A/N:
If you read Part I before the 2010.12.15, I suggest you go back and re-read it because I made changes to where I split the story. So the previous Part II is now added to Part I.
...basically if the first few sentences of this part seem to make no sense whatsoever, stop and go back to re-read part I.
Good? Good ^^
Sunshine and Rainbows - Part II
"No, this is going to be settled now." There was a finality in Vanille's voice that kept Fang rooted in place. It was a moment later that Fang noticed Vanille looking past her. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind she knew she'd regret following the smaller Gran Pulsian's gaze. But Fang had the reputation of acting before thinking. She turned and found herself staring into cerulean orbs.
"Oh, ya gotta be kidding me…"
Fang found herself facing none other than one Lightning Farron. With her arms folded over her chest, a look on her face that dared Fang to try and move her, the pinkette stood blocking the only real path back towards camp. For what seemed like hours, none of the three moved.
Fang's exasperation started to morph into a sort of desperation. A desperation to try and comprehend the current situation while keeping herself calm and in control. Calling forth what little emotional strength she had left for the night, she squared her shoulders, raised an eyebrow and smirked at the soldier.
"What is this, an intervention or something?" She still struggled to keep her voice from shaking—from revealing the insurmountable confusion and unease she felt, "Didn't know you cared, Sunshine." Fang only barely managed to catch Lightning's flicker of a glance at Vanille before the cold, steely orbs of crystal blue returned to her own.
Fang felt a wave of relief sweep across her as she saw she'd managed to crack the icy glare Lightning had been sporting. The ex-sergeant's shoulders slumped slightly, her eyes fell to the ground and her lips formed a frown. With a soft sigh and shake of her head, Lighting's eyes darted upward once more, this time to look past the Gran Pulsian warrior and at Vanille—who Fang had noticed—had been eerily quiet.
"This was a bad idea." The fact that Lighting had all but murmured the words did not hide a tone of what almost sounded like hurt and disappointment to Fang. Hurt? Disappointment? What in all of Gran Pulse was going on? Fang didn't get a chance to ask before the pinkette started to turn on her heel to walk away. Finding her mouth move, Fang attempted to say something but was beaten to it.
"Light, we agreed." As if her nerves weren't jarred enough, the addition of Vanille's voice sent them into sensory overdrive. She felt the smaller Oerban leave her side, move over to the retreating soldier and grasp her arm, halting her abruptly, "We promised we'd try."
"Try?" Fang's voice cracked as she spoke softly the question her mind had screamed, "Try what? What's… going on?" Her eyes darted between Vanille and Lightning—who remained frozen in her tracks. Her body just as, if not more, rigid than Fang's. The Gran Pulsian warrior didn't know which bewildered her more: Lightning's bizarrely out-of-character actions up until that point; or the fact that Vanille, despite grabbing the taller woman without a second thought, had not been pushed, slapped, kicked or punched away—which honestly was the default response to and action such as the one she'd just performed.
Fang had never noticed Lightning say more than 5 words to Vanille through their journey together. And it hadn't been much different vice-versa. Honestly, Fang was silently grateful for this fact—particularly when she had started feeling more than friendly rivalry towards the Cocoon soldier. While she allowed herself to revel in the flirtatious exchanges between herself and Lighting, she wasn't completely ignorant of the pangs of guilt reminding her of her relationship with Vanille. With the two of them being as far from each other as possible, it allowed Fang to feel just a little less guilty about her unexpectedly intense attraction towards Lighting.
It was an attraction she couldn't explain any easier than her attraction to Vanille. Lightning had a cold, collected, no-nonsense personality that effortlessly clashed with Fang's. The soldier was just about everything the Gran Pulsian warrior was not—everything she tried not to be. Yet Fang had been unable to help herself from forcing Lightning's personality out into the open where they collided—verbally and physically.
And while vastly dissimilar to Fang, Lightning seemed to have even less in common with Vanille. But here and now, Fang watched as the taller of the two turned to face the other. Fang caught a silent exchange being passed between them and found her nerves, once again, on fire. And if that weren't enough, the warrior felt that she may as well have spontaneously combusted when both harlequin-green and cerulean blue eyes locked onto hers.
"Fang," Though said Gran Pulsian had been watching and waiting from any sort of action from either of the other women, Vanille's voice almost caused Fang to jump out of her skin, "Light and I had quite the… conversation the other day."
Mind misty and body strained, Fang found it incredibly difficult to actually process anything she was hearing. Conversation? What conversation? What did it have to do with anything? Why had the air suddenly gotten so hot? And why did Lightning look as uncomfortable as she did?
"Conversation?" Fang just about squeaked. It had gotten to the point where she could no longer control the quiver in her voice, "C-Conversation about what?" Seconds after voicing the question, Fang found herself contemplating whether or not she really wanted the answer—in fear of not being able to handle it.
After another gut-wrenching moment of silence, Lightning suddenly stumbled forward, pushed gently by the smaller Oerban. Fang watched as a flash of reflexive frustration crossed the soldier's face before she turned to Vanille to direct it at her. The Gran Pulsian saboteur merely motioned toward Fang with her chin.
"I think you should… enlighten her."
Bright blue met dark green again. Fang searched Lightning's eyes frantically for any insight as to what was going on. It proved futile since what she saw in the other woman's eyes wasn't anything she'd see before. There was no anger there, no battle-driven fire, no icy glare. The cerulean pools remained shining in the low light but there was a darkness behind them that seemed peculiarly familiar. A darkness that reminded her of…
Before Fang's subconscious could shift her gaze to the smaller woman, Lightning moved. Fang didn't even have time to react before she felt the soldier's hands against her jaw, hair against her forehead and lips against her own. Lips? Was Lighting-? As though linked directly, the thought was abruptly cut off when the pinkette pulled away, head turned away from Fang, her eyes hidden from view. Fang almost found herself pinching her arm she was in total disbelief of what had just happened. Had it just happened? Had Lightning just-
"Mmmm no Light, that's not quite right…" Once again Fang's thoughts were interrupted by the sing-song voice of the other Oerban who had taken the few steps to close the gap between herself and the soldier. Fang watched as Vanille pulled Lightning slowly to turn and face her, but all the while her eyes locked onto Fang's, "…I believe it went a little more like this." The young saboteur added in barely a whisper before finally breaking her gaze away from Fang, creeping up on her toes and capturing Lightning's lips with her own.
At that point, Fang decided she was most certainly dreaming. She gaped at the two women before her. Was Vanille kissing Lightning…? Is Lightning letting her? Did that mean their conversation…? Wait-was Lightning kissing back? Words failed her as Fang watched one of Vanille's hands entangle itself in soft pink locks and one of Lightning's snake it's way around the smaller woman's waist. Fang still hadn't managed to process anything by the time the two of them had pulled apart—Lightning slightly breathless and Vanille with a impish grin on her face.
As if trying to decipher the other two women's actions were impossible enough, Fang couldn't even make sense of her own reaction. Her nerves were completely on the fritz and her mind was racing with too many questions to even begin to think of possible answers. She swallowed thickly as she tried to calm the loud pounds of her heart that seemed to threaten to deafen her. She almost didn't hear Vanille lean forward and speak in a low voice, as if really only for Lightning to hear.
"What did I tell ya, Light?" The smallest of the three giggled, "Cute as a kitten."
Cute as a what-? Fang blinked at the words but had no time to process them before Lightning had moved again. Arms around Fang's neck this time, the soldier one again claimed the warrior's lips in another searing kiss. Perhaps it was the shock and disbelief that engulfed Fang the first time but this time she felt it. She felt it and kissed back.
Hot, passionate—fervent almost—nothing at all like she'd imagined from observing Lightning's icy personality. The haze that had previously rendered Fang unable to anything slowly dissipated, replaced by a uncontrollable heat that spread from the other woman into and through her own body. Lightning's fingers that tickled Fang's jaw were like flames licking at her skin, burning through to her heart and soul.
A different kind of pain hit her chest when Fang found herself struggling for air. Finally pulling away, the taller woman found herself practically gasping for air. Though the notion that she may have been dreaming still lingered at the back of Fang's mind, she found her thoughts surprisingly clear. She dared to let out a small moan through a satisfied smile as Lightning mimicked her finger's actions with her lips, trailing kisses along Fang's jaw and neck.
Being just aware enough to notice movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned to see her Gran Pulsian companion standing at her side, still grinning, watching the pinkette with playful amusement. A moment later, Harlequin-green eyes shifting to Fang. If it were anyone other than the Oerban warrior, the look on Vanille's face would have read as one of inquiring innocence. But Fang knew better. Much better.
Pulling away one of her arms that had somehow found their way to encircle Lightning's waist, Fang grabbed Vanille and tugged the her towards her. She did so firmly but gently as to not interrupt Lightning from her ministrations to her neck. And with a low, guttural growl at the saboteur's teasing yelp, Fang uttered the first words she'd spoken since her… 'enlightenment' and—as they may or may not acknowledge later—the last coherent words that would be spoken for the rest of the night.
"C'mere you…"
A/N:
*hides in a box of Styrofoam and tapes it closed from the inside*
don'thurtme don'thurtme don'thurtme don'thurtme don'thurtme
Good lord that still turned out waaaaay longer than I anticipated-
Mreeeeh *headdesk*
I have no idea what I was doing for this =_=;;
I had an idea and it just kinda... mutated on me
I wanted to have fun, okay!
Lemme alone!
*buries herself back in her box*