Tempest Rising IV

"Something's up."

"What?" Hope turned to Vanille who'd been walking next to him. She motioned o the soldier and warrior ahead of them, "Between Fang and Light? Since when has anything not been up between Fang and Light?"

"No... something serious." The first Lieutenant was mildly amused at the blatantly suspicious face and tone the small Oerban was sporting. Suddenly she gasped, covering her mouth, tugging on his sleeve, "It happened." He raised an eyebrow at her, "Don't give me that look, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

He couldn't deny that he did. Everyone who'd been around Fang and Lightning at the same time for more than five minutes would have been able to see the incontrovertibly impassioned connection they had with each other. In simpler terms: Acting like a pair of hormonal teenagers. So much so that'd it become expected of them to communicate through quarreling more than anything else. But Hope still wasn't fully convinced that the slight difference in their behavior toward each other that day was due to the reason Vanille suspected.

"They're too busy bickering like an old married couple for that to happen-"

"It happened." Vanille concluded again, disregarding Hope's attempt at reasoning. The officer sighed, shaking his head.

"Maybe they're just worried about the current situation? Y'know, with the whole world on the brink of destruction and all?"

"Oh please, as if they'd never experienced that before." The fact that Vanille's comment was completely true made the statement more amusing than it perhaps should have been, "Look at them!" Hope's gaze returned to the two ahead of them. They weren't bickering, but they they hadn't been bickering for a while now—which made it less than unusual. He'd just figured they were keeping distance and ignoring one another. But they weren't quite doing that either. They were walking pretty much side by side. If they were any closer they'd be holding hands.

"You see how close they are?" Vanille's question brought Hope's attention back to the discussion.

"Yeah."

"You see them bickering?"

"No-"

"It happened!" Vanille exclaimed as if she'd just explained something highly complex yet blatantly obvious. Hope chuckled in defeat, realizing she was probably right.

"What happened?" A voice from behind them caused them both to look over their shoulders. Dajh had caught up from still being half-asleep and trailing behind slightly. He noticed the raised eyebrows he was getting from the other two, "What? I'm not a morning person! Some of us aren't small enough to be carried around to enable us to sleep in." He motioned toward Hope and sleeping figure the First Lieutenant was carrying on his back. He received a swift smack to the back to the head from Vanille.

"Alva's sick!"

"Oh, right. Y'know, if she's supposed to be some all-powerful creature of Titan, shouldn't she be more... all-powerful? And not so much... all-sickly?" The cadet somehow managed to evade another whack from Vanille, "What? I'm just saying." Dajh defended as the other two continued walking.

"She's probably sick because she's struggling against her guardian instincts and powers." Vanille gently dabbed at the small, whimpering girl's damp forehead, "I had thought it was strange the Dissidium Elixir was becoming ineffective so quickly. She wasn't fighting some Cie'th curse, she was fighting against her nature."

"Well it looks like her 'nature' is winning." Dajh added before he could stop himself. Neither Hope or Vanille commented on it since the both of them had understood the underlying point of his comment.

"Then let's hope she's strong enough to keep fighting it until we reach Eve." Hope muttered.

"And then?" Again, Dajh received no response from the other two. He looked past the both of them at the two leading the group. He silently hoped that whatever Titan saw in Fang and Lightning worthy enough to give his replacement was more than just their looks and personality.

"Y'know something's been bothering me, for a while now." Lightning broke the silence between herself and Fang, "You butt heads with Eve every chance you get since you meet, then suddenly you're like the best of friends? And now you're just as—if not more—hard-pressed to get to her than I am." She observed Fang's actions; the Oerban shifted her weight ever-so-slightly and shifted her eyes away from Lightning's a little too quickly.

"Well... she is part me—and you for that matter," The raven-haired woman grinned sheepily as she motioned between her and he pinkette, "I like us both just fine so... y'know..." The half-assed answer didn't impress Lightning, yet she found the urge to smile at the answer unexpectedly strong. She held her composure though, clearing her throat and decided to be patient and wait the truth out.

It eventually paid off. Fang knew the soldier was aware she was being less than honest. Sighing, the Oerban's shoulders slumped, "I really do see myself in her. More than just my face." Lightning continued to listen as Fang's voice grew serious, "That day when the hulk Cie'th attacked the camp? Eve may have died without Alva's help—Alva's power. Power she didn't have." Noticing the slightly confused face on the pinkette she explained further, "You know how it is don't you? Having a younger sister to protect." Fang referred to Serah, "It's just how it goes with us older ones, we have to be the protectors, we fight for them. And we do it because we're stronger, we have to be."

Lightning began to understand but felt Fang had more to say so remained silent.

"That day Eve wasn't strong enough." Lightning recalled the time the hulk and lurker Cie'th had ambushed the camp while she and Fang had been away, "She fell and Alva had to save her—with powers she didn't have."

"So she messed up and had to be saved-"

"Not just by anyone... but the person she was trying to protect." Fang interrupted firmly, a sharp tone in her voice, "You're the perfect Lightning Farron, I doubt you've ever needed Serah to save you." The comment would have felt like a punch to the gut if Fang were any less solemn.

"So... you bonded over a moment of weakness?" Lightning tried again. This time she got a scoff in return.

"You could say that." Fang turned to Lightning before motioning with her chin, over her shoulder at Vanille, "Our roles of protector and protected were defined long before we became l'Cie. But once we had, Vanille embraced the powers much faster and more effectively than I did." Lightning threw a quick look at the smaller Oerban who was Hope and Dajh, giggling and something the latter had probably said, "I like to say I'm stronger and faster physically and the power level between us as decreased slightly but with the amount of raw magic Vanille has, she's still more powerful than I could ever be." Fang let out an almost sad laugh, "Don't let her twin-tails and childlike wonder fool you, she could probably wipe the floor with both of us if she wanted."

Watching more emotion cross Fang's face than she thought she'd ever seen before, Lightning realized there was probably a significant story behind the explanation the warrior was giving. While curious, the pinkette felt it was one Fang had to feel like telling, without being asked. Even without witnessing the power the Oerban spoke up, Lightning began to understand the connection Fang had made with Eve. Contrary to Fang's belief, she'd felt a similar feeling with Serah, only it involved Snow—which she felt in some ways could've arguably been worse.

"Alright." Lightning nodded, deciding not to pry any more than what Fang was willing to give, "Eve's lack of powers may not be such a bad thing, thinking about it." She moved the subject along, "I assume without her powers, she can't act as the replacement Titan was hoping for." She looked over at Fang, "Which means we may have time to figure something out." The pinkette then noticed the strange avoidance of Fang's eyes again, "Fang?"

"Actually... that... may not be... entirely true."

"What?"

"Well, I'm just saying that Eve's powers may not, in fact, be lacking... so much as... fully realized." Fang winced at the look of wary suspicion on the pinkette's face.

"What's going on?" Hope's voice entered the conversation. Apparently Lightning had actually stopped walking to wait for Fang's answer. The warrior looked between the other members of the group who were catching up.

"Well she couldn't control them yet." Fang added in an attempt to argue the non-severity of the fact.

"Not confidence-inspiring." Lightning responded, "Care to share exactly what happened, Fang?"

"That time on the cliff, Eve said I saved us from falling. I didn't."

:::

Fang let out a pained grunt as she hit the shaking ground. Though dust filled them, her eyes remained on the Lance Corporal she was trying to reach. Scrambling to her feet, she threw herself toward the slipping soldier, arm outstretched. She soon found she was too far, too late. The root keeping Eve from falling snapped and she fell, the small yelp of helplessness that escaped her echoed in Fang's ears just as loud as a full-on scream.

Before she could formulate a plan—before she could formulate a reaction, there was a blinding flash that blurred Fang's vision for a few seconds. Through squinting eyes she noticed a shift in the landscape once more and heard the tearing and grinding of earth. A decent portion of the lower part of the rock side had been ripped out and was now flying upward toward her. She tore her eyes from it as she struggled to scramble away. The upper part of the overhang was now crumbling at the loss of support. She was forced to jump from one fractured chunk to the other as they fell from beneath her feet.

When she eventually found herself on solid ground, on her back, nerves on edge and out of breath, there was a loud crunch in the ground behind her. Turning onto her stomach she saw Eve getting to her feet from a crouched position. Her eyes glowed red, and behind her floated massive slabs of earth, each one surrounded by crackling red energy.

The Oerban jumped to her feet, only to be forced off balance by a giant gust of wind. She managed to fall into a Steelguard stance just as a flash of red whipped out toward her. It ripped through her defenses like a blade through water. It decimated her guard and left her completely vulnerable to a smaller slab of earth that slammed her in the side.

As she fell to her knees, she noticed Eve do the same. The glow in the other woman's eyes had spread around her body and red energy flickered around her—not unlike it was around the chunks of earth that were now caught in the small whirlwind. The soldier screamed again as the winds only seemed to pick up. The gusts didn't mask the pain in her screams. The raw energy and magic was consuming her from the inside out.

Unsure if it'd work, Fang summoned as much magic as she could. She'd never been very good at controlling large amounts of it at a time but the balance of power and control concerned her little in that moment. Realizing the energy around Eve was getting more and more out of chaotic by the second, she raised her hands, letting loose the Fogga spell. The dark magic flew from Fang to surround Eve, just as the soldier seemed to send a burst of energy from her body. Fang's attempt to cancel out the energy seemed to have worked, at least enough for the whirlwind to die down.

Eve was left glowing, her body still paralyzed with what looked like intense pain. Breathing hard, Fang summoned what little strength she had left to cast Daze at the Lance Corporal. As the spell hit Eve, sending her to the ground on her side, the red glow began to dim. Before it faded fully however, a flash of red whipped out, catching Fang across the neck and shoulder. Immediately Fang felt her body wracked with an overwhelming amount of pain. For a few moments it felt as though her muscles were being torn to pieces, her nerves thrown through a grinder and the back of her eyes burned. Though by the time she hit the ground on her back, the pain had vanished, the memory of it remained. For at least a minute or so, Fang was scared to move her body.

Eventually, slowly turning her head toward Eve, Fang saw she was breathing. She was alive and conscious—barely. She met the soldier's worn out, tired, fear-filled eyes. Fang could only imagine what it had been like for Eve to feel the wrath of that much magic, sampling but a miniscule amount herself—for a brief moment only. As they both lay there in the aftermath of something neither could explain, there was a moment of understanding between them. Whatever had happened, whatever Eve had just done, should never have to be experienced by anyone—anything—else, ever again.

:::

"So let me get this straight." Lightning cleared her throat, "You witness Eve display powers greater and more dangerous than anything any of us have ever seen or experienced since Barthandelus and Orphan and you decide it's not worth bringing up?"

"it wasn't my place—I figured she'd tell you herself, eventually. You didn't see how scared she was, Light." Fang defended, "To have that much raw and potent power able to inflict that much pain and suffering without being able to control it? It's probably worse than not having any power at all."

"So we're back to having less time than we thought, then?" Dajh decided to use his powers of de-tensifying to keep the situation calm.

"Whether Eve's powers have awoken or not doesn't change the fact we need to get to the middle of the Faultwarrens as soon as possible." Hope added, also looking to defuse the sparks of an argument between the warrior and soldier, "And we can't let our guard down just because Eve's been taken. Cie'th could still be after her guardian-" He was cut off by a louder whimper from behind him, on his back. The others looked to see Alva begin struggling out of Hope's hold, "Alva-?"

The small girl thrashed against Hope's back, forcing herself from his grip. She hit the ground on her back, immediately beginning to crawl away.

"Alva?" Vanille knelt to try and calm her but the girl was frantic.

"Make it go away, make it go away, make it go away!" She hissed as Vanille managed to stop her moving.

"Shhh, we'll help you Alva, we're almost where we need to be okay?" The smaller Oerban tried to reassure the smaller girl, "We won't let you lose to the guardian, alright?"

"N-No..." Alva pointed toward Fang and Lightning—past Fang and Lightning, "Not me..." The others turned to look where she was pointing. They witnessed a shimmering movement as something revealed itself on the path ahead of them, camouflaged somehow, "...that." Alva whispered.

It's camouflage ability fading, the group was met with a creature at least three times larger than the hulk they'd encountered previously. It stood on four legs ending in massive claws, it's body and head comparable to a large lizard, it's tail razor sharp and curled over it like a scorpion's. Taking it in fully, it almost resembled a Manasvin Warmech. Only it's body was covered in crystal and rock and on the tip of it's 'head' it bore a red crystal.

"Yeah... at this point I'm not even surprised anymore..."

"Well, that's certainly comforting, thank you Dajh." Hope hissed, not taking his eyes from the massive entity before them.

"I said not surprised, Estheim... didn't say not scared out of my damn skin."

Every member of the group seemed frozen in place as the gargantuan Cie'th raised it's tail in a high arch.

"Scatter!" Fang broke out of the reverie first, falling into Steelguard as the Cie'th attacked, its tail stabbing at the group.

A/N:

Round and round and round it goes
Where it stops, no one knows. I certainly don't...

I really need to stop ending chapters like that =\
Also, I feel compelled to write more about Fang's issue with power between her and Vanille so there may be some random, separate one-shot posted before the next chapter is finished.
Though someone bought me a certain addicting, time-consuming, distraction-from-writing-fanfiction-type game for my birthday that's coming up; so if you thought my updates were slow recently... =\

Ugh, I use the fact that it is Summer as an excuse o_0