Lightning took a deep, calming breath as she came to a stop in front of Jihl's office. For most research missions, it was unusual for a member of the exploring team to personally explain their findings to a commander, but despite Lightning's objections, Jihl still insisted that they go through with the rare formality.

Truthfully, Lightning had no idea what to even tell her. By the time she had made it back to the scientists, they had already collected the majority of their data. All Lightning really did was gather some extra leaf and tree sap samples for them to take back with them. Even on the ride back from Pulse, when one of the scientists leaned over to excitedly talk about the experiments they could finally conduct, Lightning couldn't pay attention. All she could think about was the tall, bronzed woman she had left in the foothills and that raw look that had overtaken her face when she had said, "I remember you."

Light had replayed that moment in her head over and over again, awake and asleep, willingly and unwillingly. Fang had looked so sincere, but she had also called her Lightning… There were so many questions that she still wanted to ask, but now wasn't the time to brainstorm. Going to Pulse to see Fang was an act of treason, the exact crime that had given her father a life sentence in prison.

"…but congratulations anyway, Nabaat. I—Farron?"

The door had swung open before Lightning even had a chance to knock. Jihl was standing before her with a pleased, close-lipped smile on her face. Lightning had to drop her eyes to see whose voice had just addressed her.

"Commander Rosch." It was more of a sigh than an actual greeting as Lightning looked down at the man who had been permanently placed in a wheelchair after the battle in Eden four years ago. He still wore his silver hair in a high ponytail and although the scar that ran across his face was relatively new, his gray eyes still held a bit of contempt as they looked Lightning over. Lightning couldn't blame him though. She didn't like him either. He had been the man in charge of hunting her down when she was a l'Cie. "What a surprise."

"Not really," Rosch shook his head as he clicked his finger down on a button that drove his chair forward and out the door. "Nothing's ever a surprise with you. Nabaat, I will have words with you later. Farron," Rosch paused as his eyes once again examined Lightning, "Good day."

The smile on Jihl's face never faltered as she watched Rosch's chair roll down the hall while Lightning almost had to fight down the pure disgust that always bubbled up whenever she was unfortunate enough to run into the man.

"So you're talking to Rosch again?" she asked, turning to Jihl. She knew the two had entered PSICOM at the same time and had undergone training together, but they could never hold a consistent friendship. Either they were off or on. Mostly off.

"No. He's just butt hurt and dropped by to complain about of the good news."

"The good news?"

"Yesss." Jihl's smile widened. "Here. Come inside." Jihl reached out to pull Lightning into the office. The moment the door clicked shut, Jihl rounded so that she and Light were standing toe-to-toe. "They canned General Piquely."

"What?"

"They canned him," Jihl giddily squealed. "And not just him. They got rid of all his old fart friends who've been clogging up the military ranks too. It was a full sweep. So you know what this means?"

Lightning stared at Jihl uncomprehendingly.

"It means," Jihl went on, taking Lightning's hands in her own, "That I've practically been upgraded to commander-in-chief of all Pulse military operations."

Lightning continued to stare as the information sunk in and Jihl gave her hands an excited squeeze. "This is a big deal!"

"Yeah, yeah…" If she had been worried about Jihl finding out about her mission to find Fang before, that feeling had increased tenfold now. "Congratulations. That's great."

"And the best part is…" Jihl leaned in close so that her lips were nearly brushing against Light's earlobe, "…is how they'll announce it to the public." Lightning could feel the fabric of Jihl's jacket lightly brushing against her own uniform as the woman continued to slide closer. "They're making the announcement at the Eidolon Ball. That means you'll be introducing me."

Light knew she was supposed to be happy for her girlfriend, but she couldn't help but feel a heavy weight suddenly pull down on her as she remembered one of the publicity stunts that she had been roped into attending every year. She personally couldn't stand the Eidolon Ball nor its selfish and over-privileged attendees, but as a Savior of Cocoon, she was required to attend. She, Snow, and Hope would be surrounded by cameras for a short period of time and barraged with questions ranging from who was their movie star crush to what was their opinion on the economy. On special occasions, they would sometimes be asked to present an award or introduce someone. This year, that someone would be Jihl. This year, Lightning would stand in front of a crowd of people who were still hungrily searching for a woman she had already seen twice in the past month.

"I know we agreed to keeping a low profile, but I just can't help but think of this as being like a date."

Lightning was jolted back to reality by the feeling of Jihl's palm pressing against the small of her back, pulling her in even closer.

"I can't wait to see you on stage in one of your sexy evening gowns, calling my name, waiting for me to stand by your side…" Jihl briefly paused to place a soft kiss behind Lightning's ear. "Maybe I can even get away with stealing a dance with you. You know it was actually at an Eidolon Ball, when I saw you standing at the podium in this sparkling purple dress, looking out over the crowd like you were above it all, that I knew I needed to make you mine, right?"

Another kiss further down Lightning's neck.

"Just the thought alone is getting me bothered…"

Lightning was breathing heavy, not so much from the nature of Jihl's advances, but more so because the closer that Jihl got, the more paranoid Lightning became. What if she could feel her tensing and sense that something was wrong? What if she could smell Fang on her? Or if she looked close enough into Light's eyes and just saw the betrayal behind them?

"And I've always wondered why we've never fully 'utilized' my office—"

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Oh hell…" Jihl exasperatedly huffed on hearing someone at the door.

Lightning let out a shaky breath as her girlfriend strode away to answer it. She never thought that she'd ever be so happy to see Cid Raines in the doorway.

"Commander Raines," Jihl greeted dully. "What can I help you with?"

Cid looked from Jihl to Lightning. "Commander Nabaat. I don't have any favors to ask yet. I was just stopping by to congratulate you, just as I assume Sergeant Farron is doing."

Jihl grunted.

"But it is convenient that Sergeant Farron is here. There's something important that I need to speak with you about in my office." Cid was now solely focused on Lightning. "Now."

"Raines, we're actually in the middle of some important business of our—"

"It's fine," Lightning interrupted, surprising Jihl by hurriedly moving to join Cid outside the doorway. "Jih—I mean, Commander Nabaat… I think it would be better if we continued our business some other time. There's some important GC stuff that I've been meaning to resolve with Cid and the sooner we address it, the better."

"Ohhhh kay…" Jihl's expression looked lost as she nodded along. "I… guess I'll talk to you later then."

Lightning forced a tight smile in reply before turning to leave with Cid down the hallway. She felt relieved yet crummy at the same time.

"You two are conducting 'business' in the office now?" Cid spoke in a low voice as they walked down the hall, keeping his eyes forward instead of turning to Lightning. "Do you think that's a wise decision?"

"It's none of your concern," was Lightning's only reply. Any happiness that she had felt upon seeing Cid earlier had already disappeared.

Within no time, the two were in the closed confines of Cid's office. Cid instinctively moved to stand behind his desk, holding his chin and looking downward as he thought of how to begin while Lightning waited on the other side of the room with her arms folded.

"Why don't you ever listen to me?" he finally asked in a soft, defeated voice.

"Excuse me?"

"I received a transmission from Gran Pulse earlier today," Cid continued, lifting his eyes from his desk to stare Lightning in the face. "You deliberately went against my wishes and returned to find her."

"You gave me no other choice."

"The other choice was to drop it! To do as I said and get on with your life! Not put everything the Cavalry has worked for in jeopardy by going rogue! Now I need to find a way to convince everyone that sending Snow and Hope to Gran Pulse will help boost war morale!"

"So that's how she planned on getting everyone there?" Lightning asked, rather unimpressed as she thought back to her and Fang's conversation. The woman had seemed so confident in her ability to get everyone back together. Lightning had no idea that she would just ask Cid to have them flown down. "Wait. Aren't publicity stunts and cover-ups your forte? I'm sure you'll figure something out. You always do."

"It's not the transportation that's worrying me," Cid snapped, reaching up to hold his head in his hands. "I don't think I was clear enough the last time we spoke—about Fang's condition. Or better yet, her position. Here. There's something I need to show you."

As Lightning moved closer, Cid bent down to rifle through the many contents of his desk drawer. Finally he pulled out a folder and dropped it onto the desktop.

"These are various photographs from a number of trips our troops have taken to Gran Pulse. Most of them were taken before we made contact with Fang and Vanille, but some were even taken after. Have a look."

He slid the folder across the desk and on opening it, Lightning immediately cringed. The first picture was of a charred campsite, a Cocoonian one from the style of the equipment that was still intact. Mostly everything in the photo was black, but there were a few barrels and tents that still glowed orange. More grotesquely, there was a mess of burned bodies lying across the ground, their limbs twisted in all sorts of unnatural ways. The next picture was of a different scene near a river. The bodies in this one told their own story, as did the red water that flowed in the background. Every picture showed the aftermath of some sort of battle, and in each one it was obvious that the winner hadn't been Cocoon.

"Fang is the Gran Pulsian military commander," Cid said, closely watching Lightning as she leafed through the folder. "All of this is was done on her order. Some of it even shows compelling evidence of being done by her hand. The bodies in the photos are the only soldiers that we were able to find at each attack. Fang won't give a direct answer for any questions we ask, but we believe the rest are being held captive. Whether that's true or not, she's leveraging that hope against us to do favors for her. Favors such as flying your friends to Gran Pulse."

"She threatened Cocoonian soldiers?" Lightning asked, lifting her head from the photos.

"Not directly, but it was implied."

"How was it implied?"

"Does it matter? Either way, I have no choice but to go through with it!" Cid placed his hands on his hips and paced a bit behind his desk before settling down again. "Lightning, I don't know what she told you, but you can't trust her. This is how she operates. She finds ways to monopolize important information and then uses it as a tool to make you do what she wants. She's playing you for a fool!"

"Excuse me?" Lightning's eyes slightly narrowed on the commander. "That's rich coming from someone who's been working with her for a year."

"She wants something from you—something she can't take by force," the man continued. "And because of that, she's playing nice. But war is an ugly business. If you keep connecting her with the Fang you knew in high school then you won't be prepared for when war finally rears its ugly head on you. But no, you just like to do whatever you want whenever you want without thinking of how it affects the people around you! This is exactly why your own sister can't stand to be near you!"

Dead silence filled the office, and Lightning's face dropped in a mix of astonishment and disbelief before hardening into a scowl.

"Claire… I—that came out wrong," Cid immediately began to apologize but was silenced by Lightning quietly lifting a hand.

"Before this little meeting, I wasn't planning on going through with this whole reunion thing," she began in a firm tone as she pushed the folder of pictures back across the desk, "But now I'm having a change of heart. You'd better start thinking of a good PR excuse for Hope and Snow."

Lightning leaned against the railing that circled a huge fountain in the center of The Academy's campus. She had called Hope right after leaving Cid's office. The trip to Pulse was happening, and she wanted to be the first to tell him. In person. It was only right. The kid had always been so determined to see Vanille again.

"Vanille…" Lightning sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. She'd been so preoccupied by Fang's that she hadn't even stopped to think about Vanille and how she had so indifferently threatened to put her down in their last meeting. A lot had changed in the passed four years, that much was obvious.

BRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Lightning's communicator vibrated. She checked to see whether it was Hope, but sighed again on seeing Jihl's name on the screen.

Another thing she hadn't thought through.

Jihl was probably at her house wondering where in Eden Lightning could be at this hour and why she rushed out of her office the way she did—two things that Lightning couldn't give straight answers to. Gods, could she have made a bigger mess of things?

Lightning stared back out at the fountain. It was a simple thing. Dark grey stone sculpted to look like geyser with a clear pool full of large, orange fish surrounding its base. Strangely enough, it actually reminded her of the Eidolon Ball Jihl had mentioned earlier that day.

It was about two years ago, but Lightning could remember it like it was yesterday. The pompous members of the Sanctum, laughing and stuffing their faces. The extravagant Eidolon costumes and decorations. The shimmery purple dress with the slit that hugged her body like a glove. The video presentation that had been played to retell the story of Ragnarok's rising… The light yet commanding grip Cid held on her upper arm as he escorted her out of the hall and onto the deserted balcony near the end of before mentioned presentation. The cold chill of the night air on her skin when she whipped around on him as he asked, "Why must you always be so difficult?"

"I'm being difficult?"

"Yes, you're being difficult. The only thing you have to do is stand on stage and—"

"I'm not going back in there."

"Lightning, there's a certain level of civility—"

"Civility?!" The cold air had burned as it rushed through her flared nostrils. "They're telling blatant lies about her—"

"Lightning…"

"About us—about everything! And I'm just supposed to just smile and take it?! It's just so convenient that everyone decides to forget that the Sanctum was under fal'Cie control in the first place! She's not even here to defend herself!"

"Because she committed an atrocity and died!" Cid always had a knack for finding the right nail-in-the-coffin blow for their arguments. "Sanctum isn't the perfect government and the Cavalry is still working to fix that, but don't let their exaggerated presentation work you up into believing Fang was a saint."

Lightning didn't answer him. She was too busy seething.

"Lightning, I know you don't want to hear this, but the people in that room admire you," Cid continued. "And not just them. Everyone on this planet does. You're intelligent, strong, determined, beautiful… And most of all, you're a hero. You've lost just as much, if not more, than everyone else but you don't let that slow you down. You're an icon—much more of one than Snow or Hope will ever be. If you'd just foster that instead of sneering at everyone all the time, think of all the things you could accomplish! The people would rally behind you."

"That's not what I want," Light had huffed, turning away from Cid to lean on the balcony's railing. Below was a pond, filled with large orange fish.

"Well sometimes we have to put our wants aside for the needs of others." She could hear Cid sigh after he said this. "I'm going back inside. I hope that you'll join me in a better disposition than you're in now."

She snorted and continued to stare at the fish. They seemed so at peace, just lazily swimming in circles, not worried at all about the politics of the silly humans gallivanting above them. From behind, she heard something clack against the balcony's stone floor and sighed. "What? Am I taking to long?"

"I—no. I just—It looked like you could use some company."

Light's head shot around in surprise. Jihl was standing near the balcony doorway, one foot moved behind her, ready to step back inside if needed.

"But I could leave you alone, if that's what you want. It just looked like you and Cid were arguing and I thought maybe—"

"No, it's okay." Something seemed off about Jihl. She didn't have that ever-present proud or smug air about her. She looked flushed and would only hold eye contact for short moments before looking away. She seemed… nervous.

"Good… I mean, okay." Jihl gave a relieved smile and joined Lightning at the railing. Lightning immediately smelled alcohol on the commander. "So…" Jihl started after a moment of silence, "The two of you were arguing over 'her', weren't you?"

Lightning took in a deep breath of the chilly air. There was no use denying it. Jihl had gotten to know Lightning well enough through their sessions. Whereas the rest of the world may have speculated over how close Light and Fang were, Lightning knew that Jihl had a fairly good idea. "She wasn't always a monster," Lightning simply stated. "She didn't have a master plan or any agendas. She just wanted to be free. She wanted all of us to be free."

"Heh." Jihl's lips twitched into a partially crooked smile. "She must've been something for you to keep defending her after all of this… must've been stupid, though."

Lightning's eyebrow ticked as she turned her head to face Jihl.

"You deserve so much better than that. You're—you're loyal, strong, beautiful… Seriously, Lightning, you're gorgeous."

"You sound just like Cid," Light replied with a wry smile although she could feel her cheeks beginning to warm.

"I don't want you to compare me to Cid." Jihl was no longer leaning against the railing but was instead standing directly in front of Light. She placed a hand low on Lightning's hip, far enough back so that her fingertips were able to graze the skin of the pinkette's exposed back. Light's eyes slightly widened in surprise at the contact. The alcohol on Jihl's breath smelled stronger than ever now that they were face-to-face. "All this time, I've been feeling sorry for that wretched beast…" Jihl's eyes held Lightning's for a moment before trailing downwards. "I never thought there'd be a day when I'd be jealous of it."

"Jihl… How much have you had to drink?"

A loud chorus of applause erupted from inside the hall. Both Lightning and Jihl turned their heads towards the balcony's slightly opened doors. "Presentation must be over," Jihl breathed. "I need to get back in there. But Lightning…" She moved even closer to the pinkette. "Anyone who'd desert you like that is an idiot. I'd never hurt you like she did. I'd—mrrmm." Lightning wasn't sure if Jihl was trying to clear her throat or hold down a burp. "Just… you deserve better."

Jihl's hand slipped away from Lightning's waist. With her other hand, the woman lightly pushed off the balcony and marched back into the hall, leaving Lightning to stare after her in confusion.

They never talked about their conversation on the balcony afterwards, and another year would pass before Jihl would invite her over for dinner, with that same proud air that she always had.

"Light!"

Lightning's head popped up to see Hope waving at her a short distance away. There was a wide smile on his face and a bounce in his step as he half walked—half jogged over. Lightning straightened up and tried to force a smile as well.

Ready or not, this was it.

A/N: Well that took longer than expected... Sorry if this chapter is kinda choppy. I've been having some flow issues lately. But as always, thanks for the feedback and yall are awesome!