...Hi. So, how long has it been? Six months? Damn. I really suck at this whole 'update thing', don't I? I don't even have a proper excuse, either! I guess I just fell out of love with Final Fantasy and then got re-obsessed with it :P Damn you, one track mind!
*Raises glass* Here's to hoping I don't do it again!
-BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!-
I forgot a disclaimer in the other chapters so...yeah. I don't own this wonderfully awesome game or anything related to it. If I did own it, Flight would be cannon and Verah would play a part because Snow wouldn't exist. (Sorry, I just don't really like the guy that much. Been reading too much stories that bash Snow, I suppose.)
This story is also un-beta'd, so all mistakes are my own. Hopefully there aren't too much :P
Lightning awoke on the beautiful beaches of Bodhum, the soft hum of bells still reverberating in her ears. She was laying down on her stomach on the dock that stretched out over the ocean, slightly damp from the recent tides.
Lightning raised herself off of the wet docks, her back and neck muscles protesting loudly from lying on the hard wooden surface. She dusted off the sand that clung to her thighs and vest, and rubbed her eyes.
It was late in the evening, if the dimming light from the Fal'cie Phoenix was any indicator. The remaining rays of light cast an eerie glow across the water, causing it to sparkle brightly. Lightning turned from the shimmering sea, expecting to see groups of people gathered on the beach to enjoy the beautiful evening.
She didn't.
Instead, the beaches were completely deserted, the only sounds coming from the sea gently lapping at the shores. Even Lebreau's bar was empty, not one drunken NORA member in view. The sight was very unfamiliar; even in the early hours of the morning the bar would be teeming with life, the sounds of blasting music and alcohol induced brawls reaching even Lightning and Serah's house.
The bar was cloaked in shadow, the inside of the building untouched by the Fal'cie's glow. Despite this, Lightning felt a strange, unexplainable pull towards the bar. Even when awake, she didn't feel the slimmest desire to even be within a mile radius to the place, only doing so when dragged there by Serah. Even so, Lightning was powerless as her legs guided her towards the building, feeling as though she was on auto pilot. She left the calming, cool mist of the ocean spray and followed the pull to the alcohol doused building.
Getting closer to her destination, the sudden ringing of bells broke her from her trance. They were everywhere and nowhere at the same time; she couldn't see them, and yet they echoed so loudly that Lightning had to forcefully cover her ears with her hands. Lightning ran inside the bar, desperate to escape the noise. She fell to her knees as the bells grew in volume, almost becoming unbearable until-
They stopped.
Eyes still tightly wound shut, Lightning shakily stood to her feet. Opening her eyes, she had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't going insane. Because surely, this couldn't be Serah standing in front of her?
But it was, there was no mistaking it. It was definitely Serah, her blue eyes, shorter stature and hair worn in a side ponytail by the hair tie bought for her by their mother. She was still wearing the same serene, smiling face she wore when she was crystallized. This thought caused Lightning to pause. Serah was crystallized; there was no way this was really her, as much as Lightning wanted it to be. It was just another trick from her subconscious trying fill the hole that Serah had left behind.
Sensing Lightning's distress, Serah stepped forward, while Lightning stepped back, the smile falling from the younger sibling's face. Serah held her hands out in a non-threatening gesture.
"Claire..." Serah whispered, the words carrying over to Lightning as clear as if she had shouted them.
Lightning was well acquainted with nightmares. They became a regular appearance after her father died, and only intensified after her mother died and she had to join the Guardian Corps at 15 to take care of Serah. This nightmare however was intensely personal and she was almost angry at herself for conjuring it.
Lightning didn't know what to feel when her sister opened her arms to welcome her into an embrace. She thought that maybe this Serah would just disappear, and she would be left alone again. However, as she stepped into Serah's arms, she was slightly surprised when Serah didn't disappear, but threw her arms around Lightning's neck and practically choked her to death with a fierce hug. Serah buried her face in Lightning's neck, and Lightning quickly felt the dampness of her sister's tears on her skin and overcoat.
"You always were a hugger." Lightning said, breaking the silence. Head still buried in Serah's hair which was so similar to her own, she heard Serah give a shaky laugh.
"I missed to so much!" Serah replied, never loosening her iron grip on Lightning's neck.
"Serah...I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you." Lightning replied.
"Oh Claire..." Serah sighed. "You know I could never blame you. It was my fault anyway, I chose to go on the vestige." Lightning shook her head, and held Serah out at arm's length.
"I missed you too, Serah. You have no idea how-" Lightning broke off mid sentence, suddenly feeling ridiculous. This was not real. It may look like Serah, It may act like Serah but It wasn't her. It could never be her.
As if reading Lightning's thoughts, Serah smiled sadly. "Can't you just let yourself be happy for once?" She whispered. Lightning was about to reply, but was interrupted by the dreaded ringing of bells, their eerie echoes carrying across the beach and to her ears. Serah then disappeared, leaving Lightning alone again, dreading what was about to happen next.
A searing pain suddenly overcame her, causing her to clutch her head in her hands. The pain started deep within her mind, in a place she couldn't reach no matter how hard she tried. It spread, first through her arms and then traveled lower, passing through her abdomen and ending at her legs. Her body felt like it was on fire, the flame flowing through her veins, seeming to burn everything in it's path, until it suddenly stopped, leaving Lightning gasping for breath. She raised her head, and looked at herself through the glass of a nearby window. What she saw in the reflection was not the clear blue eyes she expected, but instead, was the eyeless face of a L'cie turned C'ieth.
Fang was forcefully roused from her slumber by someone muttering in their sleep. Looking outside of the cave entrance, she saw that the sun had yet to rise. Fang rolled over, determine to get some more sweet shut eye, and nearly screamed out loud when she came face to face with the source of the muttering.
Lightning's body was directly behind hers, eyebrows furrowed adorably, still sound asleep. Fang could see that she was shivering from the cool, early morning chill.
'Awww...must've gotten cold in the night and crawled over here.' Fang mused, looking over at the fire which had long since burned out.
"No...impossible...focus...mmpphhmm..." Fang's eyes went back to Lightning, who's head was now rolling side to side. She then rolled over, causing her arm to drape over Fang's middle. Liking the new source of heat, she snuggled up closer to Fang and trapped her in an iron grip.
'So you're a cuddler, eh?' Fang smirked, and then frowned when she realized she was probably going to get punched in the face if Lightning woke up in their current position. As carefully as she could, Fang grabbed Lightning's arm and pulled, but to no avail. The woman had a grip like an anaconda.
'Plan B..' Sitting up as much as she could in the other woman's hold, Fang leaned over Lightning's slumbering form, and lightly shook her.
"Come on, sunshine. Wakey wak-Aggghh!"
Lightning suddenly shot up from the ground, catching the Pulsian off guard and causing their heads to collide. Only a severe amount of self control gathered from serving in the Guardian Corps kept Lightning from yelling in surprise from the collision. She looked up, meeting a pair of bright green orbs, which looked just as shocked as her own.
They stared at each other, Fang holding her nose and Lightning holding her forehead, until-
"What the hell was that, Fang?" Lightning exclaimed. The volume of her voice caused Snow to snore loudly, before turning over and swiftly falling back into a deep sleep. Fang found herself feeling slightly envious of the large oaf, and then rubbed her eyes, which had embarrassingly watered from the impact of Lightning's forehead.
"That was one hell of a nightmare you were havin', broke me from my beauty sleep. I woke you up out of the kindness of my heart, you should be thankin' me." Fang replied, signature smirk firmly in place. Her only response was a hard glare, which Lightning had been fixing on her since the beginning of Fang's little monologue.
"Though I suppose I should apologize for the...*ahem* rude awakenin'."
"It's fine." Lightning returned coldly, the manner in which the words were delivered making Fang's smirk falter slightly.
"You know..." Fang started, punch in the face be damned, "I never did take you for much of a cuddler. But I guess you learn somethin' knew everyday, hey?" Fang grinned. Lightning's eyes widened, taking in the small amount of space that was between the two of them, even after their little accident.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Fang only smiled deviously, making Lightning feel like she had just walked into some sort of trap.
"Oh reeeaaally, because we were gettin' pretty cozy just a few minutes back. You do have quite the grip, you know." While Fang was talking, Lightning just stared at her in horror. She was well aware of her cuddling problem. She used to squeeze Serah half to death in the middle of the night when they were little. What she was trying to figure out was how she got all the way over to fang in the middle of the night while she was sleeping, when the whole point of sleeping away from Fang was to keep her distance.
Even my subconscious hates me, Lightning thought to herself.
"Mumbled in your sleep a bit, too." Fang added. At Lightning's wide eyes, she quickly added "It was nothing, really! I couldn't really make out what you were saying, anyway..."
An annoyed voice coming from somewhere in the corner of the cave caused Lightning and Fang to look over. "Would you shut up over there? I'm trying to sleep-" Hope's eyes widened when he caught Lightning glaring at him, "I-I mean uh...y-you know...good morning?" Fang snorted causing Hope to redden.
"Tch. Wake up Snow, will you? We should head out soon." Lightning replied. Hope, still red, rolled over and shoved Snow's shoulder. Snow's eyes opened and he blinked, his vision returning to reveal a tired looking Hope.
"Wha-oh! Hey kid!" Snow greeted stretching his massive arms over his head. Hope rolled his eyes and stood up, yawning. Vanille came around a few seconds later, Snow's loud greeting waking her up.
"Aaaah!" She sighed. She then got up and stumbled over to a still sleeping Sazh.
"Wake up, pops! Morning's here!" She exclaimed kneeling down to shake Sazh's shoulders. Sazh groaned.
"Not so loud...ugh...never sleeping on the ground again...back hurts...ow.." Vanille giggled and helped Sazh stand to his feet. He swayed for a bit, before stretching, his back cracking painfully.
The sun had finally started to rise, it's rays reaching just inside of the cave, casting shadows everywhere. The grass and plants outside sparkled in the sunlight, the heavy rain from the night before still littering the ground.
"Lets get the hell out of here, I've had enough of his cave." Lightning muttered, standing to her feet and dusting herself off.
Just wait until you get to Mah'habara...Fang thought, snickering to herself.
The group got up to leave the cave, Sazh bringin up the rear with Snow, complaining about his bad back.
Fang walked behind Lightning with Vanille, who would occasionally stop and smell the flowers scattered throughout the steppe. She grinned when Vanille picked a particularly large flower, and held it up to her face, the flower covering the whole of her head.
"Aaaah, this smells soooo good! Here, you smell it Fang!" Vanille shoved the flower in Fang's face, waving it back and forth excitedly. Fang took one big, long, whiff of the flower and was surprised when a strong, perfume like scent burned her nostrils.
"Oh yeah...very...nice" Fang replied, coughing. Vanille suddenly frowned, looking like a kicked puppy.
"You don't...like my flower?" She whispered, her bottom lip jutting out into an adorable pout. Fang almost felt like cooing at the expression, but quickly composed herself.
"Well it's very pretty, I just-"
"Well, we'll just have to see what Lightning thinks about it!" Vanille declared with finality, stomping up to Lightning's side, while Fang watched with amusement. Lightning looked down at the shorter girl disinterestedly, noticeable quickening her pace.
"Lightning, you like my flower, right?" Vanille asked. Lightning looked back down at the shorter girl, her eyes shining up at her expectantly. Lightning sighed and looked at the flower, and noticed that it was actually quite beautiful. The outside petals were curved in upward slopes, which smoothed out until they slightly curled at the end. The outside was a deep blue, with black spots scattered across it, and the inside was a nice, lime green.
"Here!" Vanille exclaimed, placing the stem in Lightning's hand and curling her fingers around it. Lightning stared at the flower, unsure of what to do with it, until Vanille sighed, exasperated.
"Well, don't just look at it! Smell it!" Vanille suddenly grinned, prompting Lightning to wonder if the girl was bi-polar. She raised the large flower to her face and lightly sniffed, the strong perfumey scent invading her nose.
"Weeeell?" Vanille asked, taking her beloved flower from Lightning's hand. Lightning noted with a hint of irritation that the whole party had gone quiet and was now awaiting her response.
"It's...pretty, but the smell is way too strong." Lightning nodded to herself, deciding the response was sufficient. Vanille went quiet for a moment, before her face broke into a wide grin.
"Good enough! See Fang, even Lightning likes my flower!" Vanille walked back to Fang's side, her nose turned up in the air.
Snow started snickering next to Sazh, who's nose was wrinkling due to the soft wind blowing the flower's scent into his face.
"Never thought she'd describe something as pretty, hehehe." Lightning was about to respond with a nice punch in the arm, before Hope's voice caught her attention.
"Uh oh..."
Lightning turned in the direction Hope was looking, and groaned upon noticing their basecamp was completely destroyed. The heavy rain from the night before had caused a mudslide from a nearby hill, coating the area around it in the mushy substance. Atop of that, the rain had created a nice, large puddle in the middle, deep enough to reach her knees, she guessed.
"Well, there's 3000 gil down the drain..." Vanille murmured, holding up the shredded tents, which looked like they had been attacked by some sort of animal.
Lightning truly felt like hitting something. She considered simply turning around and punching Snow, but decided against it. They needed to focus on finding a new place to spend the night. Lightning looked around at the other party members, who all looked tired with the exception of Vanille. Lightning swore that girl was just filled to the brim with energy.
Fang walked up beside her and casually swung her arm around her shoulders, bringing Lightning closer to her and squishing her into her side.
"Better get looking for a new resting area, eh Lightnin'?" She asked, ignoring Lightning's fruitless struggles. Lightning took a different approach, twisting out of Fang's grasp and ducking under her arm.
"Obviously." she grumbled, starting off towards the nearest hill that wasn't affected by the mudslide.
"Have fun Fang..." Vanille drawled, a knowing smile on her face. Fang stared at her for a moment, before shaking her head and running to catch up with the soldier.
"Hey, what about us?" Hope shouted after them. Vanille ran over to him and took his hand, pulling him along towards a flowerbed in the distance.
"Don't worry, Hope! We'll find something to do!" Hope blushed and allowed Vanille to drag him along, leaving the muddy campsite long forgotten.
Fang sighed as she watched Lightning tread through the long grass ahead of her, hips swinging and back ramrod straight. Neither of them had said a single word to the other since they departed from the rest of the group, and Fang was beginning to feel awkward. She wanted to spend time with Lightning, yeah, but she had no idea what to say without sounding stupid. They had yet to come across any Gran Pulse wildlife, which was slightly surprising because the Steppe was always crawling with them. There were a few large Adamantoises in the distance, but neither of the two woman had any desire to engage them. They would probably just end up stomped on, and then what use would they be?
Lightning, however, was enjoying the silence. She wasn't a talkative person by any means. She usually tried to avoid any conversation altogether, unless it was about something important. She had no desire to talk to Fang. Nope, no desire at all. Zip. Zero. She didn't want to hear that accent that always made it sound like she was amused with something, or that teasing way Fang would talk to her, as if she were a toy Fang was playing with. And she especially didn't-
WARK!
The hell? Lightning thought, looking around wildly for the source of the noise.
Cooc cooc! Kweh! WARK!
Fang however, grinned and raised two fingers to her mouth, letting out a loud whistle.
Lightning stared, wide eyed, as 3 chocobos bounded over a large hill near them, nearly running them over. Lightning assumed it was a family, as one was very small, not quite as small as Sazh's chocobo, but still small enough to sit in your hand. The other was normal sized, just a tiny bit taller than she was. The third one was...massive. It had to be at least a few feet taller than Snow. At least.Fang whistled in appreciation.
"Well would you look at this beauty right here!" She exclaimed, walking over to the behemoth chocobo and patting it's back. Lightning was a little shocked to see her doing that, assuming that all Pulse wildlife were bloodthirsty beasts. However, it was proven quite the opposite as the chocobo made a purring sound in contentment, lowering it's large head for Fang to scratch, leaving it's soft feathers in a messy disarray.
"I think we may have just found our form of transportation!" Fang grinned. Lightning however, looked a tad bit annoyed.
"You know, we probably could have just used our eidolons to travel? I mean, you could have even flown us on Bahamut.."
"Aaah, but then, you wouldn't have gotten the full Pulsian experience!"
"Worst reason ever, Fang."
Fang just chuckled. Lightning rolled her eyes and walked over to the large chocobo, eyeing it warily. It looked right back at her, it's large, baby blue eyes sparkling with interest. It cocked it's head to the side and studied her, before lowering it's head to sniff her hair. It cooed quietly, before it's big head suddenly nudged Lightning's sighed, causing her to stumble. Her hand instinctively went to her gunblade, but she paused. The chocobo had started nuzzling her neck, it's downy-soft feathers tickling her face. It proceeded to nudge Lightning repeatedly, making short clicking noises in the back of it's throat.
"It's not goin' to stop if you don't pet it ya know." Fang commented, watching the scene with barely veiled amusement.
Lightning sent a weak glare her way, before bringing her hand up and patting it's head lightly. Waaaaaark, it wailed, pushing it's head up into Lightning's palm. Lightning's face softened, and she brought both of her hands up to it's head, leaving the chocobo's feathers thoroughly mussed.
"He likes you, doesn't he? Guess you get to ride 'im!" Fang said enthusiastically. Lightning's eyes widened.
I am not riding a massive chocobo. No. Absolutely not. There is nothing she could possibly do to make me get on that thing.
"See, Lightnin'? You're gettin' it!" Fang yelled. Lightning glared moodily from her place on the large bird.
How did this happen?
Lightning looked down at the ground from her surprisingly comfy seat. It looked much farther down than she thought it would. But the grass was thick, and should she fall, her blow would be 100% cushioned.
I better not fall. If I fall, I swear, as Etro is my witness I would-
"We'll get nowhere at this rate. What do you say to goin' a little faster?" Fang asked, looking down at the mother chocobo she was seated on.
"Cooc cooc!"
"I'll take that as a yes!"
Wait, faster? Lightning thought with dread. You'd think that someone who'd driven Velocycles at hundreds of miles an hour would have no problem controlling an animal. Oh no. No no no no no. It was nothing like that at all. This animal had no control whatsoever. When she would try and make it go left, it would go right. When she wanted it to slow down, it would speed up. When she tried to make it go faster, it would stop completely. If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn that Snow had died and been re-incarnated as a chocobo.
Fang's chocobo zoomed passed them at that moment with the baby chocobo following far behind her, and Lightning tried to watch Fang's movements to see what she was doing to make it speed up. Lightning, distracted, didn't notice Fang put her fingers to her mouth for another loud whistle. When she did realize it however, she was far too late.
At Fang's call, Lightning's chocobo immediately looked up, and started dashing off towards Fang at a breakneck speed. Lightning, being unprepared for the sudden movement, tumbled off of the chocobos back and landed unceremoniously on the ground in a heap. She kept her eyes closed, and prayed to whatever entity out there that Fang hadn't seen her.
Apparently, her prayers went unanswered.
Because there was Fang, up on her chocobo, staring down at her with utter shock. At first, it appeared that she wouldn't react. But then her lips started twitching, which evolved into a grin, which was followed by snickers that she tried to hide, until her body started shaking with laughter and she couldn't hold it in anymore. She exploded into a fit of giggles, which wracked her body so hard she literally fell off of her chocobo and had to hold her stomach.
"But you- and the chocobo- your face! HAHAHAHA!"
All feelings of embarrassment and anger left Lightning as she watched Fang's face redden with laughter. The sight was truly ridiculous. A massive chocobo with it's feathers sticking up and out in every direction, an out of breath and red Fang, a baby chocobo flapping it's little wings in an effort to catch up, and a dirty, fallen on the ground Lightning. Lightning couldn't stop the tiny smile that fought it's way onto her face. She felt an odd sense of achievement at making Fang laugh, even if it was at the cost of her pride.
Fang finally calmed down, and wiped tears from her eyes. Lightning, fully aware that she was smiling, turned away and cleared her throat, before standing up and attempting to dust herself off.
"...Maybe you should ride with me on the big guy this time, yeah?" Fang asked, grinning so wide that her nose was wrinkling.
"Good luck, that thing doesn't know which way is up." Lightning grumbled. At her reply, the chocobo warked indignantly.
Fang pulled herself up onto the animal, careful not to rip out any of it's feathers. Lightning followed her shortly thereafter, settling herself onto it's fluffy back.
"Kweh!"
The baby chocobo fluttered past them, and landed gracefully on it's mother's head.
"Hang on, it's about to get bumpy!" Fang called back to Lightning.
"Hold on to wh-" Lightning was cut off when Fang suddenly spurned the chocobo forwards, and it dashed off, it's powerful legs bouncing off the ground and propelling them forward at amazing speed for something so big. Lightning was forced to make a quick grab for Fang's waist, narrowly avoiding another embarrassing fall. Lightning looked around them, the beautiful scenery passing them by, the green areas giving way to a beautiful stream, which glittered like diamonds in the sunlight. About a quarter mile past it was a good sized clearing, surrounded by trees with various rocks and logs scattered about. Fang slowed the chocobo to a complete stop. Noticing that she still had her arms locked around Fang's waist in a death grip, Lightning retracted her arms as if Fang's stomach was on fire.
"Guess we found our new temporary home, yeah?"
It was nighttime. The Pulsian sun had long since set and the cool, nighttime chill Lightning had come to hate had started to settle in. The band of L'cie had arrived just a few hours before, after finding a herd of chocobos that the rest of the group had used to ride. The large chocobo and it's family joined the herd, leaving the group alone once more. Lightning was surprised to learn that she missed the big, stupid thing.
Sazh, Snow, and Hope were all asleep, the grassy ground of their new campsite a welcome change from the dirty one they had been used to. Lightning had taken to keeping watch like she usually did, unsure of where Fang and Vanille were. She guessed that they were somewhere further into the trees, because she could hear angry whispers and occasional rustling of plants which indicated footsteps.
Lightning was sitting away from the clearing, on top of a large boulder which was embedded in the grassy plains of Pulse. The moon was especially bright, it's light decorating the ground with a silvery glow. She stared up at cocoon from her perch on the rock, her eyes distant. She wanted to know what was going on up there. She imagined that it was on the verge of chaos, what with the sudden appearance of Pulse L'cie.
What was particularly hurtful though, was Yaag Rosch attempting to execute them simply because they had a fate that was forced upon them. He was one of her old instructors, someone she trusted, who she looked up to. Seeing guns pointed at her head at his command was...extremely unsettling. He knew her, he knew that she would never attempt to harm Cocoon, didn't he? Lightning shook her head; her thoughts were quickly turning naive.
A rustling of branches not too far from Lightning's spot prompted her to turn her head to look. A distraught looking Fang entered the area, not seeming to notice Lightning's presence. Fang walked right by her, fangs clenched and head tilted downwards.
"Ahem." Fang spun around, ready to grab her lance before relaxing upon noticing Lightning on the rock.
"A little jumpy today, are we?" Lightning asked, leveling Fang with a neutral stare.
"Heh, guess so.." Fang forced a chuckle. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her voice husky, as if she was on the verge of tears. Lightning's eyes widened in concern. This was the first time she had seen Fang look so...un-fang like.
"...Is something the matter?" Lightning asked, hoping the answer was no, even though she knew there was something going on. She was never good in these types of situations.
"Nothin'." Fang answered. Lightning slid off of the boulder, now a few meters away from where Fang was standing. She gave Fang a look as if to say: 'do you think I'm an idiot?'
Fang sighed and put both arms behind her head, her body tense.
"Vanille and I had an argument."
Lightning wasn't surprised. She knew they were having some sort of disagreement, if the angry whispering she heard a few minutes before was any indication. Why would that cause Fang to look so unhappy?
"Just an argument?" Lightning asked. Fang's arms fell to her sides, and she sat down on the ground with her back against the boulder. Her posture quickly slumped.
"No...no, it was a fight. A big one." Fang replied. Lightning became confused. Fang and Vanille had looked so happy, before they had gotten here. In fact, they always seemed to be happy. Still enjoying the high of finally finding each other, she 's eyes widened when Fang asked an unexpected question.
"Do you ever think about what you will do, when Serah leaves, and you're completely alone?"
Lightning glared at her sharply. Of course she had thought about it. After finally embracing the idea (or fact) that Serah was going to come back, she knew she would have to accept that Serah and Snow were engaged, and Serah would eventually find her own home with her husband to be. The idea of being alone terrified her, but she knew very well that she wasn't able to changed Serah's mind. She had already tried countless times.
"That's none of your busn-"
"Please. Just answer me, Light?" Lightning wondered where the pleading tone of Fang's had come from, and when the hell she had permitted Fang to call her 'Light'. She looked into Fang's eyes to answer and almost gasped at the pain she saw there. She suddenly felt like yelling at Fang, and ordering her to revert back to her happy, sarcastic, slightly perverted self instead of this broken woman in front of her.
"...No, I haven't really thought about it." Fang nodded, expecting the answer.
"I have. With Vanille, I mean."
"What do you mean? Why would Vanille leave?" Fang smiled sadly.
"...That's sort of what the fight was about." Lightning stared at her, silently urging her to continue.
"When we were younger, she would always stare up at Cocoon. I thought it was just because she thought it was beautiful. I never thought she'd actually want to live there..." Lightning's mouth formed an 'oh' of understanding.
"She never stopped goin' on and on about how much she loved it when her and the old man were up there. How much she'd want to live somewhere like that, where there were no worries, where everythin' was given to you, were you were practically pampered..." Fang spat the word as if it were a bad taste in her mouth.
"I can't do that, Light. This is my home. I just got back! Leavin' it seems impossible now!" Fang gritted her teeth.
"I've always strived to give Vanille what she wants. She means everythin' to me- " Lightning decided to ignore the small pang of jealously that ran through her- "but this is one thing that I can't give her. If I don't, I'll be alone, and so will Vanille. And if I do, I'll be unhappy, which would make Vanille unhappy." Fang buried her head in her hands.
"What am I supposed to do? How do I fix this?" She whispered. Lightning hesitantly sat down beside her before answering.
"...Well, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't." Lightning mentally smacked herself. Was that the best she could come up with?
"You got that right." Fang answered. Lightning wracked her brain for some sort of response that wouldn't make Fang feel worse. She remembered when she was in a similar situation, with Serah. She always wanted what was best for her sister, and firmly believed that it wasn't Snow. She knew that keeping Serah from seeing him would make her depressed, but make Lightning feel better at the same time. She knew that Snow wasn't a bad guy, but it wasn't that which made her angry. He was taking her sister away from her, her only family left, the person that she had cared for for 6 years. But Fang's situation was different, she had no one to blame.
Making up her mind, Lightning opened her mouth to respond.
"Sometimes...decisions like that don't have an outcome you like, no matter what you choose to do. You need to decide what's best for everyone, not what you want to happen. If you do that, it ends up hurting everyone involved...and wouldn't be worth it. And besides, you don't have to decide now. Take some time to think it over."
Fang looked over at her, surprised.
"I guess. We still have a world to save, don't we?" Fang replied, a genuine smile on her face. Lightning noticed a girly feeling bubble up inside her at the fact that she was the one to make Fang feel better.
"Guess we should probably get some sleep now, don't you?" Fang asked. Lightning shook her head.
"I could never get back to sleep now."
"Well then partner, there's no fun in sitting here, is there?" Fang picked herself up off of the ground, and offered Lightning a hand. Lightning took it, and Fang pulled her up off of the ground as if she were a rag started off in the direction of a pack of slumbering gorgonopsids, with Lightning trailing not far behind.
As Fang charge into the gorgonospids with her spear raised, Lightning's last thought before joining the battle was how beautiful Fang looked in the moonlight.
*Peeks out from behind computer desk* Whew! Longest chapter so far! :D I hope it wasn't too bad. I know there isn't much battles in this story but there will be... don't you worry.
Also, I haven't gotten passed the Barthandelus battle aboard the Palamecia yet, so I haven't explored Gran Pulse with my own eyes. All my info is coming from Wikipedia and YouTube, so I'm sorry if some things happen when they're not supposed to or if some things already happened but I made it seem like they were just happening (If that makes any sense at all.)