Everyone Needs Saving.
Chapter 2.
Disclaimer: I don´t own final fantasy XIII nor any of it´s awesome characters.
ooooOOOOOXIIIOOOOoooooo
"Will she live?"
The voice sounds so anguished, that it makes Biggs and Ramón, the closest sorcerer they could conjure in the Dead Dunes, to turn around and find the source: it´s very hard for them to believe those words where truly spoken from their fearless leader. But the woman in front of them doesn´t seem so fearless anymore. Her eyes seem to be looking straight at the end of the world, straight at the dark abyss, emerald orbs full of ominous thoughts as Fang stares at the immobile figure of the Savior, currently lying on the worn out bed, her lithe and athletic frame illuminated by the dancing lights of a couple of candles. The moment Fang notices their stares, though, she shakes her head slightly, and then glares at both men in defiance.
There she is.
Their fearless leader is back.
But nonetheless, the look on those emerald eyes burns inside Bigg´s memory, who at least has the decency to look sheepish. The thief knows he´s no one to judge, since he himself wants to cry out of anguish, so he just lowers his head out of respect, his dark eyes falling on the pinkette.
"She has high possibilities to make it, if she doesn´t move an inch from her bed," Ramón answers Fang´s question, "but she´ll need a lot of time to recover, and a lot of tending and nursing." As the woman approaches, the dark tanned man removes the silk sheet that covers Lightning´s body, to let the brunette see.
The first thing that calls Fang´s attention is the pinkette´s chest, now completely enveloped in clean bandages, and with no trace of blood nor smoke tainting them, though she can notice Lightning´s skin still paler than usual, and her breathing still seeming laborious.
"I applied a variety of concoctions over the wound, and bandaged her so that it will stop bleeding, at least until she´s conscious enough to drink some health potions, but Boss…" he pauses to sigh, exhausted and concerned, "the wound is deep, her sternum is fractured in two. She´s lucky her chest didn´t burst open right on spot." Fang flinches at the image that his words conjure on her mind. "The Savior needs a few days to rest, needs for that wound to close, or else she´ll die, no matter what we do."
The tall Pulsian snorts sadly at his recommendation.
"I don´t think our almighty Savior will like the idea of resting a couple of days, if you mind me saying."
Ramón sighs and stands up on his feet, his movements reflecting obvious tiredness.
"Well, that I can´t solve. It´s up to her… and to you, Boss."
"M-me?" she stammers at his words. "What do you mean me? I can´t take care of her!" After her outburst, Fang immediately composes herself, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "But, don´t worry, I´ll have your patient being attended by a couple of…"
"Thieves?" The man interrupts her. "With all due respect, Boss, she needs someone who´ll look after her, but also, someone she´ll want to come back to. Not a couple of strangers." The man makes a pause to let his words sink in, and it seems to work, since Fang´s eyes meet Lightning´s weakened frame once more, her stare lingering painfully longer than needed. Breaking her concentration, Ramón pushes the issue a little bit further. "She does need you, Boss, if what you told us previously, that she´s a very dear friend of yours, was anywhere near the truth."
"But I´ve never taken care of anyone!" Fang protests further, though this time with less animosity. "It´s always been Vanille the one doing all the nursing and healing work. I´d just…"
"Well, I figured you´d be important for her," the sorcerer tries not to smile at witnessing the tantrum his powerful leader seems to be throwing, "since the Savior called out your name once, in between all her babbling. Though she did call another name quite frequently."
"Serah…" Fang says in a whisper, knowing how important the name must be for the Savior.
"Yes! That one! But she called yours too, so I imagined you must mean something for her as well."
Fang sighs, emotions running wild. "There was a time when I used to think that too…"
Both men choose to ignore that last, sad statement, and do as if not noticing her slip.
"Well Boss. This is my recommendation. But I´m merely a servant: It´s your call." The tanned man places a reassuring hand over her shoulder, and gestures to the thief to follow him. Biggs nods at Ramón and kneels in front of Lightning. The thief respectfully inclines his head and closes his eyes for a full minute, as if on prayer, and then gets up to face the raven haired woman once more.
"If you allow us, Boss, we´ll take our leave, to let you both rest." Biggs offers, and with no more words spoken, he obediently follows the sorcerer. Fang doesn´t address any of them, but thanks both men silently for respecting her needs. After both of them are gone, she sits on the bed, her eyes fixed on Lightning´s pale features.
After all the unusual ruckus happening inside her room, with people constantly talking, walking in and out of it, all of them eager to mend for her needs and Lightning´s, now Fang gladly welcomes the silence and stillness that fall upon both of them, her eyes taking in each detail of Lightning´s face, as if she still couldn´t believe the woman has comeback to them. To her.After a moment that seems like an eternity, her mind wanders through different thoughts, until the turmoil is just too much to endure in silence, and she finally speaks her mind to the slumbering pinkette.
"I know that man, you know? Biggs." Fang talks to Lightning, getting as an only response the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. "He´s one of the biggest scoundrel I´ve met in my many centuries of life. One humongous headache for me, he´s always been, ever since I founded the Monoculus gang, and one of the biggest thick-headed men I´ve had to endure, second only to Snow. I was never able to control his childishness, to make him grow up. He was a lost cause to me, so I kicked him out of the Dead Dunes for good." She shakes her head. "But then you come, and it takes you just one single fucking day to break him. When he came back from Yuusnaan, after meeting you, he was a changed man. And he proclaimed your name to the heavens. Without trying, you made a miracle of him." She chuckles at the thought. "That´s like you, alright. I´m sure he´s now creating a whole new cult dedicated to you,the Almighty, Albeautiful Lightning."
The silence that answers her words makes the Pulsian sigh, breaking the mood.
"But now, after expecting so much out of you, after witnessing your miraculous deeds up close and personal, now I have to see you completely still, lying there in my bed, all broken and injured, and I just…" frustrated, Fang passes her fingers through her dark wavy hair, exhaling deeply. "What am I gonna do with you, Sunshine? How am I supposed to take care of you, when it´s you the one who should be taking care of me?" silence meets her once more, but this time Fang welcomes it, welcomes the freedom to try and unravel her entangled thoughts.
After several minutes of stillness and silence, Fang finally notices her eyes had been staring at Lightning´s full lips the whole time. As she realizes this, Lumina´s words come at her like a wave.
Her mission is to save us through the accomplishment of our deepest desires... Even yours, Fangy!
"My deepest desires?" She speaks to herself. "My deepest…?" She looks at the rosy, parted lips once more, and a small smile is drawn on her face. "Would it be such a surprise that you know which one is my deepest desire, Sunshine?" She inclines a little bit further and whispers, as if talking confidentially. "Would you make it come true? Or would you strike me down with a death glare, like the ones you used to hide your embarrassment with, whenever I caught you staring at me?" She pauses as the memory assaults her mind, and smiles a bit more, while she follows the rhythm of the slumbering woman´s breath. "And which is your deepest desire, mmmh?" Teasingly, Fang approaches further, and small details on the woman´s lips she hadn´t noticed before, claim her attention: their fullness, the way her lower lip is sensually broader than the upper one, how the color is returning to them slowly but surely, how they´re slightly parted… Fang notices her body has been moving on its own accord, approaching closer to the sleeping beauty, and her own lips are but an inch apart from Lightning´s…
But before she makes the so desired contact, Fang stops, and, after a moment of hesitation, she groans and pulls away. The raven haired woman feels angry at herself for not being brave enough to do it, to close the gap.
What would be the fun of it? The warrior sighs as she rises from the bed, her green eyes still fixed on Lightning´s face. What would mean a kiss like this, if I don´t know whether you´ll kiss back?
The tall Pulsian shakes her head in anger and sadness.
"Wake up soon, Lightning. I´m so wishing to see that reaction of yours." She brushes the woman´s hand with her fingertips, and walks away towards the small place the thieves had prepared for her to spend the night on watch.
oooooOOOOXIIIOOOOooooo
Darkness meets her as Fang´s eyes open up with a start. She tries to addapt her sight to the black surroundings, while the rest of her senses enhance tenfold. Something had retrieved her from her dreamless sleep, and the stillness of the night makes her even wearier. Slowly, trying to not make any sound, she reaches out to grab Kain´s Lance´s body, and doesn´t feel safe until her calloused fingertips brush the rough surface of the weapon. A moment passes by, where the only sound is that of her own heartbeat running fast in expectation, when a low moan makes her skin prickle in surprise. Her ears strain to hear further, and suddenly the plaintive moan repeats itself, followed by a soft brush of clothing. Slowly, cautiously, Fang straightens from her supine position, and the third groan allows her to place the source: Lightning seems to be tossing and turning in her nightmare, small moans and grunts escaping from her lips.
"Sunshine? Are you ok?"
But in the almost complete darkness of her room, Fang can barely perceive the woman´s tortured frame, so she runs to turn up a small torch near them, and once she does, she notices Lightning´s face all flushed, darkened pink locks glued to her skin, as sweat covers her whole. Her eyes are tightly shut, as if in deep pain, and the sheet that had been placed over her body, currently lies at the feet of the bed, barely covering the pinkette´s legs, and allowing Fang to see the small dark fume escaping from the woman´s bandaged chest.
"Lightning! Lightning! Wake up! It´s just a nightmare!" Worried, Fang tries to raise her friend, to wake her up, but the contact makes her flinch, as she feels the extremely high temperature the soft skin is transmitting, and immediately places the back of her hand over the pinkette´s sweaty forehead. "Damn! She´s got a fever!" Without missing a beat, Fang runs out of the room and grabs by the collar the slumbering guard outside her door, who jumps wide awake at the aggressive treatment. "Go fetch the sorcerer! Now!"
Startled, the man only nods, eyes wide open, and stumbling, he rushes outside to seek the man.
Once Ramón arrives, Fang immediately drags him in, and the man kneels in front of the sick woman, inspecting the bandages.
"I need to see the wound, Boss. But my guess would be the main problem is the magical wound… it seems it won´t respond to my treatment."
Fang nods her approval and the man proceeds to inspect the pinkette. After a moment, the brunette´s anxiety peaks.
"So? What do we do?"
But Ramón doesn´t answer her, too concentrated on cautiously unwrapping the bandages that protect the chest. But at the first release of one of the clothes, a fast and menacing hand, with long fingers forming a claw, makes its way into the man´s throat, entrapping him, denying him any oxygen into his lungs.
"What have you done to me…?!" Husky, dangerous voice reaches their ears as Fang´s eyes open wide in surprise.
"Lightning! Stop!"
The Savior is awake, but at the moment she doesn´t look anywhere near the savior they had been expecting for so long. Lightning´s bloodshot eyes are full of rage, full of violence, as she stares into the man´s dark and terrified ones. With her hand still trapping his windpipe, she pushes herself up using the other hand, trying painfully to rise from her spot, as she brings Ramon´s face closer to hers, whispering menacingly another threat.
"Undo what you´ve done to me, or I swear I´ll rip off that throat of yours…"
The man tries desperately to explain or deny her accusations, but he isn´t able to speak at all, only to shake his head slightly and make grunting sounds, his skin becoming bluer by the second. Her grip on him is very tight, and not even with both hands is he able to free himself, futile efforts consuming the little oxygen he has left. Nonetheless, his clinical senses are still connected, so he feels worried by the extremely high temperature her whole body seems to be emanating.
"Lightning! No!"
Fang comes to the rescue, clutching the hand tight and fighting to open the grip, but it seems to be useless, and the man shows all the signs to start falling into unconsciousness. As a last resort, Fang punches the other woman in the jaw, forcing her to release the sorcerer, who falls to the floor almost limp, coughing, desperately struggling to take in some air, as Fang drags him as far away as possible from the shorter woman, but without loosing visual contact with Lightning.
"What´s wrong with you?!"
Azure eyes open wide at discovering Fang´s frame, and then become like slits, raw fury pooling on them. "You…!"
Lightning, her lower lip bleeding, slowly and painfully raises from the bed, her stare dangerously fixed on emerald eyes, and the blazing intensity embedded on them is immediately perceived by the Pulsian warrior.
"Lightning wake up! It´s me! It´s us! You don´t have to do this!"
But the pinkette, already on her feet and adopting a combat position, glares at the taller woman, husky voice full of threat.
"Of all the people I could think would betray me, you were the last on my list, Fang… how could you do that to me?!"
"B-betray you?"
Emerald eyes open wide in surprise at the accusation, but she can´t do any further questioning, since Lightning attacks with a strike directed at her jaw, which Fang avoids quite easily. The weakness is evident in Lightning, as she staggers after throwing the punch, and Fang has to resist the urge of stretching out her hand to help the shorter woman gain her equilibrium.
But fortunately she doesn´t need to. Aided with one hand over the nearest table, Lightning stabilizes herself, as she sends her deadliest glare over Fang, but its overall effect is lessened by Lightning´s ragged breathing, and by evident tremors that run all over her body.
"I don´t know what you´re talking about, Sunshine! For Etro´s sake I don´t know!"
"Don´t call me that! Don´t you ever call me like that again!"
If possible, Lightning grows angrier, the strain of her voice showing the intensity of her emotions.
"You were my friend, Fang! No… You were more thanmy friend! Of all the people I thought would support me, you were at the top!" Gasping for air, and flinching for the effort, Lightning lowers her voice, making it seem as if every single word were a threat. "But knowing that you followed me into the ruins, not to aid me but because you distrusted me, hurt a thousand times more than having to cross swords with that dickhead of Snow!" She spats the last words, and clutches her chest tight, the pain over her heart intensifying.
Fang flinches at her words. She can see it now: all that rage and violence carry with them Lightning´s hurt feelings, and the depth of her emotions hits the warrior full force, harder than any punch she could receive.
As if the pain were boosting her rage and strength, Lightning manages to take an axe fixed on the wall, and attacks Fang full force. The woman, her crimson weapon already secured on her back, receives the strike with her lance without effort. But the violence of the impact is far beyond what she had been expecting. The strike produces sparks at the contact of the weapons, and resonates through their arms, making the dark haired woman open her eyes wide in surprise.
Damn! If this is the strength of a sick, wounded Savior, I really wouldn´t want to face her in her prime!
Fang redirects the attack to the side, and considers making a counterattack to finish the battle as soon as possible, for Lightning´s and her own sake. With that thought in mind, she takes an offensive position, when suddenly she feels her forearm entrapped by a hand. The Pulsian lowers her eyes and finds Ramon kneeled in front of her, clutching his throat and making a hard effort to talk to her.
"D-don´t… Boss… she´s not thinking… clearly…" with a rasped voice, the man´s dark eyes look up at emerald ones, the strain too obvious for him. "She´s delirious… the fever… is too high… she´s not sweating anymore… not cooling at all… she´s near shock…" He coughs some more, forcing his throat to obey. "And her wound… look at her wound, Boss… we need to…"
But he isn´t able to finish his sentence, since Lightning attacks both of them, clashing her weapon against Fang´s with brute force. The tall Pulsian receives the attack and flinches at the unusual strength embedded in it, then retaliates, sending a barrel of blows against the pinkette. She knows she´s not fast enough for Lightning, who rejects every strike she sends towards her, but at least Fang manages to force the pinkette as far away from Ramon as possible, as she tries herself to be heard.
"Lightning! Stop this madness! I explained it to you already! I had to do it! For Vanille!"
A flash of rage in Lightning´s azure eyes makes Fang realize her choosing of words had been a total mistake.
"Vanille! It´s always for Vanille! I´m tired of it, Fang, I´m fucking tired of you both!"
Lightning strikes with renewed strength, and Fang is just barely able to avoid the hit on her shoulder, as the ax embeds itself on her table. Behind the violence imbued in each attack, the tall Pulsian can see how difficult it is for the pinkette to yield the weapon, not only for her flinching as she whirls around the ax, but for the obvious crimson staining on the once pristine bandages. The wound seems to be opening, and the pain must be unbearable. Nonetheless, all of it seems to do nothing to the Savior´s stamina, since the attacks keep coming at full force.
Fang wants to stop this, stop the injuring of her friend (and the possibility of having her own head separated from her shoulders), but the pinkette seems to be too enthralled on making her pay, on taking out all her anger and hurt, all her frustration. Sadly, the raven haired woman can relate to that.
Another clashing of the weapons makes Fang´s arms feel numb for a moment, and, for the first time in all the years of sparring sessions and multiple battles, she truly starts to fear for her life, as Lightning hurls towards her, both arms raised above her in a powerful attack.
"Please Lightning, stop! I never meant to hurt you! I never thought…" but a set of blows silence her, as she is forced to move fast to avoid them. Soon, Fang will be forced to attack with all her strength too, and it would mean hurting Lightning even more…
"I would never bring up such a lame apology to Lightning, you know? Particularly not now that she can´t think clearly." Lumina makes her appearance next to them, cocky grin still plastered on her features. "See that smoke coming from her chest? It´s a curse, a very horrible curse."
Another blow, and Fang just barely makes in on time before she´s sliced in two.
"I know it´s a curse!" She growls in anger. "Tell me something I don´t know! What is it doing to her? How can I help her?!"
Lumina smiles teasingly at both women, but says nothing else, as she walks around them from a prudent distance, a cautious spectator of their dangerous game. Lightning slashes downwards at Fang, making the weapons clash again and producing sparks, as the taller Pulsian receives the blow with her lance in a horizontal defense, each woman trying to force the other backwards. While both friends struggle against each other, Lumina places herself right behind Fang, so that she can look straight at a pair of azure eyes fixed furiously on the taller woman´s face, while she whispers softly and tauntingly over raven locks.
"Her heart is full of Chaos, Fangy. Can´t you see the maleficent glimmer in her eyes? The Chaos is the reason why only her darkest emotions are flooding out. Her feelings are going highwire, more so like never before, unfortunately, only the negative ones. I warned you, didn´t I? She´s not the same Lightning you once knew and loved."
Fang wants to ask further, but fails to perceive Lightning´s icy blue eyes opening wide in surprise at noticing Lumina´s presence, apparently for the first time. The release of the pressure over her weapon takes the Pulsian by surprise, making her stagger, and the scream that follows after, sends her instinct going on rampage.
"LUMINA!"
The scream makes Lumina jump, startled, and she gives a step backwards in surprise. Lightning jumps a couple of feet from the girl, gathering every ounce of magic she can conjure, and immediately sends a powerful blast towards the shorter pinkette.
The first thing the warrior feels is the chill that closes on them, and Fang recognizes the power of an areora spell directed at the girl. Lumina is really fast, but no one is faster than Lightning, so when the girl opens her azure eyes wide in surprise and tries to avoid the hit, the attack is already closing on her, her terror so absolute, that she fails to try a way out inside the Chaos. Fortunately for Lumina, she´s only a step away from Fang, who jumps at the girl and protects her with her own body, receiving the blunt of the attack. The powerful spell surrounds Fang and Lumina, and they both are sent up in the air in a whirlwind, bringing along with them everything it can: furniture, small weapons, everything that isn´t fixed on the floor or not heavy enough to resist the attack, which makes Fang protectively envelop Lumina´s body with her arms. They both fly around the room, hitting every wall and being hit with almost everything that had been caught in the maelstrom, and that now flies alongside them. Fang curls into a ball, trying to protect herself and the girl as much as possible, when the power of the curse begins to fade and she dares to open her eyes. The first thing she notices is that the wind has turned almost red, crimson drops floating all around them.
B-blood? But whose…?
The last thing Fang manages to see is Lightning´s frame collapsing on the ground, before something hard hits her head and she falls, enveloped in darkness.
oooOOOOXIIIOOOOoooo
A/N: How curious! This story was thought to be a one-shot, but it has already two chapters and will have probably more! (don´t think too many, though).
Wow! I hadn´t been expecting that response from Lightning! But well, can you really blame her? She did look disappointed with Fang´s treatment of her in the game, (man! I was actually spatting back at Fang! With all that negative sarcasm and making fun of her being the Savior… I honestly wanted so much to slap her!) so I thought that Lightning´d probably would want to make her pay. Though maybe I overdid it a bit XD. Also, Lightning never attacks Lumina in the game, but o boy! Did she look like she was dying to! XDDD so I felt like giving her that release at least once; poor Lumina! Such a scare she took!
Ramón is the merchant Lightning finds on her journey over the Dead Dunes, the one who had lost all interest on his work after his wife´s death. I thought that, if he really was as good as his competitor had said, he could as well be some sort of sorcerer. I thought he was sweet, so I included him in the story so that he could return the favor to Lightning.
Hope you enjoyed readying as much as I enjoyed writing it!
For those who left unsigned reviews, here´s my answer:
Anon: I´m so glad you´re liking the idea so far! Thank you for your comment! I know their first interaction maybe wasn´t what you had expected, but hopefully it´ll still keep you interested!