A/N:
Thanks for the positive reviews!
Juwpiter081, people that review like you really get my spirits up. It means a lot when someone thinks a story is going to be cliché, mary-suey, and all that boringly bad stuff, and then end up liking it :) Thanks for the complements and review, as for the OCs being involved in a romance… I have been thinking. I have something that I've been wanting to do, but I don't think many people will like it, which is why I am unsure of putting it into this story.
You can message me if you are interested in my thoughts, and I'd really appreciate the feedback if I could get some :)
Anyways, since I replied to my other reviewer via PM, I think it's time that you can actually start reading. Enjoy!
One more thing though… I really don't like the way the first part of this came out, just thought I'd let you know in case you shared the feeling…
D.G: Final Fantasy XIII
Chapter 3: Meetings
Trinity and Sophie were too caught up in their argument to even comprehend that they had an audience. A conscious, yet expected, audience. The pink haired woman and silver haired teen had taken to watching for a brief moment behind a pile of scrap metal. Lightning was more than a little curious as to who had managed to save two Pulse L'cie. Even more frustrating to the woman was that she couldn't imagine why someone would want to save Pulse L'cie. Her eyes narrowed at the two teen appearing girls arguing, not fifteen feet away. They had been arguing about something ridiculous. What, the ex-soldier couldn't say, nor did she care, but she wanted to be sure the two wouldn't run away. Her brand was hidden, as was the teen boy's beside her, but Fang and Snow's brands were out for the world to see.
I need to confront them before Fang catches up. Ugh, what are we doing? This is wasting time that we don't have! Lightning noticeably frowned at the thought, causing Hope to send her a worried and confused look. She ignored it and stepped around the remains of some metal machine, and made her way over to the two girls, a hand on her gunblade just in case they decided to scream or alert PSICOM of their whereabouts in anyway. Her frown deepened when she still went unnoticed.
"Trin! How can you be so stubborn? Just look at it! It already looks like something ate it, digested it, and crapped it back out again! How does it not hurt? Don't you want it to heal?"
"I realize it's a mess, it hurts like hell, and that's exactly why I don't want you touching it!"
The woman's blue eyes looked fiercely at the two. How could they not notice her?
Must be some argument… no, they're probably just unobservant, she thought, a hint of sarcasm tinting her inner voice. She stood there right behind the girl wearing a jacket, trying to come up with a way to ask them her question without scaring them off. She was brought out of her musings by a sound… or a lack thereof.
The two girls before her had stopped arguing, the one she had stood behind was looking at her wide-eyed while the other held an annoyed expression. Lightning's own eyes became expressionless if not irritated.
"What are you two kids doing here?" she asked, though to the girls it sounded more like a statement. The girl in the weird red shirt scoffed and muttered something under her breath, causing Lightning to give a glare.
At least they haven't run off yet…
"Answer the question. All civilians were to be evacuated." Lightning crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight onto one leg. "Be swift with your answer, we're in a hurry," she added as Hope joined her.
The two girls looked at each other, and the darker haired one shrugged. The brown haired girl turned back to Lightning, looking a little nervous.
"We were… um… escaping?" the younger looking of the two finally gave the ex-soldier a reply. Lightning didn't look convinced. The girl turned back to her companion who gave an encouraging gesture.
"… from PSICOM?" the girl finished. It was obvious the girl was lying, and Lightning eyes turned to slits. What were they hiding? Lightning huffed. Whatever it was, it wasn't her problem. She just wanted to know who saved Hope, at the very least to ease their minds. If they were lucky, they would find out they had a new ally.
"Did you see the Ushumgal Subjugator that was just here? It had knocked me out… do you… maybe know which way the people who defeated it went?" Hope surprised Lightning by voicing the unspoken question, and the two girls glanced at each other again.
"So that's what that thing was called?" the one in the red finally spoke.
"You saw it?" Lightning stepped forward. Maybe they would find their new ally after all.
"Yeah. It about killed all three of us. Damn thing got so pissed off it self-destructed, I didn't even know it could do that." The girl with the black hair crossed her arms over her chest and looked a little pouty. Hope noticed her eyeing her injured hand, but decided to go on with the questioning.
"Oh, so do you know which way the person who saved us went?" The older girl looked at him confused.
"You either saw where this person went or you didn't, which is it?" Lightning demanded, getting annoyed. They needed to get moving, Snow was injured and PSICOM was bound to be on them any minute now.
"There… was no 'person who went which way'…" the brown haired girl trailed off.
"But you said there were three of you, where'd the other person go?" Hope asked. He was getting exasperated as well. He knew just as well as Lightning that they had to get moving. But, he also knew that they needed all the help they could get.
"There is no other person. By three, I meant Sophie, me, and you." The gestured at girl, now known as Sophie, nodded. Hope looked puzzled. It wasn't possible that these two girls could defeat that thing when he couldn't, was it?
"You mean to tell us that you killed the monster?" Lightning asked skeptically.
"Absolutely not. I already told you, it self-destructed," said the yet-to-be-named girl. Lightning 'tch'ed and turned away, then towards Hope.
"We need to get moving, there's no use staying longer waiting on someone that doesn't exist." She started to walk away before Hope spoke up.
"Then you two saved me?" Both of the girls nodded. "How?"
"Well… I'm assuming Trin dragged you out of harm's way before the thing exploded. You would have shared some of our nasty burns, otherwise," Sophie answered, showing him one of her still-red arms.
"But you still haven't answered why," Hope pointed out. His legs were shifting weight in a restless manner; they had spent too much time in one spot, but he really wanted this last bit of information. Lightning had turned around to listen as well.
Hurry this up, Hope. Fang's almost here with Snow…
"Um… because we… didn't want to watch you die? Isn't it common knowledge that letting a young kid die is a bad thing?" They were lying again, both the L'cie knew it, but they had to go. They had wasted too much time already.
"Right… well, thanks," Hope said as he started off after the already-in-motion Lightning. The two girls didn't follow them and soon enough the two L'cie came up to Fang and Snow, whom were still on their way over.
"What, that's it? They didn't run?" Fang asked, adjusting Snow's arm around her shoulder.
"They didn't see our brands, and I'm assuming they didn't see us on the screens when we were surrounded by PSICOM. So no, they didn't run," Lightning said as she passed, not breaking stride.
"Did they tell you who killed the thing the kid was talking about?"
"Apparently it self-destructed," Light replied over her shoulder.
"Really? Why?"
"I don't know."
"Who saved the kid?" Lightning turned around in one swift movement.
"I. Don't. Know," she replied in a slow, annoyed tone. The two girls had lied too much in their explanation that she didn't know what to believe. Fang looked back at the two girls who had started walking towards a nearby pillar. Then she smirked.
"Here, you take this one, and I'm going to see if I can't get it outta them. You go on ahead, I'll catch up," Fang said suddenly. She didn't give Light time to respond, just let Snow fall onto Lightning. She then promptly walked off to avoid any disagreement.
She better not do anything stupid that will get us caught… Light narrowed her eyes at the retreating woman. "Come on." Hope turned to her as she spoke and nodded as they both set out, leaving the Pulsian temporarily behind.
I wonder if they'll scream when they see my brand... They'll probably start complaining about how I'll taint them or some non-sense. That is, if they don't run away to warn the Soldiers first. Bunch of cowards, these people… still, might be best to hide it for now… Fang thought as she approached the two girls. One was leaning up against the pillar and the other sitting on the ground at her side. Fang approached from an angle that hid her, allowing the woman to eaves drop as she made her way over.
"You think they bought it?" the one sitting asked. The one standing looked at her companion with an unbelieving look on her face and scoffed.
"No, I didn't even believe it. You couldn't come up with something better than that?"
"Well it's not like I could just tell them the truth, they'd think us insane!"
"You couldn't tell them that we saw a kid who needed help, we just so happened to be rebels, and shot and screamed at the thing until it got so mad that it decided to blow up?" The one standing once again scoffed.
"If you had a planned out explanation, why'd you want me to give one?"
"I don't really know…"
Well, I guess that answers a few questions… Then again, I'm not too sure if that is a lie or a truth. Ah well, might as well ask.
"Hey!" The girls turned around at the accent of the Pulsian woman and instantly, both mouths were sealed.
"I hear you lied to my travel buddies over there. So, start talking. I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Fang crossed her arms, careful to point her brand away from the two so they couldn't see it.
"What do you mean, lied? Lied to who?" the standing girl spoke, and took a few steps around the pillar to face Fang.
"That woman in the soldier uniform that was just over here. She asked a few choice questions and you lied. Save me the time and just answer me with the truth." Fang smirked at the look of surprise on the girls face, though something seemed off about it.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Going to be difficult, eh? Careful now, this is a dangerous game you're playing at, here…
"Don't you? Might I refresh your memory, then? Sunshine over there asked who saved the kid she was with, tell me otherwise." The two said nothing.
"You saved him?"
"We already told them that. Yes, we did," the younger girl said as she got off the ground and stood next to her friend. "And that's not a lie."
"How?"
"We told them that, too."
"Humor me," said Fang. Her smirk never left her face. She was teasing the girls and at the same time interrogating them. Not only did that take skill, but it was fun as hell.
"I noticed the… Umsh… gal… Subja-whatever was acting weird, and figured it was about to do something that would hurt. A lot. What's his face was a little too close to the thing for comfort, so I dragged him over to the other guy before the thing went BOOM," the black haired girl finished using hand motions to act out an explosion. This amused Fang, for obvious reasons.
"Oh yeah? Why'd the thing go boom again? I think you neglected that part."
"Wow, you and pink-hair really don't collaborate well, do you? I swear, I've explained this before." No one talked for a minute, and the silence was disturbing. Fang and the girl facing her were locked in a stare-down, and the brown-haired girl stole glances between the two.
"Um… right… You know, I don't believe we caught your name?" Fang looked away from her competitor to size up the younger of the two.
"And I don't believe half of what you say. How do you suggest we fix this little lack of belief?" The girl looked away, not willing to get sucked into a staring contest. The other girl suddenly spoke.
"My name's Trinity, that's Sophie. You wanna know what we did? Fine. I don't really believe we have anything to hide. I shot at the machine-monster from behind this pillar while she ran around screaming profanities at it. We did our best to swap its attention between us, keeping its attention off the kid. We did it because we find it disturbing to just sit back and watch something kill anyone, especially children. We didn't evacuate with the rest of the civilians because we didn't want to. No, we don't have any family that we should be with at the moment, and despite what pink-hair said we aren't kids. I'm twenty, she's nineteen. And to draw everything to a close, my hand hurts like hell because I stupidly snapped a PSICOM soldier's neck and I'd appreciate it if we could hurry this up. Now, you know our truth. Your turn."
Fang's mouth was slightly open in surprise, caught halfway from a snide retort and speechlessness. Sophie seemed no better off, taken back by her friend's revealing confession. Fang mentally shook her head at the sudden revelation before responding.
"Alright then, name's Fang. 'Pink-hair' as you like to call her, would be Lightning. 'Kid' would be Hope, 'other guy's' name is Snow. Now that we're all acquainted and best of friends, I have to ask… what possessed you to take out a soldier? I find it hard to believe two young girls are rebelling against the highest authority just for the hell of it."
"Well aren't we the hypocrite? Are you or are you not travelling with an apparent fifteen year old, along with two others who can't be too much older than us, taking out PSICOM left and right? What's the reasoning behind that?" Trinity inquired, taking a step forward in an attempt to intimidate Fang.
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Fang also took a step forward, calling Trinity out. The girl narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Sophie once again found herself nervously glancing between the two, and once again was the one to break the silence.
"So anyway, your 'travel buddies' seemed to be in a hurry, why are you not with them?" Without breaking eye contact, Fang answered,
"I run fast, I can catch up."
"Okay, but why are you hanging back?"
"I don't take kindly to liars. Figured I could get some info outta you, and what do you know? I did."
"So why are you still here?" Fang didn't answer right away, but eventually her reply came.
"You're hiding something, and I want to know what it is." Sophie opened her mouth to speak but Trinity cut her off.
"I could say the same for you, but seeing as you stopped remembering to hide your tattoo a while back, I think it's safe to say the cat is out of the bag, no?" Trinity gave the smallest of smirks when Fangs eyes widened ever so slightly at her mistake, but it sank back into a grimace when Fang's expression went back to its composed state.
"So you know. You gonna scream? Run and tell? Rat us out? Or are you going to just rant my ears off?" Fang's own mischievous smirk returned, but she didn't get the reaction she was expecting.
"If I haven't done any of those since I figured you out a few minutes ago, why the hell would I start now?"
"… Fair enough. I gotta say, it's about time I found one of you Cocoon dwellers that actually has a spine," Fang said, the last part more to herself than to them. She broke the eye-contact and turned around, seemingly deep in thought.
"So, you saved the kid and held your own against the baddie, did you? And you aren't scared shitless of us being L'cie?" To both inquiries, the girls nodded in confidence. "Have you had any training or did you teach yourself to fight, assuming you know how?"
"We've had… 'training', yeah. Why?" Sophie replied. She tilted her head in question, making her look like a curious pup.
"It's not often one comes across a person such as one of you two, much less a pair. So here's the thing. You obviously hate authority, ain't afraid of L'cie, and to top it off, are trained. We, on the other hand, have a grand total of maybe two L'cie sympathizers. You know what would really piss PSICOM off? If you upped that number to three… or four, depending on how you look at it," Fang finished, turning around once again to face the girls, only to find Trinity smirking much like she was.
"What would you be implying?" the girl asked in a teasing tone. Fang shook her head and circled around to the girl's other side.
"Boy, and here I thought I was being obvious. Come on, we've kept grumpy waiting long enough, I'd say." Sophie let out a small squeak as Fang began pushing the two forward.
"I've been told not to talk with strangers, much less go anywhere with them… Especially if they are driving an old, beat up, rusty white van," Trinity said after a wry laugh.
"You crossed that line a long time ago… and I have no idea what a van is," Fang replied over Trinity's shoulder, shoving them along a little faster. After the two started actually walking on their own, she ran around them and started walking backwards, facing the girls.
"Come on you two delinquents! Felix Heights awaits!" With that she turned around and started running off in the direction the ex-soldier, teen, and NORA leader went. Trinity shook her head.
"She's nuts if she thinks I'm running the whole way…" she muttered. Miraculously, Fang seemed to catch it.
"I am not below leaving you behind if you are too lazy to run! Besides, don't you want your hand cleaned up?" she yelled back over her shoulder, not stopping her sprint. Trinity sighed.
"Well, I guess this is what we trained for…" She clinched her throbbing hand close to her chest and started to jog after the Pulsian woman, gradually speeding up to an awkward sprint. Sophie raced ahead in an attempt to catch up with the older woman. The blue-sari clad woman turned her head at the sound of quickly approaching feet and chuckled somewhat darkly to herself.
You girls have no idea what you're getting yourselves into… In a small act of mercy Fang slowed down and allowed both girls to catch up before all three set out for their next destination.
A/N: Quite a bit shorter than my other chapters, but oh well! Hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to read and review. Oh wait you already read… okay then, review, my lovelies! Loved it? Hated it? Neutral? Tell me in a review!
Oh yeah, and I've made a few changes… there won't be Hope/Vanille romance, but they will seem a lot closer, sort of like best friends. I still plan on putting Fang and Light together, but I'm still trying to work out how I'll do that. Anyways, thanks for reading, see ya next time!