Under Kingsglaive Training

by denebtenoh

In order to fight a terrible destiny, Lightning is trying to become a Kingsglaive and has Nyx Ulric as her instructor. With the infamous temper these two have... whatever can go wrong?

13. The Past and the Future

UNDER KINGSGLAIVE TRAINING

Chapter 13

The Past and the Future

oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo

"And then, it was just the two of us, hiding behind the counter, while the Niflheim troops were pointing their guns to every place, their lanterns illuminating every corner, and I felt Luna holding my arm tightly, I think she actually hurt me, for how strong she was grasping me, but I was so worried about our enemies getting closer to our spot, I didn´t really pay much attention to that."

Serah´s eyes were glued to the man´s antics, elbows upon the coffee table and both palms supporting her chin, with a countenance of awe illuminating her beautiful features. Lightning rolled her eyes at the sight of her sister and the dramatic storyteller, and took a sip of her coffee, feigning nonchalance, but in truth paying full attention at what was being told.

"We used an explosion as a decoy and then, once they turned towards the commotion and away from us, we ran to the opposite side, finally able to reach the entrance door and got ourselves out of the building. Searching around, I found the path that would lead us towards Tenebra´s thick forest, and I knew it was our only chance of survival: Luna had already told me she and her brother always played there, thus knew many places we could hide from the Nifies; but right when we were about to reach it, General Glauca fell in front of us, blocking our path."

Serah gasped audibly. "Oh, no! poor you! After all you had gone through, he finally caught up to you! And then what happened?" the younger pinkette prompted her friend to continue, all too eager to hear more, while Lightning just huffed at Nyx´s dramatic movement of his hands to make more emphasis.

"He rose his blade and we interchanged a couple of blows; even though my kukris were small, you know I´m good at using them, so for a few minutes I was able to keep up with him." He winked at Serah, and she giggled but just barely, enthralled by his tale. "But the man has very well-honed skills, he´s expert in almost every fighting style, while I was just a couple of years from graduation, thus he managed to injure me in the leg. I fell, and he immediately directed his attack at Luna. But he didn´t count on my own determination, so I jumped towards her, putting my body in between them, and that´s how I got this scar," the Kingsglaive rose his T-shirt to show his belly, for emphasis, "his blade traversed me completely, and went out the other side. Want to see it?" He pulled his shirt up his shoulder to finish his tale.

"Yes!" screamed Serah, straightening her posture, all too eager to see the infamous scar. And maybe some more.

"No!" Protested Lightning while she rose from her seat, pulling the offending fabric down his waist. "No demonstrations in here! You´re in the presence of two well educated women, Nyx Ulric, and I´ve already seen enough! So, behave!"

Serah and Nyx pouted at Lightning´s scolding.

"You´re no fun." Serah put her chin on her palm once again, completely disappointed, but then, as if something had just clicked in her mind, she rose a delicate eyebrow. "You´ve… already seen enough? What do you mean, Light?"

Lightning´s cheeks colored tomato red at her sister´s words, realizing her own mistake, and she stammered. "N-nothing! It doesn´t mean anything!"

Nyx smirked at them, his cruel self finishing the blow. "She´s already seen the scar on my back." Lightning tried to punch Nyx in the gut, but he moved fast and she only managed to land a blow in his arm.

"You, traitorous moron!"

But Nyx didn´t look apologetic at all, and Serah´s evil smile grew wider at their interchange. "You mean to tell me that you´ve seen Nyx naked?"

"Oh please, Serah! I didn´t see the man naked!" The woman was beyond herself, her face completely red, while her sister laughed at her, Nyx trying his best to just chuckle. Lightning, in response, threw her arms up in the air. "That´s it! I really don´t need this… to be aggravated like this! I´m out of here!" The moment she turned around, Serah enveloped the small waist in her arms, keeping the tall pinkette in place, though she was still snickering.

"Okay! Okay! No more bullying the big sis! I´ll shut now but stay, please!"

Lightning huffed, still flustered. "You promise you´ll drop the subject?"

"For the time being, yes."

"For the…!?"

Serah looked up, her best puppy-dog´s eyes displayed upon her features. "Pleeeaasseee, Lightning… stay with me to hear the end of the taleeee."

Lightning huffed at that once more. "Fine, but no more bullying the big sis."

Lightning growled and disentangled herself from her sister, then dropped her enraged self upon the chair, arms and legs crossed to prove just how angry she felt. Serah, for her part, immediately returned to her place, taking the exact same posture she had been using the last hour, and directed his ocean-blue eyes towards the storyteller. "And then, what happened?"

Nyx only chuckled at the sibling´s antics, and kept telling the anecdote, as if nothing had happened. "Well, when he painfully, o so very painfully, retracted his blade, I fell backwards and Luna held me in her arms. At that moment I thought I could die a happy man, encased in the arms of such a beautiful creature as the Queen is, I even remember smiling at her, while she was crying, her tears falling on top of me." Lightning scoffed once more at the dramatic description, and Nyx smirked, very much satisfied at her reaction, but didn´t stopped his tale. "Then there was an explosion and a lot of commotion to the side. Last thing I saw was General Glauca raising his blade, as it collided against Cor´s powerful weapon. The rest is on the history books."

Serah straightened again and clapped her hands, Nyx bowing playfully at his audience. In spite of herself, Lightning couldn´t help but smile at them.

"Oh, Nyx! That was an awesome and terrifying adventure! It´s quite understandable that Luna would fall in love with you!"

"Yeah, and quite a shame the moron she fell for was just too idiotic to notice." Was Lightning´s harsh retort, remembering the scene she had witnessed those years ago.

"Hey!" the man immediately protested at her mistreatment. "How was I supposed to know a woman like her would fall for someone like me? I mean, she was a Princess, of royal blood, and I was just a commoner!"

But Lightning counterattacked, though her expression was almost boring. "You´re still a commoner. But you´re always bragging about how incredible you are, wouldn´t that misplaced pride of yours help you notice her feelings?"

The man pouted again at her words. "You´re a mean girl, Sparks, did you know that?"

"Yes." She sipped her coffee again, all too pleased with his statement.

He was about to retaliate, but Serah got up from her seat and hugged the man´s head against her breast, caressing his messy hair.

"Please, Sis, can´t you see how cute Nyx´s eyes look when he´s telling the story? You really won´t fall for this cute chin here?" The attention made Nyx uncomfortable, but at the same time, the little pinkette´s words made him chuckle, especially when he noticed they made Lightning uncomfortable too. He pouted as well and made his own version of a puppy-dog´s eyes. Lightning couldn´t help it as a snort escaped her.

"You´re treating the moron as if he was your pet. A very ugly pet, I might add."

"Oh, c´mon! You´re just jealous because you´re not as cute as him."

"Sure…" Fortunately for her, she didn´t need to elaborate her response further, since an incoming call on her cellphone interrupted their bickering. Excusing herself, the tall pinkette stood up and walked towards her bedroom, as a small smile searched her lips when she saw the name of the caller displayed on the screen.

"You have to give me good news, Prompto."

The man on the other line sighed heavily. "I´m really against the idea of making either Luna or Iggy angry again. But if you ask me, Luna is the most terrifying. My ears are still ringing at her latest berating."

Lightning chuckled at his antics. Yes, she had heard Lunafreya´s anger had reached high levels unbeknownst to them.

"I think you´re just overreacting."

"No, girl. You didn´t see her." He audibly shuddered. "She threatened my life, for Etro´s sake!"

The young woman took a glance at the kitchen, and left the door of her room ajar, lowering her voice. "Look, Prompto, don´t tell me you´ll chicken-out."

"Hey! You offend me, Light!"

"Well, I´m just saying what I´m sensing. I thought you were a brave and strong man."

"I am a brave and strong man! It´s just that, turns out I´m not a stupid man."

"I would never let anything happen to you and you know that, I merely need you to make sure the troops are there at the right time, and then be there for me, once everything is over, and that´ll be all."

"I´m taking Gladio with me."

She sighed, caressing her pink locks as a sign of tiredness. "Whatever you need, Sugarpie."

"And it might mean Noctis will come over too."

At that, she opened her eyes wide. "And how is that going to help us in keeping Iggy and Luna in the dark? She´ll immediately know about our little fieldtrip, endangering the whole mission. After Noctis finds out, Iggy will smell guilt and secrecy in his jacket and we´ll be screwed."

Prompto remained silent for a moment. "Too bad you think that low of him, missy, because… well… I already told Noctis…"

"Prompto…" The woman pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting to keep her frustration at bay.

"Wait! We can tell him his mission is to keep Luna and Iggy entertained and their noses away from us, right?"

She was about to berate him for his stupidity and naivety, but then thought against it. It didn´t sound like a bad idea, after all.

"Yes… he can do that. But do you think he´ll want to?"

The voice of the man on the other line revealed an evident smile.

"Don´t you worry, Light, I´ll make sure of that."

There was a knock on the entrance door, but Lightning ignored it. After all, Serah was in the kitchen, she could attend it.

"Then it´s a deal: you´ll manage to convince him of distracting both of our moms, and I´ll let you bring Gladio with us." the knocking at the door persisted. Lightning grunted but didn´t do anything. What was keeping Serah from attending it? "Don´t forget, you have to make sure to be there when I need you. At the exact time, sugarpie, not before, and please, oh please, not after."

Prompto´s voice still sounded hesitant. "Look, Lightning, I still have my doubts about this plan. It´s too risky and you know it."

The knocking became more insistent, and the young woman finally lost it. Opening the door a bit more, the tall pinkette yelled at the shorter one, exasperated. "Serah, what are you doing? Would you please see the door? I know you can hear it!"

There was a scraping of the chair upon the floor, and an audibly "you can hear it too" from the younger pinkette, but Serah did as she was asked anyway. Lightning continued her conversation.

"Look, Prompto, we´ve talked about this…"

"Yeah, we´ve talked about it many times, but… but you weren´t there to see you all bleeding out and dying on us! It was horrifying, I… I really don´t want to ever see that image again."

The pinkette rolled her eyes.

"I was there, Prompto, remember?"

"Yeah, well, you weren´t there seeing yourself, right? At those moments you didn´t even have your eyes open, but I can assure you, you almost died on us. Didn´t that make you scared?"

"OH MY GOD! LIGHTNING!"

Serah´s scream almost made her drop the phone, and the tall pinkette barely managed to say goodbye to Prompto, as she ran as quickly as she could from her room to the Livingroom to save her sister… only to find said sister suddenly throwing at her a full bag of confetti, while Crowe, Libertus and Nyx yelled an even louder "SURPRISE!" while carrying a big, white and delicious cake in between them.

"W-what?"

Nyx approached her and opened his arms wide at her, but she just gave a step away.

"Happy birthday Lightning!"

"You! Did you have this planned already?"

He chuckled at her accusing and put his palms forward. "I swear to Etro I didn´t… but if I knew earlier, I would´ve totally agreed to cooperate!"

"Then who…?" A delicate eyebrow rose when a smaller frame collapsed against her. "Serah? Really?"

Serah laughed at her, while the trio of Kingsglaives started singing the happy birthday song rather horribly.

"It´s your birthday, silly! Why do you look so surprised? Thought we would forget it?"

The taller pinkette sighed. "I really wish you could forget it, actually."

Serah winked at her. "I know, but you know I will never do such thing, because I´m here with you exactly for that: to remind you of the important things."

Lightning smiled at such words, and gave a small kiss on her sister´s head, because it was true. Serah had always been the anchor that would sustain her on her foot whenever things became grim.

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After a couple of hours of singing, dancing and laughing (to which even Lightning participated, much to Nyx´s and Serah´s pleasure), Nyx checked the hour and, realizing his shift was about to start, he stood up and gave his pleasantries.

"I didn´t know you had the night shift." Said Crowe, surprised at the news. Nyx sighed at her.

"No, I didn´t, but Pelna needed the change to see his daughter, and you know me: my heart melts with things like that. That´s why I came early today." He turned to see Lightning, an apology in his eyes. She didn´t say anything, not even reacted at this. Once Nyx had said goodbye to everyone, though, it was her turn to face the man, who immediately held his arms wide open in front of her, asking for a hug; she obviously rejected his embrace, as expected, but after that, the unexpected happened.

"Don't even think about it." She gave a step backward, one palm up, but a small smile on her face. "Don´t fret, though, I´ll walk you out."

Nyx, Serah, Crowe and Libertus opened their eyes wide at the same time, completely surprised at the unexpected invitation, the latter turning around their heads in a fast motion, almost having whiplash, while Nyx´s chest filled with pleasure at her unanticipated offering. "O-okay! Thank you, Sparks!"

Libertus rose from his spot to give his opinion, but a single glare from the tall pinkette refrained him, and the rest of her family, from commenting. Without exchange of words from any of the parts, both man and woman walked outside in silence, Nyx not knowing what to expect. In spite of his personality, he knew his words wouldn´t be received with pleasure, thus, doing the unexpected too, he decided that the smartest thing to do was to remain silent. Was she going to berate him? To punch him? Lightning´s features were completely expressionless, her eyes fixed on front, even after they had exited the building, so he couldn´t be sure. But, after a couple of steps on the street, Nyx´s patience had worn down, thus decided that, whatever was going to happen, better happen now.

"So, Sparks… did you like your surprise party?" the moment the words left his lips he knew he had made a huge mistake, so he flinched, readying himself for the punch, but it never came, and instead, Lightning huffed, a small smile gracing her lips when her baby blue eyes met his.

"I thought you shouldn´t feel happy about it, after all, you didn´t have anything to do with it. Or did you?"

He raised his palms in surrender.

"No, no! I swear! But as I told you, whatever Serah does to make you happy, she´ll always have my support." He said the last words with a wink, and felt elated to see Lightning´s smile growing wider. But then the smile faded, as she looked in front of them, her mind lost in thought once more. Her silenced worried him even more than any retaliation he could receive. They walked a few more steps in silence, until Nyx once again broke the stillness of the night with his deep voice.

"Sparks… I don´t know what´s going on with you, but… but you know you can trust me, right? With anything."

At his words, the woman stopped, sighed, and turned to face him, locking eyes with the silver hue of her former sensei, baby blue irises so full of determination that he almost faltered.

"Do you really mean those words? Or are you saying them just to get inside my pants?"

He faltered at that, his voice growing high pitched out of surprise at her choice of words. "W-what? No! no, Sparks! Why would you even say that?" She really thought so low of him? He should feel oh! So offended! But… Well… if he was truly honest with himself, she wasn´t that far from the ugly truth… Nyx harrumphed, trying to keep his thoughts in check, and tried once more. "You should never say such words to me, because you´ve offended me big time, Missy. I´ve always told you, I care about you a lot. Why do you trust Crowe and Libertus but not me?"

She huffed. "Because they were always around, and you didn´t."

It felt like a knife striking his heart, though, in a way, he couldn´t blame her. Still, he tried to justify himself. "Well, that´s unfair, because it wasn´t my fault to be away whenever you came back home, remember? I was on training at your homeland, which, by the way, I´m still in your debt."

She harrumphed. "You owe me nothing, you had truly gained your spot at the program. The only thing I did was pointing it out."

"Well, I owe you that much then."

There´s a pause, and then "If that is so, then I should ask you to pay me back for that."

Nyx hesitated. He really hadn't been expecting such a response.

"O-okay."

"But you have to understand one thing: neither Crowe, nor Libertus, and especially not Serah, can learn of what we´re going to do."

His smile became mischievous "Really? Oh, my! I wonder what do you want to do with me with such secrecy…" He wiggled his eyebrows and Lightning punched him in the belly.

"Stop messing around. I´m being serious. Can I count on you or not?"

Rubbing his stomach, he straightened up, all seriousness on his countenance. "I already accepted to help you out on your next mission, you don´t have to worry. Whatever you need, Sparks, I´m your man."

She smirked at him, and gave a step closer, placing her mouth next to his ear, her husky voice sending shivers down his spine.

"We´ll see about that…"

OoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo

It was already close to midnight when Lightning arrived at the abandoned facility, a darkened spot in the southern exit of Lucis, where there used to be a shoe fabric that had closed its activity almost twenty years ago. Now, in front of her, only stood the carcass of a ruined building close to demolition… or to fall down by itself out of oldness and abandonment. She turned off the car lights several meters before she finally came to a stop. In the middle of the darkness she could spot a tall silhouette that, by the way it moved, she immediately recognized it to belong to her former sensei: Nyx Ulric approached her car with his usual confident walk, and she could almost see his cocky smirk even when it was pitch black.

"Nice ride, Sparks. I see the Crownsguard is treating you well."

She descended from her vehicle, huffing already.

"Don´t be silly. I´m not here for you to compliment my car, but to accomplish a mission. And, for your information, this is not mine. For obvious reasons I rented one."

The man whistled. "Well, even if this is rental it´s still a beauty. But if it´s not yours, does it mean I get to drive it?"

Lightning went to the trunk and took out an automatic sniper rifle without losing her serious tone. "Obviously you don´t."

He shrugged. "Well, it was worth the shot."

"Has someone arrived?" She closed the trunk as quietly as she could.

"Not with me, but I think I saw a couple of people gathering right up front. Do you mind telling me who will come?"

She smirked cockily at him. "You´ll find out soon enough. Just follow me."

He shook his head, but complied and followed her. He knew he would never convince her to disclose any information if she didn´t want to. Sparks always had to win something. Anything. He smiled at seeing the proud and stubborn teenager still lingering in this tall and beautiful woman in front of him.

The darkness enveloped them whole, and though Nyx thanked Etro there was no moonlight that would ruin their stealth, he still wondered how in the world he let her convince him of such suicide mission. A pair of shadows in perfect sync, Lightning and Nyx walked along the wall of one of the buildings closest to the abandoned facility, until, right at the corner, they met with two of her Kingsglaives comrades: Yaneera and Goldmund. Lightning nodded at them as they approached.

"Sensei, Lightning." The two young Kingsglaives saluted his superior, and Nyx only nodded in response. But Lightning looked around them, searching for the third party.

"Where´s Barret?"

He came out from behind them, slapping roughly her and Nyx´s shoulder, the slap so strong that it resonated in the night and left her shoulder with a stinging sensation.

"What´s new, kiddos?"

In retaliation, Lightning pushed him harshly on the chest.

"Stop jesting around, Barret! This is serious!"

The man smirked, "I am being serious, Lightning. I´m just showing you how stealthy I can be. Did I surprise you?" But right before she could answer, Yaneera slapped the Kingsglaive on the head, scolding him.

"She said stop messing around, so please focus."

"Fine! Fine! I´m sorry!" He rubbed his abused head, not looking quite apologetic. "Geez! I just tried to lighten up the mood!"

Nyx chuckled at his antics. Though Barret had quite a poor sense of humor, he did understand his intentions.

"That´s okay, ladies. Don´t be so rough on him. The man has a point."

"No, he hasn´t." Lightning glared at them both. "We need to get serious. This mission is of uttermost importance for the King, and I don´t need to tell you just how dangerous it is as well."

Barret winked at her. "Copied that, Lightning. We´ll be dead serious from now on. Just give us the plan."

Lightning sighed and got in sergeant mode. "Then take out the blueprints I sent to your cellphones and gather around." As they all did what they were told, she produced a hologram in front of them, a detailed and luminescent reproduction of the warehouse´s blueprints. "In red it´s marked the target, right in the center of the warehouse. It´s the small room that used to harbor the director´s office. Our target will be located there."

"And who´s our target, if I might ask." Yareena questioned, voicing everybody´s thoughts. Lightning looked straight into her eyes.

"We´ll be facing general Glauca."

At the mention of the name, the youngster´s eyes opened wide in surprise, and, after a couple of seconds of silence, Barret almost yelled.

"Are you freaking insane? I thought we were coming to unravel Drauto´s traitorous´s plan!"

"And we are, my friend. We´ll witness general Glauca delivering some sensitive information for our country to a commander of one of his most powerful units, none other than Coronel Heinrich, commander of the Imperial Rifleman Unit of Niflheim."

"But… Lightning…" Yaneera interrupted her. "What if there´s just communication in between them? Though it´s important for us to stop them, their interchange won´t prove Drautos´s involvement in it."

"Yes, it will." Lightning smiled weirdly at her. "You´ll see…"

"I don´t know…" Barret sighed, caressing his jaw, thoughtful.

"I understand, Light." Goldmund intercepted the protest, his voice clear and loud. "I do understand that, the only way we´ll be convinced, is by seeing it firsthand, right? Is that what you´re trying to say?"

Lightning smiled at him. "Yes, Goldmund, exactly that. Thank you. Look guys, I´m sorry I can´t tell you much, but, as Goldmund put it perfectly, only if you see it firsthand, will you believe in my words. The only thing I´m asking you is to give me a chance. Can you do that?"

"You mean to trust a Crownsguard, whose only interest is to protect the King? Is that what you´re really asking of us?!" Barret almost spat his words.

Lightning locked eyes with him. "Not the King, Barret. The whole of Eos. The King´s survival is necessary for all Eos to survive."

"Can you prove that?" This time it was Yaneera the one to protest.

Lightning paused and then looked at Nyx enigmatically. "In a few days, I will."

Nyx didn´t understand her at all, but the weight of her stare spoke volumes to his heart. "I believe you, Sparks. I´ll go with you."

Lightning nodded and smiled and, after a second of pause, the female Crownsguard clapped her hands. "Well? Are you in or not?" The woman eyed her comrades one by one. Yaneera nodded, determined, as well as Barret and Goldmund. "Well, then, the plan is as follows: we´ll be divided in three teams: two groups forming pairs on each side of the wall, inside the warehouse, and the third party will be a sniper."

"I can be the sniper." Goldmund intervened, but Barret cut him off.

"Nope, definitely not, it has to be Yaneera." The addressed woman pushed him off the side.

"What? You worried I´m not strong enough?"

"N-no!" Barret put his palms up front. "No babe! I n-never meant that!"

"Because if you do doubt of my skills, I can kick your ass right here and now…"

"I second Barret´s suggestion." Nyx finally spoke.

"But… sensei!" Obviously Yaneera protested, followed by Lightning.

"Yaneera is as capable as all of us to complete this task, maybe even more so. Are you doubting her for being a woman?"

The man chuckled lightly, his palms up once more.

"Chill out, kids. Setting aside your feminism, you have to be level headed in this type of missions: women have a lot better aim because their pulse is way firmer, more stable than a man´s. That´s the reason why Yaneera is better for the job. Besides, I´ve seen her prowess: she´s one hell of a sniper, if you ask me."

The woman blushed at the compliment.

"T-thank you, Sensei! I-I´ll do my best!"

Nyx smiled at her and then winked at Barret, who smiled hesitantly.

Lightning was not quite convinced, but time was not on their side. They couldn´t dwell any more. "Well, then." She removed the sniper rifle from her back and gave it to Yaneera, who checked its mechanism while Lightning continued her speech. "If that´s final, then just let me warn you about something: it´s a certainty you´ll find Niflheim enemies, including imperial troops of any kind, though I´m sure you´ve already figured that out. But, what I hope doesn´t surprise you, is the moment you find Kingsglaive comrades guarding the place as well."

The three youngsters grew serious again. Barret protested.

"You can´t be serious."

With one sleeve, Lightning absentmindedly cleaned a small sweat forming on her forehead, but fixed her stare on his comrade´s eyes. "I´m just warning you. I definitely hope I´m wrong, but I believe they´ll prove me right." She paused for a moment to let the information, and the implication behind it, to sink in. "Well, once that´s said, then I´ll go with Barret and you Nyx go with Goldmund…"

"That´s definitely a no, no." Nyx protested, making Lightning sigh. Surprisingly, it was Barret the one to voice the protest.

"Why not, sensei? Are you afraid she´ll screw it up? I´m perfectly fine going with her to see if the stories about her skills are anywhere near the truth." He sent her a smirk, that made Lightning growl, but Nyx interrupted them.

"And that´s the reason why I don´t want you with Lightning. Knowing you, you will both be competing with each other, setting the mission at risk. Even if I´m not the one in charge," he eyed Lightning hard, silencing her protest, "I still will love to come out of it with my neck intact."

"I-I can go with Lightning… if you want…" Goldmund shyly raised his hand, still not wanting to let go of such an opportunity.

"And letting your infatuation with Lightning getting the best of you, buddy? No thank you." Barret´s comment made the man flush potato red, as well as Lightning, but the rest decided to keep their comments to themselves.

"I´m sorry, Lightning," Yaneera put a hand on Lightning´s shoulder, "but I also agree you should go with sensei Nyx. That way you could be the team holding the camera and register the evidence you don´t want to share with us, while the other one makes the distraction."

She was about to protest once more, but a glimpse at her watch made her growl and accept the terms. "Fine! Do whatever you want to! It´s already time to proceed, so please, just go to your positions. Remember, your first task will be to incapacitate the traitors. The intention is to send your failing comrades to jail, not to kill them. And please keep the coms open and at the ready. That way there will be less surprises." They nodded their agreement, clapped, and turned around in order to part ways, but Lightning spoke once more. "One last thing: be careful out there, guys." The three men nodded and then walked away, while Yaneera lingered with Lightning.

"Is everything alright, Yaneera?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

A delicate eyebrow rose, and Lightning cleaned her sweat over it, while her eyes grew weary. "What do you mean? Did you sense something we didn´t?"

The woman was about to talk to her, but Nyx approached them.

"Is something the matter, gals?" The female Kingsglaive hesitated at seeing him, and her eyes returned to Lightning´s baby blue ones, lingering as if trying to read them, to transmit her something, but then shook her head.

"No. It´s nothing important, besides, it must be just my imagination. We could talk it over after this mission is done. Be careful out there guys."

With that, she lost herself in the dark, leaving Lightning and Nyx by themselves, and the both of them kept their eyes on the Kingsglaive´s shadows, the latter harboring a proudful smile.

"Don´t you even think for a minute that your little ruse came unnoticed." Lightning broke the silence, her eyes still fixed at her friend´s frames. Nyx chuckled lightly.

"I couldn´t blame the guy, you know? Trying to protect her. Just like I do."

"I´m not weak, I don´t need protection." Lightning harshly retorted, cleaning her forehead from sweat. "And neither does Yaneera."

"We all know about that. But neither Barret nor I do it because we think either of you are weak."

"Oh yeah? Then why?"

"Because you´re both important for us." This was said with gray eyes fixed over baby blue ones, making Lightning blush, but refused to comment. Nyx smiled widely at this but, trying to save her from such an awkward moment, he harrumphed. "Well then, I think we should be finding our way as well, right?"

Lightning smiled back, grateful. "Yeah, I think you´re right."

They both walked to the south of the old facility, as they saw the shadows of the younger Kingsglaives approaching through the north. They both even stopped at watching Barret accompany Yaneera to her designated spot, the building closest to the warehouse that held a window high up front, a fantastic spot that would allow the woman to control anything and everything that could happen in the vicinity of the entrance.

At the beginning, there was nothing that could tell Nyx there would be something wrong or suspicious about the place, but right beside the iron, rusty-filled doors, he suddenly noticed the shadows of a pair of Kingsglaives standing next to the door, their forms in absolute stillness, except for their heads that slowly looked one side and the other, searching for anything suspicious themselves. Nyx, in spite of previously being alerted by Lightning, felt surprised to find a couple of comrades in there. Though he still refused to believe her, a pinch of anger and betrayal was growing inside his chest, but he reigned over his emotions. As if sensing his struggle, Lightning stopped and raised a hand to prevent any movement from him.

Those two traitors were for Barret´s group. The earpieces confirmed it.

"Can you see them, Barret? They´re east of your position." Yaneera spoke through the com. Lightning and Nyx shared a look.

"Yes, babe, I can see them. Can you recognize any of them?" The silence that went through their communication devices made Lightning´s blood ache out of expectation. If only she could get a name…

"Unfortunately, I can´t." Was the frustrated response. "It´s hard for me to see their details, and each of their mannerism and their frame is very similar… I couldn´t say for sure."

"Don´t worry, babe. Lightning, do you copy?"

She touched her ear to activate the device.

"Loud and clear, Barret, what do you need?"

"Permission to take care of them and, if you allow us to, I will take their place, so that we will be able to monitor the surrounded area quite easier. Goldmund will go on further by himself to raise even less suspicious."

Though risky, it wasn´t such a bad idea. She turned to take a glance at her former sensei, and the man just nodded.

"Proceed with cautiousness, but remember our intention is to capture them, not kill them. While you both are at it, we´ll be entering the building. Yaneera, please, follow them through the lenses and tell me if you find anything suspicious or dangerous."

"Understood, Lightning."

The pinkette turned to nod to Nyx as a signal to proceed, and the man nodded his acceptance. After a couple of minutes walking through the shadows, following her closely, he finally saw her hand signaling towards the celling: apparently one of the windows was open wide enough to let two grown men in.

Let them be instead one man and a woman.

Yaneera´s voice through their earpiece reached them.

"The sentinels heard you, Barret. I can see they´re coming your way, kukris at the ready. Be careful, please."

Barret´s confident wink could be heard through the earpiece. "Don´t worry, babe. We´ve got this. I´ll let them find me while Goldmund takes advantage of their distraction. It´s the perfect plan." They all heard Yaneera chuckling through the earpiece.

While the other group proceeded swiftly, man and woman approached the window. Silently, hidden behind the shadows, Lightning and Nyx entered throughout the window, and found themselves inside the darkest place, except for a small line of light coming from a door far on the corner. They interchanged a look, and without a word, without making a single sound, they both followed the beam of light but always going through the girder of the ceiling. Lightning looked down and immediately felt lucky she had followed her instincts once she noticed four more sentinels walking around the inside of the fabric, in perfect sync while guarding the place. Two of them where Kingsglaives, easy to spot due to their uniform and their walk. But the other two, to Nyx´s surprise and Lightning´s pleasure, where a couple of Imperial Rifleman troops: a type of automaton soldiers that, even though they weren´t the strongest of the Niflheim army, their machineguns were still deadly. It seemed that, after all, her intel was correct: a group of traitorous Kingsglaives were working together with Niflheim Empire. They were going to find the one she had been looking for right there.

She was about to keep going, but a hand over her wrist prevented her from it.

"Are you okay?" Nyx´s face was too close for her liking.

"Yeah, why?" She cleaned her sweat, all too weary of his concern.

"Nothing much, really, but… I´ve noticed you´re breathing way too heavily."

She blinked at his words, taken aback. "I… it should be the anticipation…, don´t look into it too much. I guess I´m just excited." Without saying any other word, she liberated her hand and proceeded forward.

Nyx hesitated, looking at her trembling figure, why was he feeling so concerned? She was a skilled warrior, she must already be aware of her body´s reaction to stress. Trying to appease himself, he shook his head and followed her.

Once they reached the door, Nyx was about to jump down, but Lightning pulled at his arm, and signaled him their path ahead as she searched to continue through the ceiling, knowing full well they would be safer there. Nyx wasn´t quite sure, certain they would be safer if they got rid of the guards before going all the way in, but decided to trust her instincts.

"Lightning." It was Barret on the Earpiece once more. "We´re ready. The guys resisted a bit but Goldmund and I managed to subdue them, though in the fray Goldmund´s earpiece broke, so he´s going to be silent for a while. But he´s okay."

Yaneera seconded his report. "I can see you, Barret, there´s no one around. You can take the sentinel´s place without worry."

"Thank you, babe."

"Barret." It was Lightning´s voice this time the one that startled Nyx. Her voice so much sexier through the communication device… "Did you manage to recognize who were the Kingsglaives?"

There was a pause in the line, and then. "No, Lightning. I´ve seen them in the Fort, but they are older than sensei Nyx, so I don´t know their names. But we left them very well tied up, so don´t fret."

"I´ll check on them as soon as this is over." Nyx intervened. "Don´t worry about them now, Lightning. I´ll take care of them."

The woman nodded at him, and he smiled, immediately returning to their task at hand. Once the pinkette found a break through the wall, they traversed it and crawled through the rest of the ceiling, finding a hole filled with light, wide enough for both of them to see the insides of the room. Nyx resisted a surprised gasp when his eyes found the humongous form of general Glauca in the middle of the room, accompanied by another, shorter man, who looked like a scientist, but who, underneath his lab coat, wore the unmistakable uniform of the Niflheim militia. A movement from Glauca allowed the Kingsglaive to see the man´s face through a better angle, letting him recognize coronel Heinrich alright, and he also could see there were at least three Imperial Rifleman standing perfectly still by their side, weapons at the ready.

The coronel was talking to the imposing general rather animatedly, explaining a map and a bunch of documents displayed on the single table in front of them. The Kingsglaive and the Crownsguard were too high above from them to be able to hear their conversation, and though Lightning could clearly hear them talking, she couldn´t understand their words, not in a coherent way, at least, since they also were almost whispering, as if general Glauca knew they were in danger of being found out. Lightning took out a camera hidden under her clothes and tried her best to take a shot at the documents spread across the table. Maybe she didn´t understand them at the time, but she was sure they would be valuable information for Ignis. But after the second shot, she felt dizzy all of a sudden, while a cold sweat bathed her back and forehead, and her head started to ache.

What… what´s happening to me?

Slowly, she straightened her position while she felt the dizziness going away, and though the headache lingered, it wasn´t quite incapacitating. Yet. But she had a mission to fulfill, and a stupid flu wouldn´t take away victory from her. Once she felt strong again, Lightning approached Nyx to give him the camera, feigning nonchalance and whispering to his ears.

"Well, the gist of it is, we I´ll try to take general Glauca´s helmet off and you have to take a picture of his face. This is the most important thing we need to do."

Nyx´s gray eyes opened wide in astonishment, and he almost refrained from yelling, still managing to whisper. "What?! You want us to go fight him? This is your plan?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at his worried face. "No, not us, me. You´re supposed to stay here and take the pictures."

His eyes looked at her with utter disbelief. "You´re totally insane to think I´ll let you go down there!"

She returned her eyes towards the two enemies, diminishing his concerns with a wave of her hand. "You shouldn´t worry about me, I can handle myself pretty well and you know it. But the most important accomplishment is right in front of us. I just can´t lose this opportunity and let him go away with whatever he´s doing. It´s now or never."

Nyx gulped, feeling his chest gushing with terror, knowing full well he might not be able to dissuade her. "I know that, I´ve seen you. But this is Glauca we´re talking about, Lightning, not some random soldier. This is general freaking Glauca!"

Lightning put a hand upon his mouth before he made any other sound. "Don´t you think I don´t know that? But this is the only way."

Nyx slapped her hand away. "No! There´s another way! It can be me the one fighting him, and you using the camera!"

She grew impatient, and took his face with both palms, making him look straight at her.

"You promised you´d help me the way I wanted. This is the way I want it to be, Nyx. And you have to promise me you won´t do anything, no matter what you see down there."

"Like hell I will do it!" he almost yelled, and she put her hand back upon his lips to silence him.

"You promised, Nyx! It´s my way, or the highway, Nyx Ulric!"

He got even more anxious at this. "You don´t understand! There's no way I will risk your life out of a promise!"

Taking him by surprise, Lightning landed a peck on Nyx´s lips, silencing his protests and freezing him on his spot. The woman smirked and then winked.

"For the good luck. Just do what I asked you to do, it´s of uttermost importance. You´ll see I´ll be fine."

Nyx knew this was madness, but her sudden action turned his brain off and rooted him on his spot. Almost as if not seeing her, he saw her form traversing the small hole they just passed through, for a moment not processing any coherent thought, but after a couple of seconds his mind finally caught up with him, and he was ready to jump towards her, to prevent her from going any further and make such a stupid move, when he could hear Goldmund´s strained voice through the com.

"Lightning… be ware… Barret…"

"Goldmund?" Lightning had heard him as well, and turned around to look for Nyx´s eyes. That sudden movement made her dizzy again, even when she was already on her knees, and even some nausea traveled through her throat.

W…what the hell… is going on?

Those few seconds were precious lost ones, because the moment her senses screamed at her, she already had Barret upon her, his kukris flashing straight at her chest.

"This is for Lucis!"

Lightning screamed as his kukris embedded itself in her flesh

"Lightning! Noooo!"

ooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo

A/N: I´m sorry for the long, oh! so long delay, but I´m finally back! It took me a little while to step out of this author´s block. Hope you´re still liking the story.