AN - REJOICE. I have internet again.
The glasses clinked together as laughter filled the rec room on the ship. The sound drew Lightning to the doorway and she peeked in to find a small group of her family and friends playing cards. It was nice to see them relaxing and having a good time. After their impromptu run in with the Fal'Cie, they hadn't had any further issues so people were able to focus back on the excitement of adventure.
"Hey sis, care for a round?" Snow's voice beckoned her inside and she tried to discern whether he meant in cards or alcohol. With a shrug she decided she didn't care either way and entered the room.
"Ah, so this is where you've been hiding out," Lightning chided gently, seeing Fang's face flushed from a few too many drinks. The Pulsian hid behind her cards and giggled, a sound that was foreign coming from the usually cocky hundreds.
"S'alright, Light. Been schooling these chumps in how to play triple triad." Fang responded and took another sip of her beverage. Lightning sat down opposite her and gestured to be dealt in. Snow sat beside her, and Serah next to Fang. "Takes a great deal of... Concentration to win at this game, I'll have you know."
"Mhm," the pinkette hummed in response, nodding in thanks at the drink Lebreau brought over.
The cards were dealt and they sat around the table deciding their various hands. Serah looked over at Fang and frowned. "Hey, has Vanille been alright? She seems really distracted by something the last few days." The Pulsian gave a shrug and drew her finger over the design on one of the cards.
"Dunno, she has spent all her time at the communications array. Makes me wonder if she's even slept, the maniac."
Lightning pursed her lips and stared at her partner. It was unlike Vanille to forgo sleep, no matter how fascinating her research was. "You think she's still spooked from the Fal'Cie run in the other day?"
"Maybe. I'll talk to her later. When the buzz has worn off. Now enough stalling with work talk woman, we're off the clock. Prepare to lose."
A few hours later, Lightning was doing her best not to look smug as she sat in her seat in front of all the chips, Fang's sari draped over her shoulder and Snow's bandana hanging loosely off her head.
"How. How is that even remotely possible?" The Pulsian drawled in disbelief, feeling mildly colder in the room missing an important part of her clothing.
"Really, Fang?" Snow complained, his head in his hands and now very aware of his hat hair without his favourite lucky beanie. "You're asking how the queen of poker faces managed to win everything? Are you sure you're sleeping with the same woman?"
"Snow!" Serah chided him with a smack to his shoulder and the blonde realised his words when he saw the dark expression on the soldier's face.
"O-on second thought keep the beanie. It suits you and you were always destined to have it and I'm going to leave now." He stood up so rapidly he didn't have time to orient himself from the sudden movement combined with alcohol intake. Snow managed to trip over his own feet and sent himself crashing to the ground. Serah rolled her eyes and did her best to help him up, largely unsuccessful due to his size.
The two staggered out of the bar and Lightning stood slowly to collect the scattering of glasses. Lebreau gave her a happy thanks and gestured to the counter. "Just leave 'em there darling, I'll sort them out in the morning. Gonna turn in for the night."
Fang waited until the bartender had left and slid her arms around Lightning's waist, pulling the solider into her tightly. "So am I going to have to win my sari back?" she growled low in the pinkette's ear, enjoying the noticeable shiver that ran through her. "Or were you just planning on relieving me of the rest of my clothing?"
Lightning slowly wiggled around until she was able to face the Pulsian. "Oh, I don't know," she purred, tracing a finger across Fang's lips and drawing her hand back quickly when she felt teeth graze against her skin, "It was fun to see you lose to me. I wonder what else I can make you do by the evening's end?"
A sultry smile cross Fang's face as she licked her lower lip. Scooping the deck up in her hands, the brunette started to shuffle them with a devious wink. She leant in close enough to ghost her lips over the soldier's and smiled. "Play your cards right, and I might just do anything for you." Lightning's eyes darkened, walking Fang backwards until her spine hit the wall and pushed her knee between her legs. The Pulsian gasped at the contact and struggled not to grind her hips involuntarily.
"Anything?" The soldier whispered, her voice breathy and low. Fang caught a whimper in her throat before it had a chance to escape and held her breath with a nod. The pinkette smiled a toothy grin, predatory in nature and it made Fang's core heat to a furnace of need. Lightning pushed in close, running her hands across the Pulsian's breasts and exhaled as she ran her nails down her abdomen.
"Including putting the dirty laundry in the basket instead of next to it?"
The desperate expression immediately turned to a scowl and Fang gave Lightning a firm slap on the arm. "Why you gotta go kill the mood with housework, Light? That's a low blow." She complained, drawing rich laughter from the pinkette. "You're fucking cruel, you know that? Etro, just my luck I've fallen for a bloody sadist."
Lightning tugged her forwards towards the door, laughing harder as she scanned her hand against the release panel and dragged Fang towards their cabin. "Well aren't I lucky I've fallen for a masochist then?"
Fang bit her lower lip at the sway of the soldier's hips and with a playful growl chased her to the elevator. She caught the pinkette and pressed her teeth against the throat, sucking hard on the skin. The doors closed on them just as Lightning's pleasured gasp rang through the hallway.
Lightning was sitting at the desk in their quarters, lazily twirling her fingers in the air, dancing electricity from the tips. How strange that once more the magic flowed easily for her as it once had, yet without the ticking time-bomb attached to her sternum. She would be the first to admit that every now and again she'd stand back from the mirror in the bathroom, scouring every surface of her body with her eyes, searching for a brand that wasn't there.
She worried that one day she may spontaneously burn from the inside out from the magic, unchecked by a Fal'Cie focus. Those were private fears she kept to herself, not willing to give Fang any more grief than what she'd already been through. Shaking herself from her thoughts, Lightning glanced up to find Fang in the doorway, watching her with a curious expression. As if scared she had somehow added mind-reading to her list of skills next to turning into a world-ending monster, the pinkette cleared her throat and gave her partner a smile.
Fang, to her credit, wasn't dissuaded. "What's hurtling through that beautiful mind of yours at a million miles an hour, love?"
"Why would you assume anything is?"
"Because it's you?" The Pulsian answered with a sarcastic tone and a roll of her eyes. Fang pushed away from the door and sauntered over to the chair, draping her arms over the pinkette's shoulders. "Come on, Light. You've been taking on my burdens without complaint, don't be afraid to share your load too. I can take it."
Lightning sighed, leaning back into the embrace and sliding her hands across the brunette's arms. She always felt safe like this, though if someone had have told her before the War of Revelations that she would ever feel like this, they would have copped a scoff and a punch to the face. "I'm just worried about the magic. That one day it's going to catch up to me, or that a surprise price is waiting to rear its ugly head and take me from you."
Fang smiled softly and spun the chair around, kneeling down so she could meet her partner's gaze properly. "Telmari, is that what this is about? This sombre mood over the last few days?" Lightning's head tilted at the unfamiliar word, and the Pulsian cupped her face and kissed her gently. "It's a word that means… Hmmmm… How to say… Ah. Soulmate, I suppose would be the closest translation."
The pinkette flushed at the explanation, causing Fang to just simply smile more and brush the pale hair from her eyes. "The word's literal translation is 'The light of my dark, the sun to my moon, the missing half of my whole.' All very poetic and romantic, really."
"Wow. You're telling me." Lightning replied, her cheeks feeling more heated by the second.
"Yep. Poetic, romantic, and how I feel about you. So deal with it, sap and all." Fang said with a smile, leaning down to kiss the frown lines away from her face. "Don't fret love. There were instances of those in the priesthood that were imbued with magic from the Fal'Cie without being branded. That way they could still hold the masses in awe of their devotion to Anima or whatever tripe you wanted to swallow. They all either died of old age or… By my hand in the temple. So, make what you will of it. You won't burst into flames or anything like that."
"Well when you say it like that it sounds silly." Lightning grumbled, though still inwardly smiling at what Fang had called her earlier. Before she could comment further, they both felt the ship lurch to a sudden halt. "What do you suppose that was about?" She asked aloud. Her question would be answered by a crackling of the communicators above them.
"Uh, sorry about that everyone! Fang, Lightning, mind coming to the bridge? NOW PLEASE." Vanille yelled through the speakers, causing the two women to look at each other nervously.
"Guess that's our queue to head off then…" The Pulsian sighed, pulling Lightning up from her seat. They strode briskly onto the bridge where Vanille was pacing back and forth while biting her nails with worry. "Etro, 'Nille you look like you've seen a ghost. What's going on? We hit a sky mountain or something?"
The redhead looked up incredulously at her sister, the exasperation evident on her face. "A sky… Mountain?"
"Yeah. A mountain that floats. With all the weird shit we've seen over the years, why would anything surprise us at this point? Now. Why did we stop?"
"A sky. Mountain. For the love of…" Vanille stared with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out if the altitude had made her sibling lose her mind. "No, we haven't hit anything. We've just had to… Adjust our course. Come to a stop earlier than we had anticipated. A day and a half earlier than anticipated."
Lightning frowned, stepping forward to not put any distance between them. She already didn't like where this was headed, and she suspected that Fang was on the same page with the rigid way she stood, the tension she could see pouring off the Pulsian's shoulders. "Vanille, out with it. What's going on?"
The young Oerban took a breath and held it, before clenching her fists. "Something came up on the sensors about two days ago. It was faint, but enough to warrant attention. As a precaution I've been broadcasting a signal, in Pulsian, that explained in very short words who we were, and that we come in peace, merely seeking exploration and friendship, not war."
"And…?" Fang said, feeling Lightning's hand slip into her own and squeeze it tightly.
"Someone responded."
The silence was intense, and made the bridge feel like they were in a vacuum. Fang dug deep within herself to maintain control and not flip out, but by the gods themselves Vanille was not making it easy. Fortunately, Lightning stepped in with her own anger.
"Why the hell are only hearing about this now?" She snapped, causing the redhead and anyone else on the controls to flinch.
"Because we only got solid confirmation about fifteen minutes ago, Light." Vanille replied firmly, refusing to back down from the angry soldier. "They asked us to identify ourselves or be shot down, and when we told them the name of the ship they asked us to hold our position."
Fang paled at her sister's words. Lightning had to grip onto her to keep her on her feet. The implications were enormous.
"They… They want to talk to the captain of the vessel. Which I guess, is technically you two." The redhead continued.
"So, when do they want to talk?" The pinkette asked, maintaining calm as best she could. She could see the mottling of blue along Fang's arms as she struggled to keep control of her stress levels. Lightning ran a cautious hand along the back of the Pulsian's neck, whispering assurances while Vanille took a couple of steps back to give her space.
"The… Delegate is on the deck. They just landed." One of the technicians nervously interjected.
"What?" Lightning and Fang both snapped in unison, before running for the elevator. Vanille chased after them, leaping into the lift just in time as the doors closed. They rode up to the deck in silence, and all took a moment before they stepped onto the deck. There was a small craft that was quite clearly Pulsian, with a contingent of guards surrounding a few men and women in traditional robes and saris.
"We cleared the deck of personnel before they landed. Other than a few turrets aimed in the direction that are out of their line of sight, it's just us." Vanille whispered.
"We can handle it," Lightning hissed back, straightening her spine as they walked slowly towards the group. Fang was practically shaking as they approached, torn somewhere between fear and relief that someone else survived. The delegates were talking in hushed whispers, but she caught some of the words, primarily viper and lies and danger.
"Ba nakta akoni ra lowken," Fang spoke up, finding her voice to the surprise of all around her. A sharp inhale came from the group of Pulsians, eyeing her off with equal parts suspicion and intrigue.
"Bitzu boyi ja zemmen," one of them muttered quietly, though perceptively eyeing off the confusion on Lightning's face. "But perhaps knowing our tongue is merely a trick of the nest, no?"
The pinkette swallowed hard, feeling a little out of her depth in a tenuous diplomatic situation. She bowed respecfully and kept her expression even. "I will admit my knowledge is rusty of your language in Gran Pulse, but I am studying hard to give it the respect it deserves."
One of the men stepped forward, his face a hideous mass of scarring and age lines that bore deep into his skin. "What does a viper know of respect?" He snarled, causing a similar sound to erupt from Fang's throat as she stepped between him and the pinkette.
"She knows plenty, Fagellan Hulla." The brunette snapped, the tension escalating in the air. All that training to keep her calm going out the window in seconds when the Pulsian delegate became aggressive towards her partner. Vanille tried to hold her sister back, whispering pleas for calm.
"For the love of Etro. These are the first Pulsians we've seen, can you try to not have them declaring war on our first meeting?" She hissed. The brunette shrugged her off with a glare and Lightning held a steady hand on her shoulder in silent agreement with the young Pulsian.
"It's alright, I'm fine. They have a right to their anger, considering what was done at the hands of Cocoons Fal'Cie."
Fang turned back to the man as he spat at the ground and glared at the tattoo on her arm.
"You speak our tongue, wear our markings but show me nothing but viper tricks and mirages from the nest. Trawl through our records to find something that would fit the description of a Pulsian to manipulate us? You desecrate her name by wearing that on your skin. There's only one who should bear that marking and you, viper, disrespect her with this facade."
Fang grew even angrier. It was one thing to call her a viper, to insult them, but to spurn her own heritage like that? "Fuck you, Fallak'nara. I earned this mark by taking out the bloody Gorgonopsid nest near the village, single handed might I add, and was the youngest hunter to do it. I earned this mark by completing the rite of passage, just as you would have… With… That image… On your…" She trailed off with a gasp as the man's eyes widened and took her face gently in his calloused hands. Gone in an instant, his anger was replaced with fear and uncertainty.
"It cannot be… The stories said she did not survive?" He asked, far softer than he had earlier spoken. The brunette's eyes searched his features and found something in his eyes. She reached out and touched his face, tracing over a familiar scar along his jaw. She was there the day he got it when he'd been too busy ogling a village girl and caught her lance against his chin.
"Is it really you, Fang?" The man asked, his voice strained.
"Lucyn?"