AN- I gots two days left before I have to go back to work. BOO. But I am moved in! This is glorious. Everything is unpacked save for the obligatory Last Box of Random Shit That Never Has A Home, the spare room has become the obligatory dumping ground for all miscellaneous crap, and I am ready for an actual holiday now.
"Don't let them take your heart, Fang! Don't let them-"
The sound of rushing water filled Fang's ears as she sat bolt upright, clawing at the air. Fang found herself half in Lightning's lap on the deck, the soldier's arms around her in a protective manner. The scarred man was kneeling before her, looking worried but hesitant.
"Are… Are you alright?" He asked, his hands shaking as the other delegates looked on warily. Fang gave him a once over and squinted.
"Shit, you got old and ugly, Lucyn." She replied groggily, pushing herself up from Lightning's hold. Everyone but the pinkette seemed to relax as Fang leant forward and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. His long, messy black hair was peppered with silver strands and he was certainly built like a hunter, his broad shoulders carrying the weight of the Pulsian armour well. His cloudy grey eyes carried far more than that. "I thought you were dead." Fang whispered, clutching onto him tightly.
"And I you, myetta kenno," Lucyn replied, eyeing off the pink-haired woman trying to glare holes into his head. He glanced to the side at the nervous looking redhead and smiled. "Vanille? You survived as well? How is this even…?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Luc." Vanille said, hovering close to Lightning. She'd spent enough time around the soldier to know that she was currently on a hair trigger, and anything involving Fang's well-being set off her temper quicker than anything she'd ever seen. She lightly touched her wrist in a show of support for the lone Cocoonian on the deck, despite the bombshell revelations being uncovered. There was a barely perceptible flinch from the pinkette, but Vanille was surprised that she seemed to relax just slightly under her fingers. Satisfied they weren't about to have a "diplomatic incident", she turned back to the delegates and eyed off his old friend. "We were branded by Anima, to destroy Cocoon. We didn't complete our focus yet turned to crystal all the same."
Lucyn looked pensive, surveying the ship as the young Oerban explained everything that had happened since they had parted ways. Lightning studied his face for any signs of malice and came up empty. Still, she refused to let her guard down, no matter who it was to Fang. The brunette saw the rigid posture and the tension emanating from the soldier and stood, moving back to hold her hand. Lightning immediately noticed the Pulsian delegate's attention zero in on the gesture. There it was. Barely perceptible but the smallest of eye twitches at the motion.
"Problem?" Lightning asked with a defiant arch of her eyebrow. She dared him to comment. Inwardly hoping for it so she could show him just what a viper could do.
"Easy, gorgeous," Fang whispered low in her ear with a reassuring squeeze of her hand. "Lucyn is an old friend. Remember me telling you about the one from the village? The elders saying we were cut of the same cloth?" Lightning relented for her partner's sake with a nod of her head as Vanille finished filling their old friend in on what had been going on with their old home.
"By the gods themselves, so you found a way to defy the focus of the Fal'Cie. I... do not remember my time after we parted at the river that day." Lucyn said with a slump of his shoulders, Lightning picking up on that eye twitch again. It could be that the past was too painful to recall. She struggled with all the instincts screaming at her that this was dangerous, bad news, the works; all to give him the benefit of the doubt because he was –is– Fang's closest childhood friend outside of Vanille.
She swallowed the incessant screaming in her own head and forced an amiable expression on her face. The other delegates that had travelled with Lucyn hung back, their curiousity obvious. They spoke in hushed whispers amongst themselves, and the soldier cleared her throat. "Have you travelled far? I can have a meal prepared for you, if you like." She offered, in the hopes that the hospitality would be received. Fang gave her an appraising smile and tilted her head in thanks. The Pulsian emissaries shifted their weight around on their feet and looked defensive.
"Why are you here? What have you come for?" An older woman asked, Lucyn turning and giving her a chastising look. "I care not for your exasperation, old one. You are from a world long gone, and these people who claim peace have arrived on an ancient Pulsian warship, no doubt pulled from the remains of battle in our ancestral home." Her blonde hair that was slowly silvering couldn't even be a true indicator of her age, perhaps merely the stressors of whatever life she led.
The woman's face showed the barest hints of time, lines appearing in her forehead and around her mouth that showed a life heavy with a constant glare and a perpetual snarl. Her green eyes were absolutely predatory, sizing up her prey on the deck before her and calculating a million different ways to enact the fight or flight response.
Lightning smiled to herself. Now this, this was something she could work with. Centuries apart and cultures so vastly different to her own, the pinkette knew that some things were universal, and soldiers recognised each other in a single breath. She moved her weight onto her back foot as she leant back, folding her arms across her chest. "Simple. We fought hard to bring an end to the reign of the Fal'Cie. We have broken free of the prison that was Cocoon, not a nest of vipers as it was always claimed to be. We merely seek peace to live out our lives, however you wish to involve yourselves in them."
The woman looked at her with a critical gaze. Her blonde hair fell over her eyes as a breeze washed along the deck and she huffed a hollow laugh. "So when you figured out we still existed, you wanted to see whether your hard fought peace would remain, or if you once more must pick up your blade."
"In a sense," Lightning replied with a shrug and a wry smile. "I wouldn't fault you for doing the same if the boot was on the other foot. But it was also about giving our friends closure. It was important to Fang and Vanille that we find answers to what happened after they went into crystal stasis."
The old Pulsian woman stared the soldier down as the deck remained silent. She nodded once, seemingly satisfied with something before turning to head back to the ship. "Fascinating. I like that one. At least this viper is willing to look me in the eyes before she strikes with her venom. Come. Tell them they can bring a small contingent to the island."
"I'd be more than happy to travel with you, if you permit. I'm sure Lucyn has a lot of catching up to do with his old friends." The pinkette replied with a calm smile. Vanille's eyes narrowed at her words, knowing there was something hidden underneath them. The delegate nodded and chuckled with a knowing smile.
"A smart viper indeed. Very well, tell your ship to go no further, and you will accompany us to Cal'Mah."
Fang's breath caught in her throat at the name, her grip tightening on Lightning's hand. The pinkette gave it a reassuring squeeze and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Let me go advise Sazh and the others of what we're doing, don't get on the ship until I'm back, please?" Lightning said firmly but quietly. The Pulsian nodded and watched her leave, trying not to jitter.
"Light! Wait up for a second," Vanille called out, jogging over. Lightning turned and frowned at the redhead, gesturing for her to stay with Fang. "What's your angle here exactly?"
"Angle?"
"Don't give me that, I'd like to think I've managed to figure out some of how you tick over the time we've spent together. Fang may be too overwhelmed at the moment to notice, but I notice."
The soldier smiled and gave her a sarcastic salute, though smiled as she did so. "Nothing gets past you, does it? We're travelling with them because we're less likely to be shot out of the sky if we're with the delegates. I'm willing to play along for now, and… And I know that he's your friend. But my instincts are telling me something's not right and I'm not willing to let my guard down for the sake of the past."
Vanille simply nodded and bit her lip in worry. "I understand. And it's ok. Wait here, I'll go let the others know what we're doing- if you leave Fang and I alone it would be too easy to take us both and vanish." Lighting's eyebrows raised, but she nodded slowly and watched the young Oerban disappear from the deck. Lightning's hackles weren't the only ones up at the sudden return of their friend.
"So, our destination is our home, the treasure of the western seas, Cal'Mah. It means Sanctuary in your forked-tongue," the old delegate explained as the ship quietly hummed through the air. Lightning held her breath for a few seconds before letting it out slowly through her mouth.
"Last I checked my tongue was human, just like yours. If the aim and outcome is diplomacy, constantly calling me a viper isn't the best way to go about it. My name is Lightning Farron. Call me Lightning." She ground through her teeth. She employed the techniques she'd been working with Fang over the many months in an attempt to calm her own growing rage, and stop the two Oerbans from looking at her like she was the one about to turn into Ragnarok.
The Pulsian woman laughed heartily and slapped her compatriot on his back. "I really do like this one. How refined and contained she is, when I can see the hairs on her arms standing on end the angrier she becomes." She joked, before sighing and leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "I am Cal'Mah Zan Khosrow. You already know of Oerba Tan Lucyn, and the other silent warrior type to the left of me is Cal'Mah Qui Jano."
The other delegate had yet to speak and merely nodded in acknowledgement when he heard his name. He was shorter than the other two, yet held a presence that towered over them somehow. Jano's sharp features gave him a dangerous appearance. His clipped blonde hair was shaved down one side to reveal a tattoo of what looked to be a stylised zirtinya. It only became apparent if he turned his head towards them. It was as if his appearance held as many secrets as his silence did.
The ink would be the second thing noticed when his gaze turned, as his deep purple irises commanded the attention first. Lightning noted that if she were the kind of person to believe in omens, his eyes looked like a darkening storm. She shifted around in her seat uncomfortably, unable to shake the feeling that they were flying into one.
"Did any of the Yun survive?" Fang asked hesitantly from her place by Lightning's side. Khosrow nodded and smiled, the first genuine happy expression since their meeting.
"Aye, the Yun survived, though their numbers are few. Many amalgamated into the newer clans once Cal'Mah was settled. Many decided to cast off the old names when we settled in the west. A means of starting over, I suppose. The other places, Riaan... Vonun… They did not survive the civil wars that broke out in the wake of what happened back on Gran Pulse. Sadly we are all that remains from the initial migration to the west." She sighed, shaking her head at the reminder. Lucyn remained silent, his gaze shifting between the three women seated across from him, eyes repeatedly returning down to the linked hands between the Cocoonian and his old friend.
"What strange times I find myself in," he muttered to himself, but Fang caught every word and narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly what he was referring to, one of the last conversations they had was over her growing brutality in the war.
"People are allowed to change, Lucyn. To grow, to evolve, to move on and stop letting the past dictate our future. "When Vanille and I received our focus, to destroy Cocoon, I was happy." She paused, feeling Lightning's nails dig into her palm. "But if I had, I never would have met her. They were misled as much as we were. They were never going to attack us, it was all a manufactured effort from the Fal'Cie to provide a sacrifice. In their infinite wisdom, if you can call it that, they believed that if Cocoon was destroyed, enough lives would be taken to call back the Maker."
"So much senseless loss, at the whim of mad gods of old." Jano spoke quietly, though the weight of his few words practically crushed them. Khosrow nodded solemnly and brushed her long hair behind her shoulder as she stood in the small space. She turned with a smile and gestured to the two Pulsians to approach.
"Come, see what your descendants have built." She eyed the soldier sitting between them, looking so tense she was about to snap. "You too, Lightning." She relented, the first of what would hopefully be many offerings of peace and cooperation. The three stood and moved to the window and let out a collective gasp as the Pulsian ship descended through the clouds.
Cal'Mah was truly the jewel in the crown, a metropolis in the centre of a large island. The architecture of the buildings blended a mix of old and new worlds, seemingly more advanced than the ruins on Gran Pulse. As the small craft dipped lower and did a pass of the city, they could truly witness the clash of modernists and traditionalists, where the housing bled out to settlements closer to what they found in Oerba.
The towers and imposing spires of the central city loomed like great spears in the sky, daring any Fal'Cie to try and take their lands once more. They touched down at the apex of one such tower, on a small landing pad for delegates only. The guards were numerous as they stood with weapons raised at the ready when everyone steppes off the ship. Lightning was already going for her weapon when Khosrow placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "At ease, angry snake. Though I wouldn't mind putting you through your paces later on with reflexes like that." She quipped with a surprisingly playful smirk. It vanished as she turned to the guards, yelling at them to stand down. They moved through the small crowd of armed forces and other council staff, Lightning feeling the firm hand of the old Pulsian woman on her back at all times.
"Why the sudden change in approach to me?" She asked the warrior woman, looking for any thing out of the ordinary as they walked towards the entrance to the halls. Khosrow nodded towards Lucyn and Fang as they walked just ahead, Vanille staying just behind them.
"They may be tainted by the memories of the past, but I have no intention of repeating their mistakes. I am not stupid, child. I saw the many guns that airship had trained on us the minute we were within visual range. If you truly didn't want peace we would have been shot out of the sky before we even landed."
Lightning conceded the point with a genuine smile. Perhaps she could at least reason with this warrior woman. A strong arm was slung around her shoulder and she found herself being led away from the other two. "But there is another way to test your truth, your resolve. To see if you really believe in the words that leave your venomous mouth. Come," Khosrow said with a hearty smile, "we will settle matters the only way the likes of us know how." Lightning glared and began to panic as the others didn't notice the detour, too enraptured with the architecture to see them depart down another hallway.
With the contingent of guards flanking them, there was nowhere to escape. Lightning swallowed hard steeled herself for whatever ambush she was about to get dragged into. Great, ornate doors lay before them in the corridor they headed down, every step feeling like lead filling Lightning's boots. She kept looking behind her, hoping that Fang had gotten some sort of sixth sense and noticed she was missing. The doors swung open to reveal a wide, expansive room that only served to make her feel smaller than she already felt.
They descended the stairs to the main floor, and that's when it hit her. "This is an arena." She observed, still uncertain as to whether she should be relieved, or even more nervous. Lightning stared out into the empty hallway beyond the floor, her vision narrowing as the doors closed and locked her out of sight. The scraping sound of metal ground along the stone floor as Khosrow dragged her unsheathed greatsword lightly around her in an exaggerated fashion. She pointed the blade straight out, one-handed in an impressive show of strength and sneered at Lightning.
"Come, viper. Show me what you Cocoon dwellers are made of. I know you've been dying to unleash hell the moment we stepped foot on your ship."
"The architecture here is inspired, they really meant to rebuild the Pulsian empire all over again?" Vanille asked as she marvelled at the ornate steel moulded into statues of old warriors. They melded into the walls to make them look like they were bursting forth from history and she loved it.
"Indeed. I was found by the original pilgrims encased in crystal and brought here to be a relic, amongst the others in another hall. I woke about twenty years ago and it has been relieving to see our people strong and thriving away from Cocoon's meddling influence. But I understand there is a new… Chain of command in the nest these days, from what I can see."
Fang was silently taking it all in, positively overwhelmed with it all. Lucyn gave her a short smile and bumped her with his hip. "You think that's impressive? Wait until you see the main event." He whispered, taking Fang by the hand and dragging her ahead. They turned a corner and she nearly tripped over her own feet at the sight before them.
"Wow." Was all Vanille could manage, Fang could only gape. They stared up at the two larger-than-life statues of themselves that demanded all the attention in the hall. Strong, heroic poses, gold and stone decorating and highlighting the effigies.
"We'll need to update the plaque of course, seeing as you're both not dead but… It's impressive how well they got the likeness."
Fang whistled low, appreciative of the battle armour they'd sculpted her in. Dragoon armour was hard to come by during the war. She wondered if they'd gift her a set seeing as they saw fit to immortalise her and Vanille in such a way. She tilted her head to the side and smiled. "What do you think, Light? They get my likeness?" When there was no response she frowned, turning to find an empty hallway behind her. "Light? Where'd she go? Where's Khosrow and the other guards?"
"Oh, she was taken down another hall earlier on, I thought you noticed her departure." Lucyn replied, his disdain barely masked. Fang paled and smacked him on the shoulder.
"You damn well know I didn't! Where was she taken?" Fang demanded, her heart rate increasing with every second he didn't answer. When he'd gestured to the right, further down the hall she took off at a sprint, ignoring his calls to stop. Fang practically barrelled into a guard at an intersection, gripping him tightly by the armour. "Where is the other woman we arrived with?" She snarled, her aggression increasing by the breath.
"T-The General took her down to the arena, Yun Fang." He stammered, gesturing behind him. Fang took off again, Vanille and Lucyn chasing close behind. She ignored the guards at the entrance and shoulder charged it, almost flying the massive doors from their hinges from the sheer force.
Khosrow and the Lightning were squaring off in the middle of the open floor, breathing heavily and both sporting their fair share of injuries. Blood dripped from Lightning's face and arm, while Khosrow's injuries looked just as brutal.
"Light!" Fang yelled out, coming to a stop beside the soldier. Lightning looked startled before settling back into a lazy grin.
"About time… You figured out… I was gone… Asshole…" She panted, Khosrow barking out laughter and striding over to the two women. Fang stood in front of her partner with a warning growl which was dutifully unheeded by the General. The slide of metal meeting leather hissed in their ears as Khosrow sheathed her blade and nudged Fang out of the way.
"Now this, this is a viper I like. Such fire! Such spirit. If Cocoon had fought like her in the war there wouldn't have been any of us left!" The old Pulsian cheered, pulling on Lightning's shoulders and dragging her into a hug. "You chose well, Yun. This one could have well been in your clan with the way she fights. It's beautiful. Like her entire being is a blade. I would very much like to see her on a hunt in the wilds, to see what happens when she is unleashed. I know she was holding back, I pity the enemies that cross her true strength."
Fang looked dumbfounded, like she'd missed every crucial detail since they left the airship because she was too busy staring at the decor. She stared incredulously at her partner, who looked like she'd just been caught robbing a bank. "Would someone please care to explain what the fuck is going on?" Fang snapped, suddenly weary of whatever she'd unwittingly walked in on.
Khosrow sighed and patted her cheek with no small amount of humour, all of which was utterly lost on the raging brunette at this point. "Calm yourself, child of Yun. I merely wanted to see how this one ticked. You learn more about an opponent on the battle field rather than around a negotiation table and I got to see her true heart while we sparred."
"Do those wounds look like sparring to you?" Fang seethed. Lightning stepped out from under the General's arm and moved over to her quickly before her partner's anger could further escalate. She cupped Fang's face and gave her cheek a gentle, reassuring kiss, gaining an appreciative smile from the warrior woman behind them.
"When did we ever go easy in our sparring matches, hm?" She asked, leaning back to start working on healing the wounds on her aching body. Khosrow's eyebrows raised at the sight of the magic, and she baulked when that same cure was directed at her. "Thank you, honoured Cal'Mah Zan Khosrow. It's been a while since I got to work like that. You are an admirable opponent."
Khosrow beamed at the appraisal. "And thank you for your viper magic. I was going to be recovering from some of those wounds for weeks," She paused, shaking her finger at the scowling faces of Fang and Lucyn. "See? Now that's how you do it, Gran Pulse style. Look at how much more relaxed the little angry snake is now? Now come, we shall partake in the other tradition to get our tongues wagging at the incessant diplomatic discussions."
Without knowing the intricacies of Pulsian customs, Lightning could already tell that whatever this "tradition" was would likely end with her having a raucous hangover by morning. She watched the General leave with a smile, before her expression fell at the glare she was receiving from Fang. She returned it with one of her own and folded her arms defensively. "Took you long enough." She clipped, her tone short and in no mood for any attitude from the brunette. "I'm sorry if my sudden departure took away from your day of discovery, Fang. But it's not like I was left with any choice when I was flanked by guards and led off before I could get your attention."
Fang simply pulled at Lightning's wrist and embraced her, pushing forward to kiss her. She could still taste the blood on Lightning's lips and it made her rage. "If she hurts you again, diplomacy be damned." She growled against the pinkette's lips, sliding her hands around Lightning's neck.
"It's alright, really. I'm ok, it seemed to break the tension, and I've somehow managed to earn a bit of respect from the others so it's not all bad."
"It is bad. You were taken and I didn't even… I didn't…" Fang let the sentence linger in the air, the burden of her ignorance heavy on her shoulders. No matter how much Lightning tried to brush it off, it still hurt that she was so blind to her partner's absence. Fang felt her face cupped and her lips kissed, more gently this time.
"Fang, don't beat yourself up about it. I think it needed to happen to… Open the lines of communication, as it were. At least we know I'm in Khosrow's good books now, right?"
The resigned sigh that escaped from Fang echoed around the room as she pressed her forehead against Lightning's. "All right, all right. Now let's go see about this other tradition that I assume involves us all getting shit-face drunk."
They exited the hall, neither aware of Lucyn's glare on them the entire time.