A/N: Ahh… I have no excuse for this being late. I also have no excuse for not updating another account's story for like… six months. Oh well :)

Mr steve jr, thanks, though I'm a little confused by what you mean.

Juwpiter081, I was going for a similarity between Trinity and Fang, good to see I made it obvious! lol

There will be a bit of a change from now on… because of how I want to take this story, it's going to change from third person point of view to first. It will be from Trinity's point of view, the reason will be clear as day soon enough.

Also, I'm putting a poll up in my profile (taking down the one I had, because I realized it's way too early for that poll). This will ask YOUR opinion on how you want some of the characters to be paired. I know for a fact that Lightning and Fang will be together, I'm going to try my damnest to make that work, but there are also some other things that I want to try/need to know what you want, and I want to see if it's okay with you readers. Someone asked me about Sazh, and honest to god I can't think of a suitable canon pairing in this story for him. Sorry :(

I've talked long enough, you can read now :D

D.G: Final Fantasy XIII

Chapter 4: Confusion and Aggression

The running dragged on forever, I fell behind more than once. Ever since we had gotten here, my head has been cloudy, and not just because the majority of my memories were gone. I find it hard to explain but it was almost impossible for me to focus if the situation wasn't important enough. That's why my legs weren't working; my mind was elsewhere, while physically I was still running. By elsewhere, I mean in a void where everything is white and fuzzy. Blank. The main reason why I kept getting pulled back to reality was the constant throbbing my hand kept giving off. I looked down at the swollen appendage and was appalled. No matter how many times I looked at it, I couldn't get used to how utterly disgusting it looked.

Hopefully Hope or Light will be kind enough to heal it… it's probably going to go with Hope. I don't think Light likes me. She doesn't really like anyone. Except Hope. And Serah. And later Snow and Fang and everyone else. Okay, right now she doesn't like anyone but Hope later she likes everyone in the group. Including me and Sophie? Huh. That ought to be an interesting development. Damn it, I'm doing it again!

For what felt like the thousandth time in a short period of maybe ten minutes my head was pulled out of its void-surrounded musings and into the city of Palumpolum. Just in time too, I had nearly tripped over some debris.

This isn't like me, I'm usually the focused, serious, down to earth one. Why is my head so foggy? Everything seems a little backwards, and—

"—Oomf!" I collided with something… or perhaps someone is the better term. Whoever it was we both gasped as my momentum conveyed into the other and we fell into a heap on the floor.

"Trin! Get off!" a familiar voice all but shouted into my eardrum. My hand instinctively flew to my ear to shield it from the noise and I rolled off of Sophie with her helpful, though a bit painful, shove.

"Ah… you don't need to be so loud, I'm right here," I said as I stood up, rubbing my assaulted ear with my good hand and supporting the injured around my middle. My eyes were squeezed shut in an attempt to block out both the pain from my hand, ear, and left over shock from the collision.

"You aren't very good with your legs, are you?" I heard Fang say, though with my eyes tightly closed I couldn't pinpoint where she was. The remark was laced with sarcasm and I could practically see the mocking smirk behind my closed lids.

"Keep talking, soon you won't be either," I retorted before I realized what I said. Luckily Fang was more of a laid back type and took the threat more as a lighthearted joke than what it really was. She chuckled and then I heard three claps that sounded like something connecting with something hollow. I opened my eyes and turned around. We were at a house, and Fang had just knocked on the door.

Oh... Duh.

For a minute we waited, while I looked away from the building and skyward, my eyes squinted to block out the sun… or the artificial sun made by a Fal'cie. I heard Sophie's clothing shift before her hand was placed on my shoulder, causing me to turn around to see what she wanted. She said nothing, she didn't need to. Her face said it all. When you travel with someone for years, a survival buddy, travel partner if you will, you tend to know more about them than they do. Sophie and I, like many other travel partners I'm sure, developed a silent communication. I couldn't quite remember why we needed this communication, the memories were fuzzy, but obviously it had to do with survival. The look she gave me then, for instance, was the dreaded 'We need to talk' look. I studied her face a moment longer to see if there was anything else I was missing when the door opened behind her. At first it was just a crack, but after a female voice hollered 'It's Fang', it opened all the way.

"Took you long enough—" The opened door revealed a certain pink haired L'cie, and from the looks of it a startled one.

Heh, heh, Lightning is shocked… the phrase works in more ways than one.

She paused blocking the door way before speaking again, "What are they doing here?" Her voice sounded cold, as always when she was on guard. I tried my best to hold back a sarcastic remark, but when she turned her glare from Fang to Sophie and I, I couldn't help myself.

"Seeing as you have a killer glare, I'd say it's because we have a death wish." Sophie's foot contacted mine and I jumped back too little too late to save myself the pain. Damned heavy soled boots…

"Easy there, Light's not the one you want to be messing with," Fang said as she stepped around Lightning and entered the house. I hopped over to Sophie and put my hand on her shoulder to steady myself. Those shoes of hers must have been real heavy duty, I don't think she meant to 'break' my foot but damn it hurt.

"Soph, I'm running out of usable limbs," I said, using minor theatrics to make myself sound pathetic.

"Yeah, all that wooden armor and not an inch of it has helped you so far," she said dryly. I glared at her and removed my good hand from her shoulder to take a swat at her head. But, she walked forward, causing me to almost lose my balance. I found it again with my shoulder against a nearby wall next to the door.

"You are such an ass…" I murmured and looked up, expecting to see Sophie standing in the doorway. My eyes widened to see not Sophie, but Lightning, having not moved since she opened the door. And I had just called her an ass… more or less. She was still glaring at me, even more so now than before. I blinked a few times to clear my surprise before clearing my throat and attempting to enter the residence using the walls as support.

"Excuse me," I muttered low enough that only she could hear. She 'tch'ed or whatever it is that she does and moved ever so slightly to the right. I willed my face to become emotionless in an effort to not showcase my annoyance at the small entry way, but nevertheless made my way through the threshold. I heard the door shut behind me shortly and Lightning seemed to speed past me as she entered a different room. I sighed, not liking the temporary disabilities.

I heard voices in the room Lightning had went in, but none of them sounded like Sophie. I assumed that was the room they had placed Snow in. The rest of the house was pretty much quiet, which was going to make finding Sophie a pain… literally. My good leg was starting to cramp up from hopping on just the one, and since my good hand was guiding me using the walls, my injured one was throbbing from the lack of support.

Who'd have thought out of the two of us I'd be the only one to sustain all the injuries?

My eyes snapped up from the floor when I heard Sophie's voice coming from just around the corner. I took one last hop in her direction before I stopped short.

"Ow! Cramp, cramp! Pain!" I scream-whispered as I slid down the wall and grasped my calf.

"Son of a… Sophie! You caused this! I need your shoulder!" I shouted towards where her voice had come from. The small, almost non-existent amount of chatter in what I assumed to be the living room stopped, and soon she and Fang rounded the corner. I glared at my friend, and she took in my appearance on the ground. When none of us spoke, I broke the silence.

"The next store I find, I'm buying you softer shoes," I stated as I continued to glare. Comprehension crossed her face and her mouth formed an 'O' shape. A moment later she was guiding me into the living room and to a couch, to which I happily took the chance to sit on. Sophie took the spot next to me, and Fang sat on an adjacent couch. I let out my breath as I sank into the seat and resisted the urge to tear my shoe off and check out the damage. Instead, I lolled my head back and allowed myself to genuinely relax into the couch.

"So… how goes it?" I asked, my eyes drooping closed. I crossed the leg attached to the injured foot over my good leg, and laid my bad hand in my lap, hopefully hidden to prying eyes. I didn't like the ugly thing making everyone think it was a liability… which it was, but no one needed to know.

"How goes what?" I heard Fang ask back. From the general silence throughout the house, I figured Hope had already had the little talk with his father and that the majority of the occupants were catching their second wind. However, I wasn't sure if Snow had 'fessed-up' yet. And, thanks to my lack of memory, I wasn't too sure of this whole scene either. All I knew were the basics; Hope came here with the gang. They rest up and Hope makes nice with his dad. Snow confesses to something that I never really understood, and next thing you know PSICOM, led by what's his face, ruins the moment. That's what I had, and it bugged me that I couldn't remember the next hour or so in detail.

"Where are we?" I elaborated, already knowing the answer. When we were being trained in the… ugh, I couldn't remember what it was called. Where ever we had been for the last few years of our lives, they told us to not give away anything. In our 'new homes', if the so-called locals got suspicious of us knowing more than we let on, it could… well, all they said was 'end badly', or at least that's all I remembered. I figure that means we have to ask question early on to things we already know, so that we won't get any weird looks from the group for knowing things we shouldn't.

"Weren't you paying attention on the way over? We're at the kid's house. I think Light said he had a talk with his Dad, and that we can rest here until it's time to move on. Speaking of rest, let's have a look at that hand of yours—"

"Will everyone please stop wanting to touch the hand? Here, look at it. It's a hand, it's broken, there is no need to touch it," I said, getting out of my comfortable position on the couch to twist away from the Pulsian. At some point, she had gotten up from the other sofa and sat next to Sophie and I without my noticing. And, since Sophie and I had taken the 'love seat', the couch was getting pretty crowded. I edged closer to Sophie to put more space between myself and the offender, and Fang smirked. Sophie just sat there, getting squished between me and the arm of the couch.

"How do you plan on getting it fixed, then?" Fang asked, mockingly making herself comfortable on the small, packed couch. I tossed around the idea of going over to the bigger sofa but it occurred to me that I'd have to hop over to it, and that would just make her laugh. I didn't need anyone in their group laughing at me.

I thought about her question, trying to find a topic that would eventually lead to one of the L'cie medics to healing my hand and foot. I was having trouble finding one; I never was an on-the-spot thinker… I don't think.

Fang took my silence as resignation and held her hand out expectantly. I looked at it as if it were a poisonous snake just waiting to strike, to which Fang rolled her eyes.

"I won't bite, just let me have a look," Fang teased, a bit impatiently I might add. I sighed in defeat and surrendered my hand into her waiting one. I obviously didn't need to look at the swollen appendage, so I looked away and focused on something else. I felt Fang turn my hand over from side to side in her examination, and after a moment she let go of it. "How the hell did you manage that? All you did was punch a soldier, didn't you?"

I pulled my hand back into my lap before nodding. I gave a dry laugh before adding, "Adrenaline is a bitch." She chuckled as well.

"Ain't it?"

"So, what's you looking at the nasty thing got to do with fixing it up? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't look like the doctor-type."

"Look at you, being all formal with your apologies. They're called medics, not doctors, and I'm not. Light is." I felt my face become all screwy at the thought of Lightning mending my injuries. I couldn't see it happening.

"Um… no offence to Lightning, but… I think I'll wait for a real doctor, or someone who doesn't hold grudges…" I thought about that for a second, and then added, "I mean, someone who doesn't have a grudge against me." Yeah, Hope could hold a mean grudge. I had almost forgotten. Fang looked at me.

"What? You and sunshine friends already?" she shook her head when I gave her a sheepish look. "She took that whole 'death glare' thing to heart, did she?"

"No… More like I accidently called her an ass…" She quirked an eyebrow.

"How do you accidentally call someone an ass?" I shrugged defensively.

"I thought I was talking to her," I gestured to my friend beside me, "but when I looked up Sophie was gone and Lightning was still in the doorway," I finished. Sophie, who had been unusually silent, chuckled. I glared at her, even though she was looking out the window and couldn't see.

"Oh well, if you're tagging along you'll have a while to either make it up to or explain yourself to her," the Pulsian told me. She then let her head fall back and she closed her eyes.

"Maybe… I can't see myself trying to explain something so stupid though. And she strikes me more as the type of person you have to prove yourself before she deems you worthy." I crossed my arms, being careful not to jostle my hand. That remark got a chuckle out of Fang.

"You got all that out of the few minutes you've known her? I'm impressed. If you're fighting is as good as your reasoning skills you've got nothing to worry about." More like my reading the internet and game playing skills, but I wasn't going to tell her my reasoning skills sucked.

"Right… anyways, is there another medic in your group?"

"Hm… not that I know of. My friend Vanille is probably the best medic you can find, but… she's not here." My face fell. Apparently, she didn't know Hope was a medic. That was probably the result of her not fighting the monster alongside him and Light. She would have known, otherwise. Speaking of the pink headed ex-soldier, she knew Hope was a medic. As did Hope himself, but I wasn't about to have a conversation with Lightning and I had no idea where Hope was. I still have to keep up the oblivious façade too.

"Vanille?" I asked, trying to sound curious. "Who's she?"

"Ah… I would call her my best friend, but that would be an understatement." She opened her eyes and looked between Sophie and me. "Who are you two to each other?"

I turned and looked at Sophie, who seemed to be deep in thought and not paying attention. "I guess it's hard to explain. We grew up together, so I guess that kind of makes us sisters, but not. It's so simple to us but it's complicated, if you know what I'm trying to say." Fang nodded.

"There you go, that's me and Vanille." My eyes trailed away to look at nothing in particular. I had never thought of them like Sophie and I were.

"Oh… where is she?" Fang sighed and got off the couch.

"Your guess is as good as mine, at this point," I doubted that, "But if all goes well, we'll meet up soon enough." Fang, in sharp contrast to her earlier, tired demeanor, looked restless as she started to walk around the room, nothing in particular catching her interest. Must have been the talk about Vanille.

"No worries, you'll find her," Sophie said, her first words since sitting down.

"I have no doubt about that. Ain't nobody who's going to stop me. Not PSICOM, no one." I heard a small click of a button and then the voice of a news announcer. The T.V. went on to inform the populace of the 'L'cie situation'. I tuned it out, and once again let my head fall back and allowed my eyes to slip closed. To my annoyance, not a minute later I felt a nudge to my side. I cracked an eye open to see Sophie getting up and beckoning me to get up and follow her. My eyes followed her into a dark room that appeared vacant, and before following I checked to make sure we wouldn't have any eavesdroppers. I had a feeling outside ears shouldn't hear the conversation my friend and I were about to share, in case her going into a secluded room wasn't an indication.

She shut the door behind me as I limped in to what looked like a guest bedroom. I quickly sat on the bed and looked at her expectantly as she started pacing in front of me. Suddenly she stopped and faced me, arms crossed.

"Something's been off ever since we got here, and we need to sort it out now," Sophie stated, a look of seriousness that rarely crossed her features. I furrowed my eyebrows, not knowing what she was talking about. Well… I might have had an idea, but I was still having a hard time focusing.

"You haven't noticed? Come on Trin, it's been obvious. I've been thinking about it since we got here, even more so since we came to Hope's house." She looked at me, probably expecting me to have a 'Oh yeah!' moment, but I still was pretty clueless. I had a vague idea, like the thought had crossed my mind before, but I couldn't quite catch it. She scoffed and turned away.

"We've both been acting out of character since we got here. I've seen it in. You're usually more serious, cautious and don't take any crap. I'm usually the exact opposite. But ever since we got here, save the first night, it's almost as if our personalities have switched. I mean, there have been moments where you were stern at the things I've been doing, and I was reckless once or twice, but other than that we are completely out of character. Haven't you noticed?" I blinked, showing her I pretty much hadn't.

"And that's another thing! You're usually the observant one. How could you not notice Light or Fang when they snuck up on us, after the fight? I knew they were there, and I thought you did too, and when you didn't acknowledge them, I played along. What's up with you? Hell, what's up with me?" I said nothing. I thought it best to let her keep going with her mini rant, even though it wasn't helping my headache.

"And then what was with Light and Fang showing up late? Hope would have died. If we weren't there, he would have DIED. Call me conceited, but if we weren't there… I mean… what the hell? That wasn't supposed to happen!" She started breathing in huffs, and I took the moment to throw in my two cents.

"But he didn't die. We helped save him."

"That's not the point! We were supposed to be placed in Final Fantasy XIII. And as it were, Hope shouldn't have needed us to save him. Aren't you the least worried? If the time stream changed Light and Fang being late, what else will have changed?" She paused and pinched the bridge of her nose while her other hand was placed defiantly on her hip. Seems I wasn't the only one with the headache.

"So help me, Trin, if we manage to mess up this world I won't be able to live with myself."

I honestly didn't know what she was worried about. So what, Light and Fang were a bit late. The end result was the same, and that's because we were here. Maybe the universe shifted just that tiny bit so that we would be included in their little adventure. Looking back, that was just wishful thinking. And said thinking was being done with a brain on half capacity, and the rest of it was trying to fight off a migraine.

"Relax, Soph. We're here now, and for all we know our minds made that little difference in the transfer so that we would have an 'in'." She didn't look convinced. Then her eyes snapped open wide and pointed at me.

"See! Right there! That's something I would say! This whole conversation is backwards. You should be lecturing me, and I should be the one sitting on the bed looking all solemn." I raised a hand defensively.

"Hey, I'm on the bed because you killed my foot. I'm not too happy about my hand, either." She rolled her eyes.

"On the way over here I noticed a far away look on your face. Like… you weren't even paying attention to where you were going. You looked like you were day dreaming. While you were running. That's something you have never done before, you were always so focused. I remember that much. Not even I could pull that off." She sat down next to me, bouncing the bed a little. Her head was bowed and if I had to guess, I'd say she was playing the last day's scenes in her head.

"Well… I didn't pull it off. I plowed into you, remember?" I said, trying to lighten the mood. She just shook her head.

"I'm scared Trin. We've been here for a day, and already something is out of whack, and it was something we didn't even intentionally cause. What happens when we start actually trying to change things?" My friend looked up into my eyes, and I saw genuine fear. I managed a small reassuring smile.

"You know, our personalities aren't all that messed up. You always were the big softie." I playfully nudged her, but she directed her gaze back to the floor. "…And don't worry about it. As cheesy as this sounds, whatever happens we'll go through it together. We promised each other that the day we signed up for what's-its-name. Hell, even before then, when we set off on our own." I leaned down to have a better look at her face. "You know… nothing seems so scary when you are going through it with someone else. Kind of like a haunted house…" She laughed.

"You've never been to a haunted house." She returned my gaze and continued, "And your right… that is cheesy." We giggled quietly in the last innocent moment that we would have for a long time. Afterwards we sat in silence, not looking at anything in particular, but our minds on anything and everything.

"I was kind of hoping that getting this off my chest would ease the headache I've had since the sirens started going off," Sophie suddenly said.

"You too, huh?" she nodded.

"Ah, well… I'm going to categorize that in 'Side-effects leaving 'Portalia' might give', along with being bipolar, fuzzy-minded, bad foot wear, revealing clothes, tiredness, and… need I go on?" Sophie chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We're 'Portalian', or whatever the scientist said. Might as well end memory loss to that list of yours."

"How could I forget?"

"Bad pun."

"I know."

Knock-knock. We both jumped at the sudden sound, and looked at the door as that seemed to be where it came from.

"Hey, what are you two doing in there?" We stared wide eyed at the door. What all had Fang heard?

"…Hello?" I mentally shook my head of the scenarios playing out if she heard our conversation. None of them were pretty, but we weren't answering her, and we were behind a closed door. One thing I remembered of my parents is that the doors were never allowed to be closed, even if the occupants of the room were of the same sex. Just because homo/bi-sexuality was finally accepted, it doesn't mean every damn person on the planet was looking to hook-up with anyone they laid eyes on!

"What?" I finally got out after my mental tirade.

"I asked you what you were doing in there, but I don't think I want to know…" there was a teasing edge to the voice, and even worse… suggestive. I looked back at Sophie, and I could tell that I wasn't the only one blushing at Fang's words. At least it sounded like she hadn't heard our little talk…

"Fang!" Sophie wined, obviously not liking the mental pictures the Pulsian put in her head. I did my part by suffering the few hops over to the door and banging on it right where the listener's ear would be.

"Ow…" Fang was rubbing at her ear when I opened the door, and I openly glared at her.

"What planet do you come from where it's okay to fuck your sister?" I all but hissed. It sounded a little more malicious than I had intended it to be, but… I just did not like her tone or the mental pictures she had given us. It was just wrong, and she had just met us.

"Well, it was a little more hush-hush, but it wasn't unheard of on Pulse." I think she was expecting a reaction, but all that really happened was my right eye twitched.

"…Fantastic," I muttered. Fang smirked and continued to do so as I motioned for Sophie to get up. As I placed an arm around her shoulder for support and allowed her to guide us out, I leaned over to whisper something in her ear, just loud enough for fang to hear.

"I don't want you talking to her, she's nuts," I said, the tease only audible to Sophie's trained ear. Fang laughed, but Sophie nodded, getting the humor.

"Agreed."

A/N: I think this was more filler than anything, though there were a few important things that needed to be said.

Unfortunately, this will be my last update for the next two weeks or so. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out of going to see my dad. He doesn't have internet, and I doubt I'll even be let onto the computer so… no updates for you for a while :(

I hope this was enough to sate your thirst though (I'm still parched -.-). Also, I need your help. I read over the chapter, and it always feels like something is wrong… it either feels like it's rushed and going too fast or something is just plain missing. I'd appreciate it if you helped me find what it was, so I can make the story better.

DON'T FORGET THE POLL IN MY PROFILE AND REVIEW! :D