AN - ANOTHER ONE IN A MATTER OF DAYS WHAAAAAT. It's my birthday so here's a present. What!? What do you mean that's not how birthdays work?!

"Fang."

There was no response, just walking. Walking kept her from going over the edge. Walking she could do. Cindy's garage was long in the background, the brunette having just turned and walked out.

"Fang."

Fumbling around in her shirt pocket, she grabbed a packet of smokes out that she'd lifted from a Lucavi back at the race track. Her hands were shaking as she lit it. The Pulsian took a drag and closed her eyes as she exhaled.

"… I thought you'd quit."

"And I thought I was done with you keeping more shit from me!" Fang finally snapped, whirling on her partner with rage in her eyes. "Especially about your former job of infiltrating my crew. Aranea was an actual person? A real, live person with a record that you appropriated for your cover?"

Lightning looked away, forcing air from her nostrils. "It didn't seem relevant to bring it up. It wasn't about who Aranea Highwind was, only that there was enough there for her name to crop up in any arbitrary searches. Who she was as a person was irrelevant. It was just a name."

"Just a name? That woman is more than a damned name, Lightning. She is someone that's quite obviously been targeted in retribution attacks because you assumed her identity for the sake of getting to me. Anything that's happened to her is on us both. She's more than a fucking name."

There were all sorts of responses Lightning could have given, but in the end she remained silent. Aranea had explained that there had been more than a few cases of mistaken identity in the wake of the Fal'Cie's demise, and she'd had to learn to duck more than a few bullets in her direction as a result. The guilt ate at Lightning, who hadn't thought at the time that anyone other than Vanille would have gone digging through the archives. Of course, if Psicom was littered with Fal'Cie, there was always going to be other people looking.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep it from you. I just… I honestly thought it wasn't an issue. I needed a name for the job, hers was the first that came up."

Fang sighed and threw her cigarette from her mouth with a disgusted spat. She'd gone long enough without them that they no longer really held that kick she was looking for, and just tasted as bitter as she felt. Fang didn't like reminders of her blindness when it came to Claire "Lightning" Yun-Farron, least of all that there was a living, breathing reminder who had also fallen victim to the deception, as indirect as Aranea's involvement was.

"You asked me to stop digging around, that I could trust you, that you would tell me everything. And you didn't. What else are you keeping from me?"

It was Lightning's turn to get angry now, and she got in Fang's face. "You have the gall to ask that now, after everything we've been through? I did not deliberately keep Aranea's existence from you, Fang. For fuck's sake. She was a random person in a database that was an entire continent away. I never thought I'd hear her name again, let alone actually run into her. How dare you accuse me of keeping things from you when I wear the physical scars of my devotion to you."

The words were biting, Lightning was talking about the scar on her finger, but Fang's eyes travelled to her face and down to her shoulder. Another reminder, of how Lightning was brutally tortured at her expense. Something else Fang still felt guilty about.

There were times when she'd wake up, clutching at her chest from nightmares about it. Nightmares about the torture, about the bloodied mess that met them in the cell doorway that night. Even about projections of her fears, that one day she'd wake up handcuffed to a chair herself while Lightning revealed she had still been undercover all along. Fang clenched her teeth and looked away, feeling the slight sting of tears against her vision. She began to walk away in another direction, Lightning sighing and chasing after her.

"Don't. I just need… I need to just walk for a bit."

Fang's rejection sent a lance of hurt through Lightning's chest, but she knew she'd brought it on herself. "Be safe, Fang. Please." She said quietly, the Pulsian nodding in acknowledgement and heading off into the shadows of the night. Lightning sighed and leant against the lamp post, flicking open her phone and scrolling through her contacts. Her thumb hovered over Serah's name for a moment before pressing a button to call.

"You know, you really have to check in more often. Since the store went offline in what I'm told was a fiery explosion, we would REALLY appreciate knowing that you guys aren't dead."

The familiar but angry voice wasn't her sister, but the contact below her name. "Vanille, sorry. A lot's going on here at the moment, we didn't mean to worry you.. Got a few leads here, I wanted to know if you could run them. There's a Pulsian here, goes by the name of Naki. No discernible features beyond heavy scarring across his right eye. Can you check your databases and see if anything comes up for him? I need to know if he can be trusted or should be avoided."

She could hear clacking in the background as the redhead typed away on the computer. "Straight to business as always, I see. Let's see here, nothing is coming up in the town records. You sure he's Pulsian?"

"He called me the word for angry snake in Pulsian, which is something I've heard Fang drop in arguments in the past."

Vanille giggled a little at the word before she heard a mild hitch in Lightning's breath. "Everything ok? Where's Fang?"

Uncertain of how to answer, Lightning fell silent with a sigh. A few moments passed before she found her voice again. "I… Fucked up."

"Uh…Ok… Care to extrapolate on that?"

Lightning fidgeted with the button on her jacket and started to walk back towards the camp. She felt even less safe on her own in this foreign city but couldn't bring herself to chase after Fang. "So, you know that I went by the name of Aranea Palazzo while undercover…"

"Yes, Lightning. I do recall something about that at some point."

"Vanille…" Lightning warned, not in the mood. "We… I had to enter a street race tonight to get enough prize money to help a contact we've been introduced to who is up to her eyeballs in debt with the Lucavi. She in turn introduced us to one of the other racers. Aranea Highwind. The very woman who served as my alias to help my cover."

"… Well… Hm. I guess Fang hasn't taken the reminder well and stormed off somewhere?"

"You would be correct."

They both fell silent while Vanille continued to type in the background. Lightning felt stupid, and angry, and endlessly frustrated at the footholds they'd gain only to lose. It was obvious that Cindy and Aranea were potentially good contacts to have, but if Fang couldn't work with such a blatant reminder, the women were pretty much off the cards.

"Vanille, I gotta go find Fang. I'll call you later."

Fang kicked a bottle out of the way of her path before thinking better of it. She backtracked and picked it up, throwing it into the nearest trash can. An angry growl sounded in her throat, and Fang kept walking. There wasn't a particular destination in mind, she figured she'd end up somewhere familiar at some point and then make her way back to the camps.

The very same bottle she'd threw away came back to her in a hurry, soaring just past her head and shattering on a nearby post. Fang whirled around, grimacing at the pain in her ribs from the movement. There were three men standing there, in ragged clothing and scruffy beards. The tribal markings on their faces and arms was all that she needed to identify them, and Fang set her jaw in preparation for whatever awaited her.

"Wrong time of night, wrong kind of place, Yun Fang." One of them sneered, deliberately not referring to her name in full. "My brother lost his business because of you, our entire livelihoods gone because you had something to prove and an axe to grind."

Fang snarled at them and put her fists up, ready to fight. "Well come on then, enact your vengeance like you're dying for every second you're not putting a knife in my gut." The other Pulsians looked at each other with a hint of fear, before one of them advanced with an intent to kill.

Long, slender fingers wrapped around his wrist and yanked him back, sending the homeless man tumbling into a mailbox on the street. The other two glanced up at the very tall Viera glaring at them, ready to take them on as well.

"Rage against the past only seeks to relive it, not advance past it. Your anger serves no purpose. Away with you before you're reminded of what the Yun is capable of."

The other two helped their friend up and took off into the night, leaving Fang standing there holding her ribs watching Fran. "You… Didn't have to do that." She muttered quietly, the taller woman walking over slowly and gently taking Fang's hand away from her side. She inspected the injury, probing carefully and tutted with her tongue.

"You are injured and shouldn't be out on your own, let alone pacing across Yusnaan like your tail is on fire. Come, Eruyt is nearby."

Fang walked alongside the Viera, uncertain of what to say. She knew one of the men back there. His son used to throw rocks at Vanille when they were all kids on the streets. It was hard to have sympathy for someone that inflicted cruelty on someone close to her. But still.

"Thanks, Fran. I know the jury is still out as far as my end game is concerned, but I appreciate the help all the same."

Fran didn't answer, instead ushering the brunette through a hole in a chain link fence. Fang was led into an abandoned warehouse, another homeless camp. The Alienage that she was warned about, that was now home to at least half her former village. There were many Pulsians set up here, some familiar, many not. That was when Fran finally decided to speak up.

"These people lost everything in the wake of the gangs' brutal reign in Oerba."

"I-"

"I said gangs, not you." Fran interjected, cutting Fang off at the pass. "Many here know you were just a youngling, and yet many also picture your face when they recall their demise. How you choose to continue your time in Yusnaan, how you choose to shift their perceptions is on you and your actions moving forward."

Some of the Pulsians nearby had started whispering, gathering behind them. Fran turned and gestured to them, sending them all scattering. "Right now we are on a precipice, Oerba Yun Fang. You have to decide what you are here for. For yourself? To protect your hard-won city of Eden? Or for them? Because the Triads only seek to perpetuate the cycle that started with you?"

Equal parts anger, frustration and despair raced for dominance through Fang's mind all at once at Fran's words. She met the red-hued gaze with defiance and determination and her lips curled into a snarl. "I'm here for everyone. I saw what the gangs I ran with in the day did to my home. They murdered my family and indoctrinated me into their cult of power. I actively participated in the demise of my own village, just a rabid dog in a cage to be let off the chain at a mere order. I followed the law of chaos and destruction, their own twisted brand of order because it was easier than thinking for myself and being reminded that I had nothing."

There was a small crowd gathered at this point, some hostile, some willing to listen. Fang turned to address them and held her hands up in surrender. "There isn't a day that goes by where I don't get on my knees and pray to the Goddess Etro for forgiveness. Though I wound up repeating the cycle in Eden, I took the Trials and took the Creed above my own life. I rebuilt the Warrens and fought for the people not to atone, but because it was the right thing to do."

"What will you do for us now, Yun?" One of the less hostile Pulsians asked of her.

While there was a willingness to answer the first thing that came into her head, which was to fight for them, Fang recalled some earlier words from Maarga had said to her during one of her visits to the elder in the Warrens. "Sometimes people don't want you to be their sword. Sometimes they just want you to be their shoulder."

Fang swallowed hard and bowed her head in reverence, interlocking her fingers together towards the group of Pulsians that had gathered. "What do you need?"

Lightning was pacing in the homeless camp, wearing a track into the sand. Fang hadn't returned yet and it had been hours since their fight. For every minute that her partner hadn't returned, Lightning's anxiety over her absence grew. It was only a matter of hours before dawn, and when they were out-gunned and out-numbered the last thing they should be doing is splitting up.

Searching for hours before finally giving up and coming back to the Strahl just in case Fang was here, Lightning returned only to find no evidence of her wife. She scowled at the night sky, before slumping against a shipping crate by the entrance.

The sound of a throat clearing next to her drew Lightning's gaze up, and she immediately narrowed her eyes. "You again." She quipped, glaring at the bandana-wearing Pulsian that had made another appearance. "I'm starting to think I'm being followed."

Naki chuckled and took a drag of his cigarette. "Naw, if I wanted to follow you I'd probably be a lot more subtle about it. You look a little tense for someone that's a few tens of thousands of gil richer."

Lightning squared her shoulders and clenched her jaw in annoyance. She eyes the tribal markings on his face and the Pulsian script for the letters X-I-I-I on his neck. "What do you want, Naki? I am really not in the mood for games."

"Just a gesture of good will on my part. That's all, love. For you and Yun."

"It's Fang." Lightning corrected, her voice sharp and aggravated. "Just deliver whatever you were meant to deliver and then be on your way, Naki. I need to find Fang and I don't have time for… Whatever this is."

There was a curious tilt of the Pulsian's head before he shrugged and handed her an envelope. "She's down at Eruyt, at the Alienage. The Viera ran into her and took her down there."

"Shit."

Lightning took off from the camp before she had to hear any further smart ass commentary from the scarred-man. She brought up the map on her phone and ran towards the location on the east side of Yusnaan, not stopping for breath.

The abandoned warehouse came into view and she slowed up, checking her gun and making sure it was loaded and ready to go. Lightning didn't know what she was going to be walking into, considering the issues Fang had with growing up in Oerba.

Peeling back the chain link fence, she slipped inside the condemned building carefully, boots scraping against the dusty concrete. Lightning stood out amongst the Pulsians that dwelled inside, and not just because she was armed. "Can I help you, miss?" A wary child asked as she approached the main camp, Lightning putting on her best warm smile and non-threatening appearance that she could, given she had a gun hanging off her belt.

"Hi there, my name is Lightning. I'm looking for a lady by the name of Fang. Do you know her?"

The child nodded and took her by the hand, leading her through the rows of tents until they came to a small gathered crowd by a barrel fire. Lightning breathed a sigh of relief as she spied her partner sitting on a crate, cross-legged and stitching up a traditional sari as she was regaling the other Pulsians with a story. A young man who Fang seemed familiar with was drinking from a tin mug and gesturing at her with a frown.

"So wait, let me get this straight. You'd managed to break out of prison and go on a rampage through Eden, all while having an undercover cop as your right-hand woman? How did you not kill her when you found out?"

Lightning watched a particularly soft smile appear on the brunette's face as she stared at the fire. "Sure, it pissed me off. Made me feel like a complete idiot to have been so blind when I normally could spot a rat from a mile off. Couldn't kill her though, Ren."

The Pulsian man gawked and swirled the drink in his mug. "So what did you do instead?"

Fang's eyes slowly tracked up until they landed on Lightning, standing amongst the crowd looking apprehensive. With a low chuckle Fang stood and walked over to her, taking her gently by the hands and pulling her forward. "What did I do? I bloody married the woman."

She leant forward and kissed at the blush on Lightning's cheeks, a few hollerings and whistles surrounding them at the act. "I'm sorry, Light."

"I'm sorry too," Lightning whispered, letting the other Pulsians around them fade away until Fang was her only focus. "I should have thought to tell you and I-"

"Sshhh, it's alright. It's ok. Rage against the past only seeks to relive it. Fran gave a good lesson in humility tonight. It's not fair of me to be pinning you to the wall with your GC and Psicom work, and it's wrong of me to expect you give up every single agonising detail."

"Pin her to the wall for other reasons, Yun! She's a catch!" Ren shouted behind her, causing the group to laugh and reminding the duo that they weren't alone. Fang scowled at him and flipped him off over Lightning's shoulder as the two kissed.

"Alright, enough out of you, Ren. I think the missus is here to take me back to the Strahl for some rest. Can't be liberating the fine people of Yusnaan with this bruised mug now, can I? I wanna look good for the cameras."

The crowd made a few noises of disappointment and Fang did the rounds, shaking hands and patting backs on their way back to the street. The two walked in silence for a while back towards the other camp, Fang leaning a little on Lightning for support from her aching ribs.

"So I assume a lot happened in the hours after we left Cindy's?" Lightning finally asked, a little nervous about destroying the mood. Fang hummed thoughtfully and turned, kissing her partner on the temple.

"Yeah, you could say that. A couple of blokes from Oerba decided to try to jump me, but Fran came out of nowhere and intervened. Took me to the Alienage to… See the fruits of my labour with my old gang, as it were. Helped me to see my… Priorities. There's plenty of villagers from my home town that still want my head on a pike but, I was able to at least take the first steps on making amends with whoever was willing to give me a chance. Light," Fang paused in her words and movements, cupping the pinkette by the face. "I'm sorry for being an arsehole earlier. I spend ages helping you let go of your past but I don't practice what I preach."

They held each other close in silence, Lightning relieved that Fang's anger seemed to have dissipated. Their intimate moment was broken by a bus roaring past and laying on the horn, a few screams and cheers erupting from within it. The two women laughed and pressed their foreheads together gently.

"Sorority week or something in Yusnaan?" Fang asked with a twitch of her eyebrows. Lightning rolled her eyes and kept walking, holding onto the Pulsian's hand as they continued on.

"Well it is a party city, what else did you expect?"

"So wait, this Naki bloke isn't showing up on any of Vanille's databases? And he keeps popping up to help? Honestly I don't know whether to be grateful for the help or damned suspicious." Fang mused as she sipped the rusty coffee back at the Strahl the following morning.

"Me neither," Lightning agreed, reading through the paperwork she'd been given the night before. The location of a hotel run by the Fiends of Chaos in the downtown precinct of Yusnaan. Convenient, and possibly a trap. Or possibly the first real opportunity for a foot hold since they landed in this wretched city.

A purr of an engine caught their attention as a familiar matte black sedan pulled up in the entrance to the camp. Aranea got out of the driver's side and sauntered over to the duo and gave the coffee they were drinking a dirty look. She relented with a sigh when Fang offered her one and sat down.

"Screw it, caffeine is caffeine…" Aranea muttered, before turning her nose up at the mug at the first sip. "Ugh, and sometimes Caffeine is just rust shavings. No wonder you've been useless against the Triads if this is what you're being fed. Get in the damn car, the both of you. We're going to have a girls' day out."

Fang and Lightning glanced at each other in confusion before the silver-haired woman rolled her eyes and dragged them both to their feet. "It's the Spring Festival, ladies. It's crowded, people everywhere, which means I can actually leave the garage without feeling like I'm going to get a bullet in my skull for once. Cindy wanted me to take you to pick up some better clothing than the rags the Viera has you running around in."

While that was the goal, the first thing Aranea did when they piled into her car was take them straight to the nearest café that had a drive-thru facility. She paid for three massive coffees of varied flavourings and ignored the pleasurable groan that came from both Lightning and Fang at their first sips.

"Goddess, it's life-saving." The pinkette mumbled into the lip of the takeaway cup while Fang hummed in agreement. "Aranea, why the hospitality, if I may ask?" Lightning had to know so she could either relax or let that proverbial swinging blade above her head fall already.

Aranea tapped her hands against the steering wheel while they pulled up to a set of lights. "Because if you ladies are serious about taking the fight to the Triads, I want in. I could be pissed off at you for stealing my name but it wasn't you forcing me underground, wasn't you trying to kill me. I mean hell, that car chase last year where you stole that Psicom commander's car and took it on a high speed chase? I coasted off that story for months. I got so many free drinks before the bullets started flying."

Fang arched an eyebrow at her from the back seat and lowered her cup slowly. "You do realise that if you're looking to avoid bullets, working with us is… Counter-intuitive to that goal, right?" Aranea laughed as she pulled into a parking spot on the street out front of a clothing store. She led them inside and fetched an attendant to see to them. Waving them off as they were taken into the main part of the store, Aranea reclined on a lounge and waited for them to return.

About twenty minutes later they were finished, bags of clothing in hand. Neither were comfortable changing into fresh clothes until a well needed shower, and Aranea piled the bags into the trunk and slammed it shut. A screech of tyres nearby had her turning to see a familiar sedan sliding around the corner.

"Shit. Looks like the festival isn't enough of a deterrent. Get in!" She shouted at them, slipping into the driver's seat. Lightning got in the passenger side, feeling itchy that she wasn't behind the steering wheel. Aranea caught the glance and shook her head. "You're not the only decent driver in this city, sweetie. Leave it to the real professional and keep those assholes off my tail."

With a burn of the tyres Aranea sped off down the street, suddenly being pursued by at least three other vehicles. "Fiends of Chaos from the looks of things, you two want to do what you do best?"

Fang leant out the window and drew her weapon, firing at the Triads behind them. Within seconds they were firing back, Lightning having to pull her wife back into the car before she was shot yet again. The gang's vehicles were armoured, so they quickly discovered shooting at them was a waste of bullets.

"Fuck, what do we do?" Fang asked, breathing a little heavy and putting pressure on her ribs with her free hand. Aranea cursed under her breath and dodged in and out of traffic, making sure they weren't a stationary target. Lightning's phone rang, and she answered while ducking from the back window blowing out.

"Now is really not the best time!" She snapped, the urgency of the situation making her angry at feeling trapped.

"Next left, take it and head up the ramp!"

Everything was moving too fast for Lightning to register the words properly, only that instinct was telling her the voice was familiar. "Aranea, get some distance and take the next left, there's a ramp that should get us out of trouble!" She shouted, the silver-haired woman complying with a grind of her teeth as the car slid around the corner with a hiss of rubber.

"Oh shit!" Aranea cursed, slamming on the brakes as the car skidded up a ramp into the back of a truck. The door slid shut behind them and Lightning's heart leapt in her chest. The truck began to move with them inside, heading slowly through the city streets. They heard the other sedans speeding past them outside and Aranea slammed her hands against the wheel in anger. "Great, out of the frypan, into the fire."

"Not exactly," Lightning replied with a broad smile, winding down the window and sliding out of it. She squeezed around to the front of the car and knocked on the panel to the cabin. It slid open and she was met with one of the most surprising but welcomed sights since this entire trip went to shit.

"You're certainly a sight for sore eyes, Yuna." Lightning said warmly, finding it a struggle to keep her composure considering their time stranded in this city. The brunette smiled at her and reached over to squeeze her hand from her spot at the driver's seat.

"We couldn't leave you two alone with no support. It's good to see you, Lightning. I'm so glad you're alright."

Fang was staring at Lightning who was leant in through the opening, talking animatedly to whoever was in the cabin. She heard Aranea growl in annoyance at their predicament and leant out the window. "Um, not that I'm not enjoying this rather spectacular view of your arse, Light… But care to let us know what the fuck is going on?"

Lightning reached behind her and gave her partner the middle finger, the only indication of a response she was going to get while she was talking to the driver. The truck lurched forward, the feeling of going over the lip of a driveway before coming to a stop. The engine fell silent and Fang held her breath, not wanting to know what new angle was about to overly complicate their journey. The cheeky smile she was getting from her partner certainly didn't help ease her concerns any, and Fang narrowed her eyes.

Her expression dropped about the same time as the ramp on the truck did, Rikku and Paine standing there looking as casual as they possibly could.

"You're fucking kidding me." Fang exclaimed, sliding down the ramp and leaping into Rikku's expectant arms. She grabbed Paine by the back of the neck and dragged her into the hug before the silver-haired woman could protest. "Etro's fuckin' gate you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys. How did you even manage to get yourselves into the city?"

Rikku smiled and untangled herself from the crushing hug she received. "Thank Yuna for that actually, her father owned property here that is still attached to the estate. Coupled with a "Sorority tour" that we were able to book under an alias, we used the festival as cover to slip in. Helps to have a bus full of former strippers to distract the Triads at the city entrance."

Yuna climbed down from the cabin and walked quickly over to the others, Fang scooping her up in a hug as well. "Good to see you too, sweetheart. Thanks."

"It's the least I could do, really. Though I wasn't the brains behind the operation. Just the building, I guess." She joked, as the others moved out of the way to reveal a very nervous redhead rushing over to bowl Fang off her feet.

"Vanille!"

"Fang! I'm so glad you're alright," Vanille said breathlessly, trying not to cry as she held onto her sister with a death grip. The older Pulsian kissed her on the top of the head and squeezed her tight.

"Course I would be. Not dying today, tomorrow or any time soon. Not while I got Light with me. Though seriously, the next time Rygdea wants us to go on an errand for him? I am telling him to fuck off."

Aranea stood back observing the proceedings as she leant against the truck. She saw how Lightning's jaw tightened at the sight of Fang and her sibling and nudged her slightly with her elbow. "Well you're not half obvious there with that expression. Family problems back home?" She asked quietly, Lightning's gaze darting over and then away to the ceiling to control any slip of emotions.

"Serah, my sister. We had a falling out last year over my… Decision to remain with Fang and Ragnarok instead of returning to the GC. She was too worried that something was going to happen to me by remaining with the gang."

"Well, she's not exactly wrong is she?"

Lightning frowned and stared at the ground, her arms folded defensively. "No. I guess she isn't." Aranea's insufferable… Correctness annoyed her. She didn't want to think about how she'd proven Serah right just based purely on the situation they now found themselves in.

"That's the thing about siblings, Lightning. They have an incessant need to care about you." Aranea mused, tapping her fingers against her chin. She pushed herself off from the back of the truck and walked over to the others, leaving Lightning to her thoughts.

"So, I hate to be the one to break up this happy reunion, but what do we do now?" She asked. Fang stood from the ground, lifting her sister up in the process. The grin was manic and dare Lightning say, reminiscent.

"Now? Now, we get to fucking work."