Sorry about the long break. Been a bit busy here and also got distracted doing some Halloween Lightning and Fangrai sketches. Anyway hope you enjoy the next few chapters.

"I don't doubt you any. But the higher ups are gonna want some proof regardless." Amodar turned to gaze out his window "…tell you what. Take on a B-class mission, just the two of you. That should be challenging enough to satisfy them".

"Give us an S-class" Lightning blurted.

"You can't be serious" the captain asserted.

"I take on C-class solo all the time. One extra level isn't a challenge when we're some of the strongest out there!"

Though Lightning's voice seemed to be an aggressive protest Fang was sure she could hear a pleading tone beneath it.

"That might be true. But we always have larger teams for S-class just to be sure. They aren't meant to be solo missions, even for the best"

"But, sir!" Lighting protested, causing Fang to raise an eyebrow.

"Enough! I want you to prove a point to them not put your lives in danger, Farron." Amodar said placing a hand firmly on Lightning's shoulder. "There's plenty of time for S-class."

Lightning sighed in frustration and bowed her head in defeat. Amodar placed a finger on her forehead and made a flicking motion that caused Lightning to lift her head slightly and blink a few times.

"I know you'll be the first team to tackle an S- class alone. Just give it time" Amodar smiled at her once he had her attention.

Lightning smiled a little in response and gave a quick nod, unaware of the knowing smile Fang was casting in the twos direction.

Lightning twisted her interlocked hands outwards causing a satisfying crack. There was plenty of distance between them and anything breakable now.

"Want to get some training in and hit the mission tomorow?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder. "It'd probably be good to get your magic running again before we go."

"Probably" Fang grinned back at her.

Lightning knew she was missing something but couldn't figure out what, so she just quirked an eyebrow instead.

"So what magic level have you got too? Fang asked walking a small distance away from the soldier before turning to face her.

"Second tier" Lightning replied, stretching her arms across her torso and twisting. "I wanted to work on getting to thundaga, so I was back to normal level"

"What about the rest of em?"

"Well I never had those abilities before, so I don't know if I can get to third tier on everything" Lightning shrugged. "But I'd like too" she added with a grin.

"Give me thundaga then" Fang directed.

Lightning lifted her hand up towards the sky and closed her eyes to help focus her energy. She could feel the hairs on her arms rise with the gathering static and with a swift movement brought her hand down. Several large lightning bolts hit the ground between them scorching the grass.

"Tch" Lightning scowled knowing the spell had been a thundera.

"Better luck next time" Fang chimed.

"Try fire first, see how it goes" Lightning ignored the encouragement.

Fang took aim at the scorched ground as she readied herself. Lightning caught the last second grin and shift in aim just as Fang cast her spell. She threw her arms up to her face just in time as water shot at her. Her hair and clothes clung to her dampened skin as she growled at her partner in anger. Lightning wiped at her eyes and opened her mouth ready to verbalise her irritation. But the words were pushed back, much like her body as a strong wind hit, nearly knocking her off her feet.

"Aero!? Seriously Fang!?" Lightning complained.

"What?" Fang chuckled throwing her hands up. "I couldn't just leave you like that, you mighta caught a cold"

"Well if you hadn't cast water in the first place" Lightning grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Forgive me?" Fang gave a lopsided grin, walking up to the soldier.

Lightning cursed inwardly, Fang always knew what looks to give her.

"Fine" Lightning replied curtly. She leaned over and placed a quick kiss on the Pulsian's cheek. "Just don't get all cocky about it" She gave a quick slap to the back of the brunettes head for good measure.

"Ouch" Fang protested, even though they both knew the force hadn't been enough to hurt.

"How did you manage that anyway?"

"Jealous?" Fang wiggled her eyebrows.

"No. Just curious how you managed that so fast" Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Weeell I've been practicing a little when I could ever since that day"

"Right" Lightning said as she turned away, "so much for training it together."

"Aww come on Light, don't be like that. I wanted to impress you" the huntress pouted.

"I don't think soaking me and then blow drying it away is the way to impress me" Lightning fought the smile that was tugging at her lips in vein, causing the Pulsian to grin. "What tier?" Lightning shook her head light heartedly.

"Just the first set"

"That's good" Lightning nodded. "I think we're going to have to find something to fight. It always seems to help increase the magic. Lucky for us I still have a bunch of C-class handy" she said reaching into her pocket for a bunch of small papers.

"Let's go then soldier!" Fang replied as she walked forward. She slapped a hand on the pinkettes backside as she walked past, turning back with a sly grin just in time to see Lightnings stern expression be broken by a small blush across her cheeks.

"Three of em, huh?"

"I was hoping for more" Lightning shrugged. "But it'll have to do"

Fang snorted next to her as she tried to restrain a laugh. I'm definitely using this against her.

Lightning felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she realised her mistake and promptly jabbed her elbow at the Pulsian.

"Mind out of the gutter and focus!" she hissed quietly. "Flans are perfect for practicing magic"

"We could always let em merge" Fang suggested.

Lightning nodded "Probably would be better that way. After they merge keep their attention, I'm still going to try thundaga. They'll absorb it then you can beat them down after, no harm done."

Fang nodded in response and they both dashed forward from their hiding places. Lightning cast a thunder instantly to get the magic flowing and the flans hostile, flipping out of their reach as they threw their arms out in retaliation. Fang followed Lightnings lead casting her own spell and jabbing her lance forward a few times at the nearest one.Lightning smirked to herself as she landed noticing the flans had started to merge.

"Now Fang!" She shouted. Readying herself she closed her eyes and uplifted her hand again, knowing the huntress wouldn't let her down.

"Oi, pile of ooze! Yea that's right, over here!" Fang jeered the creature, stabbing her lance right through it's body before retrieving it and smacking at its head a few times. Lightning threw her arm down, fist clenched and teeth gritted. Lightning bolts shot down onto the dire flan with a roar

"That's how it's done" Lightning grinned with relief. "Finally."

"That's the way love!" Fang cheered from the side. "Now let me in on the fun" she grinned aiming her hand towards the dire flan. A small red sphere of light shot out towards her target and then exploded into a ball of flames around it. Lightning ran forward swiping her gunblade across the oozing body a few times before jumping up to strike at its head, giving Fang time to gather energy. She landed and pushed herself backwards without delay as Fang struck again with another fire attack. They repeated their dance again and then a third time. This time Lightning ignored the creatures head, choosing instead to land near Fang.

"Let me try Odin?" Lightning queried.

"Sure thing"

Lighting placed her hand over the area her brand used to reside and closed her eyes trying to channel her energy to that spot.

"Odin" she called softly. She furrowed her brows when nothing happened but didn't open her eyes, tuning out the sound of Fangs lance hitting off the gelatinous body of their enemy.

"Odin" she called again, more commanding this time. She could feel a tingling sensation emanating from beneath her hand. She swiftly brought both hands forward ready to receive the rose shaped Edolith but the tingling faltered and then disappeared. She opened her eyes in frustration to see Fang looking at her with a look of confusion.

"End it" She said flatly as she turned her back on the battle, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to summon Odin just yet. It took a few moments for Fang to move her gaze from the soldier and to take aim. She sent a fire spell hurtling towards the dire flan directly hitting it in the face and the creature cried out as it's body started to dissipate into the air.

"What happened there?" The huntress asked as she caught up to her partner, turning the pinkette gently by the shoulder and pressed her lips firmly against the soldiers.

"Hmm" Lightning hummed against her as she kissed back. "It just stopped working" she breathed when they parted.

"No, l mean the light. It was blue"

"Blue?" Lightning's eyebrow quirked skyward.

Lightning leaned her head back against Fang's chest as the huntress massaged the sides of her head. She sighed and closed her eyes as fingers partially ran though her hair. It felt relaxing.

"What a day ey?"

"Mmm hmm" was all Lightning could manage in response, enjoying her treatment too much.

"Pity about Odin, but we're getting there" Fang sighed.

Lighting idoly ran her fingers over the the brunettes leg as the two sat in comparable silence for a while, trying to get her nerve up.

"Fang?" She almost whispered.

"Yea?"

"Tell me about what it was like for you, before"

Fang paused for a moment, gathering her wits.

"Guess your not meaning more of the old kid stories me and Vanille tell you lot?"

"No...I mean the war" Lightning clarified.

Fang nodded to herself, still pressing lightly on Lightning head, her fingers moving slowly.

"Well parta Cocoon had already been hanging up there a bit before my day" Fang said starting on Lightning's shoulders. "Every so often some Fal'Cie would wonder down and rip up bits of Gran Pulse to use to fix it up more. Didn't seem to matter to 'em if homes, crops or even people got dragged along with it." Fang recounted.

Lightning stroked the Pulsian's leg in an attempt to comfort and encourage her through what she knew must be painful memories, part of her regretting she had asked in the first place but wanting to know all the same.

"Anima and other villages' Fal'Cie would brand the best warriors to lead the fightin' against those invasions. Told us it was an honor." She scoffed at the last part.

"It must have been horrible, living like that" Lightning said as she leaned her head to the side and placed a gentle kiss on Fang's hand.

"It was...if people weren't mournin' someone, or screamin' with panic they were dyin' of starvation. It wasnt just the adults either..." Fang zoned out lost in her memories.

"You're one of the bravest, kindest people I know Fang. I'm sure you did everything you could."

"I tried" Fang smiled weakly. "...anyway," she cleared her throat. We weren't really gettin' anywhere. For every one we beat they'd kill a lot more of us and it didn't stop their scavenging any either. I guess all the villages' Fal'Cie could see it too, or maybe they were just pissed their territory kept gettin' destroyed. Either way they started branding people like crazy all of a sudden, didn't matter who." She shrugged "Then Ragnorok happened."

"You must have really hated Cocoon" Lightning said softly.

"I did. It was drummed into our heads from bein' kids. Vipers in the sky and all that. But then I realised you guys weren't so different after all" Fang wrapped her arms around the Cocoonian and nuzzled into her back.

"I guess not" Lightning admitted. "I...it's stupid, your life was so hard and mine..."

"Light," Fang assured gently "pain isn't a measure of worth or what you do and don't deserve. Your life was tough in different ways"

Lightning stayed silent unsure of what to say. Sure her life had been difficult, but compared to that? Fangs words, although heartfelt, didn't make her feel much better.

"Tell me" Fang ventured, stroking down the pinkette's upper arms.

"My dad died when I was still pretty young, an accident. My mom when I was 15. She'd been sick for a while" Lightning offered in a matter of fact tone. The Pulsian squeezed trying to assure her.

"When she was gone I...I didn't know what to do. I didn't want us ending up in some foster home or something. We had a home, I wasn't some helpless little kid, I-" Lightning stopped, realising her breathing had quickened and she'd started to raise her voice.

"It's okay to be angry"

And honestly she was, though she'd never admit it. She was angry at her parents just as much as the situation she found herself in back then. She knew it wasn't their fault and it wasn't like they chose to leave but she couldn't help the pang of resentment for them doing so.Lightning sighed pushing the feeling aside.

"I asked the captain for a recommendation so I could join the military early, to provide for us and become Serah's guardian. He knew my parents and believed in me. Didn't want us to end up like that either."

"Your close with the captain ain't you?"

Lightning cast a quizzical look back at the warrior.

"You act the same with him as you do with us" Fang explained, imitating best she could from her awkward position the forehead flick she'd seen him do to Lightning before. The same gesture she'd seen the pinkette use on the younger members of their group of friends, mostly hope.

"He watched out for us" Lightning smiled fondly.

"So what happened after you were accepted then?"

"If I wasn't training, I'd be studying or working. I got so caught up in trying to be the best for her that...I wasn't even there for her in the end."

"It must have been pretty lonely for you, takin' all that on. You probably gave up on friends and any time for yourself, right? Becoming a mother over night ain't the easiest thing" Fang consoled her, stroking her cheek.

Lightning pressed against the Pulsian's hand, finding the gesture comforting.

"Then when everything happened..." she sighed, I just couldn't accept we'd been lied too all our lives. Just oblivious to our fate. Expecting the Fal'Cie to protect us when all the while we should have been protecting ourselves. But I was never that strong, I lied to myself too. How could we all be so blind? We were worse than useless"

"Hey now, you weren't to know.

Is that what the dreams and headaches are about?" Fang probed. She knew well enough all these emotions the soldier kept bottled away would find a way to seep out one way or another.

"I don't know." Lightning sighed. "Nothing really happens in the dreams. There's just nothing, just black. Sometimes there's crystal dust floating around. There's voices too. I can't make out what most of them are saying but one calls out to me. Its strange though, I can't make out if it's a kids voice or a woman's, a mans or if it's even one voice or a few. They just call my name like they're trying to tell me something and I wake up. Doesn't have much to do with anything..."

"Well, dreams are strange. They don't always make sense"

"True, but sometimes I..." Lightning trailed off.

"Yea?" Fang pressed.

"I think...what if I never woke up from crystal and all of this is just a dream. And that those dreams are what's real...like someone's trying to talk through the crystal. Waiting for me to wake up"

Fang gave a quick shiver behind her.

"That's one hell of a theory, love. But you shouldn't think like that. This is definitely real" she said kissing the pinkettes exposed neck in reassurance. "Maybe thinkin' like that is what's makin' it reoccur. Like part of you is convinced it's real and you want to wake up, really wake up."

"who knows" Lightning shrugged.

"What about those visions with the headaches then?"

"They're different. Sometimes it's like Cocoon has fallen or it's going to. Everything's always so dead and dry and abandoned. Sometimes your all dead, just laying there. Sometimes your not there at all. But I just know your all in danger or already..." Lightning breathed in deeply. "There's a voice that says things like I need to protect every one and I need to be strong. I can hear your voices too even though you're dead and you all…blame me"

"Hey come here" Fang commanded, taking her hands off of the woman. Lightning saddened at the sudden lack of contact but obliged and turned to kneel in front of the huntress. She was met with a determined look as Fang gripped her shoulders.

"It'll never be your fault, you hear?" Fang squeezed. "Everyone knows you'd do your best. No one would blame you"

"What if my best just isn't good enough?" Lightning countered.

"Light, you aren't responsible for everything and everyone. Stop putting the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Like you don't?" Lightning parried.

"Fair point" Fang tilted her head with a lopsided grin.

"But how do you handle it so differently? Your past, the now, the future, you're just so-"

Fang pulled the soldier to her so their bodies were flush.

"I had Vanille to help and centuries worth of reflectin"

"Oh" Lightning replied downcast.

"So good job you got me to teach you how to handle that head of yours" Fang chuckled.

"Light" a voice sounded. A blended voice that sounded like a woman and child both at once, echoing and floating from all directions. She felt like she was floating in nothing but darkness. This dream again.

"Lightning" the voice came again. Joined by ghostly whispers,

"The chosen", "The acclaimed", "The cursed" they chattered in hushed tones around her.

"Champion" the strange voice sounded again.

Lightning waited to wake up as she always did, but nothing happened. She was still here, floating in the nothingness. The world around her was silent as it grew cold, it made goose bumps appear on her skin and the hairs rise on the back of her neck. She'd felt this once before,

"No!" She shouted, panic in her voice.

Mechanical tendrils shot from the darkness and coiled round her wrists tightly.

"I won't! Not again!" She growled as another enclosed around her neck.

A great voice boomed from the darkness, "We are Fal'Cie" it roared, orphans voice.

"No!" She bellowed back in defiance and anger as more of the tendrils roped around her legs. Her heart pounded loud in her ears as she struggled uselessly. Her chest began to burn where her mark used to be, intensifying every second. She ground her teeth hard to stop a painful cry escaping.

"Light?" A far off familiar voice called, nearly audible.

"No!" she snarled, the last futile denial she could manage as white lights speckled her vision.

"Light!?"

Her vision snapped back and she sat up instantly. She found herself in her own room. Her breathing erratic as hands supported her shoulders.

"Light?" Fang asked again, her tone more pressing.

Lightning could feel the sweat beaded on her forehead as her lungs burned from the effort to breath. She yanked down her top, dignity forgotten to check her chest where a phantom stinging still lingered.

"Lightning!" Fang exclaimed loudly, shaking the woman slightly, trying to get her attention.

Lightning looked into Fang's eyes, noticing her for the first time since waking.

"It's...there's nothing...there" she stammered between gulps of air. A relieved smile appearing on her lips.

Fang smiled back lovingly. "Course not gorgeous," she chuckled lightly. "just a bad dream."

Lightning nodded slowly in agreement.

"Yea. Just a bad dream" she repeated quietly, still internally fighting the feeling of dread as Fang wrapped her arms around her in reassurance.