Everyone needs saving
Chapter five.
oooooOOOOOOOXIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo
Odin greets them rather happily, pushing his master with the head, as if asking her to pat him, and the pinkette eagerly complies, but his insistent shoving some times gives Lightning the vibe he´s, at the same time, looking for hidden injuries under her garment.
"It´s ok, Odin, really, I´m fine. I missed you too."
The bird only squawks and sends cura´s spell towards Lightning´s form.
"Well, Light, it seems you can´t fool him, just as you can´t fool me either." Fang elbows her lightly, as the pinkette sends a dark glare towards the bandit, but without leaving the bird´s ministrations for even a moment.
Although, for Fang´s amusement and Lightning´s frustration, Odin seems to take a liking to such habit, since from time to time he sends spells at her, even while he is running with both women on his back, traversing the beautiful landscapes of the Wildlands. And the magic seems to be doing the trick, because now the shorter woman sits a little bit straighter, her eyes seem to shine a little bit brighter. Fang smiles at the bird´s protective attitude towards his master. There are some bonds, it seems, that time and distance, and even difference in species, cannot severe.
The thought brings an air of concern and sadness on Fang´s face.
Vanille…
Even if faint, Lightning perceives Fang´s sigh, and turns slightly around to seek her eyes.
"You have no idea what it means to me that you´re sacrificing your time to help me out. So don´t worry Fang. I´ll make it up to you." She smiles at her friend, trying to be reassuring. "We´ll both make sure Vanille gets away with her life and her soul intact."
Fang´s smile has never been brightest.
But their journey is not an easy one. Attracted by Lightning´s curse, which is puffing up dark smoke from her breast again, the beasts lurking around the Wildlands attack them almost every step of the way: from very small beasts to the giant Behemoth, all the creatures known by Fang seem to be desperate on taking a bite of that scent of death the weakened Savior is spreading with the wind, each battle taking its toll on the pinkette´s already diminished stamina. Even Fang can´t but feel frustrated and exhausted at the constant attacks.
"Let me tell you, Light, you really know how to have fun, don´t you?" The tall bandit chides her friend, while embedding her lance in the monstrous leg of the last Behemoth. "Wasn´t it enough this wild beasts were already hard to defeat? Did you really had to go and give them something to lure them to you?"
"Tch, as if this was my idea."
Lightning scoffs at the bad joke, while sending a fira spell against the Behemoth, which in retaliation gets up on its hind legs, brandishing its dangerous saw. Fang jumps aside to avoid the slash of its huge weapon, slashes at the armed paw, and then kneels in front of Lightning, to serve as a support for the pinkette to make a summersault and give the deadly blow.
"Really? I would´ve sworn you did this on purpose." Says the bandit, as she steps aside for the beasts to plummet lifeless onto the ground.
The teasing is ridiculous, but for some weird reason it makes Lightning smile. Her heart, though cold as of lately, gets warmer on the inside by the mere presence of her friend. A warmth she hasn´t feel for… long before she woke up.
I thought I had lost my humanity… how is it that Fang can make me feel things so effortlessly? Can make my soul revive with such ease?
"Lightning! Look out!"
But her distraction costs her rather expensively, since the pinkette is so lost in her thoughts, she doesn´t hear her friend´s warning, nor notices the new enemy closing up on her until it´s too late: the humongous Chocobo Eater hits both her and Odin, who had also been too engrossed in sending cura spells her way, that can´t react to its enemy on time, and both are sent flying backwards, as the beast rush towards them, intent on taking a bite on either of them, now that it has them stunned.
Lightning falls hard on the ground and rolls over, avoiding by mere inches the horrible teeth. Still dizzy, and still on the ground, she raises her shield in front of her, which receives full force the impact of a strike the huge predator has sent her way, the strength of the blow transmits through her arm and makes her tremble, almost fracturing her bones. Lightning rolls over again, avoiding the second blow, while Fang desperately hits the beast, trying with no avail to distract it, to make it lose its focus off of the fallen woman. The pinkette sends a fira spell towards its eyes, and the magic seems to do the trick. The Chocobo Eater covers its face with both hands, yelling in agony, and Lightning takes advantage of the moment to get up on her two feet, and as if on cue, both women attack in unison the exposed flesh of the monster, while it wails in anger and pain. Odin jumps up and runs at them, having recovered from the fall and worried its master could be injured by its enemy, so it attacks with ferocity. Blow after blow they can see the beast´s flesh being injured, but it still stands on its feet, and each strike they send towards it, the monster returns them with a vengeance, sometimes trying to take a bite of the group of friends, sometimes just trying to defend itself. The Chocobo Eater sends a blow towards Odin, but he jumps away from it, and Fang takes advantage of the second of hesitation from the beast to embed her lance on the flesh, but the beast retaliates quickly and sends her flying backwards.
"Fang!"
The woman falls on her knees, leaving marks on the ground as she breaks her inertia. "It´s okay Light! I´m alright!"
But at the sight of her friend flying away, Lightning sees everything in red.
"That´s just about enough!" Without thinking twice, she runs at her top speed towards the beast, and powered by her anger, calls up all her remaining energy, to create her Army of One, attacking at incredible velocity and with amazing precision, forcing Fang and Odin to stand at the sideline, unwilling to risk getting an accidental blow, and, Fang wouldn´t admit it out loud, to admire the magnificent spectacle the skillful attack gives their way.
Lightning smashes and kicks so fast that, for a few seconds, she becomes her namesake, Fang and Odin getting only glimpses of her, and the deafening sounds of clashing metal and ripping flesh, as well as the monster´s wails of agony. And then, at a moment of pause, Lightning rises up into the air, bringing her blade to a high neutral position, ready to give the final blow.
But the moment she´s falling onto the beast, it slams its massive fist hard against the Savior, breaking her momentum and sending her flying backwards; taken by surprise, the pinkette is unable to break the inertia of her body, and crashes hard against a broad tree, cracking its trunk in half.
"Lightning!"
The pinkette unceremoniously falls face first into the dirt, and Fang forgets her foe, running as fast as she can to help her friend.
Only she doesn´t need to.
Lightning´s palms strike the ground with such force that a small cloud of dust form around each wrist, and then she rises slowly from the ground, with such paucity, that every millimeter of movement seems to be a threat to the world. Fang stalls finally her strides when her eyes find the azure ones, and what she sees in them is something beyond this world.
She sees absolute rage. She sees a mind lost in the chaos. She sees the promise of immediate death.
She sees the reflection of the Goddess of Death.
"L-light…"
A flicker of a second, and Fang is almost ripped in half by the sudden rush of power that travels like a thunderbolt from the pinkette´s hands, and towards the monster´s form, enveloping its body in a massive ball of lightning bolts, the intensity of the brightness forcing Fang to hide her eyes. After a few seconds everything recedes, and the monster falls dead on the ground, its body totally scorched, the stench of burnt flesh making the tall woman almost vomit.
A moment of silence, waiting for all the magic (and the adrenaline) to sink into a normal state, and then Lightning just falls on her rump and onto the ground, panting heavily.
"Just… just let me rest for a while… would you…?"
The shorter woman looks as if she just ran a marathon, but it´s her chest that calls the bandit´s attention: from her left breast the smoke is fuming thicker than before, as if her heart were on fire and it was being consumed by it.
"Lightning…" such a hesitant voice, foreign even to her own ears, but the pinkette seems to not notice the slip, and turns azure, extenuated eyes towards her friend.
"What…?"
In between gasps, the woman looks up towards her friend, a mask of overtiredness and sleepiness, that if it weren´t for the worry in her heart, would´ve rendered the taller woman into a fit of laughter. A snort still manages to escape her, and then the bandit kneels in front of her friend, taking a glance at the smoke from her chest, but instead examining intently the other woman´s eyes. Lightning´s head wobble in front of her, as if she were ready to fall asleep, or drunk, so Fang uses her index finger and thumb to trap the woman´s chin and force the Savior to look right into her eyes, and feels an incredible relief the moment she sees nothing but the beautiful crystal hue of her friend's azure orbs. It seems there´s no more chaos inside those eyes, no more hate behind them. But the Queen of Bandits wonders.
Still moving slower than usual, Lightning slaps Fang´s hand away from her chin, and moves to stand, although with obvious strain, a hand pushed hard against the side of her head.
"We shouldn´t linger here, Fang. There must be some beasts still looking for us, and especially now that I´ve served dinner for them." She looks intently at the burnt beast, and Fang scoffs at it.
"What a show you gave us there."
"Sorry, I got kinda mad." The husky and confident voice doesn´t correlate with the words of apology.
"Kinda? You looked murderous." Fang snaps at her friend, remembering that, if it weren´t for her good reflexes, she could´ve been dinner too. But she can´t remain angry at the woman for long. Concern, is the only feeling that envelops her heart.
"Well, it worked, right? So why are you complaining? We should be on the move, instead." Lightning staggers as she walks towards her chocobo, refusing to apologize.
"No Light." The bandit takes her friend by the arm, and forces her to look back at her, which turns out to be quite easy, an evidence of the state the woman is currently in. "We should rest, you´re totally exhausted and something tells me you won´t stay on the background in case there´s another big beast hunting us down."
"There´s no other bigger beast than this. And I´m sure after this… show, other Chocobo Eaters will keep their distance from us." Lightning retaliates, and then hesitates. "At least for a while."
Lightning turns around but Fang´s grip on her forearm hasn´t relented for a bit. "For someone who´s traveled around this plains more than I have, you don´t seem to know there´s something far worse."
"What do you mean, Fang?" The pinkette sighs, exasperated, as she turns again to look at her friend.
"The Aster Protoflorian, have you heard of it?" Lightning´s eyes open wide in astonishment. "So you have."
A moment of pause, as the pinkette sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, as if tired by the memory, and the tall bandit finally lets go of her arm. "Yes. I remember it. Hope and I fought it once. How come that beast survived?"
"There are many things that survived from Pulse and…"
"No, no. It wasn´t from Pulse. This beast was created in Cocoon. And so far I haven´t seen any wild life from Cocoon."
"That´s because there wasn´t any wildlife in Cocoon."
Lightning scoffs at her friend. "Except those they were experimenting on. Fang, all the more reason to move on."
"No Light, all the more reason to stay and rest. You need to gather your strength back. If my hunch is right, the beasts are smelling the chaos from that little course you´ve got there." Fang signals Lightning´s breast. "My guess is that the curse is making you smell like a delicious steak ready to be served. That being the reason why they´ve been at us nonstop."
The pinkette refuses to look down at her chest, and stubbornly stands her ground.
"But I believe we will be safer inside Poltae, Fang, the entrance is way too small for the monsters to pass, even smaller for the Protoflorian." Fang was about to protest, but Lightning takes a step towards her friend, their noses inches from one another, and she locks eyes with her best friend, not ready to relent at all. "If you really want to protect me, we should go where no beast can enter, and around here, that site is only Poltae. Any other place would make us exposed and its residents at risk." The Queen of Bandits hesitates, and Lightning plays her last card, speaking in a whisper. "Please Fang, do it for me." Unintentionally, at her words Lightning´s chin rises a bit, drawing her face nearer to the other woman´s, and the azure eyes travel downwards, looking for an instant at Fang´s lips, as she bites her own lower lip, the last movement rendering the taller woman immobile, her breathing heavy. Lightning smirks, knowingly, and pats Fang´s cheek.
"I know you would understand."
She walks past her friend and goes to pet Odin, while her partner remembers how to breathe properly.
Damn! That woman is going to be the end of me!
oooOOOOOOOOooooooooooo
They´re already in the Rocky Craig Mountain, thanks to Odin´s wings they´ve avoided many of the fiends traveling the narrow paths, though not as many as Fang would´ve liked. Traveling side-saddled on top of Odin allows her at least a better view at her friend´s profile, and for the umpteenth time she takes a glance at her visage. The Queen of Bandit´s worries are deepened at the look of Lightning´s paler face, the obvious bags under her eyes, and the ever present and so worrisome smoke coming out of her chest, and that, if possible, is getting denser by the minute. She can feel the shorter woman´s shallow breath, even with the white chocobo´s movements. Odin too, can feel something is wrong with his master, as he keeps on sending spell after spell at them, even when they no longer seem to be having any effect.
Good boy. Fang thinks at the chocobo´s resilience, but as if she could read her thoughts, Lightning sighs, while she stops their ride to get her bearings correct.
"Do you know what would make me less anxious about this all?"
"No Sunshine, tell me what."
"That you both stopped worrying about me." The pinkette turns and glares at her friend.
You mean me too, Light?
It´s Hope´s voice the one questioning her, in her head.
"Ok, my mistake. You Three. It´s not like I´m going to drop dead the next minute."
"Oh really?" The Queen of Bandits spats at her stubbornness. "How do you know? Are you now capable of seeing the future?" Fang mocks her. "Because as far as I know, foresight is not an ability inherited by the almighty Savior, but by…" Fang shuts her mouth instantly, but already too late.
"By whom, Fang? By my dead sister? Is that what you were going to say?" Lightning spats at her as well, her irritation getting harder to contain.
Anger is evident in the strain of the pinkette´s voice, and Fang can only flinch at the edge of it.
"I´m sorry, Light, I didn´t mean to…"
"You know what? Forget it Fang, that´s fine, I need some stretching of my legs anyways." The pinkette moves a leg to her side, ready to slide off of the chocobo; the bandit takes her arm, a feeble attempt to stop her.
"What? Wait! No! We´re nowhere near safe here, Light!"
"I don´t care."
The young woman slaps the hand away and slides to the ground, ignoring Fang´s pleas, and even Odin´s constant squeaking, all flustered, and walks the path ahead of them, fuming, stomping her feet harder than necessary. She´s always hated people pampering her, always fought to be stronger than anyone to prevent any kind of pity on her. And now, now that she´s not as strong as she´s supposed to be, that pity, any kind of pity, puts her on edge. Anger even greater as it´s adding the always-hateful feeling of being truly vulnerable.
And she´s feeling, oh! So freaking vulnerable right now!
Her hands are shaking, her sweat is cold, and her lungs are not getting enough oxygen, no matter how hard or how deep she inhales. Her weakness makes her angrier, if possible, and she starts walking faster, digging her heels harder, not caring that the woman and the beast, her two best friends, are following right behind, concerned about her.
"Please Light. Hop on. This seems like a tantrum. We don´t have time for that."
"You go ahead. I really, really need to walk for just a moment."
"Lightning, please." The bandit insists, her instinct sending alarm bells her way. "Get back up here. We have to hurry least the beasts attack us."
She knows Fang´s right, she knows this is just a tantrum and the Savior is not supposed to have one. She´s not supposed to be angered or frustrated, not supposed to have feelings at all.
Then what´s happening to me? Why am I so lost? Feeling just so… much?
Light. Hope talks into her mind. I´m reading a surge of chaos right over you, can you sense it?
She stops and turns around, almost colliding with Odin, searching for the enemy, but finds none.
"No, Hope, I can´t find any."
As if on cue, there´s an enormous surge of dark energy, and the space around them obscures, enveloping them all in the dense air of the chaos.
"Hope? Can you hear me?"
"Get on, Lightning! We have to run!" Fang extends her hand towards her friend, as a dark shadow looms over them.
"What? Where…?"
She turns around to find that the impending shadow belongs to none other than the Asteron Protoflorian, which lowers its flowered head and strikes forward, searching for Lightning´s body to send her flying into the sky.
The Savior raises her shield barely on time, and the strong horn-like protuberances clash against it, making her arms vibrate with the impact and almost breaking her guard. But Lightning holds her ground, digs her heels harder, and braces herself for the second blow. But the blow she receives doesn´t come from the Protoflorian, but from Fang, whose body collapses against hers, as she removes them both from the monster´s path, and makes both of her bodies roll over the ground and as far away from the Asterion as possible.
"Light! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks. Fortunately you warned me on time."
The beast turns around, searching for them, as Lightning sends a couple of fire spells its way, Odin imitating her. But their attacks do close to nothing to the beast´s armor, and instead, it sends their way a powerful omega spell, and Lightning is forced again to hide herself and her friend behind her shield, as the vibration of the mighty impact sends them reeling backwards, almost slamming them against the rocky walls, and making the pinkette´s almost healed wounds bleed anew. Her back almost against the wall, and the monster so close in front of her, Lightning is starting to feel trapped.
Damn! I don´t think I´ll be able to stand any more of those. If this goes on, we might not make it.
She readies her magic, but knows that she won´t be able to execute her most powerful spells, at least not while Fang is around. Even with all the protective spells she could send her way, the Queen of Bandits is only human, after all.
There´s one dark card she has to draw.
"Fang! The beast is just too strong for us. I don´t have the power to destroy it all by myself."
"Finally you´re hearing me! That´s the reason why I came here in the first place! So you wouldn´t face it alone!"
"No, no, Fang. You don´t understand. I mean we three won´t be able to defeat it. But with a little help, I´m sure we can pull it through." The pinkette turns around and fixes her eyes on her friend´s, determination embedded in them. "I need you to run towards Poltae, search for a man there, a professor, and tell him we are in urgent need of the Grail of Valhalla."
"The what? I´ve never heard of such thing!"
"But he has. He knows where it is. Tell him we need the Grail's assistance. Now go!" Lightning pushes her friend, prompting her to obey, and pleading with her eyes. "Or we won´t be able to defeat it."
"I can´t leave you on your own against such monster!" Fang´s worried eyes touch the Savior´s heart, and she places a hand over the tanned shoulder, trying, in vain, to be reassuring.
"I know you´ll be able to help us."
The Protoflorian opens its head like a flower, each petal pointing forwards, and then moves them like a spin. Lightning curses at this and pushes Fang down, hard into the ground, and raises her guard again, each blow all too painful to bear, but determined on protecting her friend and keeping the monster´s attention on her, as far away as possible from her chocobo, who keeps on sending attacking spells towards the flowery monster. But using one hand to keep her shield up, and one to keep her friend down, diminishes the strength of her protective stance. At the last seconds of the attack, the power of the blows finally break the Savior´s guard, forces the shield to the side and hits her left arm and left flank, the velocity of the blows obliging her to turn around and stamp her body hard against the rocky wall, as the last strikes of the petals hit her back and dig her deeper inside the rock. Lightning cries out of pain and anger, as she feels her ribs breaking in multiple shards. It only lasts a few seconds, but for Lightning it feels like an eternity of torture, and as the beast jumps up and away from them, reading its next attack, the Savior pushes herself off of the wall and almost falls into the ground, if not were for Fang, who manages to catch her on time.
"Lightning!"
But at falling on her arms, the contact makes the woman cry out in pain, feeling every single rib broken in pieces, and pushes the taller woman away, coughing blood.
"Just go… Fang. We need… we need help!"
"You won´t make it alive from here!"
They´re both surrounded by bluish fog, as Odin is desperately casting cura spells towards them.
"We will all die here if you don´t go get some help. If we all run, it will surely catch us and kill us. But if you do run, I can keep it at bay a little longer, buy you some time to get some help."
"But what can they do that the Savior can´t?"
The pinkette can see the Asterion is reading another attack, and panic enters her heart.
"Fang! Just go already! Save us!"
At the woman´s prompting, the bandit starts walking away. "Ok fine! But Odin stays with you."
Lightning doesn´t turn around, as she readies her shield once more.
Fang takes a last glance at her friend, who receives the magical attack that envelops her whole.
I´ll get help, Light, don´t worry. Just hang in there.
Lightning screams at the top of her lungs, forcing her arms to be steady and hold the attack, protecting her friend's retreat, and as the magic recedes, she falls on her knees, coughing up blood, but already feeling the healing powers of her beautiful chocobo.
The pinkette pants at the effort, but her eyes are far away from defeat. Instead, they linger on the beast, menacingly, and a devilish smirk plays on her lips. With Fang out of the way, the Savior is finally free to release all the power of destruction she wields.
"Savor your last moments of life. Because you can be sure these, indeed, will be the last." And with that, she raises from the ground, sends a powerful blizzaga spell, that freezes the beast on the spot, and forces her chocobo to jump away, and who squeaks in disapproval at her attack.
"I´m sorry Odin!" The woman yells at her companion and lowers her stance, ready for a second blow. "But I think you should rise all your protective spells." Forcing her magic into her hands, this time it´s a flamesparka spell that blocks the ruinga spell the Protoflorian was sending her way.
Odin squeaks, as he is forced to dance to avoid the lightning bolts around the beast.
"And that´s the reason why I needed Fang away from here, Odin." One leg on front, one leg behind, and she flexes her knees, ready for the last, for the final and most destructive spell. "Her human body would be harmed by this." She calls all her magical power into her hands, which ache at the sheer intensity of it, and sends the firaga spell towards the monster, exploding in a blaze of fire the moment it makes contact with its body, a powerful boom reverberating through the mountain that mimics a small earthquake; but the monster is still not defeated, and it counterattacks with the whirlwind of petals that had previously succeeded in injuring her.
"Oh no, beast. Not this time." As if to make her point, and while the monster is still enveloped by blaze, Lightning strikes with her Army of One, forcing the tongues of flames dance around her, making way for the beautiful and deadly Savior, while Odin sends her way as many protective spells as he has.
The last attack does the trick, and the Protoflorian falls, curling into itself like a flower consumed by fire.
Lightning finishes the attack and stands a few seconds immobile in front of the body of the beast, and then falls on her knees, panting, although a small smile plays on her bloodied lips as the white chocobo approaches her, and she caresses his beak while he pushes her shoulder with his head.
"We made it, Odin. We truly make a hell of a team."
The chocobo squeaks in joy, and then raises his head, as if hearing something. The woman follows his stare, and finds Fang´s form running towards them, followed by a couple of Etro´s believers, the sight making Lightning truly smile this time.
"That´s my girl…"
The pinkette stands up and takes a few steps towards her friend, but her legs finally give up on her, and she collapses to the ground. Fortunately for her, Fang makes it on time before her head hits the ground.
"Fang… my hero…" Lightning smiles at the woman´s concerned eyes.
"That´s the worst trick I´ve ever fallen into. I´ll make you pay for this, Lightning, you know it, right?" But the words don´t match the worry and care plastered all over Fang´s face.
Lightning smirks at her friend´s words, forcing her eyes to remain open.
"The player has been played… I bet Adonis will have a hell of a fieldtrip… if he finds out…"
"It´s not funny, Sunshine."
Darkness is closing in from all corners, but the pinkette gets to smile a last mischievous smile at her friend´s complaint.
"Yeah… I love you too…"
Being enveloped so tenderly on her friend´s arms, the Savior allows herself to fall into unconsciousness, already unaware of other hands reaching out for her.
Fang cradles her friend´s limp body with concern in her emerald eyes, and follows the instructions the believers are giving her, to place cautiously the unconscious Savior upon the improvised stretcher they made for her, getting her ready to take them to their sanctuary, while one of the women tries to reassure the troubled white chocobo, who seems to be determined on checking the woman´s status.
Once they´re taking her down the narrow path, Fang sighs, makes sure the chocobo is lead towards the village, and lingers on her spot, her heart heavy as never before, at the weight of all the events finally falls upon her. She realizes now that this would be the second time she gets to see someone so powerful rendered so helpless, and the thought makes her want to cry.
Etro… is there really no salvation for us?
"Oh! Dear Savior! Please get up!" The childish voice startles her, and the tall woman clenches her fists at recognizing the owner. "If things go on like this, she might not make it to tomorrow, have you thought about that, Fangy?"
Fang´s anger peaks at the words, but lets out slowly the air of her lungs, trying to be calm and not lash out all of her frustration on this… far-from-innocent girl.
"What now, Lumina? Are you basking on Lightning´s suffering now?" She meets the girls' form, but notices the azure orbs are fixed on the retreating figures, even though her trademark smirk is in place.
"Pay me no mind, Fangy, I´m only here to know if she´s ok. But by the looks of it…"
"Shut up, stupid child. She´ll be fine. I´ve told you, Lightning is stronger than this." The woman looks at the retreating form, praying for her words to be true. "We´ll make it."
"No, Fang." The voice is raspy now, and so serious, with such an edge on it, that Fang´s head turns so fast seeking the owner, that she worries she might get a whiplash. "Odin and you will make it. Lightning´s soul won´t pass the night." The bandit is for a moment surprised to see Lumina, and not Lightning, speaking with such ferocity, and the feeling intensifies at meeting intense azure orbs that pierce her soul. "Unless you do something."
The Queen of Bandits hesitates, because she has seen it. She´s seen Lightning behind the fire in those azure, childish eyes, but refuses to believe in such things.
"Lumina… for the love of Etro… who are you?"
A childish giggle breaks the spell, while Lumina covers her mouth with both hands.
"Aaaww you´re so silly sometimes, Fangy. I´m your best friend, Lumina!"
But after a giggle, her eyes are trained again on the path Etro´s believers took, carrying the unconscious Savior, her countenance void of emotion. Or it would seem, for the untrained eye. But Fang knows better. He´s learned to read Lightning´s unexpressive countenance so very good, and for a reason, she knows this girl is struggling with something.
"You want to tell me, Lumina. Just spit it out and let´s be done with it."
Lumina sends her a sad smile, and looks at the path again.
"Lightning is about to be forced against her will, once more."
"What? How is that possible? She wouldn´t let anyone that close to her!"
"Her path is going to be chosen for her again, and in a way she won´t like. But is either that, or oblivion. Death to the Savior and oblivion to Serah´s soul. Which one do you think she will choose?"
Fang´s eyes turn wide awake, and she turns to look at the path ahead. Did she deliver her best friend to their enemy´s hands? After her words, the girl turns around and envelops herself in chaos, but not before she casts a last, serious glance towards the woman.
"Don´t forget it, this might be your last chance on getting what you really wish. And who knows? This wish could be shared, and then you´d be the one saving her." She winks at the brunette and disappears in a whirlwind of chaos, leaving the woman rooted on her spot.
ooooOOOOOOOXIIIOOOOooooooo
A/N: I intended for this chapter to be longer, but in the end it was already too long, so I decided to split it in half. We are getting close! Ne?
Anyways, I needed to get some anger out of my system, and there was no way better for that than having our favorite Savior kicking some ass! Although, unfortunately she got her ass kicked a little bit in the process, hehehe. Some of you might say I´m being too harsh on her, given that I always make her weaker than she truly is, and thus suffer unnecessarily, being the goddess of Death and all. But for me, one of the most fantastic of Lightning´s features is exactly that: she prevails, she survives, and she accomplishes anything she wants even when all the odds are against her. She doesn´t need powers, only the power of her determination, to make the impossible possible. So what fun would it be if I don´t let her struggle a little? Well, those are my thoughts. And hope you still enjoy my little story.
Have fun!
Love you all!