from each person to the next, looking for a raised hand or an uneasy fidget, but none could be found.

Amodar nodded and took leadership from Serah. "Then we're commencing with Operation Caged Birds," he said.

The name drew a laugh out of Yeul, breathy and nearly inaudible. She hoped no one else heard it, but the way that Serah winked at her with that warm smile of hers made that hope die out.

The genuine kindness and happiness from Serah reminded Yeul of Light in a way, despite Light rarely showing her emotions—especially happiness among the Nightingales. The Farron sisters were so unlike the people she was used to being surrounded by. All of NORA was so different from how they became known among the crime networks within Eden's shadows. She almost wanted to stay with them and see more of the world from their view, but the notion felt like a far away, fading dream. The Nightingales were her family and they needed her. It was their world she was destined to be a part of, not NORA's world. And desire had no place among destiny.

"Miss Nabaat, uh, ma'am?"

She waved her hand without tearing her eyes from the screen in front of her. "Not now. I'm busy."

"This is kind of important, ma'am," he insisted.

She swiveled in her chair to face her subordinate, just another nameless figure in a lab coat to her. He held a tablet in one hand, the other frantically tapping its screen. "What is so important that you are willing to disobey me?" she asked.

"Noel was scheduled to bring in a subject over an hour ago for experimentation," he said. "However, he never showed up."

He had her attention now and she stood, grabbing the tablet from him and looking at the schedules displayed on it. "He's been late before, but never this late," she said. She bit her lip as she scrolled through schedules and logs.

"It'll be a problem if he decided to quit," the researcher said. "He knows too much about what goes on here."

Nabaat handed the man back his tablet. When she returned to her seat at her desk, she removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes with a tired sigh. "I'm aware of the danger that would pose to our operations," she said. Her tone never betrayed the anxiety nagging at her gut, the endless stream of 'what-ifs'.

"Go find Hope and have him escort the subjects that Noel was scheduled to," she finally said, putting her glasses back on and returning to command. "Leave the Noel situation to me and security. I'm not about to let some kid delay my project. Do you have any idea how long I've worked on this?"

"No, ma'am."

"For more than twenty years, I've been working on Project Super Soldier. I've been setback more times than I can count on this project. And if I'm setback one more time, well, let's just say I hope the staff likes this building because they would become intimately acquainted with it."

"I understand. I'm heading back to work right away," he said. He left her room in a rush, fumbling to shut the door behind him.

Nabaat sighed again and rubbed her temples. Project Super Soldier provided invaluable research and was already being used to enhance PSICOM soldiers, help them reach new levels of combat abilities. But the danger of her methods being exposed as immoral continued growing to a point where her precious project almost wasn't worth the potential punishment she'd face if the knowledge fell into the wrong hands. One mistake by someone she entrusted a vital task to was destroying decades of effort.

Her top researcher at the time didn't implant trackers into the babies injected with the Super Soldier Serum. Instead of pulling them off the streets from the gangs they created—an unexpected outcome from receiving the serum, she'd admit—and being betrayed by each other in return for promises of exemption from experiment participation, she could have easily sent her soldiers to retrieve them because she would have known their exact locations at any given time.

But fate had some grudge against her for reasons she never knew or figured out and the simple orders of 'inject one hundred babies at Eden's hospital with the serum at random and implant a tracker in those injected' were not followed to the extent she expected. It was supposed to be her chance to test the serum and the effects various upbringings had on it, if any.

She cleared her throat and pulled out her phone to dial the security office. Nothing else could get in her way, especially not some shaggy kid with a laziness problem.

Noctis followed Light through the labyrinth of halls until they stood around the corner from Nabaat's office. As expected, she had a guard stationed on either side of her door. They weren't the ones who held Noctis' attention, however. He focused on Light. The determination burning in her eyes and the confidence with which she navigated the halls made her radiant.

She untied two brightly colored cloth strips from around her ankle and handed one to Noctis. "You take out the far guard, I'll take the closer one. If he opens his mouth to yell or makes any sound, shove this in his mouth. We don't want Nabaat alerted."

"Understood," Noctis whispered back. "Ready to move on your order, ma'am."

His response earned him a swift elbow to the ribs and he barely managed to hold in the grunt of pain and surprise. She held up her hand and three fingers. Folded one in and there were two. Folded another one in and there was one.

Then she gave the order to attack and Noctis didn't need the strip of fabric she handed him. The guard barely registered Noctis' presence before his severed head rolled on the floor and his body slumped into Noctis, who lowered it carefully and quietly. Blood splashed onto the plain clothes PSICOM provided from the stump of the guard's neck. By his side, his crystal sword dripped matching blood until he dismissed it by shattering it into dust that faded away soundlessly.

Light's guard fell after his, with a ball of fabric shoved in his mouth. Spasms shook his body post-mortem from Light's lightning. While she moved the bodies away and worked on unlocking the door after swiping Noel's card—his security clearance wasn't high enough to enter Nabaat's office—Noctis tied the strip of cloth Light gave him around his wrist. Maybe she didn't intend it to be a gift, but Noctis treated it like one. It symbolized all the planning and work Light put into this scheme of hers.

She broke the security pad of the door and it swung open into Nabaat's office. "Make sure no one gets in," Light whispered to him before leading the way into the room.

Noctis followed her and closed the door behind them. "That I can do." He summoned swords until there were to enough to create a wall over the door.

"I told you I would handle it," Nabaat said. She stood from her chair and turned, mouth open and prepared to yell at an employee she must have encountered earlier. The scowl on her face turned into surprise, then desperate anger. Her eyes narrowed as she grabbed her baton from her desk, teeth bared in a snarl. Every movement was rigid, her muscles tense. Nothing more than an animal cornered, willing to bite its own leg off if it meant freedom.

Light wrapped her hands with lightning and took the first punch at Nabaat, but her attack was easily avoided by a sidestep. Nabaat retaliated with a strike of her own, her baton smacking Light right on the arm she outstretched in her attack with a resounding crack. Nabaat knocked Light off balance, but Noctis wouldn't let her do more than that. He controlled his swords like a puppet master, swiping at Nabaat's feet and forcing her away from Light.

She danced around his swords until he added another one to his series of strikes and tripped her. She caught herself with her desk, slamming something underneath the top of her desk. Alarms blared just outside the door. "I don't know how you made it in here, but you're about to be outnumbered."

Light recovered her balance during the time Noctis bought her and charged at Nabaat with a flurry of quick strikes. Noctis knew she was fast, but he'd never seen her fight like this. It was too difficult for him to keep up with her attacks, and it seemed Nabaat couldn't match her speed either. Hit after hit landed until Nabaat found another good opening for a swing with her baton, but she missed this time. Light flipped backwards to dodge Nabaat's attack, her baton gliding centimeters above Light's stomach.

As much as Noctis wanted to continue watching and helping Light, he left the room to face the army of footsteps rushing towards them. "Leaving her to you, Light," he called out.

"Understood," she said.

Nabaat's expression melted into the cockiness that Light came to expect from her. The smirk and one raised eyebrow that asked 'Can't you see I've already won?'

Light returned the smirk with one of her own and re-wrapped her hands in lightning, the feeling of electricity around her becoming natural. This time when Nabaat attacked, Light was prepared. With a small step, the baton missed her and she gripped Nabaat's wrist with an electrified hand.

Nabaat yelped in surprise and dropped her baton. But instead of hitting the floor, it found its way into Light's hands.

"Not my weapon of choice," she said, "but it'll do."

Nabaat cradled her wrist close to her body, small tremors still traveling through her fingers. "I implanted you. You shouldn't be able to attack me with your power!"

Light shrugged and swept Nabaat's balance away with a low kick. Nabaat fell to the ground with a yell and Light straddled her, keeping her pinned down. "You forgot that lightning can short-circuit little toys like your implants," she said.

"No, it can't end this way," Nabaat yelled. "Security! Security, get in here!"

Light raised the baton above Nabaat, the tip pointed down. "None of them will get through Noctis. You've seen what he can do. Now you're about to see what I can do."

"You wouldn't," Nabaat said. Her thrashes died down, trying to call a nonexistent bluff.

"Why wouldn't I? You're the reason my life has been hell since the Nautilus Massacre. So you're wrong. I would do this, and I'm going to fucking enjoy it too."

Light brought the baton down, driving it through Nabaat's open mouth—prepared to scream—and out the back of her head. Nabaat screamed, muffled and feral like a dying animal, but only for a moment and went silent. All Light heard now was Noctis fighting outside the door, but she knew she didn't need to help him, not when he was taunting the security guards while they fought. Instead, she stood up and gave one last look to Nabaat's body on the floor. "Trying smirking now, bitch," she said.

She stepped over the body and sat in Nabaat's computer chair. She barely had the chance to open one file when Noctis entered the room. "We have some unexpected company," he said, then looked at Nabaat. "Nice work, but why the mouth?"

"She never would shut up and now she can't even smirk."

"You know, I'm liking this side of you. The whole badass soldier thing is kind of a turn on."

Light heard a man clear his throat outside the room.

"Right," Noctis said. He moved aside to let in an array of familiar faces. "They aren't wearing PSICOM uniforms and actually helped me finish off the last few guards, so I spared them. Guessing they're friends of yours?"

Light felt the smile spread across her face, but was unable to stop it. "Amodar. Fang. Snow. Even Serah? Yeah, I guess they're friends of mine."

Yeul stepped into the room last, only after Serah waved that it was clear.

"Yeul," Light said, stepping over to stand in front of her. "I saw your picture on the news and assumed Caius had taken you far away. I'm so glad to see you're alright."

Yeul nodded. "He tried," she said. "I'll tell both of you about it later."

Light ruffled Yeul's hair and hugged Serah.

"I missed you," Serah said. "All this time, I was always so worried."

"I missed you, too," Light said.

Amodar clapped his hands, drawing all of the attention in the room to him. "We have a lot of information from the systems here to go through before we decide what to do next, but you three are technically still criminals. Hope you don't mind sitting and behaving while we figure out how to handle this situation."

Noctis shrugged while Light nodded. "That's fine," Light said. She sat with her back against Nabaat's desk and Noctis and Yeul joined on either side of her.

"We accomplished what we wanted already anyway," Noctis said.

Amodar stepped around Nabaat's body to reach her computer. "I see that. One hell of mess this is. Protocol doesn't cover this, so hopefully I can at least help you avoid life in jail. From what I know about this, the only one at fault is PSICOM. The rest of you are victims to an experiment that should have never existed."

The alarm in the hall stopped its screeching, but Light's ears still rang in the silence.

"Do what you can, but it doesn't matter," Noctis said. "It's not like a prison would be able to contain us."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Amodar said.

Serah, Snow, and Fang sent the rest of NORA to find any researchers still in the building, but try not to kill them. Serah stayed in the room for as long as she was able, frequently glancing at Nabaat, until she had to press her hands over her mouth and leave with a mutter of "I think I'm going to be sick."

Snow followed after, shrugging and giving Light an apologetic smile. But Light shooed him out of the room. "She's the one who could use you right about now," she said.

Only Fang and Amodar were left in the room with the three Nightingales.

"How did you find out?" Light asked.

Fang gestured at Yeul. "Your little friend and her power picked up your distress when she walked by the building. We rushed to put a rescue mission together, but it looks like you didn't need it."

Light felt normal for once. She no longer felt the weight on her shoulders crushing her and it was easy to laugh and chat with Serah, Fang, and even Snow didn't bother her in the slightest. The conversation was nice, even Amodar joined in occasionally while he sifted through PSICOM files, but none of that mattered to Light when she felt Noctis' hand wrap around hers. That simple, subtle act of his steadied her world. The small connection he made widened her smile more than any bits of lighthearted bickering between the group of them and filled her with a warmth that she only felt around him.

She matched his grip just as firmly.

A/N: Nabaat's reign had to end at some point. Fighting scenes are definitely not my forte, but hopefully Light vs Nabaat was at the very least satisfactory. This is not the end, there's still quite a bit to wrap up.

Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. It's been a long journey with this story and it's odd that it's drawing close to the end.