Xethear: A quick note to mention before the chapter starts addressing Bob's question to chapter 2. Yes! Lightning has no idea Noct is the prince. She assumed their sparring sessions were the equivalent to say friends going to the gym. Or rather getting stronger because their world is inhabited by various monsters/daemons. Hope that clarifies and I appreciate the interest in story to point that detail out!

Chapter 3: To be a Glaive

"That's 5 to 1. Three minutes to go. Wanna quit now while you're still ahead… Glaive Furia?"

Several cadets awaiting evaluation amongst the audience stands stifled snickers. It was no secret that Tredd viewed himself in an upper echelon amongst the Glaive and thus was seen in a notoriously negative light amongst the newcomers; so seeing one of their own stand up to the bully was satisfying. Snow made it evident as he shouted from the stands. "Show 'em who's boss Light!"

One lesson Lightning retained from watching Fang was a flair of sorts. The deft soldier gave the pommel of her spear a sharp kick giving it enough momentum to swing around her arm allowing her to twirl the weapon several times before seizing it in her fighting stance which caused a proud uproar from the crowd. Other Glaive members were watching from a designated stand and from the corner of her gaze Lightning saw Nyx smirk. He along with Libertus and Crowe were senior Glaive members she was actually fond of. Lightning would eat out with them and her friends after a hard day's work and they'd share stories, battle tips and laughs.

"Don't get so full of yourself after one lucky break." Tredd hissed. The man hoisted himself up and threw his dagger towards Lightning's left and immediately blinked beside her delivering a kick towards her side.

Luckily, having been familiar with "blinking" Lightning was prepared and used her spear to parry Tredd's boot and redirect it back towards the floor giving herself a moment to stab the weapon into the floor and propel herself towards the man landing a drop kick square on his chest.

Tredd, having the wind knocked out of him tumbled to the ground once more. The scoreboard let out a buzzing drone as the numbers shifted to "5 to 2." The crowd burst into more cheers.

"Yeah! Go Lightning!" Crowe cheered from the stands giving Lightning a sense of pride.

'You can do this Lightning.' She told herself softly as a livid Tredd rose to his feet once more.


"Steak… steak… steak…" Noctis hummed to himself softly as he walked the aisles of the grocery store looking for a proper cut of beef for his girlfriend. He rarely did shopping (at least for food) since he got into the habit of simply buying packaged noodles for himself thanks to Gladiolus's influence. Prompto was doing the best he could to help but wasn't exactly a cooking aficionado either. Thankfully the duo had Iris to accompany them before heading back to the Amicitia household for the afternoon fencing lesson.

"Here Noct, I'm sure she'll like this cut." Iris said happily as she handed the prince a brown piece of parchment labeled "Garulessa Steak."

Noctis smiled and gave Iris a nod. "I'll take your word on that."

After purchasing the steak (and several bags of chips, carbonated beverages and chocolate for the guilty pleasure) the three headed back to Iris's house passing the time by with casual talk and photo ops from Prompto.

As they walked up to the patio Noctis noticed Ignis sitting by the door scanning the contents of his notepad. "Nice of you to finally join me." After stuffing the journal inside his coat pocket which hung on the back of his chair the confidant rose and chucked a wooden sword at Noctis. "Proper form now. En garde Highness!"


Lightning panted heavily as she rose up from being knocked to the floor yet another time. Using her spear as support she took a moment to catch her breath and take up her fighting stance once more. The clock was winding down and read "1:30… 1:29…" and continued to tic as the match drew on. Tredd himself was looking weary from Lightning's refusal to forfeit the match evident by the bruising on his face and dirt scuffs on his uniform. However, the scoreboard read "10 to 7" in Tredd's favor. Even the crowd grew hushed as the gravity of the situation began to settle in. If Lightning couldn't best Tredd, it was more than likely she wouldn't get into the Glaive this time around.

"What's the matter Farron? Running out of steam?"

Lightning spat on the floor and grunted. "You wish. And I know you're not considering the amount of hot air your spouting." Despite her brave front, Lightning hated to admit to herself but she was running on energy reserves. 'This isn't good… I really need to wrap this up. I'm pretty exhausted. You better have some steak ready for later Noct.'

"A minute left in the trial!" Titus's voice boomed through the speakers.

"Damn it!" Lightning frantically looked for a means to knock Tredd off balance as her repeated methods began to fail. He was starting to take notice of her battle patterns. Lightning attempted to use the same spear support drop kick combo but Tredd decided to blink behind Lightning, kick her spear dislodging it from the floor and thus cause her to crash towards the floor.

The scoreboard buzzer caused Lightning's heart to drop. "11 to 7… 40 seconds left… I need to score five more times with only 8 seconds divided equally amongst them. How in the…"

Panic began to settle inside Lightning's head. One thing she always had trouble with was fear, specifically the fear of failure. The possibility of being defeated by Tredd made things worse. But it was precisely that fear which made the gears in Lightning's head to kick it into overdrive. "Remember, it's not all about brute force. Use your head." Lightning recalled that the specific spear she was using was a prototype weapon (which made fighting with it all the more difficult) but it was infused with electrical energy channeled by a jewel embedded into the center of the spear point.

"Guess I'll have to use it." Lightning sighed seeing as how all her options seemed limited. After swallowing the large pill that was her pride Lightning hurled her spear towards the sky as hard as she could and used the electrical energy to boost the distance.

"Have you lost your mind? What do you intend to accomplish by discarding your weap—" Tredd froze midsentence. He had taken his eyes off of Lightning for a moment to glance at the spear and found she was right in front of him.

"Ha!" Lightning clenched her teeth as she delivered a swift series of body blows towards Tredd's abdomen.

"Gah!" He groaned as he was pushed back towards the ring of water at the edge of the arena. Upon realization of what Lightning was trying to do, Tredd's eyes grew wide. 'She's trying to push me into the water! It'll be a technical knockout!' "You…!" Tredd threw one of his daggers off to the side and blinked away. "You won't best me you—" For the second time Tredd's words failed him. Lightning had vanished. "How did she… unless…!"

Tredd's suspicions were confirmed when he saw a small shadow by his feet grow larger and larger. He quickly looked up but anything he wanted to see was momentarily obscured because the Glaive had to avert his gaze from the bright sun.

Lightning had blinked up to where her spear was in midair. For a moment, it was as if time had frozen. She had a bird's eye view of the headquarters, the clock tower of Noctis's campus was off towards the distance and she could even make out part of the apartment complex they were residing in off in the opposite direction. Though cadets were able to borrow the king's power and "blink" (limited to five times a day) it was that very principle which lead Lightning to refrain from using the ability. It was borrowed power. Power which did not belong to her and many of her accomplishments were brought about because of her own prowess. Using the ability took quite the toll on her pride, but losing to Tredd would have been a much larger travesty.

"HAAAAH!" Lightning triggered a button on the spear shaft activating two small prongs located wear the spear pole and point to spread altering the polearm's straight shape into a "T" shape. Using the newly activated bars as footholds Lightning then activated one more button, the electrical shield generator. It was as if the soldier was wrapped in a transparent blue blanket of electrical energy. She felt lighter, free and safe.

Lightning directed her falling trajectory towards the area just a few feet in front of Tredd. "Take this you pompous bastard!" She growled furiously as she came crashing down from the heaven's like a bolt out of the blue.

Tredd could only watch in disbelief as the soldier's reflection grew in his irises. "How did she manage—"

A thunderous boom silenced Tredd's sentence as Lightning collided into the arena. Dust, debris and large pieces of rubble erupted from the floor like a volcano, obscuring the aftermath of the attack. The clock of the scoreboard read "0:00" and continued to blink on and off having reached time. Captain Titus leaned over the railing of the Glaive members' viewing box to examine the field.

A hazy figure shifted in the dust and smoke slowly growing more focused until finally bursting from the cloud in a fit of coughing was Lightning. The drained soldier fell to the ground beside her spear and dry heaved as she stared at the clouds in the sky. Her ears were still ringing so the audience's cheers were muffled but she was very well impressed with her own feat. Gradually the cheers became more clear. They were chanting her name. "Lightning! Lightning!"

Once all the smoke had cleared however, Tredd too became visible, unconscious by the edge of the arena. He had almost tumbled into the water.

Using what little energy she had left Lightning turned her body and read the scoreboard. "11 to 8," forcing Tredd into the water for a technical knockout was her last ditch effort and it seemed to have failed.

She bit her lip trying to hold back the stinging sensation of tears forming in her eyes. "Just great…" She pounded her fist against the floor of the arena. "Can this day get any worse?"

Lightning's friends immediately rushed the field along with Nyx, Libertus and Crowe. "That was quite the attack Farron." Nyx praised as he watched Fang and Crowe lift Lightning to her feet.

"Off to the infirmary with you." Libertus instructed.

"And wipe that frown off your face. It's not like you've failed… yet." Crowe said with a smirk. "The three of us still have a say in the matter."

Lightning looked bewildered. "What're you talking abou—"

"We know Tredd will probably fail you." Nyx started. "But considering the reactions of the audience and us seeing your skills firsthand I believe even the Captain would see failing you as a travesty."

"Nyx is right Light. I read about this type of ruling in the Glaive handbook." Hope reassured his friend. "For now what's important is that you get some rest in the infirmary."

Lightning gave Hope a weak smile and nodded. "I'll do just that."

After making sure Lightning was comfortable in the infirmary, everyone left her alone to complete their Glaive trials. It was a little too quite but relaxing nonetheless. The bed Lightning occupied had curtains strewn around it to provide privacy. Once situated in a comfortable position, she took her phone out of her pocket and saw that she had two new messages: one from the morning and one half an hour ago.

The first message was from her sister and though it was short and simple it made her smile. "Kick Furia's ass today Light!"

The second message was just as heartwarming. "Guess what's for dinner tonight." Lightning read out loud as she opened up a picture Noctis had sent her. It was a photo of himself holding the brown package of Garulessa Steak in his hands. "Let's hope I don't burn it."

"Let's…" Lightning murmured softly as she felt her eyes grow heavy. And soon the tired soldier was fast asleep.


Lightning awoke an hour later to a familiar voice in the room.

"So… trials… okay?"

She was still a bit groggy but with each word spoken, the voice grew more and more familiar. It was deep and gruff.

"Any new Glaive members make it in?"

"We'll find out later today." She recognized a second voice to be Crowe's.

"Sounds good. Thanks for the message. I'll relay it to dad as soon as I can."

Finally, Lightning was alert after listening in on the two's conversation. Once realizing the origin of the first voice she froze up. It was Gladiolus.

'What is he doing here?! Is he interested in being a Glaive as well? I can't let him know I'm here. He might tell Noct!' Just to confirm her suspicions Lightning slid one finger along the gap of the curtains and peaked outside. Sure enough the man was leaning by the doorway reading a letter taken from a torn envelope. Crowe was sitting at the nurse's desk, Lightning assumed to be covering for the nurse on standby in the arena.

Once Gladiolus looked up Lightning fell back in bed and instinctually held her breath.

"Alright, I'll be seeing you then Crowe."

"Likewise."

A minute passed. Then two. After five minutes Lightning tore the curtains open and ran towards a shocked Crowe. "What was Gladiolus doing here Crowe?! You know him?"

"Of course I do, he's part of the Amicitia household."

Lightning's eyes grew wide. "Those sworn to be the King's shields? He has that family lineage?"

Crowe nodded and crossed one leg over the other, "The very same."

"I never knew his last name… so Noct has a friend linked to the King huh? Impressive." For a moment, Lightning was lost in thought but brought herself back to reality with a shake of the head. "Anyways, please don't tell him I'm working to be a Glaive. He may tell Noct." 'I'll tell him when the time is right.'

Crowe raised her brow, "Noct? As in Noctis?"

"Yeah?"

The senior Glaive pondered for a moment as she thought of her next question. "What's his full name?"

Lightning stared at Crowe skeptically. "Noctis Gar. But he prefers Noct."


"How's that alias treating you by the way Noct Gar?" Prompto asked with a snicker as he ate the first Garulessa Steak Noctis tried to prepare for lunch. The charred edges gave the dish an unappealing appearance and a bitter aftertaste.

"So far so good." Noctis responded as he spat his bite into a napkin. "Garbage…" He said with a disapproving shake of his head. "I'm glad the campus doesn't allow non-students—save for Gladio—inside the school, else Light would be hearing everyone call me Highness."

"Hey Prince Charmless," Gladiolus started as he walked into the kitchen, "I'm back. You had fun relaxing? How'd he do Ignis?"

Ignis took a moment to stop monitoring a soup simmering in a pot to answer the King in waiting's Shield. "He's gotten faster. Some of his sword swings are unorthodox, but I can say he's improved with daggers and polearms."

Gladiolus turned to Noctis who held a cheeky smirk on his face. "You heard that?"

"Don't get cocky." Gladiolus chuckled. "Wrap it up, greatsword training in ten. See ya in the yard."

Noctis fell crestfallen as he set aside his failed dish. He washed his hands and made his way towards the door when Iris stopped him momentarily with a grab on his wrist. "No worries Noct. Ignis and I will take care of supper. You can pack some for Light and we'll try again another time."

Iris's comment immediately lifted Noctis's spirits. "Wow… I don't know what to say."

"You could thank the lady Noct." Ignis said with a small chuckle as he tasted the broth of the soup.

"Err… right. Thanks Iris." He said and ruffled the young woman's hair. "Thanks too Ignis. You comin' Prompto? You know for photos?"

"Oh you bet!" The blonde leapt up excitedly and followed Noctis into the yard where Gladiolus awaited with two wooden greatswords in hand.

"By the way Noct," The man said as he handed Noctis one of the training weapons, "Got a message from the Glaive today. Looks like my dad and the king want to see us tomorrow."

"Hngh!" Noctis swung at Gladiolus who parried skillfully. "A summons? What for?"

Gladiolus balanced the sword on his shoulder before leaping forward with an overhead swing forcing Noctis to dodge roll out of harm's way. "Not sure, but the letter I got did mention Lady Lunafreya."

"With Luna…? Huh…"

"Pay attention!" Gladiolus barked and swung horizontally at Noctis. Had the prince been prepared he would have dodged or parried, but given his momentary reverie instinctually blocked and was sent rolling several feet into the garden.

"Way to hold back… ugh…" Noctis rolled over onto his back and stared at the sky. "Wonder what Light's up to."


"Noct Gar…" Crowe repeated before stifling a snicker. 'I know his majesty mentioned not to blow the prince's cover but what a ridiculous name.'

Lightning found Crowe's actions slightly curious, but not enough to merit further investigation. "Anyways, I need a favor Crowe."

"Hm?"

"Do you know if Vanille is free right now?"

Crowe shifted her attention to the computer on the desk and typed away navigating to a page that listed the Glaive trials that had been completed. "It looks like she finished her trial ten minutes ago. Do you want me to come get her?"

"Please. I need to take some precautions in case Gladiolus comes back while I'm up and about."

Crowe nodded and rose from her seat. "Be right back." She said before shutting the door behind her.

For a moment, the only sound heard in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall until Lightning breathed a deep sigh of relief. "What is this day turning into?" She grabbed her phone off the nightstand by the bed and sent a message to her sister.

"I kicked Furia's ass. Don't know if I passed or failed yet. Waiting is torture."

Five minutes had passed before her phone sounded a chocobo wark—her text tone.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you did great! If they fail you, I'm gonna come down there and give them a piece of my mind."

Lightning laughed. "I'm sure you would little sis."

It was then the infirmary door swung open and Lightning's vision became partially obscured by red curly pigtails. "Oh are you alright Light?!" Vanille asked slightly panicked. The redhead's forte was first aid so she immediately began checking Lightning's temperature.

Lightning grabbed her friend by the wrists, "I'm fine Vanille. Don't worry."

"Are you sure? No headache? Side pains? Toothache?"

"Really. It's alright Vanille."

The young woman grew meek as she finally collected herself and sat by Lightning's bedside.

After calming her friend Lightning spoke once again. "I need a favor. Could you make a wig for me?"


Noctis arrived at the apartment complex first, carrying a packed dinner made by Ignis and Iris for Lightning and himself. He had a bit of trouble balancing his pack and the dinner as he got into the elevator, but luckily Prompto was there to accompany him.

"Going up good sir?" Prompto snickered as he hit the number "5" button on the button panel. "What time does Light get back anyway?"

"In about half an hour or so. Why?"

"Wanna get a game in of King's Knight?" The blonde asked referring to the mobile game their group of friends played together.

"You're on! Actually, I need help with the raid. Gladio already has the five-star character from it."

"What how?!"

"Not sure, but we need to play catch up."

With help from Prompto once again, Noctis was able to enter his apartment without issue. He kicked his shoes off in exchange for some slippers and after placing the dinner boxes on the counter top he flung his pack onto the couch. Prompto grabbed some chips from the cabinet and two carbonated beverages from the refrigerator and then switched the tv on before joining the prince in the living room.

"Food, background noise, let's start the raid Noct!"

Half an hour flew by like a blink of an eye for the two immersed in their video game. Before they knew it the sounds of keys being jammed into the doorknob broke them out of their virtual world.

"I'm home." Lightning said sounding exhausted but somewhat cheerful.

Noctis rushed over to the door immediately, "Welcome back!" he managed to say while still chewing on some chips.

Lightning dropped her bag to the floor and fell into Noctis's arms and buried her face in his chest. "Mmm… tired."

Noctis stroked her rose colored locks gently and chuckled. Rough day huh?"

She nuzzled his chest savoring his warmth and scent, "Considering Prompto's shoes are by the doorway it's a surprise you two haven't burnt the whole place down by now."

At the sound of his name the blonde peeked from the corner of the wall with camera in hand. "Hey Light! Say chocobo!" And without wasting another second Prompto caught a snapshot of the two in a loving embrace. "Oh, love the lighting! It sets the atmosphere perfectly!"

The couple (momentarily forgetting about Prompto's presence) broke from their hug feeling embarrassed. Lightning grabbed her bag and headed straight for the bedroom to change out of her retail disguise. After slipping on some leggings and putting on one of Noctis's black shirts (out of laziness to go through her own closet) she headed back out into the living room.

She caught the two friends immersed with their phones and immediately knew what they were up to. "Hey!" She said loudly as she leapt over the couch and rested her head on Noctis's lap. "I need help with the raid mission too. Fang already has the five-star character."

Noctis and Prompto both shared a laugh. "You got here just in time Ms. Bedhead. Our stamina just refilled from our last level up."

Lightning chuckled and flipped her phone on and navigated to the King's Knight app. "You sound like such a nerd."

"Is that a problem?" Noctis asked with a smirk as he dipped down towards Lightning's lips.

"Nope." She responded softly as he gave her a quick kiss.

"You're wearing my shirt again?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Nope. Keep doing it. My shirts always smell better afterwards."

"Ughhh…" Prompto glared at the couple. "Enough with the lovey dovey, we got some undead army to defeat!"

Noctis and Lightning stared at Prompto in silence for several seconds before all their faces steeled with the same expression.

"Game on!" They said in unison.


The trio played their game of King's Knight for an hour or so making satisfactory progress on their respective files evident to the toast they made after playing. After seeing Prompto off Noctis dumped his homework for the night on the coffee table while Lightning helped while watching her tv shows.

"Name the Six Gods of Yore and the significance they hold towards the Oracle and King…" Noctis read the question to his mythology assignment out loud and shut his eyes. "So that's Titan the Archaean, Ramuh the Fulgurian, Leviathan the Hydraean, Shiva the Glacian, Bahamut the Draconian and Ifrit the Infernian right?" He looked at Lightning who had been lying down on the couch and was tilting her bag of chips over her face to eat up the remaining crumbs.

"Mrrrhm." She nodded while she chewed. "And if you have any astrology questions lemme know cause I could help loads with that. My favorite constellation after all is—"

"Odin right?"

"Yeah."

"Will do and thanks for the help again Light. It makes this boring chore a little less boring."

"No prob. Now can it Noct, the coliseum matches are starting and I bet Fang that the Treant would beat the Cockatrice."

Noctis jumped, "It's on right now?! I bet against Gladio! I'm gonna take a break and—"

Lightning jabbed Noctis's side with her foot. "Nuh uh, you finish the assignment now and then take a break. You're gonna break your flow if you stop now. At least finish the question you're on while it's still fresh in your mind."

Noctis sighed, "Dammit… I'm gonna miss it."

"You'll miss more if you keep mumbling. Hop to it Noct."

"Yeah yeah…" Noctis sulked sounding completely defeated.

It was hard for Noctis to complete his assignment with announcer's constant remarks of the rollercoaster of a battle between the two featured monsters. The crowd in Altissia's coliseum were going wild as the beasts exchanged attacks. Ultimately in the end, the Cockatrice defeated the Treant sending half of the audience into melancholy along with Lightning and Noctis.

"Looks like I'm buying Fang lunch tomorrow…"

"And I gotta wake up at dawn to go on a run with Gladio…"

Lightning pushed herself up from the couch and reviewed Noctis's work over his shoulder. "Speaking of Gladio, why didn't you tell me he was an Amicitia?"

Noctis froze. "A-A what?"

Lightning's eyes never left Noctis's paper, "You know, family serving as the King's Shield since times of yore? You didn't tell me you had a friend who served directly for the king."

"To be fair since moving here eight months ago, you never even knew Lucis had a king."

"Hmm… true… ah! Check number seven again. Where I came from, we didn't have a king. At least not for Bodhum."

"You've got to take me there sometime. Sounds like a good vacation spot."

"Of course. There's a lot to see there."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Noctis scanned his answer Lightning pointed out and discovered there was indeed a mistake, a spelling one at that. While correcting his slip up Lightning's phone rang and she excused herself to their room saying it was a work call.

Once she shut the door behind her Lightning answered. "Hello, this is…"


*Five hours earlier*

"So can you do it Vanille?"

"No worries. Leave it to me Light. I can't believe Gladio showed up here. Who knew! Are you sure of the color though? A sort of platinum blonde right?"

"Yeah, I need to but unrecognizable when I'm here."

"Alrighty. Oh! And congrats again on passing Light! I knew you could do it"

Vanille gave Lightning a big hug before running off to complete the wig task her friend entrusted to her.

Lightning smiled and waited until Vanille had turned the corner before she took a deep breath and entered Captain Titus's office. Inside awaiting was Captain Titus himself, a proud looking Nyx and a disgruntled Tredd Furia with an ice pack over his face.

"Congratulations Cadet Farron. After reviewing your performance trial, I am proud to welcome you abroad the Glaive. Your skill not only showcased strength, but intelligence as well." Titus extended his gauntlet which Lightning shook with contained excitement. "How would you like your uniform designed?"

"Actually, Cadet Vanille has my rough ideas. We'll turn in the papers tomorrow. But there is a modification I'd like done before then."

Titus raised his brow. "What would that be."

"It has to do with my title. I don't want it to be Lightning Farron. I'll explain…"

*Present time*

Lightning brought her phone to her ear and answered clearly. "Hello, this is Aranea Highwind."


End Chapter

Xethear: *Dramatic music* So whilst playing Final Fantasy XV I always had a thought that Aranea's armor resembled that of Lightning's in Lightning Returns. They're both strong female characters and thus this chapter was born. Kind of a twist but yes! Hope you all enjoyed and 'til next chapter!