Hey chicas! How are you?
Awesome!
Me? I'm not so good, XD
Damn stomach infections. May have screwed up a few things in this chapter whilst proof-reading, so if you see any mistakes, let me know. Okay? Awesomeness.
Also, half of this chapter was meant to be the next chapter, but it was too short, so I kind of merged the two chapters together, XD
Disclaimer: I do not own FFXIII, or VersusXIII, or Fabula Nova Crystallis. Or Square Enix. Or - Yeah, you get the picture. I don't own anything.
I'm also going to ask you to please please PLEASE vote on the poll on my profile about what sort of ending you want for Fire Escape. Merci beaucoup.
In addition, I'm going to ask for reviews now (PLEASE REVIEW!!!)... 'cause I don't want to wreck the end of this chapter with my random ramblings at the end.
Mwa ha ha.
Christ. Anywhoo.... oh there was something else!
AHA!
Yeah, I love you guys! And good luck for anyone who has exams at the moment!
Peace out!
SunflowerWielder
Lightning sat crossed-legged on the ground of the crystal cave.
She had far too much to think about.
Noctis, Snow, Vanille, the Crystal, Phoenix, and of course, the dream.
Her dream was the crystal's doing, she knew that, but it still scared her. The crystal was delving into her past, which she had locked away.
It couldn't come back.
It mustn't come back.
"Lightning?" The soldier turned around to see Vanille running into the cave. "I was looking for you!"
"Good job." She muttered sarcastically. The pig-tailed girl smiled and sat down next to her.
"What'cha doing?"
"Thinking."
"About...?"
"None of your business Vanille." Lightning shut her eyes and sighed. "It's none of your business." Vanille sighed and shook her head.
"Snow's freaking out."
"As usual."
"He told us about you trying to..." Vanille trailed off, letting Lightning fill in the gaps for herself.
"He told you about – that?" Lightning sounded confused, turning and frowning at Vanille.
"Uh-huh. Sazh asked why you were arguing and Snow told us about that." Vanille had the feeling she didn't like the word.
"I'm going to kill him." Lightning whispered.
"But Light-"
"I don't want to hear it!" She stood up, marching towards the exit of the cave.
"Lightning, wait!" Vanille stumbled upright and ran after her. "Wait, you can't go! He's gone to look for you at Phoenix, you can't go back there!"
"Where else am I supposed to go?" Lightning spun around and glared at her. "I haven't got anywhere else to go!"
"You..." Vanille shrugged. "You could run away!"
"No." The soldier turned around to leave the cave.
"You've done it before!" Vanille protested, running alongside the soldier.
"And that's why I'm never going to do it again! It doesn't solve anything, it just makes it worse!"
"When they get their claws on you, they're going to kill you Light!" Vanille stepped around Lightning and blocked the cave's opening. "You can't go back there."
"Vanille, get out of my way." Lightning snapped.
"No."
"I said to get out of my way."
"And I said no!" Vanille shook her head, pigtails swinging around. "Running is sometimes the ONLY thing to do Lightning! You can't go back!"
"Get out of my way now." Lightning repeated, making a fist. Vanille noticed this.
"What? You're going to hit me, like you did to Snow?" Vanille stared at Lightning, who blinked in surprise.
"No. No, I'm not!" Lightning shook her head. "I'm not going to hit you, just get out of my way!"
"And if I don't?" Vanille glared at Lightning. "I'm not letting you go back!"
"'Letting me'? You can't stop me from doing anything Vanille!" The soldier pushed past Vanille and ran out of the cave. The girl sighed and began to run after her.
Noctis frowned, coming to the conclusion that he was lost. He should have paid more attention when coming through the forest.
Now, in the aftermath of the adrenaline, he had forgotten how he had gotten to the cave.
"Damn it." He muttered, looking around what seemed like an endless maze of green. "How the hell do they find their way around?"
There has to be something... A landmark or something. Something distinguishing... But what?
Noctis rubbed his head and sighed. This was just too confusing.
Why the hell had he let Lightning go? It made no sense – Why couldn't he have killed her? He should have, but...
It was the crystal, he told himself. Just the crystal. He couldn't have killed in front of the crystal – That would have been like spitting in the face of Goddess Etro.
He smiled slightly, reassuring himself. And if he did ever see her again, it would be the end. He had given her enough chances.
Hadn't he?
A cracking noise caught his attention. Summoning Somnus, he spun around to face Lexus.
"Damn it Noct!" He yelled, stepping backwards. "Don't do that to us! PLACIDO!!! FOUND HIM!!!"
"Good!" Placido appeared from behind Lexus, wiping his glasses. "Stupid bugs."
"Where the hell did you go?" Lexus asked as Placido pushed his glasses back on. "What did you mean, 'I know what I'm doing'?"
"I..." Noctis stopped himself. He didn't want them to know what had happened. They may think he didn't care enough about Felix to get rid of her. He did care about Felix, it just... when he started talking to her, it became harder to get rid of her. Maybe that was what she had meant. Cut yourself off. It made sense. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it bloody well matters!" Placido suddenly yelled, causing the other two to stare at him. "Uh..." He scratched his head. "Well, you fell unconscious, had a bad dream apparently when you were out and then wake up and run off!"
"Bad dream?" Noctis furrowed his brow.
"You were yelling in your sleep." Lexus explained. "You said you knew where she was."
"Oh." The Prince scowled. Even his dreams weren't private. He hated being a prince, he had no privacy. Everything came out in the end.
"Well?" Placido asked.
"It's really none of your business." Noctis snapped, feeling a surge of annoyance run through him.
"Noct-"
"I said it was none of your business!" Noctis yelled. "Clear?" And with that rare show of anger at his friends, the Prince stormed back in the direction they had come from.
Lightning slipped through the doors of Phoenix, keeping her head down and not looking anyone in the eye. She caught a glimpse of Phobos though, smirking away as if he'd gotten the greatest prize in the world.
Everyone was terrified of Phobos. Even though there was no such official position, Phobos was second in command of Phoenix, and the most ruthless, sadistic member.
Maybe this was a bad idea...
Lightning shut her eyes and shook the thought from her head.
Phoenix was her home. It was all she had left.
She'd end up on the streets again if she ran. And last time she was on the streets she had...
She pulled herself out of her reverie, and headed towards her quarters.
As she opened the door, she heard a man yell.
"Lightning!" Snow stared at her. "What the hell are you doing back here?! Have you lost it!?"
Lightning felt her anger rise up inside her.
"How dare you tell Sazh and Vanille about – THAT! How dare you!?" Lightning yelled, slamming the door shut.
"What was I supposed to tell them?!"
"You didn't have to tell them anything!" She hissed.
"Why are you here?" Snow asked, shaking his head. "I told Vanille to keep you away from here-"
"Neither you or Vanille can stop me from doing anything."
"Sadly, I think that's true. Damn it Lightning, what the hell's wrong with you lately?" He snapped. "You can't assassinate this bloke, you've been acting even edgier than usual – We're not stupid. What happened?" He asked. Lightning sighed and leant against the wall.
"I......" Her voice faltered. "I... it was an accident."
"What was?" Snow didn't look angry anymore, just confused and caring.
"I....... Oh God Snow, I kissed him, and I got to know him – I can't kill him now Snow – What the hell am I going to do?!"
Felix watched as the nurse continued to worry and witter.
Go away! Leave, away, go, vanish!
He thought, as she insisted on rechecking all of his drips.
"I'm fine, thank you." He repeated for the tenth time. This finally sank in with the nurse, and she nodded.
"Okay. Just rest."
"Of course!" Felix grinned and waited until she had left the room. He paused, before climbing out of bed, removing his drips (wincing as he did so), grabbing his normal clothes resting on a chair, and walking out of the room. He turned and took his bag containing his shotgun from an elderly patient.
"Thanks Carl, good luck with the gallbladder!" He grinned, gave the man some gil, and headed towards the nearest toilet.
He had to catch up with the others before they did something incredibly stupid.
A man smiled, satisfied, and leant back in his chair.
He had everything he needed.
He was completely prepared.
Snow shut the door behind him and sighed deeply, holding his head in one hand.
That had been quite a revelation from Lightning.
Some time, far, far into the future, he might look back at this and laugh. Lightning had always stressed the importance of not getting to know a target – And look what she had done.
He wished he could laugh at the irony of it now – But he had to find Vanille and Sazh, and sort out this mess before it got any worse. Although it was hard to see how that could happen.
This was something Phoenix could easily kill her for. The only thing he could think of doing was heading back to Tenebrea and killing the Prince himself. He'd have to steal Lightning's weapon though, and take her with him so it would look like she had done the assassination, the amount of planning could take days.
Snow rubbed his head and growled slightly. Why the hell had he taken her here? He should have left her at the hospital, but no...
"You okay Snow?" Gadot shoved his head around the corner. "Crap day huh?"
"You could say that..." Snow sighed. "What do you want?"
"You're in a bad mood. This probably won't make it any better..." The red-head shrugged. "Message from the higher ups. You're wanted at an emergency meeting, now."
"Oh great." Snow cursed and headed down the corridor. A meeting with the higher ups was the last thing his extremely frayed nerves wanted right now.
Several hours later, Noctis, Placido and Lexus were sitting in the quiet pub, not really talking to each other. An occasional question might get asked, answered with a few short words, but that was it.
Placido and Lexus were confused by Noctis' outburst earlier, while Noctis was trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened that day. Cid was cleaning glasses and wondering if he could find a place for the three men to stay that night.
The door suddenly slammed open. The three men ignored it, as Cid looked up.
"Yes! That drunk guy was right!" The group turned in unison and stared at their missing, absolutely drenched with rainwater companion.
"Felix?!" Noctis yelled, standing upright. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Nice to see you too Noct!" Felix laughed at his friends faces. "Oh man. I'm going to get a spanking now, aren't I?"
"You were supposed to stay in the hospital." Placido stated calmly. Felix shrugged.
"It was boring. So I snuck out, with Carl's help."
"Who the hell is Carl?" Lexus asked.
"An elderly patient with gallstones."
"Oh lovely!" Cid said sarcastically. "No discussion of gallstones in my pub, I've got a dodgy stomach today."
"..... I like you already!" Felix grinned at the barkeeper as he wrung out his hair, before turning back to his friends. "So, what's been happening?"
"Nothing." Noctis sat back down, pulling a stool out for Felix to sit on.
"Liar," Lexus shook his head. "SOMETHING happened to you Noctis, so will you just tell us what it is?"
"It's none of your business." Noctis replied.
"Tell all, or..." Felix paused. "I'll tear my stitches out!" The group stared at Felix yet again. "You know I can and will! All I need are some scissors!"
"No bleeding on my floor!" Cid yelled over at them. "I've had to scrape him off it, mop off the mess that woman made on it when she spilt her drinks..."
"Fine!" Noctis sighed. "I met up with Lightning again..." He paused and breathed out.
"And?" Lexus leant forwards, along with Placido and Felix.
"... I talked to her." He explained. "Just for a little while. She seemed... upset I guess. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill her. Sorry." He added. Felix rolled his eyes.
"You're sorry? For what? Not killing her? Last time I checked, that was a good thing!"
"So what now?" Placido asked. "Do we stay here? Head back to Tenebrea?"
"I don't know..." Noctis held his head in his hands and sighed, resting his elbows on the bar. The humidity made his head pound.
"This place," Cid suddenly said. "Is in the middle of a rainstorm. You kids haven't been here before, so let me give you some advice: You try driving back in that weather," He pointed to the window, which the rain was slamming against. "You aren't going to make it back to Tenebrea."
"Looks like our decision has been made for us." Lexus shrugged.
"I'm thiiiiiiiiiirsty." Felix complained. Placido sighed.
"Fine, but you're not having any alcohol. I'm pretty sure painkillers and alcohol don't mix well."
Noctis smiled weakly as his friends argued about whether they were sleeping in the car again (Placido was very much against this), and watched the rain pelt down the window.
Strange...
He frowned.
The crystal... I can sense it.
It's...
Scared? Angry?
No, it's worried... about Lightning?
Something's wrong. Doesn't matter, it's none of my business.
...............Then why can't I brush it off?
And why am I worried about her?
Lightning was drained, physically and emotionally.
Vanille had caught up with her, and was doing a good job of ignoring Lightning's red rimmed eyes.
She was also trying to cheer Lightning up, by making Phoenix, Noctis and the crystals a taboo subject.
Lightning wasn't really paying attention to Vanille, letting her talk go in one ear and out the other. Even though Phoenix, Noctis and the crystals were forbidden subjects out loud, they ran rampant in her head.
If Phoenix find out, I'm going to get killed. So it's kill or be killed.
But I can't kill Noctis. I know him too well now. It's too late.
I'm going to die.
"Light!" Lightning blinked at Vanille, who was rolling her eyes. "Finally! You've just been staring off into space for the past five minutes!"
"Sorry." Lightning sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Just thinking..."
"About the taboo?"
"Yeah. I know you think I shouldn't think about them Vanille, but it's kind of hard to keep your mind off something like this." Lightning sat up and popped her knuckles. Vanille winced.
"Lightning! You know I hate that!" She squeaked, pulling a cushion over her head.
"Oh. Sorry." Lightning shrugged, deadbeat. Vanille sighed and pulled the soldier into a hug. Lightning said nothing.
"If the worse comes to the worst, I'll get you out of here. I promise." Vanille muttered. Lightning snorted. "I will! I swear!"
"I don't want you involved, okay?" The older woman wriggled out of the hug. "You've got enough people on your ass without me adding any more to that list."
"What? The crystal hunters?" Vanille laughed. "That was years ago! I could take them down now!"
"If you say so." Lightning bit her nails.
"Bad habit." Vanille reprimanded, turning to look out of the window. "It's dusk already? Damn it. I gotta run, sort out a few things – I'll be back soon though, okay?"
"Sure Vanille." Lightning attempted a weak smile. "I'll be fine." Vanille stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
She breathed out and leant against the door for a moment.
"I will do it." She whispered. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Felix, get your foot away from my face NOW!" Placido yelled. "When was the last time you washed?!"
"I was busy sneaking out of the hospital, I didn't have time to wash!" The man protested, lifting his feet off the dashboard.
"I know, you can smell it." Lexus yelled. Felix turned around, leant over and pinched the back of his neck. "NO! Damn it Felix! Stop!"
"I love that move." The blonde smiled satisfied, before releasing Lexus' neck. "Did that hurt?"
"Yeah it did, you dumb blonde!"
"DUMB BLONDE?!"
"Can you guys shut up?" Noctis asked. "Some of us are trying to sleep."
"I told you it was a bad idea to sleep in the car."
"Shut UP Placido." The other three men said in unison. The car fell silent once more.
"You're still pissy Noct."
"Felix, shut up and go to sleep before I come up there." Noctis muttered, leaning against the car window, which was cool against his forehead.
Time passed. His friends had fallen asleep before him for once; he could hear Felix's snores.
Noctis turned so he could see the moon, the only source of light in the night sky.
He grimaced, cursing Pulse's humidity. He couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had been following him around.
"Good luck Lightning..." He whispered under his breath as he fell asleep.
"Hey Light." Snow shoved his head around the door.
"They're going to find out soon, aren't they?" The woman asked. Snow had never seen her like this before. She looked crumpled, like someone had stood on her. Her head was lowered, hands resting awkwardly in her lap, sitting on the edge of her bed. He felt ill.
"Yeah."
"Hmph." She flopped backwards, lying on her back. "So... stay and fight, right? Die with dignity."
"That doesn't exist." Snow sighed, and sat next to her. "Our bodies break down. We've seen it Lightning, and you and I both know that dying with dignity doesn't exist. It's just a myth."
"Way to cheer me up." She grumbled, placing both hands over her face. "I'd rather die fighting than die running." There was a long silence. Minutes passed between the two friends.
"Lightning....." Snow's voice trailed off. "I'm sorry." Lightning frowned and removed her hands from her face.
The next thing she knew, a pillow had been shoved into her face. It was pushed down hard over her nose and mouth before she could react. She arched her back in an attempt to free herself, but Snow pushed his knee into her stomach, leaning on her with all his weight.
"I'm sorry Light." He whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."
Lightning wanted to scream at him, but there was no air left in her lungs. She felt around the bed, desperate to find some kind of weapon, but her hand only found cloth.
Snow... you bastard! I thought I could trust you! You shit face, son-of-a-bitch...
Her concentration drifted, alerting her to the fact she was losing consciousness. She bit her tongue, using the pain to focus her mind.
Lightning kicked her legs up, aiming for Snow's head. He ducked, and her feet dug into his shoulders instead. He jolted forwards, causing him to push the pillow down harder.
"Light, it's this or Phobos. You know what he'd do." Snow pleaded, his voice becoming more broken as he spoke. "He'd torture you first, or worse... he'd... he'd...... Please... I don't want you to suffer!"
Lightning felt tears stream down her face for the first time in years. She had trusted Snow... let him into the shield she had built around herself... and now...
Her thoughts were running from her. She felt like she was being spun around, although she was still trapped under the pillow. Her lungs were on fire.
This is how it ends... not with a bang, but with a whimper.
The old quote from a story she couldn't remember floated into her mind, before vanishing back into the depths.
How we are going to die is a question that haunts the back of our minds since we are able to comprehend what death is.
In the last few seconds before her breathing stopped, Lightning knew the answer to that question.