Bonjour mon amies!
I hope you are all happy and cheery and whatnot! Thanks for all the well wishes for Ireland, it went well.
This chapter is short for two reasons - One: Because it is!
Two: I'm really, really, really, really ill right now. Like... supremely ill.
Still, I battle on and bring you, not a particually brilliant chapter, but still a chapter!
OH yeah, if, for whatever reason, people are reading this story in months/years to come (Who knows why you would) and going "What?! That's not how this character acts!" "That's not how this happens!" - This was written before either game came out. Why? Because I'm STUPID, that's why!
"I've told you all I can." Vanille kept her eyes on Lightning's hands, which she said she was checking for cyanosis.
"And yet you've told us nothing about either of you two." Noctis stated, watching both women carefully.
"Can't. Light'd kill me." She explained. "She doesn't like talking about herself. And if I told YOU something about me, she'd throttle me. She's odd like that."
"So she's violent? Very violent?" Lexus asked.
"No shit Sherlock." Felix rolled his eyes, poking at his stitches.
"You shouldn't do that." Vanille said calmly. "Picking your stitches, gonna screw them up."
"Are you ALL mother hens?" The blonde asked, throwing his arms up in the air.
"I am not a hen Felix!" Vanille protested. Seconds later, the car drove into a pothole.
"Ow!"
"Damn it Placido!"
"Sorry. You can't really see them." He explained, frowning as he concentrated on the steering wheel.
Vanille was biting her nails anxiously. Noctis noticed her checking on Lightning frequently. Clearly they were close friends. As close as he was to his friends, he decided, cheering up slightly. The idea of someone being completely on their own wasn't a pleasant one.
Sazh poked his head up through the trees. Hina poked her head up through his afro at the same time and warked.
"Shush..." He whispered. He watched the Tenebrea soldiers guarding the border. He had never seen this before. Border's were there, but unguarded... until now.
He sighed slightly and looked around.
There had to be a break somewhere. He had to get back to Pulse, to his friends and family. He didn't have a choice.
Hina warked somewhat nervously in his afro. Sazh breathed out, stood up and ducked in and out of the trees. He spoke in a quiet whisper.
"I've got promises to keep."
The first thing Lightning realised was that she was alive, which was a surprise. The second was that her head was pounding. The third was that she was in a car, judging by the engine noise.
People were talking, arguing about something... She couldn't make out the voices properly, but one sounded a lot like Vanille.
Her eyes flickered open.
She was in the back seat of a car, Vanille was next to her, arguing with someone about hens, and on the other side was... Noctis?
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Lighting yelled, managing to get the attention of every single person in the car.
"Hi Lightning!" Vanille smiled. "How are you? Do you need a hand-?"
"What is going on?!" Lightning snapped, sitting upright. "Let me out." She ordered. Vanille shook her head.
"Nope-" Vanille began before getting cut off.
"I said to let me out." The icy edge in Lightning's voice got louder and clearer. "Now."
"Lightning-"
"I said to let me OUT!" Lightning sat up right, reaching for where her gunblade should have been. A hand grabbed her arm and twisted it, making her slam back into her seat. She glared at Noctis.
"Lightning, please listen to me!" Vanille yelled over the various curses as Placido drove into another pothole. "Ow. Anyway, I had to get you out of there!" She explained, ignoring the glare she was receiving from the soldier. "Do you even remember what happened?"
Lightning frowned slightly. She could vaguely remember feeling dizzy and angry... almost upset. Her frown deepened. She'd been betrayed – Snow.
Without realising it, her hand formed into a fist and she punched the seat.
"Watch it!" A couple of voices yelled, as the hand on her arm tightened its grip.
"Snow." She hissed angrily. "That bastard, I swear to God-"
"Light, chill." Vanille said calmly. "Listen, I got you out of Phoenix headquarters, all we've got to do is get to the crystal cave. We can make plans there, but you're still recovering, and this is the fastest way to get to the cave. Please, can you just stay calm for a little while?"
"No." The soldier scowled. "I don't trust other people – And I've got a damn good reason not to." She added bitterly.
"You may not realise this, but you were dead Light." The younger woman said quietly. "You were actually dead for almost a minute. You need to rest. Please, get some sleep; you won't even know that there are other people around then."
Lightning said nothing. She looked out of the window over Vanille's shoulder, the plains of Pulse racing past.
She was tired. Some sleep might help... But this was getting more warped by the second. She held her head in her free hand, and looked at Vanille, who had a pleading look on her face.
"Fine." She grumbled, leaning back in her seat. "Fine, fine, bloody fine."
Vanille suppressed a grin and turned to look out of the window. Lightning breathed out quietly as gravity turned against her and started to pull her eyelids down. Just as her eyes started to shut, she noticed the hand was still gripping her arm tightly.
You don't trust me Noctis? Smart man. I wouldn't trust me either.
In the centre of Phoenix, a discussion was taking place.
"You still do not trust him." The leader stated calmly. Phobos nodded, his eyes barely hiding a wicked gleam.
"Indeed I do not." He said.
"Hm." The leader frowned slightly, his face still hidden in the shadows. "He followed the orders though. To dispose of Lightning."
"Yes sir," Phobos hid the tone of exasperation. "Indeed he did. But I was suspicious of her too, remember? That is why I placed the bug in her room, and we found out she was indeed a traitor." Phobos yet again managed to hide his snarl.
"Hm." The leader seemed lost in thought. Phobos was about to leave when the leader spoke up. "Keep a careful eye on him. Report any findings to me."
"Sir!" A young officer ran in through the doors. "Sir, I apologise for interrupting sir, but we have news you may need to hear."
Snow stared out of the window, listening to Lebreau.
"I know it's hard." She said quietly. "But Snow, you have to move on, you have to let her go."
Snow shrugged.
"Come on Snow!" Maqui said loudly. "We know you miss her and all, but you've got to try and move on."
"Easier said than done." Snow said with a sigh. Even though Lightning was – most likely – still alive, the chance of him seeing her again was practically non-existent.
He missed her. And Vanille. He'd lost both of his best friends in one day, one stupid decision.
He still had Lebreau, Gadot and Maqui though. That was some comfort. He wasn't on his own, even though it felt like it. Speaking of which...
"Where's Gadot?"
"Poor sucker's got radio duty." Lebreau said, a smug smile appearing on her face. Snow smiled slightly, radio duty was the most mind numbing thing anyone could possibly imagine.
"I almost feel sorry for him."
"He deserved it," Lebreau grinned. "What the hell was he doing at one o'clock in the morning with a shopping trolley?"
"Heh." Snow laughed without any real humour. He tried to focus on something else – The training routine for Team Nora tomorrow, the sub-group he commanded. They needed some target practise, they hadn't done much since the mission in Tenebrea –
Out, get it out of your head.
Snow hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"Snow?" Lebreau asked in a gentle, concerned voice.
"Uh... Migraine."
"Uh-huh." She shot him a disbelieving look, as Gadot walked through the door. "How was radio duty? Boring as hell?" Gadot shook his head, sitting down with a sigh.
"Sadly, no."
The car skidded to an undignified halt outside the cliff leading to the crystal cave.
Lightning woke up with a start in the back of the car as everyone got throw forwards.
"Smooth stop mate." Lexus said sarcastically.
"Shut up. It's the mud."
"Sure Placido. The mud. Always the feckin' mud."
"You okay there Light?" Vanille asked, looking over at the other woman. Lightning nodded, somewhat relieved Noctis had let go, even if he had left a bruise on her arm. She'd deal with that later.
The group climbed out of the car. Lightning was relieved to be out of the stuffiness of the car, and had a feeling Vanille felt the same.
"Where the hell is this cave?" Felix asked, swinging his shotgun over his shoulder. Lightning pointedly didn't look at him – She had enough issues on her plate without bringing guilt into the equation.
"Up there." Noctis pointed to the cliff.
"How the hell are you supposed to get up there?!"
"None of your business." Lightning snapped, leaning against the front of the car. She blinked a few times to get rid of the sleep in her eyes.
"She's got the same sunshine moods as you Noct!"
"Felix...." The Prince growled slightly.
"Sorry, just saying." The blonde haired man shrugged as Vanille's phone started ringing. There was a pause.
"Should I answer it?" Vanille asked Lightning.
"It's your phone." The woman shrugged and frowned slightly, her hand trying to subtly locate her gunblade. Vanille noticed.
"It's in the car. You and that were just too heavy to drag – Carry." She quickly corrected, pulling out her phone to answer it.
Lightning rolled her eyes and shoved her head back into the car. Her gunblade was resting on the floor. With a small, hidden smile, she picked it up and placed it back in its holster, feeling more comfortable because of it.
"Oh, it's you." Vanille's voice got everyone's attention, because of its unusual tone of bitterness. "I thought I told you to leave us be Snow!"
Lightning scowled and stepped away from the car, listening to Vanille's side of the conversation.
"I don't care what you have to say Snow, just leave us alone! No just leave us al-" The pigtailed woman stopped. She stayed quiet for a minute. "Oh my..." After another minutes she ended the call and started crying.
"What's wrong?" Felix asked, walking over to Vanille and wrapping an arm around her, which Lightning noticed instantly.
"Sazh... Sazh got shot down at the border!" Vanille wailed. Lightning froze.
"Friend of yours?" Lexus asked. Vanille cried harder.
Lightning shook her head slowly.
Sazh... but... he... shit. He had a family... a wife.... kids.... All because of this stupid war – It's my fault.
"Lightning?"
She ran.
The soldiers sent by Arminius were fed up and tired of the jungle area of Pulse, which was thick and hard to get through.
They were also getting fed up with the locals, who were particularly tight-lipped. One of the soldiers finally lost his patience, and fired his gun into the air several time. Everyone looked around in a mixture of slight panic and annoyance.
"One last time!" He snapped. "We are looking for a group of men, who are from our country. It is important for everyone's safety that we find them. They are highly dangerous." He added. They'd been feeding this line to anyone they had met, as advised by Arminius.
"If you have any information, it is imperative you tell us." Another soldier added.
"Hm." A young boy smiled, a mischievous look on his face. "If they're THAT powerful, then maybe you should look for the crystal cave."
The soldiers exchanged looks.
Crystal cave... Prince... Close fit.
"And where," One of the soldiers asked, leaning forwards. "Would this crystal cave be?"
Lightning threw another stone at a nearby tree.
"Stupid bastards!" She snapped, throwing yet another stone, making a chunk of bark fly off the tree. "Bloody stupid ARGH!" She threw another one.
There was a slight cracking noise behind her.
Lightning spun around to meet Noctis.
"You okay?" He asked calmly. The soldier clenched her fists.
"No! I am NOT okay you arrogant bastard!!" She shouted. "You! You and your damn kingdom! Your bloody trigger happy soldiers, he'd never harm anyone! He has - had a family! And your soldiers shot him dead!!"
"Lightning." The Prince held both hands up as if surrendering. "Lightning, listen hit me." Lightning blinked in confusion and looked at him.
Her mind went back to when she joined Phoenix, how people used their hands as targets.
Lightning punched his hands repeatedly, feeling relief at letting the anger escape her for a while. She noticed how Noctis didn't even flinch, no matter how hard she punched him. So she punched harder.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but her knuckles hurt and the palms of Noctis' hands were red.
With a final, hard punch, she sat down.
"Better?" He asked quietly, rubbing his hands.
"No." She breathed out. It was a slight lie, she wasn't as angry as before. But she was still so annoyed. "He was the best out of all of us. I mean, in Phoenix." She wasn't sure if she was actually talking to Noctis or not. "He had a family... kids that loved him. Shit. What kind of life are they going to have, all because of you and your bloody soldiers!?"
"I don't have any control over the army." Noctis shot back. "Not until I'm king."
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Lightning muttered quietly, wondering how much her life had turned around since she had met the prince. Was it only a fortnight ago?
"That's reassuring." Noctis sat down next to her. "How old were his kids?"
"Does it matter?"
"I'm curious."
"About a dead man's family?" Her words were particularly bitter. "That's kind of twisted."
Noctis sighed and felt in his pockets. After a minute he pulled out the lighter he had kept, and a packet of cigarettes he had brought at Cid's pub while the others were distracted. He saw Lightning raise an eyebrow out of the corner of his eye.
"Hm. Maybe we just should have waited a few years, you'd be out of the way by then..."
"I have no idea how many times I have said this," He frowned, lightning one of the cigarettes. "I am NOT going to get cancer. Besides, I only smoke when I'm stressed."
"You're stressed?" The soldier sounded amused, as if she didn't believe princes suffered from stress. Maybe some people didn't.
"I have just smuggled a confirmed enemy of my kingdom away from an organization that thinks she's dead, along with her best friends, who it looks like is going out with one of my best friends. Yes, I'm a little stressed." He sighed and took a drag on the cigarette.
"So?" Lightning shrugged and lay down on the ground. "I am the enemy of your kingdom, who was smuggled away from the organization that was her home for the past seven years that ordered her best friend to kill her; by the man she was supposed to kill. You don't see me lighting up."
"It's not just stress." He grumbled, breathing out. You win this round. He thought.
"Yeah, addiction helps that." She commented. Noctis glared at her.
"It helps me remember." He said. "My mother, my childhood..." He paused to take another drag. "Life was easier back then."
"For you maybe." Noctis turned to face Lightning, who was biting her lip.
"What happened to you?" He asked gently.
"Does it matter?"
"Your parents dead too?"
"I don't know." Lightning shrugged. "My mother left when I was two. I ran away when I was sixteen, never bothered looking back."
"Why not?" Noctis had to admit, he was curious about Lightning's past. No-one just falls headfirst into a murderous organization like Phoenix.
"Because I hate my parents." Her voice was completely devoid of any emotion. It was just a fact. The air became unbearably heavy.
Noctis squirmed slightly and held out the packet.
"Sure you don't want any?" He asked, mentally hitting himself. Lightning snorted and sat up.
"I'm sure."
"..." Noctis looked at Lightning. His childhood was mostly happy, until his later years, but it wasn't hard to work out hers wasn't happy at all. He felt slightly responsible for her. "Lightning, let me help you. I can get you and Vanille out of Pulse, set you up in another country." He could feel Lightning staring at him, but he was determined to finish. "Cocoon maybe, or Astrum. Vanille might like that, it's where Felix came from-"
"Why are you so keen to help me?" Lightning sounded angry.
"Why are you so keen to do everything by yourself?" Noctis responded, beginning to get annoyed at her.
"Because you can't trust anyone." She snapped. "People just let you down, even if they don't mean to. And then there are the people who let you down on purpose. I trusted Snow, and look what happened." She scowled and looked away from him pointedly.
"Lightning." She ignored him. "Lightning!" He grabbed her hand. "I'm not him."
She turned around and looked at him for what felt like hours.
"I suppose you're not."
And before Noctis could even comprehend what was happening, Lightning had leant forwards and kissed him.
IS SO BAD!!!
T.T
I hate it! Which... seems to be recurring in this story. Hate this chapter, that chapter, then this chapter. Urgh.
I'm going to be brief - *Audience cheers* - PFFFT! Next chapter might be a while, am tres sorry about that, but I want to get better before writing this again. Please review!
I looooove you all very much, mo charas from around the universe! You guys keep me writing!
RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!