I'M A BAD PERSON!!!
I HAVEN'T UPDATE THIS IN ALMOST A MONTH!!!
FEEL FREE TO SLAP ME!!!
Anyway, I don't like parts of this chapter. But I like other parts. So yay! Kinda.
Mucho thank ye to Dawn for making a trailer for this story! WOWZA!!! I recommend watching it (Take out the spaces): www. youtube .com/watch?v=8I3hvqgo_hs&feature=channel_page
I'll put a link up in my profile too.
Disclaimer: Me no own Final Fantasy XIII or Versus XIII. Or - You know what, I own nothing! Only this Kung-Fu hamster on my desk!
Let's get started!
In a strange way, Snow was almost relieved by Sazh's death.
Trying to arrange the retrieval and burial of the body was a distraction, something he could throw himself into. Something that could help him put everything else aside, even if only for a little while.
He couldn't leave Phoenix, not until Sazh was at peace. He'd have to delay his escape a little longer.
It would be hard though – He'd been in Phoenix since he was six, brought in after the death of his parents. He didn't know much else, but he did know that Phoenix was corrupt and a bigger danger to his health than if he'd been taking heroin.
He chuckled sadly.
He'd have to hold on just a little longer. A few more days would do no harm.
Lightning had to admit, she had no idea why she was kissing Noctis, but it had been something to do in a way.
He tasted of tobacco, blasted cigarette. Although it wasn't as unpleasant as she thought it would be. And he was surprisingly warm.
She heard something, faint but audible, a snap. A twig breaking, somewhere in the distance. Instinct took over her muscles and she pulled away, pulling out her gunblade.
"You heard it too?" Noctis whispered, summoning a sword out of thin air. She didn't respond, instead she walked silently towards the trees. She could hear voices clearly.
"It's very green."
"It's a jungle. It's meant to be green."
"It makes our job easier. He'll stand out more."
Lightning frowned, unable to recognise them. Straightening up, she saw the armour of the Tenebrae soldiers. She ducked down again and glared at Noctis, who looked slightly pale.
As if sensing her glare, he turned to face her and shook his head. Denying responsibility, knowledge of these... invaders. That's what they were. Invading her country, as much as she hated it.
She wanted to kill them. But she had a feeling that the man crouching next to her would object to that.
'Head back to the others.' He mouthed, before slipping back the way he came. Lightning took one last look at the invaders before walking silently back into the depths of the forest.
Phobos smiled as he filed the tapes he had recorded. Putting that bug in Lightning's room had all the proof he needed to order her removal. It was almost a shame that Snow had been able to complete his mission... He would have preferred to take her out himself.
He frowned as he came across an extra tape.
"Idiot boy..." He snarled. "Must have kept recording..." A smirk appeared on his face. "It could hold her death...."
He placed the tape into the player and listened.
He could hear breathing, followed by loud coughing.
"Lightning? Lighting, can you hear me?"
A slight groan, mumbled words.
"That's it, I'm getting her out of here now."
He frowned, trying to place the voice. It sounded like that girl, the one who had never joined Phoenix but always helped Snow and Lightning. A shame really, the girl was a talented mage, and a good markswoman. What was her name? Vanira? Vanilla? Something like that.
Then it clicked. Snow had said he would take care of the body, and he hadn't. A lie. For shame, Phobos chuckled. Then, as the conversation continued, another piece of the puzzle fell into place with a deafening clang.
She was still alive. She had escaped, with that girl. And Snow knew.
He smirked and lifted up the phone. The next few days would be entertaining.
"Hello Sir? This is Phobos. I'm afraid we have a traitor..."
Vanille was sitting cross-legged on the ground, sketching patterns in the dirt. Life had gotten incredibly complicated in an amazingly short amount of time.
And then she heard a scrambling noise, coming through the bushes. She stood up and pointed her staff –
And nearly took out Lightning's eyes.
"Bloody HELL Vanille!" She snapped, ducking just in time. "Watch where you point that stick!"
"It's a staff!"
"Stick, staff, whatever." Lightning sighed and waved on hand through the air. She looked a bit pink.
"Just because it doesn't shoot bullets, you're not interested."
"That's not fair, besides-"
"Can we please focus?" Noctis stumbled over a tree root slightly as he appeared in the clearing.
"Focus on what?" Felix asked, walking over.
"Soldiers from Tenebrae-" Noctis began.
"Your bloody soldiers." Lightning growled slightly.
"I've already told you, I haven't got anything to do with army!" The Prince snapped back.
"Your country, your soldiers." She shot back, before turning back to Vanille. "We've got to fight."
"No, we don't!"
"Then what should we do?"
"Hide."
Noctis sat on the bonnet of the car, watching as the group of soldiers burst through the forest. He smiled coldly.
"May I ask what you are doing here?" The soldiers exchanged glances, before one, clearly the leader, stepped forwards.
"Your Highness, we have orders to escort you and your party back to Tenebrae."
"And who do these orders come from?" Noctis asked, the smile vanishing from his face.
"General Arminius sire." Another one piped up. Noctis gave him a contemptuous look and felt something he hadn't for a while. Indignation.
"I do not take orders from a general." He snarled. The soldiers exchanged glances yet again; clearly this was not going according to their plan.
"Uh..." Another one, even more nervous began to speak. "These orders come directly from-"
"I think you will find it goes General, Prince, King. Not; Prince, General, King; or even Prince, King, General. Am I clear?" He snapped, feeling his eyes turn red.
"Sire, these orders were passed on from the king-" The first soldier began.
"Who gave you these orders?"
"Ur..." The third soldier murmured.
"General Arminius sire." The second soldier repeated. Noctis wondered if that was all he knew to say.
"I shall not come. General Arminius has no power over me... as he should well know." He smiled as an air of panic began to descend on the soldiers.
"Regrettably sire," The leader spoke in a well practised calm tone. "We were told to use force if necessary."
"You'd attack your own prince?" Noctis raised an eyebrow, as a wave of fury hit him. The soldiers exchanged glances. "And who do you think would win this battle?" He added. "Because I can assure you, it shall not be you. But..." Somnus appeared next to him. "... If that is what the Goddess Etro wishes..."
The soldiers began to run.
"Ge – General Arminius will hear about this!" The second soldier yelled over his shoulder as he ran.
"General Arminius will hear about this, your Majesty." Noctis corrected, as the soldiers vanished back into the jungle. He made a noise between a snarl and a chuckle, amused at their cowardice, angered at their thought that he should listen to Arminius.
"Nice one!" Felix shoved his head out of the car window. "Man, those guys are chickens!"
"You're one to talk..." Lexus chuckled, leaning out of the car door. "Have they gone?"
"Yes." Noctis nodded and turned around. "Get down here!"
"We're coming – EEP!"
"It's not that high Vanille!"
"Not everyone has a gravity bending thingamabob." The younger woman snapped, as Lightning jumped off the cliff edge. "Great. Thanks for the lift!"
"Not a problem." Lightning shot back, crossing her arms and leaning against the rocks. "Should I call you 'Your Majesty' too?" She asked Noctis, raising a single eyebrow.
"No, you should call me 'sire'." Noctis smirked slightly, feeling some of the anger ebb away.
"You'll be lucky." She muttered, watching Vanille slide down the cliff face.
"There are points when I really hate you..." Vanille muttered, landing unelegantly on her feet. "Anyway, I was right. We don't need to fight."
"We don't need to fight yet."
Another damn meeting.
Snow growled and rubbed his forehead. He had been in enough meetings recently, what with Phoenix preparing another attack on Tenebrae.
With an inaudible growl, he pushed the door to the meeting room open.
The second the door slammed shut behind him, he knew something was wrong. There were a group of heavily armed guards, the leader, and Phobos.
Snow felt like a cold, clammy hand was on his shoulder and gulped slightly.
"Snow..." The leader began. "It has been brought to my attention that you may not have been as loyal as we thought."
Snow frowned. "I-"
"Do not interrupt!" Phobos had a maniacal gleam in his eye, which made Snow fall silent.
He was as good as dead.
"We ordered you to dispose of Lightning, did we not?" The leader's voice was a quiet murmur, which Snow could hardly hear. "And yet you did not. She was resuscitated, by that tribal girl. And you knew that." He sighed and shook his head. "Disappointing. And now you've made yourself useless." He clicked his fingers. "Dispose of him."
There wasn't any point in pretending... or even trying to stay loyal.
Snow sent a blast of ice at the leader, and another at a nearby wall, which cracked. Phobos and the guards were distracted by the threat to the leader's life. Snow took the opportunity to punch through the wall and race out into the corridor. Streaks of heat – Near miss bullets – Raced past his face as he heard Phobos voice, echoing down the corridors.
"I shall deal with the traitors. All of them."
Snow kept running, without looking back. Things had taken a turn... for the very worst.
Sazh... I wanted to stay and sort things out, but I can't. I can't look after your family. I can't arrange your burial. I'm sorry.
For such good friends, Noctis mused, Vanille and Lightning sure argued a lot.
"We might as well stay here!" Vanille said, a note of irritation in her voice. "There's no point in moving, I doubt they're going to come back to somewhere they've searched-"
"No, they will come back Vanille, because they'll have been told to pick up his highness here!"
"Can you stop calling me that?"
"Well that's what you are, isn't it?" Lightning snapped, before turning back to Vanille. "We've got to move."
Vanille looked like she was about to snap back at Lightning when her phone rang. Noctis breathed a sigh of relief as the argument came to a temporary close.
"Do you guys argue this much all the time?" Felix joked, earning a glare from Lightning and a shrug from Vanille.
"Not unless she's really annoyed." The younger woman muttered, answering her phone.
"Oh shut up Vanille!"
There was a pause as Vanille listened to her phone.
"Oh go away! I said I didn't want to speak to you!" She snapped into it. There was a pause. "I said I didn't –" She fell silent. The colour drained from her face. "Oh no."
Lightning frowned and tilted her head to the side.
"But how... Great. Just great – Well run for it!" Vanille nodded and hung up. Noctis raised an eyebrow as Felix spoke up.
"What was-?"
"We have a problem." The pigtailed girl shoved her phone back into her pocket and looked at each of them in turn.
"Specifically...?"
"Phoenix know you're alive." Vanille explained, looking at Lightning. "And Phobos is coming after us." The soldier's face paled slightly.
"Shit."
"Who's Phobos?" Noctis asked, earning a stare from Vanille. Lightning was the one who spoke.
"Unofficial second in command of Phoenix, sadistic bastard." She explained. "And he's out to get us."
"... This hasn't been a good day, has it?" Felix muttered dryly. Lightning sent a death glare in his direction.
"Do either of you think," Noctis began carefully. "That now might be a good time to run?"
"Where?" Vanille sighed, sitting on the ground. "Phoenix know Pulse like the back of their hands... they've got contacts everywhere. If they're looking for us, they'll find us."
"Maybe we should fight..." Lightning muttered. The pig-tailed girl shook her head.
"No way."
"You're just scared!"
"You're just as scared as I am Lightning, so don't pretend!" Vanille snapped. "Don't you ever get tired of fighting?"
"... That's what I do Vanille." The assassin scowled into the distance. "I fight. I would have stayed and fought, but you and Snow had other ideas!"
Silence fell.
"We can help you get out of here." Noctis said after a minute, mainly to break the silence. He saw Placido and Lexus raise their eyebrows.
"I don't want your help!" Lightning snapped loudly. "I don't want your charity! Just stay out of this, your highness!" The last words were almost pure venom.
"I'm trying to help you!" He shot back. "Technically, I should have killed you the second I saw you!"
"Lightning, please!" Vanille yelled before the woman could continue the argument. "Look, you can't fight them right now! Please, wait a little while. Recuperate."
"What about Snow?" Lightning muttered.
"I'm sure he can look after himself." Lexus began. She glared at him.
"And I can't?"
"... Someone help me out here!"
"This is Snow Villiers?" Placido asked calmly. "The man who tried to kill you?"
"He has a point."
"I'm staying here."
"You can't do everything on your own Light!" Vanille butted in. "We need to get out of here!"
"Vanille, I am not going to die running!"
"You're scared, aren't you?" Noctis commented mildly, making Lightning turned and stare at him.
"What... How... how dare you, you cocky bastard!" Lightning pulled her gunblade out, making everyone except Noctis and Vanille take a step back. "I am not afraid! Not of Phoenix, not of Phobos, or you-"
"What about dying?"
"I am not afraid of something as trivial as dying!" She shot back. There was a long silence, broken only by the wind in the surrounding trees.
"If you're that worried about Snow-"
"I'm not worried about him."
"Could have fooled me."
"Shut it Vanille."
Placido gently tapped Noctis' shoulder and pulled the prince aside.
"I don't mean to hurry you," He whispered. "But any minute now, those soldiers are going to return to Arminius, and then we could have a whole platoon after us." Noctis sighed and rubbed his head.
"Come on." Noctis sighed. "Let's get you two out of here."
"I'm not going." Lightning snapped. "Vanille, you go with them."
"What? No!" Vanille crossed her arms. "I'm not going unless you come!"
"But-"
"No!"
"Vanille, this isn't your fight."
"It doesn't have to be yours either."
Lightning took a deep breath in and shut her eyes. She didn't want to go with Noctis and his friends. But she needed to make sure Vanille was safe. Phoenix never liked the young girl, and she was sure those crystal hunters from all those years ago were sent by Phobos.
"Alright." She muttered. "I'll come. I'll make sure you're safe. And then I'm coming back. Understand?"
"Sure." Vanille shrugged. "... I'll make you stay though."
"I highly doubt that."
"Okay, you guys are going to have to hide in the boot." Felix explained going around the back of the car. "Don't worry, it's big, but you may need to squish a bit. Don't ask me how I know either." Vanille giggled as she followed him around. The second she was out of sight she grabbed Noctis' collar.
"What are you-" Lexus began to step forwards, as Noctis held up a finger to stop him.
"I don't care what the hell you do to me." She explained. "Stab me in the back if you want, because I'm used to it. But if you dare screw Vanille over, I will murder you. Every single one of you. Understand?"
"You don't trust anyone, do you?"
"No." And with that, she let go of the prince and followed Vanille around the back. Noctis crossed his arms and sighed.
Why the hell am I helping you Lightning?
Arminius waited for the connection to King Timaeus to work.
For the Prince to threaten his own soldiers, people who fought to protect him and his family was an outrage. He'd never liked Prince Noctis. Although it was true that the monarchy did have to move with the time, and adapt to the modern age, Noctis Lucis Caelum was far too self assured and arrogant.
The connection flickered into life, the King's voice appearing suddenly in his ear.
"What is it Arminius?" The King asked, a tone of exasperation in his voice.
"It regards Prince Noctis."
"Have you found my nephew?"
"Yes, but he refused to return." Arminius stopped a smirk rising on his lips. "And when my soldiers insisted he return, he threatened them with violence." There was a loud crackle and a sigh in his ear.
"Leave him." The King eventually said. "Allow him to return in his own time. And Arminius?"
"Yes your highness?"
"Once he returns have him followed."
Here I am, in the boot of a car belonging to a man who should be dead. Who I should have killed.
I don't want to go with him. I don't want his help, his sympathy. But I need to know Vanille's going to be okay. This isn't her fight, she should never have been involved in it. That idiot Snow got her involved in it. If I ever see him again, I'll kill him.
I'm not worried about him.
... Why didn't I kill you when I had the chance Noctis? I could kill you now if I wanted.
But I don't want to. You're lucky – But it'll run out eventually. Especially if you keep sticking your nose in where it's not wanted.
The soldiers at the border didn't ask too many questions. I think they may have heard of my previous treatment of the other soldiers.
Well, they deserved it. How dare they treat me like that?
I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm smuggling a murder, an enemy of the kingdom into my country. I'm betraying my people.
She's intriguing though. Not just because she's a l'cie, but there's something odd about her. I wonder what made her hate people so much...
I shouldn't be focusing on her though.
I should be focusing on my people, my kingdom, my family's crystal.
That's what's important. She's just a l'cie. A pawn. She means nothing.
Yeah, the ending sucked. But hey, chess rocks!
XD
Anyway, I promise I'll update more frequently... I've just been lazy this summer.
Please review, it always cheers me up! And I can do with some cheering up, school starts on Monday... *Shudders*
Peace out and happy times ahead mo charas!