Money Troubles

Lightning glanced across the table at the blonde opposite her. "So, what do you think?"

Quistis looked up from the bunch of papers and adjusted her glass a fraction. It was a nervous little of habit of hers, something she'd had for as Lightning had known her. "What I'm thinking, Lightning, is that what you've got here is mighty interesting."

"That so?" Lightning frowned. "Mind explaining to me, exactly what's so interesting?"

"How about you tell me where you got these, first? Somehow, I don't think Cocoon was just handing them out." Quistis' eyes narrowed slightly. "Am I going to have to arrest you, Lightning?"

Lightning was pretty tempted to roll her eyes. Quistis was one of the few people who not only had the guts to joke around with her, but also actually knew her well enough to get away it – not that she'd ever tell Quistis that. "I had some trouble at the Cocoon place just north of here. These were lying around and some of them looked pretty interesting. I figured I might ask you to take a look at them. After all, business matters are more your style, aren't they?"

"I guess that's true." Quistis folded her hands over the papers and sighed. "You've got a lot here and there are bits and pieces missing all over the place. It'll probably take me the whole day to work through this. Still, from what I can tell, it looks like Cocoon's been hiding quite a bit from the government."

"I see." Lightning's gaze flicked past Quistis to the woman sitting by the door of the sheriff's office. She was a little bit younger than the blonde, with silver hair down to about the level of her chin. There was an eye patch over her left eye, while her right eye was a deep, crimson red. "How about her?"

Quistis followed Lightning's look and smiled faintly. Lightning wasn't one to trust too easily, and while the two of them were familiar enough, the same couldn't be said for Fujin. "Her name's Fujin. I guess you could call her my… well, student is probably the best way to put it."

"Student?" Lightning eyed the silver haired woman more intently. Unlike most people, Fujin met her gaze pretty evenly. In fact, that good eye of hers even narrowed a little as she returned Lighting's glare with one of her own. "I didn't know you marshals took on students."

Quistis shrugged. "The fact is, we've been losing a lot of marshals lately. The higher ups figured we might lose less if we had the new marshals tag along with some of the more experienced marshals, you know, learn the trade, so to speak."

"So, she's with you?" Lightning said. Unspoke of course was the rest of her question: could she be trusted?

"Yes, she's with me." Quistis nodded firmly. Fujin could be trusted. "Besides, Fujin's pretty sharp. You asked me here because you wanted a second pair of eyes on all this, well, Fujin here is qualified to give me a hand with that."

Lightning glanced back at the silver haired woman. "That a fact?"

"NOT STUPID." Fujin stood and glared and for all that she only had one eye, Lightning thought she glared better than just about anyone with two. Fujin's gaze shifted to Quistis. "QUISTIS PARTNER."

"I didn't say you were stupid," Lightning said coolly before she turned back to Quistis. "She always talk like this?"

Quistis smiled softly. "That's just her way, Lightning. Besides, like I said, she's pretty sharp." She waved Fujin over to the table where they'd gotten all the papers spread out. "Now, it'll take the two of us most of the day to get through all these. You going to be okay with that?"

Lightning shrugged and inclined her head at another pile of paper on the table. "That's fine. I got a whole lot of paper work that needs doing, anyway." She felt her hand twitch. What she wouldn't give to be able to just take a gun to the whole damn pile. "You two just take your time. If you need a place to stay tonight, I've got the spare room back at my place set up. It should be fine, so long as you two don't mind sharing."

"That's fine."

A ghost of a smile crossed Lightning's lips as Quistis got stuck into the papers. The blonde liked a good puzzle and those papers were right up her alley. Yes, Lightning was pretty sure she'd made the right call in bringing the blonde into things. Quistis had made her name as a marshal going after companies and people who thought that money meant the laws didn't apply to them. Just as important though, Lightning trusted her. Back when Lightning had first started training with Amodar, the blonde had turned up looking to learn from the old man too. Apparently, Amodar really had been quite the marshal back in his day.

The two of them had gotten along pretty decently, mainly because Quistis knew well enough to give Lightning her space, and even after Quistis had headed back east, they'd kept in touch. Quistis had even helped Serah out when she'd been studying in Eden City, making sure that Serah got settled in right and the like. So, when the time had come to ask for a second pair of eyes on those papers, Lightning hadn't hesitated to bring Quistis in.

In the end, it was almost sundown by the time that Quistis and Fujin finally finished looking through all the papers. At the same time though, Lightning's paper work was far from done, but she'd had just about enough of it.

"So, what do you think, Quistis?" Lightning asked.

Quistis gave a sigh and shot Fujin a grateful smile when the younger woman reached over to help work some of the stiffness out of her neck and shoulders. "I'll give it to you straight, Lightning. If I'm reading these papers right, then we've got trouble, big trouble." She paused and took a sip of her coffee. It was about an hour old and pretty nasty, but she needed something to beat back the tiredness a little. "From what I can tell, Cocoon's been hiding their tax obligations for a while now, and not just for a couple of gil. We're talking tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of gil, Lightning, and that's just for this one place alone."

Lightning's eyes widened. That was a lot of money, so much really, that she had a hard time wrapping her mind around the sum. She was certain of one thing though: people had definitely killed for less. More to the point though, there was a grim look on Quistis' face that she didn't like one bit. "There's more, isn't there?"

"There is. We're missing bits here and there, but some of these papers have me thinking that Cocoon isn't just faking the numbers here. No, I have a feeling they're doing this all over the place and if we apply these same sorts of numbers to other places they own, like say, that mine over in Oerba, then we're talking millions of gil, enough to buy all of Eden City and then some." Quistis shook her head slowly as if she couldn't quite believe the numbers.

Fujin paused in what she was doing, hands still on Quistis' shoulders. "DISAPPEARED. DANGEROUS. TROUBLE."

Lightning waited for Quistis to put things into regular talk.

"What Fujin means is that if you look at the way Cocoon's been spending money over the last few years, there's no sign of all this extra cash. That means that either we're reading these wrong, or else Cocoon's been spending all of this on something we don't know about or haven't been able to track and I don't have to tell you what that means, now do I?"

Lightning nodded. "If they're hiding what they're spending all that money on, then it's probably not something too pleasant." What was it, she wondered. Was it illegal weapons? Slavery? She bit back a growl. "You got any ideas?"

"Not just yet, and these papers don't really give me much of a clue." Quistis' eyes were suddenly deadly serious. "Did anyone see you take these, Lightning? If they did, you could be in some trouble."

Had anyone seen her? Lightning thought back to when she'd taken the papers. They'd been scattered all over the office during her fight with the Bahamut Bandit. She hadn't been at the top of her game after that fight, not just because of the bruises, but also because of that damn kiss, to say nothing of all the explosions that had been going on at the same time. She'd picked the papers up almost at whim and she hadn't really given too much thought to being spotted, but now that she thought about it, it was pretty likely that a couple of people had seen her with the papers.

"What sort of trouble could I be in, Quistis?" Lightning asked. "And can you pin Cocoon down with what we've got?"

Quistis frowned. "Most of what we've got here is pretty circumstantial. Sure, people like us can read between the lines and piece things together, but it'd never stand up in court. No, if we want to pull Cocoon up on this, we'll need more than what we've got." She paused and Lightning was somehow sure that she was picking her next words mighty carefully. "As for trouble, Lightning, you have to realise just what you've got here. Sure, we can't win in a court of law with these, but we could cost them a whole lot of money and make some real trouble for them. Given just how much money and how much trouble, I don't doubt that they'd come after us over it."

"Put it simple, Quistis," Lightning said. "What is that you think they'll do?"

"If they know you've got these, they'll try to keep a lid on things, keep you from doing anything with them. Now if they don't know you well, they'll probably try and pay you off, keep you quiet with money and the like." Quistis' eyes narrowed. "But if they really know you, they won't bother with any of that because they'll know it won't work. Instead, they'll go looking for leverage."

Leverage? Just what did Quistis mean by leverage? And then it all clicked and Lightning understood. There wasn't a whole lot in her life that she really loved, not a whole lot that she really valued. In fact, there was probably only one thing that she could really say she held above everything else, that she'd do just about anything for – Serah. Voice hoarse, Lightning whispered, "Are you saying they'd go after Serah?"

Quistis met Lightning's look calmly, but only just. There was a ragged intensity in the pink haired woman's eyes that made Quistis want to put as much distance between the two of them as she could. "What I'm saying, Lightning, is that for the amount of money that could be at stake here, most people would do just about anything."

In a flash, Lightning was up on her feet. Dimly, she was aware of Quistis and Fujin rising too, but she had eyes only for the door. Along the way, she grabbed her shotgun and rifle, and she was already halfway out the door when Quistis grabbed her by the arm. Had it been just about anyone else, she'd have shot them right then and there. As it was, she had her pistol out and level with the other woman's chest before she even realised what she'd done.

"STOP." Fujin's hand shot out and the silver haired woman wedged one finger behind the trigger of the pistol so that even if Lightning tried to pull to trigger, she wouldn't be able to. "CALM."

Slowly, Lightning realised just what she was doing and lowered the pistol. She'd actually pulled a gun on Quistis. Damn it. But just the thought of something happening to Serah… just the thought that she might lose the one last good and decent thing she had in her life was enough to rob her of the icy calm she'd tried for so long to lose herself in. "I… I didn't mean to pull a gun on you, Quistis."

Quistis nodded slowly. That was about the closest Lightning would ever come to an apology. "You need to calm down. I know how much Serah means to you, but you can't just charge out there with all those guns. Now, tell me, where should Serah be now?"

Lightning took several deep breaths. Her heart was still beating like crazy, but at least now she could think. "She said she had business in town. It's already sun down, so she should already be back at home."

"Then let's go there," Quistis said. "If she's not there, then we can worry."

The trip back to the house was a tense one and Lightning could feel Quistis and Fujin's eyes on her the whole way there. Not that she could really blame them, Quistis, especially. The blonde knew pretty well what would happen if someone had hurt Serah. Back when Lighting had been seventeen, there'd been a brawl down at the saloon and somehow Serah had gotten caught up in it. The younger Farron had taken a right nasty hit to the head and it had taken Quistis, Amodar, and maybe half a dozen grown men to drag Lightning off the man responsible before she killed him. If something had happened to Serah, there would be hell to pay, never mind what the law said was legal.

Lightning almost sagged to the ground when she saw that there were lights on inside the house. She ran up the steps and got the door open as quickly as she could.

"Serah!" Lightning shouted. "Are you there, Serah?"

There was a bit of hustle and bustle from the sitting room before Serah appeared. There was light flush across, her cheeks, but otherwise, she looked just fine. "Lightning? What are you yelling for, is there something wrong?"

Lightning didn't say anything. Instead, she just shrugged off her shotgun and rifle and tugged her sister into her arms. Serah gave a little squeak, but Lightning was too busy checking the younger woman over for any signs of injury to care all that much. She gave a deep sigh of relief. As far as she could tell, Serah was just fine. Still not willing to let her sister go, Lightning eased back a fraction so that she could look into Serah's eyes.

"Are you okay, Serah?" Lightning asked. "You're not hurt anywhere? Did anything happen while you were in town today?"

"I'm fine," Serah replied. "I mean… town?" Then her eyes widened. Wait, that's right – she'd told Lightning that she'd be spending the day in town, when really, she'd spent it over at Snow's place. "Uh… no, nothing happened."

"Good." Lightning hugged Serah again. Serah was fine, just fine. "That's good."

"Um… is there something going on, Lightning?" Serah asked. It wasn't that her sister treated her coldly, or anything, but it wasn't every day that Lightning just came up to her and started hugging her and everything. Squirming a little, because Lightning really was pretty strong, Serah finally noticed Quistis standing there, along with another woman who had an eye patch. "Quistis?"

Quistis grinned. "Lightning, why don't you let your sister go so that we can explain a couple of things to her?" A rumble came from Fujin's stomach and Quistis laughed. "Besides, I fancy we're all a bit hungry."

Lightning pulled away from Serah and cursed inwardly as she felt a blush spread across her cheeks. Now that she knew Serah was safe, she was more than a little embarrassed about how she'd been acting. It didn't help either, that Quistis was smirking at her, or that Fujin was giving her a sort of amused look with her good eye. "Fine. You guys get set up in the dining room and I'll get something whipped up in the kitchen. You can explain over dinner." She glanced over at Serah. "You can help me in the kitchen, Serah." Fine or not, she wasn't quite willing to let Serah out of her sight just yet.

X X X

Serah looked down at the slice of apple pie in front of her and blanched. It wasn't that the pie was bad. No, the pie was actually rather tasty. It was just that right now, her stomach felt fit to burst, it was so full. After all, she'd only gotten back from Snow's place and an early dinner a few minutes before Lightning had turned up with Quistis and Fujin.

In a way, though, she'd been pretty lucky. Lightning had been so worried about her that she hadn't picked up on the fact that Serah had been lying about where she'd spent her day. Under normal circumstances, her sister would have seen right through her there would have been all kinds of trouble. In fact, she was already thinking that maybe she should try and head some of that trouble off by just coming clean, but she had a feeling that if she did, Snow might end up finding out just how good Lightning really was with a gun.

All that aside, it was good to see Quistis again. The blonde and Serah had gotten to be pretty decent friends back when Quistis had come out to learn from Amodar. It was good to see that Quistis and Lightning were still friends too. Not that Lightning would ever be too obvious about that, of course. It amused Serah a fair bit too, to see the slightly jealous look on Fujin's face when Lightning and Quistis were talking. It was a bit cute, actually.

"So are you going to explain what all this is about?" Serah asked as she pushed away her half eaten piece of apple pie. "You three weren't exactly acting normal when you barged in earlier."

And just like that, the mood around the table changed. What little lightness there had been before was gone. Lightning's expression had gone dark and Quistis was suddenly all business. Serah almost wished she hadn't asked, but really, she was much too curious for her own good. Quistis and Lightning shared a look and Serah gave a little growl. She hated not knowing what was going on.

"Just tell me what's going on," Serah said. "I can handle it."

So Quistis did and by the end of it, Serah was pretty sure her face had gone all pale. She was certainly feeling light headed and her stomach felt like a lead weight.

"So you're saying that they might come after us, that they might come after me?" Serah asked. "And just to get leverage on Lightning?"

Quistis nodded. "There's a good chance that's what might happen."

"So what are you we going to do?" Serah asked. Her voice was shaking a bit and she was so very glad when Lightning met her gaze and nodded. That look and that nod were enough to calm her. Lightning would look after her. She always had.

"Our safest bet is to get you some place safe until we've got all this sorted out," Quistis said. "I was thinking we could take you to Eden City. We've got friends there that can look after you and there are some people there who might be able to help us get more evidence on Cocoon. Once all this is over, you should be fine. It shouldn't take more than a few months."

A few months? Serah had to force herself to breathe. It was like her whole life was being torn out from under her. She had classes to teach and… and she'd only just started to really get to know Snow. "Isn't there some other way? I mean… do we even know for certain that they'll come after us?"

Quistis sighed. "We don't know for sure that they'll come after you, but trust me. I've dealt with this sort of thing before and it's better to be safe than sorry." A dark look flashed across her face. "When money is involved, Serah, people will do just about anything."

Lightning nodded slowly. "Money makes monsters out of people, Serah, and there's a whole lot of it involved in this. There's a stagecoach due in tomorrow afternoon. We can take that east to Midgar Town and then catch the train to Eden City from there. I figure we can tell people that something family related came up – after all, mother and father did have friends back east."

Serah forced herself to calm down. It was only just beginning to sink in. "I… I guess."

Lightning reached across the table and took Serah's hand in hers. "I promise we'll get through this, Serah. I'll look after you." Then more softly, Lightning added, "Maybe it would be better if I'd just left those damn papers where I found them."

Serah smiled softly. It was so like her sister to think of things like that, but Lightning wouldn't be Lightning if she could just look the other way when there was wrongdoing. "It's okay, Lightning. I trust you."

X X X

Most of the next morning was spent getting things packed for the trip east. Lightning, of course, didn't have all that much to pack, but Serah was another matter. It was something that had always bothered Lightning. Serah seemed to think that it was fine idea to pack half the contents of the house.

"That's about enough, Serah," Lightning grumbled. "You've got enough clothes for three people packed away."

Serah huffed and glared. "That's only because you haven't got enough packed for yourself. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up having to go around naked a few days into our trip."

Lightning felt her eye twitch. Serah wasn't in quite the best mood, although Lightning couldn't exactly blame her. Still, that comment was pretty cutting and Lightning had definitely shot people for less. Of course, she wasn't about to shoot Serah, but she could mess with her a little, see if maybe she couldn't stop Serah from moping. She put a dark look on her face. "You talking smart to me, Serah?"

Serah actually stopped what she was doing and stared. "Um…"

Lightning grinned inwardly. Her sister had an adorable little look on her face, like she wasn't sure if Lightning was really angry or not. "Maybe I should teach you some manners, Serah, maybe turn you over my knee?"

A hot blush crossed Serah's face. "What?" Serah squawked, looking at both Quistis and Fujin for support only to find that both women had suddenly made themselves awfully scarce. "You can't… I mean… I'm a grown woman now!"

Lightning grinned, well aware that she looked more scary than anything else. "You're still my kid sister though, Serah." She took one step forward. "Or have you forgotten that?"

Serah took a step back. "Don't you take one step closer, Lightning." She grabbed a vase. "I'm warning you!"

If Serah hadn't looked so serious, Lightning would have laughed. As it was, she let herself smile, a real smile, the kind of smile that was more Claire than Lightning. "Honestly, Serah, you don't really think I'd spank you, now do you?" When Serah continued to clutch at the vase, Lightning couldn't help herself. She laughed. "Put that down before you break it, Serah."

Slowly, Serah put the vase down, although she was still careful to keep it within reach. "I'm not so sure about that Lightning. Remember that time with Mr Cuddles?"

Lightning groaned. Trust Serah to bring that up. At least Quistis and Fujin weren't in the room to hear about it. "Mr Cuddles was my favourite toy, Serah, and I was nine. Besides, I wasn't trying to spank you. I was trying to strangle you."

Serah laughed softly. "Mom and dad were so angry at us."

Lightning's eyes softened. It was so much better to see Serah smiling than to see her worried and fretting over the future. "They were pretty angry."

Serah's gaze was suddenly serious. "Are we going to get through this, Lightning?"

Lightning stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Serah. The younger woman trembled a little and Lightning tightened her hold. If she could, she'd never let anything or anyone hurt Serah, but she was only human, and she was so afraid that this would finally be the time that she messed up and Serah paid for her mistakes. But as long as she was still breathing, as long as she still had the strength to fight, she'd fight for Serah. "I meant what I said earlier," Lightning said. "I'll keep you safe. I'll die before I let harm come to you."

Muffled against Lightning's chest, Serah whispered, "That's exactly what I'm afraid of, Lightning."

It took them until the early afternoon to get everything sorted out. It wasn't just the packing that needed to get done – and there a fair bit of that – Lightning also needed to sort things out with the townsfolk, let them know she and Serah wouldn't be around for a spell. While she was gone, Amodar and a couple of the other locals would be looking after things.

With everything finally sorted, they got all their bags stored over at the post office where the stage coach was due to pull up in a couple of hours. The only thing left to do then was kill the time, and so they headed over to Lebreau's saloon for a late lunch.

Inside, it wasn't all that crowded, and for that Lightning was plenty grateful. She was a little tense. If someone was watching them, then the odds were that they'd make their move when she and the others tried to leave town. That's why she'd not only brought her usual pistol, but also another pistol, her shotgun, and her rifle. If trouble came calling, she'd be more than ready for it. The only downside, really, was that Snow, the big fool, was at the saloon too and he and Serah kept shooting each other looks, and not just any kinds of looks. They were giving each other warm looks, friendly looks, loving looks, even. She could only hope that if push came to shove, he wouldn't get in the way.

As it was, she didn't have to wait long for trouble to come calling. They'd hardly had time to settle down at their table at the back of the saloon when there was a commotion out front. Lightning chanced a look out one of the windows and saw that there were a whole lot of men out there, and not locals either. They were hired guns, most likely, and she didn't believe in coincidence enough to think that they were there for anyone but her.

About a dozen men barged into the saloon and the man who looked to be in charge of the lot of them pushed his way to the front. He was a scruffy looking fellow, the kind of man that Lightning could tell meant trouble from a mile away.

"I'm looking for Sheriff Farron and Marshal Trepe," he said as he pushed his coat back to show the guns he carried. Beside him, the other hired guns did the same. "Our boss would like a word with you two."

Lightning glanced at Quistis and the blonde woman nodded at her. It was up to her then to call the play. She pushed to her feet. "What your boss wants and what your boss gets don't have to be the same."

The man looked her over and she saw his jaw clench. He'd come riding in with a whole heap of men and more likely than not, he hadn't thought she'd have the courage to tell him no. "You're good with a gun, sheriff, we all know that, but even you can't think you'll get out of this unscathed." A couple more hired guns filed in and his gaze flicked over to where Serah was. "Besides, you and your friend the marshal come with us and there'll be no need for anyone else to get caught up in this."

That was a bald faced lie. Lightning knew how things would be. If she and Quistis were fool enough to go off with them, then they'd only end up dead in a ditch somewhere and she didn't doubt that they'd come back to finish things off with Serah and Fujin.

"You're right," Lightning murmured softly before she raised her voice and pinned the man with a glare so fierce that it had him stepping back. "I might not get out of this in one piece, but do you really think you'll do any better?"

The sheer daring of the words had everyone silent for a moment as the two of them locked eyes. No one moved, the hired guns waiting for their orders, and Quistis and Fujin likewise just waiting for Lightning to give the word. All around them, everyone else not involved scurried for the door and out the saloon.

"This is your last chance, sheriff," the man said. "Stand down."

Lightning shook her head. "Not a chance."

CRASH!

The sudden sound had almost everyone turning to see that Aerith had dropped a glass. But rather than looked apologetic or even worried, there was a grin on the brunette's face. And she had good reason to be grinning too. While almost all of the hired guns had turned to see where the noise had come from, Lightning had eyes only for the opportunity the sudden noise presented.

"Now!" Lightning roared as she drew both her pistols and fired.

Her first two bullets caught the leader of the hired guns before he could even turn back to face her. One slug caught him in the chest, the other in the stomach, and then he was spinning in a lazy circle, blood already frothing from his mouth before he crashed against the bar. As he let loose a final, low groan, everyone else burst into motion.

Beside Lightning, there was another crash as Quistis and Fujin upended the heavy table they were sitting at to use for cover and Lightning darted back toward it, firing with both guns.

"Get behind the table, Serah!" Lightning growled as she drew a bead on one of the hired guns and fired. He jerked back, shot through the neck, and her next shot had another hired gun clutching at his chest. "Move, Serah!"

The men were mad down to their boots now and the saloon dissolved into a hail of bullets and broken wood and glass as they returned fire. Lightning grabbed Serah and dove behind the table as shot after shot filled the air. The younger Farron had a panicked look on her face and Lightning took a moment to give her a reassuring look.

"Serah," Lightning said. "It's not too safe here, but you should be fine if we can get you behind the bar. So on my word, we need to go, okay, we need to run for the bar." She glanced over at Quistis and Fujin. "Can you cover us?"

Fujin smiled coldly. "THEY DEAD."

That, at least, needed no translation and Lightning smirked. "That's fine with me."

Then she was pushing out from behind the table, Serah tucked behind her. At the same time, Quistis and Fujin popped out from behind the table, guns out and blazing. They dropped a couple more of the hired guns, one of them knocked back and through one of the saloon's windows, as Lightning and Serah darted for the bar. But there were more hired guns coming through the front door and there was a crash from somewhere in the back of the building that had Lightning pretty certain that there were more coming in through the back door too.

"Serah!" Snow shouted as he made beeline for the two Farron sisters. He wasn't much of a shot, but he had his own gun out and he fired at the hired guns doing their best to put holes in Lightning and Serah. Most of his shots went wide, but one of them caught a man in the throat, and he felt a sudden prickle of shock – it had been a long, long time since he'd been forced to shoot to kill – but he forced it back. Serah needed him.

"You!" Lightning growled as she spotted Snow headed toward them. For a moment, she was tempted to put a bullet in him, but stopped. If nothing else, the fool was pretty big, which meant he'd make a decent shield for Serah. She dropped another hired gun with a shot to the head and jerked her head at Serah. "Get her the rest of the way to the bar and once you get there, keep her there and make sure she keeps her head down. If she gets hurt, I'll make you wish you were dead."

Snow didn't need to be asked twice as he put himself between Serah and the hired guns and ran with her the rest of the way to the bar. They reached the bar and dived over it together, breaking glasses and bottles along the way. In the mean time, Lightning was cutting a jagged path toward some more cover – another downed table – firing the whole time to keep the hired guns' attention on her and off Serah. They obliged with a hail of gunfire and she cursed as several bullets cut through the air only inches from her.

BOOM!

She dove behind the table and looked up to see that Lebreau had grabbed a shotgun from beneath the counter of the bar and fired. One of the hired guns was flying back through the air, blown almost in half, as the others nearest to him scrambled for cover. Lebreau gave Lightning a cheery look and fired again, blood and wood going every which way as she dropped another hired gun. Trust a saloon owner to be keeping something like that underneath the counter.

"You okay there, Lightning?" Quistis shouted from the other side of the saloon.

"I'm fine!" Lightning shouted back. "You?"

"WE FINE." That was definitely Fujin. "LESS TALK. KILL."

Lightning reloaded her pistols and looked back across the room. She'd left her shotgun and rifle back where Quistis and Fujin were, which meant that for the time being she'd have to rely on her pistols. With a growl, she pushed out from behind her table and fired at the men by the saloon doors again. Three of them went down before she was forced to duck again. The table jerked and she hissed as several splinters of wood shot past her. The table was getting much too thin and beat up for her liking.

That was when things went south. The back door of the saloon burst open and more hired guns poured in. She turned to meet them and fired, wincing as their return fire forced her away from the table and up against the bar. A couple of them went down, but then her pistols were clicking empty.

But before the hired guns could take advantage of things, there was a blur of black hair and burgundy eyes. One of the hired guns went flying, knocked halfway across the room as Tifa vaulted over the bar and landed a big jumping kick straight to the middle of his chest. Then she was right there in the middle of them, striking out with fists and feet to all sides.

Damn, Lightning thought, Tifa sure knew how to fight. Taking the chance to quickly reload her pistols, she called for Tifa to get clear.

"Move!" Lightning shouted before she dropped the last couple of men and darted for more cover.

There was a roar and Lightning turned just in time to see that Fujin had her rifle and was putting it to pretty good use. The shot drilled a hired gun right through the chest, along with the man behind him, and as Quistis added her own pistol fire to things, the hired guns were finally forced out of the saloon and back onto the street.

"Lightning!" Quistis shouted as she tossed Lightning's shotgun over to her. "Take that. There are more of them outside. Fujin and I can take the front, you go upstairs and take them by surprise."

Lightning nodded and ran for the stairs. As she did, she took one last look at the shot up saloon. Serah and Snow were back behind the bar, the big man crouched protectively over her sister. Quistis and Fujin were both stalking for the front door and Tifa was busy getting stuck into a couple more hired guns that were trying to break in through the back door. As for Lebreau, the saloon owner herself had a shotgun out and a look of absolute fury on her face as she fired through one of the windows.

As quick as she could, Lightning found a window upstairs and climbed out of it. She circled back around toward the front of the saloon and from the sounds of things, the others were really putting up quite a fight. Quistis and Fujin were out there, both of them crouched down behind barrels or other bits of furniture as they took aim at the dozen or so hired guns outside. Thankfully, most of the locals seemed to have had enough sense to make themselves scared, although there was a bit of dust out near the edge of town that had Lightning thinking that Amodar and a couple of others who were good with guns were headed their way.

She smiled coldly. Amodar was getting a little old and she didn't want to make things too tough for him. She'd have this settled before he had to fire even a single shot.

As quietly as she could, Lightning crept over to take a better position on the roof. She had a clear view of the man who seemed to be in charge of the remaining hired guns and she took a second to steady her aim before she fired. The shotgun roared and he went down, his chest a mass of ruined flesh. The others were quick to turn their guns on her and she squeezed off another shot. The blast was aimed at a hired gun crouching behind a water trough and even though the water trough took the worst of it, enough of the shot got through to have him stumbling back, bleeding from half a dozen places. A second later, he was down for good, nailed by one of Quistis' shots.

Bullets slammed into the roof beside her and Lightning winced as bits of broken shingles went everywhere. She covered her face with one hand and slid off the roof. She hit the ground and rolled to take the worst off the impact, scrambling to her feet as Quistis and Fujin gave her some covering fire. Reaching into her coat, she grabbed a couple of shells and snapped open the breach of her shotgun to load them in.

"How are you two doing?" Lightning shouted.

Quistis chuckled. "It's been a while since I've been in an old fashioned shoot out."

"Well, you don't seem to be too rusty," Lightning shot back as she moved out from behind her cover and fired. One of the hired guns took the shotgun blast full in the chest and flew back through the window of the general store. There were only a few of the hired guns left now, but rather than giving in, they were just fighting harder.

Still, tough as they were, it wasn't long before the rest of them were either dead or out for the count. Fujin had them pinned down with rifle fire, which let Quistis and Lightning get around to flank them on both sides. After that, well, it was pretty simple, especially once Lebreau added her own shotgun fire to the mix, laughing the whole time.

When the dust had settled, Lightning took the time to look over the mess outside the saloon – and it was quite a mess – before she headed back inside to see how things were there. The place was one big disaster. Gunshots had blow apart most of the outer surface of the bar and pretty much all the tables and chairs were shot to pieces. There were also holes in the walls, ceiling, and floor. There was even a hired gun imbedded in one of the walls head first, most likely Tifa's handiwork. And that was to say nothing about all the broken bottles and crockery scattered everywhere.

"That's quite a mess," Lightning murmured.

"A mess?" Lebreau wiped some sweat from her brow and stomped over to one of the hired guns that Tifa had beaten up. He was tied up good and proper and as she drew near, he gave her a snarl. "I'll say." Scowling back, she gave him a big kick right between the legs. He folded instantly and let loose a high-pitched, keening wail that made even Lightning wince. "Those hired guns shot up my saloon, my new saloon!" She kicked him again, in the stomach this time. "How am I going to pay to fix all of this?"

Lightning knelt down and rummaged through pockets of one of the dead hired guns. As she'd expected, his pockets were pretty full of gil. They'd probably been paid just before heading over. "If it makes you feel any better, you can take any money you find on them to pay for the damages."

That seemed to ease Lebreau a little, because she went over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. Opening it up, she took a deep swig of the stuff and then offered it to Lightning. "You want some?"

Lightning shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but no."

Lebreau grinned. "Well, your loss. Still, I have to say, sheriff, you live up to the reputation." She raised the bottle in a rough salute and then leaned over the counter. "You two love birds can come out now."

"It's safe now?" Snow popped up from underneath the bar along with Serah. As annoyed as she was to see Serah with the big fool, Lightning was glad to see that her sister seemed just fine, even if she did look a little shaken.

"Well, it looks like you're not completely useless," Lightning said as she walked over to help Serah over the bar. "Are you okay, Serah?"

Serah smiled weakly. "I'm fine. Snow… he… uh… he looked after me."

Lightning gave Snow a closer look and nodded slowly. There were a couple of nasty scrapes along his side where she guessed a bullet or two must have grazed him, along with a couple of bruises along his jaw. By the looks of things, he'd traded blows with a couple of the hired guns. Still, whatever injuries he'd taken, he had managed to keep Serah safe.

"What was all this about?" Snow asked as Aerith came over. She had some bandages in hand and she would have gotten started on getting Snow's wounds cleaned up if Serah hadn't taken the things from her and started in on it herself.

Lightning watched Serah work on the wound on Snow's side. There was a light blush across the younger woman's cheeks and the look in her eyes was, well, loving. "It's probably better if you don't know."

Snow scowled. "If it's trouble, then I'm already mixed up in it. Besides, you know I'll look after Serah."

Lightning sighed. Somehow, she had a feeling she was going to regret saying anything, but the way Serah and Snow were looking at each other made her want to cry and smile all at once. And Snow had done his best to look out for Serah, even though he hadn't had to. "Fine. You want to know, go find Quistis. She'll fill you in." She glanced out the window and frowned. "We've got another hour or so before the stagecoach gets here, if you still want to tag along, well, I guess you can, but I'm warning you right now, if you get in the way, if you hurt Serah, if you do anything to put any of us at risk, so help me, I'll make you wish you were dead. We clear?"

Snow gulped and nodded.

"Good." Lightning sighed. "So long as we're clear." Bringing Snow along wouldn't just make Serah happy, it'd put another gun on their side, and if today was any measure, they could use every gun they could find. She turned back to Lebreau. "I'm going to go have a chat to some of these hired guns, see if I can't find out who sent them. Care to help?"

Lebreau smiled sunnily. "Why, sheriff, I thought you'd never ask. Are your two marshal friends going to be joining us?"

Lightning looked over at Quistis and Fujin. Quistis simply nodded while Fujin gave Lightning a toothy smile. "I imagine so."

As the four women stalked toward the closest of the hired guns that was still conscious, Snow shivered and glanced at Serah. "You know, Serah, those hired guns were shooting at us not too long ago, but right now, I just about pity them."

Serah nodded. "I do too."

X X X

Author's Notes

First of all, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off this.

I'll get right to the point. I didn't really feel comfortable at all writing this chapter and even now, I'm still not sure how it turned out. That said I'm reasonably happy with the end result. When I was first tossing around ideas as to who would be turning up with Quistis, I wasn't sure who exactly to have, but after a bit of thinking, I settled on Fujin. The two of them make a nice contrast, not to mention that the eye patch is just damn cool. The last bit of interaction between Lightning and Lebreau was all added in the last version of this, but I like the way it ended up. The two of them would get along quite well, I think, under the right circumstances. For that matter, the Lightning and Serah scene just before the saloon was also added in the last version.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. This is the first story I've written that's ever made it to 100 reviews, so I'm really quite pleased. It's a milestone, of sorts, and I'm grateful to everyone who helped me reach it. I'm especially grateful to a number of reviewers who have reviewed pretty much every chapter. Your support is definitely appreciated.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.