Aftershocks

Attempting to swallow the melon-sized lump in her throat, Lightning took a reflexive step backwards from the woman approaching her. As if it weren't hard enough to believe something like a Cie'th could pop out of the Earth; now a walking memory?

"F-"

Before Lightning could say or do anything, Eve stepped in to stand in front of her, weapon raised. The Lance Corporal tightened her grip on the A-L. After witnessing the stranger handle the Assault Lance, it was clear to Eve that there was a significant power difference between the two of them. It concerned her, how truly irked she was at the difference in power.

"Who are you?" Eve finally managed to ask. Behind her, Lightning was still trying to process the recent string of events, still unable to put words together.

"Friend of yours, Sunshine?"

"Identify yourself, now." Eve felt the itching irritation weave it's way into her tone of voice with every passing moment she glared at the stranger. It only proved to frustrate her more when an amused smirk appeared on the woman's lips, "I said-"

"Fang." Lightning finally found her voice. She put a hand on the Lance Corporal's shoulder, giving her a small shake of her head before turning her gaze back on the Oerban. Reluctantly, Eve lowered the Assault Lance.

"And here I thought you'd forgotten me." The warrior's grin grew wider, "Didja miss me?"

"I don't even... When did you...?" Lightning cursed silently. Apparently her words hadn't all returned yet, "How are you even-?"

"Believe me, I'd answer all your questions if I knew the answers, Sunshine."

A scoff escaped Lightning's lips as she turned away from Fang. Of course the Oerban shows out of nowhere after ten years and it's immediately fun and games. The Sergeant Major shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. It felt as though her brain was imploding with disbelief.

Interrupting the awkward silence, a shuttle landed a little ways down the street on one of the few level areas of ground. The three women saw another uniformed figure exit the shuttle and jog toward them.

"First Lieutenant." Eve acknowledged first, recognizing the man from the night before. She prepared to salute but noticed him freeze in his tracks. She followed his gaze to the woman her superior officer referred to as 'Fang'. Who was this woman?

"Is that... Hope?"

"Fang." The First lieutenant addressed the Oerban in the same manner as Lightning—with hesitation and disbelief, "You... You're here." Hope glanced over at Lightning who was still looking away. He noticed her training assistant near her, the Assault Lance prototype in hand.

"And you're huge!" Fang raised her hand, comparing their heights. Doing some comparing of his own, Hope felt the urge to laugh at the physical similarities between Fang and Eve. Resisting the urge, he cleared his throat.

"It's... been a while since you..." He trailed off, shooting another look at Lightning, "Y'know..."

"Apparently." Fang looked between Hope and Lightning.

"Where's Vanille?" Hope asked after another brief moment of awkwardness, "Did you... wake up together?"

"Vanille, right," Fang rubbed the back of her neck, "We did wake up at the same time, a little over a day ago in the middle of the forest." The Oerban motioned in a general direction over her shoulder, "We headed here expecting to find ruins, we found a city."

"I see." So it had been them that landed in the clearing, "And Vanille she..."

"We got separated." Fang stated informed bluntly. Hope was amused at how not surprised he was, "We got a habit of doing that, huh?" Fang added, a pensive look briefly crossing her features, "Well, at least whenever we wake up after a few years of sleep in shiny rock, anyway." The added attempt humor failed to incite any laughter—from Fang, included.

Hope quickly processed the earlier information. It explained 'where' the two Oerbans had ended up but there was still the 'how' and 'why'—not to mention the 'what now'? It would have to wait, for a moment later there were a series of explosions in the distance. Caught up in the awkward reunion, both Hope and Lightning were reminded of what was still happening to the rest of the city.

"This is First Lieutenant Estheim," Hope pulled out his comm. device, "What's the situation in the city?"

"Firs... enant Estheim, this is... ports of unidentified creatures throughout the city..." Came a broken response hidden under a storm of static, "...least three within that district... ocated near..." The voice was drowned in interference.

"HQ?" Hope attempted to reconnect, "HQ, come in. Headquarters!"

"Okay, is it a military thing where you don't know that yelling at a comm. device is not the solution to interference?" Fang spoke through a small scoff. Lightning caught the Oerban's eyes for a ghost of a moment. It was so brief she almost believed it didn't happen. Pulling out her own device, she found the same static affecting it. The pinkette was about to attempt to suggest reporting back to headquarters when the connection broke through again—barely.

"-atest report of an unknown in your vicinity First Lieutenant." Hope and Lightning met eyes again, "...two blocks south of... eet along the park bordering... inancial district..."

"That's near the orphanage." Eve spoke up suddenly, her voice laced with dread, "Alva." Before anyone could do or say anything, the Lance Corporal turned and bolted off down the street.

"Lance Corporal stop, we don't have all the information!" He called after her, "That's an order!" The order remained disobeyed. Looking over at Lightning, the pinkette only returned his own perturbed expression.

"Okay, could we all just stop for a second and maybe somebody tell me what in the bloody hell is going on?" Fang caught both officers' attention. Hope was surprised when Lightning spoke first, almost immediately.

"There's no time right now." The Sergeant Major folded and holstered her gunblade and took off after the younger officer. Hope opened his mouth to stop her but immediately realized it was probably futile. Turning to Fang who just stared at him with a questioning, almost annoyed look. He disconnected his comm. device.

"She's right, the time for explanations will have to wait," He motioned over his shoulder towards the shuttle, "Come on, we'll catch up with them in the shuttle."

Further down the street, while running at full speed, Eve was silently praying Alva was alright. She realized the information broadcast through the First Lieutenant's comm. device was broken and distorted, and than there was a chance she'd misunderstood the message complete, but she refused to take the chance. The moment she saw the creature, a disturbing feeling filled her gut. And after experiencing it's power, she realized the feeling was fear. The thought of a creature like that being anywhere near Alva scared her even more. Gritting her teeth, she urged her legs to move faster.

Still pursuing the Lance Corporal, Lightning was vaulting over, ducking under, maneuvering past scattered rubble and broken street. She noticed the general damage of the quake was worse as they grew closer to where HQ had directed them. This led her to believe that whatever creature that may have been spotted there, was of greater power than the one they'd just killed—Fang just killed.

Flashes of the Oerban warrior's sudden appearance distracted the pinkette enough for her to miscalculate a jump over a large crack in the ground, barely keeping herself upright, Lightning cursed under her breath before forcing the thoughts of the other woman from her mind.

Focusing on catching the younger officer ahead of her, she found herself impressed at Eve's speed. She considered calling out to Eve as Hope did, but some part of her was content with the fact that chasing after the Lance Corporal got her out of an extraordinarily awkward situation—fast.

However, the reason behind Eve's sudden panicked departure did not escape Lightning's curiosity. She didn't know why, but she had the strong feeling that the expression of fear that flashed across the younger woman's face before she ran off was not something that occurred often. Whatever set her off must have been something more than the idea of an orphanage being threatened. Something clicked in the back of the pinkette's mind. That's right, her sister-

"Alva!" Eve yelled, darting around the last corner and climbing over another large piece of rubble. Landing on the ground behind it she slowed to a stop. One of the walls had collapsed, part of the roof caved in but for the most part the majority of the orphanage was still standing. Half the wall lining the street, along with the gate, had been destroyed. A giant crack—not unlike the one she'd witnessed minutes before—ran along the street, "Alva?"

Taking a few steps towards the building she stopped as something caught her eye. A few feet away, half buried under debris, in what looked like pieces, was what looked like a larger version of the creature she'd encountered before. As she moved to examine the remains she heard a soft sound to her right. Turning her attention toward the sound and her eyes widened at what she saw. She dropped the weapon she forgot she had been holding.

"ALVA!" Alva was lying on the ground on her back, unmoving, a small pool of blood under her torso. Kneeling by her was a light-haired woman holding what looked like a red lance, "Get away from her!" Eve screamed as she ran at the two of them. The woman, shocked, jumped to her feet. Eve skid to a stop near her sister, examining the small girl, "Alva?" A grimace crossed her face when she saw the a poorly wrapped gash in Alva's side. It couldn't have been more than an hour, tops, since she last saw her. Eve's jaw tightened, raising her gaze up at the other woman still clutching the weapon.

"What did you do?" Eve asked in a low voice. Were she thinking clearly, she'd have noticed that the fabric sloppily tied around Alva's torso was strikingly similar to the fabric that made the better part of the other woman's skirt. She would have noticed that the wound in Alva's side was rough and couldn't have been made with a bladed weapon like the lance in the stranger's hands. She would have noticed that the stranger in question was struggling to even grasp the said lance, making it highly unlikely for her to be able to wield it. But Eve wasn't thinking clearly, all she saw was Alva hurt and someone else holding a weapon.

"I-I didn't... sh-she... this isn't-"

"What did you do to her?" Eve demanded, stepping towards the woman.

"N-No wait, I didn't-"

"DeFluo!" A third voice rang out as Lightning finally caught up, slowing to a stop a few feet from them.

"Light!"

"Vanille?"

Eve, ignoring the arrival of the superior officer, advanced on this 'Vanille' and kicked the weapon in her hand, grabbing one end of the lance she swung it out of the stranger's grip. She flipped it around, a bladed end pointed at Vanille.

"DeFluo, stand down-" Lightning said slowly and calmly.

"Not until I find out what happened to Alva." Eve responded by raising the lance precariously near Vanille's throat.

"Light I swear I didn't do anything I was just trying to help I wouldn't ever hurt anyone you know that right? You remember it couldn't have been that long since-"

"Vanille," Lightning interrupted the steady yet panicked flow of words, reading the situation, "Not helping."

"Then allow me to help." Before even Lightning could react, Eve grabbed by the wrist, the weapon twisted from her grasp, "Kids should stick to their toys." Lightning watched as the Lance Corporal was thrown, hitting the ground at her feet. But Eve was up before Lightning could offer to help her.

"Fang..." Vanille hid behind the taller woman.

"Wrong move, little girl," Fang held her lance out at Eve. Eve took a step toward her but was stopped by Lightning. Hearing footsteps behind her, the pinkette glanced over her shoulder to see Hope jogging over.

Eve was too busy glaring daggers to notice anything but Fang and the weapon she held. She didn't even notice how familiar it looked or felt, holding it in her own hands moments prior. Why was she so angry? It was no longer just about Alva's wounds, it was no longer the smaller of the two strangers that held her attention. Just as it had been with the Sergeant Major when they'd first met, Eve found it difficult to back down from the challenger standing before her. No, with Fang it worse.

"Oh c'mon Light, your little friend thinks she can take me-" Again, Lightning found she had to prevent the Lance Corporal from jumping at the Oerban.

"DeFluo, enough!" She forced Eve to turn and face her while, "Stand down, that's an order." She unfolded her weapon, aiming it toward Fang to stop her from getting any closer, "And you..." She attempted to glare at Fang but found it extremely hard to maintain eye contact, "Stop helping."

"We need to get this girl medical help!" Hope's voice broke through.

As if a switch was flicked in her head, Eve's ripped her attention from the tall newcomer and ran over to kneel next to Alva, assisting Hope with moving her into a position where she could be picked up off the ground.

Reading the diffusion of the situation, Lightning felt her shoulders relax slightly but as she slowly turned back to Fang and Vanille, she noticed her weapon was still raised. Quickly re-folding and holstering it, she cleared her throat.

"Sorry, DeFluo is... my responsibility," she motioned vaguely over her shoulder in the direction of the other officers, "My subordinate, I couldn't let her get hurt." Her eyes darted down at Fang's lance.

"Right, your subordinate." Fang's tone was completely serious, angry almost. It caught the Sergeant Major's attention and brought her gaze back up to meet forest green orbs. Fang motioned to Vanille, still half cowering behind her, "And what about your friends?" The question may as well have been the thrust of Fang's lance into her chest. The CRYSIS officer opened her mouth to answer but found she was unable to respond. She still couldn't hold the Oerban's gaze long enough to read her eyes. The whole situation of the her—the both of them—returning, hit her again.

"Light, we've gotta get back to HQ!" Hope's voice once again brought all of them back to the reality, "C'mon, Fang, Vanille, you too!" The First Lieutenant was now standing farther down the street, just outside the shuttle Eve was carrying her sister into. Fang remained silent as she pulled Vanille past Lightning, heading towards Hope and the shuttle. A few moments later, blinking away the mist in her eye, the pinkette turned and followed.

A/N:

Yuck, that was hard.
What? Fang and Vanille have been gone 10 years. It practically broke Light. It wasn't going to be a 'and they lived happily ever after'-type reunion.
Besides, there's all this other crap going on. What IS all this crap?

Blah.

Also... something is wrong with ff dot net. Cannot upload stories so had to use one of my old chapters...
Not pleased =[