[Final Fantasy XIII] Crystal Dreams of Eternity

Chapter 11: (III.5) Fal'Cie Lindzei
A Final Fantasy XIII Fanfic
By jen-chan
February 23 - March 11, 2011

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS: Post-game. Now knowing the key to saving Fang and Vanille is to wake the sleeping Maker, Buniberzei, Fang and Lightning set off to accomplish this. They interacting with the various denizens of the Door of Souls, while searching for the lost Vanille.

LIME WARNING: It's probably too flowery to be considered *truly* explicit, but certain mature themes are present in this chapter and are meant for an older teen audience!

Comments and Criticisms are greatly appreciated!

A sigh escaped from Lighting's lips as Fang tenderly nibbled along her throat. Lighting wrapped a hand behind Fang's head, digging her fingers encouragingly into the hunter's scalp even as she lifted her head to expose more of her neck for the hunter to sample.

Fang let her trail of kisses meander upon Lightning's collar bone, and then down between Lightning's breasts, savoring the sounds of contentment this elicited from her lover.

Tender hands reacquainted themselves with flesh made glowing warm with need, carefully, thoroughly and lovingly. They had been too long denied their desired, and they were eager to explore those delightful places they had once known. Lightning trembled under Fang's lavish ministrations, strength bleeding from her limbs, thought fleeing from her mind, leaving her filled with naught but aching longing that only Fang's continued touch could both fan and abate, somehow at the same time.

Fang laid claim to Lightning's body as hers once more, triumphing in the rediscovery of favorite locals and actions. She listened thoughtfully to Lightning's wordless responses, revising areas that provided the most intense of reactions, treasuring the sounds of pleasure this awarded her, so long denied to her, driving both of them to arousal's madness.

Lovingly, Fang sent Lightning's feathered sighs into fevered moans and then brought those to the highest of heights, until Lightning found release, and her gasps of exalted rapture echoed in the night.

Fang gazed down fondly at the pink haired soldier curled up against her side, and idly brushed a piece of hair from Lightning's eyes. She'd watched the soldier sleep almost every night for the last year, ever since she found her consciousness active despite her body being locked in crystal status. Tonight was the first night in a long time Fang remembered that Lightning was sleeping without an expression of sorrow on her features.

Early on in her second crystal status, that sleeping face, so expressively sad, had broken Fang's heart, and she had entered into Lightning's dreams to try to soothe her, but that had only served to set the soldier up for even more devastating disappointment in the mornings. It had been a difficult decision, but Fang had stopped visiting Lightning's dreams, hoping the other woman would heal with time.

Lightning stirred under Fang's gentle touch, but didn't wake up.

As they had laid in post-coital bliss, Lightning had struggled to stay awake. "Go to sleep, Love," Fang had whispered, before winking. "I'll stay up. Technically, it's still my shift."

"... wake me up for mine?" Lightning had replied drowsily.

"Sure," Fang had lied. Like she was going to! She'd done her damndest to absolutely exhaust the soldier after all. She'd be rightly miffed if Lightning didn't at least sleep through the night!

It had been incredibly foolhardy and undisciplined of them to engage in such intimacy, given their current circumstances, but Fang couldn't bring herself to really give a damn.

She thought back to the warnings of the winged figured they'd met that day - the Lusita.

'I am of the Lusita,' the winged creature said to them, after it had shown them how to called forth their Eidolon armor. 'We are charged with the ferrying of human souls to and from the chaos. When a human soul departs its earthly body, it arrives at the Door of Souls. It is our duty, as Lusita, to find these souls, cleanse them of their memories, and return them to the chaos.'

The Lusita then showed the two humans a small bluish-green ball of light it had been protecting. It was similar to what the old man Fang and Lightning had seen earlier had become. 'When it is time for a soul to be born in the visible world, we call one forth from the chaos, and deliver it to its new body. Sometimes, this creates an opportunity for a beast from the chaos to follow the soul through to here. That was what happened earlier. Thank you for your assistance in sending it back where it belongs. I must now complete the delivery of this child. As the Door of Souls is a mirror image of the visible world, I must travel to the corresponding location here as where this human child is expected to be born, there.'

They boggled, startled that the reason that the Door of Soul seemed so similar to Gran Pulse was because it *was* Gran Pulse - or at least, a mirror image of Gran Pulse.

Its business thus concluded with them, the Lusita was ready to go on its way, until Lightning called it back. "Wait!" Lightning said, "could you let us know if you've seen someone similar to us? We're looking for a friend. She's a young woman with red hair in pigtails."

The Lusita shook its head. 'There are not very many departed souls out here on the plains awaiting deliverance to the chaos, and I have seen none others such as yourself, or matching that description.'

"Huh," Fang frowned. "Alright, thanks. One more thing. Can you tell us what's in that direction?" She pointed in the direction she felt Vanille coming from faintly.

The winged creature looked over in that direction and then its expression darkened considerably. 'The Capital of the Abominable Dead is that way.' It then looked back at Lightning and Fang, and, seeing the confused expressions on their faces, explained, 'not all departed souls are willing to return to the chaos, although that is the natural order of things, and where they will find final peace. Those souls have congregated in an evil, unnatural city, and sought alliances with beasts from the chaos. You would do best to stay away from that place; unspeakable atrocities are committed there.'

And with that, the Lusita departed.

After the Lusita had left them, they had continued their way towards Vanille, despite the winged creature's warning. They had encountered the random soul here and there, as well as a couple more Lusita, on route to complete their duties. While they had all regarded them with curious looks, none of those winged creatures had stopped to chat.

They had also come across several more chaotic beasts, but with their new Eidolon armor and weapons, they had been able to dispatch the beasties.

Fang could not quite fathomed what had happened during her first embarrassing battle (oh Goddess - would she ever live that down?); it was like her mind was trying to protect its own sanity by shielding her memory from what she had seen. All she could remember was that whatever she had experienced, she most certainly did *NOT* want to experience it again.

Beyond that, they had not been much else disturbed. The Door of Souls may have been a mirror image of Gran Pulse, but it did not have any of the living creatures that their world did. As such, they probably could have continued on, even after the sun had set, but had decided against it for precaution's sake; the chaotic beasts were easy to spot in the day, but would likely be much harder to avoid at night.

It had been with Lady Luck's grace that Fang had been able to realize that they were in a location they'd previously visited on Gran Pulse, and so, was able to locate the equivalent to a cave they'd once used. Once they'd settled in, Fang had offered to take the first guard shift, letting Lighting rest first and take the second shift.

... yeah, (really, who were they kidding?) that had lasted all of ten minutes.

Fang grinned to herself even as she adjusted her sari - currently doubling as a blanket - to cover Lightning a little further. She bent down to give Lightning's bare shoulder a soft peck. She couldn't quite remember the exact details that had lead to their session of intimacy; all she could really remember was the exquisiteness of their lovemaking.

They had only been intimate once before tonight, and that experience, while powerful in its own right, had been tinged with sadness and bitter sweetness.

Tonight had held none of that and it had made Fang feel like she was flying - still flying, really.

Beside her, Lightning twitched in her sleep. For a moment, Fang thought the other woman was going to wake up, but Lightning only snuggled up closer against Fang's side, causing the hunter to smile broadly.

Fang couldn't help but sigh, feeling more at peace than she had in ages (literally). If only she had confirmation of Vanille's safety too - then the moment might have been perfect.

At least, Fang thought, she could still feel her oldest friend's presence, out there somewhere, closer than she had been yesterday, and not in any apparent duress that Fang could feel.

When the sun came up, Lightning reluctantly roused the sleeping hunter. She felt a little guilty doing so, as her lover (... did she just think of Fang as her lover?) had not rested for very long. Fang had not awaken her for her shift like she said she would, so Lightning had overslept by a couple of hours. When Lightning had woken up by chance, she admonished Fang for the indulgence, and insisted that the hunter get some rest. Though Fang had teased about preferring to continuing their earlier session (a suggestion to which Lightning *almost* caved), eventually the soldier got the hunter to see logic, and Fang grabbed a couple hours of shut eye.

The lack of sleep didn't stop Fang from grinning happily as Lightning gently nudged her awake.

"Mmm... good morning, Love," Fang said, yawning. "You know, I could get used to waking up like this." She sat up, and pulled Lightning towards her for a kiss.

For a moment, Lightning wasn't sure how to respond - butterflies suddenly flapped their wings in her stomach. It was one thing to give in to bodily needs, pent up as long as they'd been, and another thing entirely to give affection simply for the sake of giving affection; Lightning wasn't exactly known for being touchy-feely after all. She actually tensed up, just before Fang's lips pressed against hers, but luckily, her heart shooed the butterflies out of her system and slapped her brain for being silly (really? you're freaking out *now*, after *everything* you've gone through together?) and Lightning responded to Fang's affections in kind.

"Hmm... this *is* nice," Lightning admitted drolly, "but I think I'd prefer waking up in a proper bed with sheets and covers myself."

"Wow. I never thought that Lightning Farron could be such a princess," Fang teased. Her back decided to pop loudly in protest as she stretched herself awake. Fang winced. "Ack. Maybe you have a point there."

Lightning cast a simple water spell to allow Fang to clean up with, and after that, they left the cave and continued on their way. Now that they knew that the Door of Souls resembled Gran Pulse, they could point out which direction they'd been heading in - north.

As they jogged, they kept an eye out for any potential foodstuffs. They hadn't eaten the night before, relying on curative spells to keep up their strength. While those magicks could, theoretically, keep regenerating them indefinitely, it wasn't very satisfying for the belly - a life without food, rest and good company wasn't a life at all, really. Just survival.

And on that note, Lightning couldn't help but wonder...

... what would it be like to be with Fang outside of survival mode? Their entire association (relationship? Could it be called that?), had been during times of adventure and distress.

What would it be like to have a normal day with Fang?

What would it be like to have a normal *night* with Fang?

"Love?"

Fang's amused voice interrupted Lightning's thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Your ears are going red again."

~Damn,~ Lightning thought without any real ire. She couldn't hide *anything* from the Pulsian hunter. "Are you going to point that out every time?"

"I might have to," Fang winked. "If you continue insisting looking as cute as you do, doing so."

Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Well don't hold out on me!" Fang laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

The soldier thought about giving her normal, 'nothing of importance' reply, until she realized something. "... did you just call me 'Love'?"

Fang chuckled. "Uh... I think I've called you that several times now. Don't like it? Prefer 'Sunshine'?"

"No, whatever, it's fine," Lightning replied noncommittally. But she knew that her ears were still red, so the hunter could probably tell that she was actually feeling a silly little thrill.

They continued on a few more moments, before, somewhat surprisingly, Lightning decided to answer Fang's question. "I was... just thinking about last night..." she admitted, a little awkwardly.

Fang's smile could only be described as beaming. "Yeah?"

Lightning could feel a smile threatening to appear on her own face. "Yeah. I was just... wondering if that was a taste of things to come. You know. When this is over. When things are normal."

~Whatever that was.~

The hunter slowed to a stop, forcing the soldier to stop too, and turn back to regard her. By this time, the proud smile on Fang's face had softened to a gentle one that was equal parts fond and kind. Fang reached out and brushed a lock of pink hair out of the soldier's eyes.

"You bet your fine ass, 'it's a taste of things to come'. You're not getting rid of me after this is all over." And now a hint of teasing crept into Fang's formerly gentle smile. "Besides... you haven't seen all my tricks yet!"

Despite the teasing, Lightning could tell the other woman had meant what she said. She smirked back. "Yeah, well, neither have you."

"Oooh," Fang pulled Lightning close, looking down at the shorter woman through half-lidded eyes, glimmering with ardor. "Care to give me a preview?"

Standing so close together, Lightning could smell the other woman's scent easily, and her higher mental facilities governing duty and responsibility (traits that used to come so easily to her - defined her, really!), threatened to completely walk off the job. Lightning's fingers played with the hairs at the base of Fang's skull (when had she placed her hands there?). She couldn't help staring at Fang's bottom lip, even as she chewed at her own while she debated with herself. "... We... shouldn't..." She tried to convince herself. "... still have to find Vanille and all..."

A pang of guilt flittered across Fang's face, followed quickly by undisguised disappointment. She sighed. "Can I have a kiss at least?"

That request, Lightning decided, she could grant.

They continued onwards in relative silence, picking up speed.

Today was a bit quieter than the previous; they didn't see any more wandering souls, or any Lusita.

And yet, despite this, Lightning couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiety in her stomach, a rumbling of some sort, as though they were in the calm before a storm. A little while after she started feeling this, Fang asked, "... can you feel that?"

"I feel... something." Lightning confirmed. "But I'm not sure what it is."

They stopped moving, and Fang closed her eyes in concentration. Finally, when she opened them, she confirmed, "it's the rumbling in the ground. Like there's a large herd of something moving. And it's coming in our direction."

~... that's a Pulsian Hunter for you,~ Lightning thought. "Can you tell what it is? Or how many there are?"

Fang shook her head. "No." She frowned, looking around at their environs. Her frown deepened. "There isn't any cover at all out here. I don't think we can avoid them." She paused. "We should be able to see them pretty soon."

A few minutes later, Fang pointed at the horizon.

Lightning frowned, worry creeping into her heart as the group approached and their features began to be seen. She heard Fang voice the very concerns she felt in her own heart.

"Hey... tell me I'm just imagining this, but doesn't that look like an army of Cie'th to you?"

Lightning nodded grimly. They most certainly did.

"Not that this is my style," Fang continued to say, and Lightning could hear the conflict in her voice. "But there's gotta be at least a hundred of them. Should we make a break for it?"

Lightning thought about this, and shook her head. "If we exhaust ourselves running, we won't be able to put up a good stand."

Fang nodded. "Right." She transformed into her Eidolon armor, even as Lightning changed into hers.

They waited.

As the group approached, Lightning found that she would only make one small alteration to Fang's initial description: the group approaching them weren't *quite* Cie'th. They looked more like men and women who's transformation into Cie'th had been stopped halfway, leaving them as twisted bastardizations of themselves, half human, half monster. Some of them seemed more human than not, others appeared more Cie'th. Some of them marched, other flew, or hopped along, while others still dragged themselves along the ground. The sounds they made, unintelligible groans, wrought with despair, were most definitely the moan of Cie'th. They didn't appear to have retained any semblance of intelligence. Their eyes (those of them that still had them, anyway), were glassy and vacant.

There was only one exception to this.

Several of the half-Cie'th were pushing a large, clear crystal of a man in a standing position. He was the only wholly human looking, non-monstrosity in the entire contingent. He was dressed in purple clothing somehow similar to Fang and Lightning's own Eidolon armor. He had long purple-black hair. His eyes were closed.

Lightning saw Fang tense up out of the corner of her eyes. She looked over at her companion. "What is it?"

"... I... I recognize some of those... those half-Cie'th." Fang finally said, distress clearly evident in her voice.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Which ones? Who are they?"

Fang's face was hard. "Do you see the big guy with the brown hair, close to the cage? His name is, or was, Oerba Ledara Leiz. We grew up together. There's a couple more of them I recognize from the village too..."

Lightning frowned. She could see that the other woman was gripping her spear so hard, her knuckles were turning white. She could only guess at what was going through the other woman's mind. "Fang, listen to me. You're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the monster that killed him, okay? *It's* *not* *him.*"

Fang didn't reply for a long time. Finally, she took a deep breath, and twirled around her lance once - a relaxing gesture. "Yeah. You don't have to tell me that." She finally said, her voice tight.

Eventually, the half-Cie'th army reached them, and stopped. The one Fang had pointed out as Oerba Ledara Leiz, stepped forward. He opened his mouth.

"It was foretold that the harbingers of Ragnarok have finally arrived at the Door of Souls." His voice was inhuman, raspy, sounding like the wind, though it also boomed with power and authority. Though his words had not been phrased as a question, it was clear he was demanding them to confirm their identity.

Lightning opened her mouth to speak, but Fang was faster. The Pulsian Hunter took a step forward. "Leiz, is that you?" She shouted.

He didn't respond. Instead, he repeated himself, word for word. "It was foretold that the harbingers of Ragnarok have finally arrived at the Door of Souls."

Lightning's frown deepened, and she traded a glance with Fang.

"Leiz, what happened to you?" Fang shouted again, taking another step forward. "It's me! Fang!"

But he only began again. "It was foretold that the harbingers of Ragnarok-"

'ONE OF THEM IS RAGNAROK.'

Lightning reeled when she heard the voice inside her head. Blinking bewilderedly, she tried to figure out where the voice had come from before realizing it was from the man in the crystal.

Evidently, the half-Cie'th's question hadn't been directly at her and Fang.

'THE OTHER IS ALSO STRONG.'

Lightning frowned. This could not be good. Instinctively, she closed her hand on her gunblade. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Fang shift her grip on her own weapon.

There was a pause, thick with tension, after that.

And then the half-Cie'th army gave a collective cry - shrill, terrible and inhuman - that could only have meant war.

~It's the monster that killed them. It's the monster that killed them. It's the monster that killed them.~

Fang repeated the mantra over and over in her head, even as she pushed back one of the first monsters whom had reached her, and then brought her lance down. It gave a howl of pain, but continued to come at her.

~It's the monster that killed them.~

Cursing, Fang delivered several more direct hits at the enemy, and caste Ruinga. It took several more rounds of this, but eventually, she was able to slice the target clean in half.

~It's the monster that killed them.~

It gave a screech of anguish before disintegrating into crystal dust. A small glowing ball of bluish light remained suspended in the air for a moment where the monster had been, before floating down to the ground.

Fang barely had time to contemplate what this meant, as another one was coming at her - she had to duck quickly to avoid the strike. As she did so, she saw that Lightning had launched herself at Leiz.

Distractedly, Fang wondered why her lover was going out of her way to do this (there were many *many* other targets), even though she already knew the answer: Lightning had seen her reaction to seeing her old friend, and wanted to spare her the anguish of having to fight him. Fang supposed she should be feeling grateful for the soldier's consideration, but, to be perfectly honest, she was trying her damndest not to feel anything at all at the moment. If she didn't, she'd be lost.

~It's the monster that killed them.~

Forcing herself to calm the hell down, Fang focused on the targets that were directly in front of her, thankful that they were not familiar faces. She tried to think coolly, and analytically about the situation.

Leiz was more than a capable fighter, having trained with Fang herself often growing up. This meant that Lightning would actually have to pay attention to him; he wouldn't go down on the first strike.

This left Fang with significantly more targets to deal with.

It was impossible, Fang realized, with grim desperation, even as she cast Ruinga again, knocking several down. There was no why she could take out all of them!

Even if she had Bahamat...!

And then, just as she thought of her Eidolon's name, he came to her.

Lightning heard Bahamut's familiar roar, and couldn't help herself. She turned to look, narrowly avoiding her enemy's strike at her face.

But the Eidolon was not present. Instead, as she looked, she saw Fang leap into the air... and stay there, suspended. She could see the ghostly image of Bahamut's wings appear just behind Fang, flapping. The Pulsian Hunter's body was bobbing slightly in the air, in time with the flapping of Bahamut's ghostly, disembodied wings.

Fang's eyes were glowing.

As Lightning watched, her lover stretched both of her arms out to each side. As she did so, Bahamut's giant, monstrous arms appeared in the air. Fang brought her arms together in front of her in a thunderous clap, and Bahamut's arms did the same. The resulting booming Whirlwind was deafening, launching several of the half-Cie'th enemy into the air, staggering them.

Fang continued to attack. Still holding onto her lance, she swung it upwards in a 'launch'-like move. As she did so, Bahamut's arm appeared again and his Dragon Claws brutally cleaved several enemy into pieces. When she performed an Aerial Loop, it was as though the wind from a gigantic from rushed forth to scatter the enemy.

Then Fang snarled, and a small yellow-white ball of energy appeared in front of her face. She opened her mouth and an energy beam shot out from the ball, tearing up a line of enemy unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast.

Lighting had to dive out of the way to avoid being a casualty, though she had a grim smile on her face doing so.

Megaflare.

Her opponent, Leiz, wasn't so lucky, and was caught in the blast head on.

Coming out of her roll into a ready position, Lightning glanced over at Fang quickly and noted that the image of Bahamut's wings was flickered unsteadily, even as the light in Fang's eyes faded. Slowly, Fang floated back down to the ground. By the time her feet touched dirt, the traces of Bahamut's ghostly form had vanished. Fang stabbed her lance into the ground, as though completing mediguard, but Lightning could tell the other woman was just using her weapon as support to keep herself upright. Fang's Eidolon armor flickered as well, and faded away, leaving her back in her normal clothing. She was breathing deeply, obviously exhausted, though she still shot Lightning a triumphant, if weak grin.

The soldier couldn't help but return the expression...

... until a howl reminded her of the reality of the situation.

With a curse, Lightning quickly brought her gunblade up to block a strike from one of the enemy that hadn't been taken out by Fang's Eidolon attacks. A quick count found that while the number of enemy had been drastically reduced, there were still dozens of monstrosities left.

Lightning cursed as she quickly sent several curas over in Fang's direction. As the healing green light hit Fang in the back, it gave the Pulsian Hunter the strength to pull her weapon out of the ground to block another attack, just barely saving her own neck.

There were still far too many enemy left. They weren't out of the woods yet; not by a long shot.

'RELEASE ME!'

The command was deafening, and Lightning gave a sharp cry, clutching at her head. Whirling around, her eyes found the crystallized man. The crystal had been damaged during Fang's Megaflare, and Lightning could see the spider-like weaving of cracks all along the crystal.

'I CAN HELP! RELEASE ME! NOW!'

Lightning grit her teeth. Rushing forward, she blitzed her way through several targets, reaching the crystallized man. With a mighty swing, she smashed her gunblade against the crystal, bursting it into millions of tiny shards. The shards sprayed all over, peppering her. She raised her arm to shield her eyes.

When the spray was over, Lightning cautiously peered out, and saw that the man had been freed from the crystal. He remained in the same, standing position he had been in previously.

And then he opened his eyes. His gaze locked on Lightning's, a deep, dark, ominous amethyst.

And he smiled, a cruel, mean smile.

Menacing laughter, wholly inhuman, loud as thunder and foreboding as a storm, echoed through the air.

It was as though she were suddenly caught in a tornado that came from out of nowhere. There was no warning, saving for the ominous laughter. Then there was what felt like a thunder clap, and the winds suddenly and inexplicably picked up and became a ferocious storm, sending dirt, debris and enemy flying into the air, thick enough to choke out the sun.

Lightning cursed as she desperately tried to dig her heals into the ground to avoid being blown away, but it was futile. With a cry, the winds swept her up and she found herself airborne, tumbling this way and that as the tornado strength winds battered at her. Desperately, her hands flailed in the air to try to find some form of purchase, and, miraculously, she felt something grab one of her arms. The sudden jerk and change in direction disoriented the soldier further, before she realized that it was Fang who had plucked her out of the air, and pulled her to her chest, securing Lightning between her own body, and her lance, which she had planted into the ground, and was now desperately holding onto. They huddled together against the environment's sudden barrage.

"What the hell's going on?" Fang cried, her voice barely audible over the howling of the wind.

Lightning tried to answer Fang, but the air and her words were ripped from her lungs as soon as she opened her mouth - not that she actually knew the answer.

Gritting her teeth, Lightning could only turn to peer at where the man she had freed was previously standing... and her mind suddenly felt like it had turned to jelly.

She couldn't describe what she was looking at. It made her feel physically ill just trying to focus her vision upon it. It was wrong, and it was impossible and it was somehow made up of everything that existed in reality and the void of nothingness at the same time.

And yet, despite the madness that its very sight invoked, Lightning couldn't help but realize that she'd seen something like it once before, though, at the moment, she couldn't place when that was.

Desperately, she tried to remember when that was, for some reason, knowing in the depths of her heart, that it was imperative that she remembered this, but even as she tried to do so, a booming voice thundered in her head, loud enough to obliterate her mind.

'INSIGNIFICANT INSECTS! YOU DARED TO SHACKLE ME, LINDZEI? FAL'CIE OF COCOON? FEEL THE WRATH OF YOUR BETTERS!'

Lighting clutched at her head, screaming in agony at the deafening voice that had invaded her mind. Crumbling to the ground, she couldn't keep her eyes open. She felt like her head was going to explode. It felt as though something massive and powerful had tunnel its way into her brain from her eyes and her ears and it was trying to hollow her brain out, ravaging it for information.

Lightning screamed, in pain and agony and madness, letting go of Fang's lance to desperately muffle her ears, trying to get the loud, all encompassing pressure out of her head. Between the assault in her head and the ones on her physical body, she should have been blown away; it was only Fang's hold keeping her there.

For her part, the Pulsian hunter was screaming too, trying to bury her face into the crook of Lightning's neck, as she couldn't let go of her lance to protect her own ears, least they both be blown away.

Their heads were huddled so close together, Lightning could feel something pop and then something wet and sticky splut against the side of her face. Horror welded up in Lightning's stomach as she realized that that was likely Fang's eardrums...

~ETRO, HELP US!~ Lightning thought desperately.

And then, it dawned on her.

Etro.

The crawling madness in front of her; she had seen it before - when she had first been in the presence of the Goddess Etro, and her mind was unable to fathom such divinity. Etro had told her to form a picture in her mind, something more mundane that her mind could comprehend.

And Lightning realized what she had to do.

Forcing her eyes open, Lightning stared at the gaping maw of power before her and within her, trying to destroy her with its terrible vastness.

With her last coherent thoughts, Lightning fought back. She concentrated, forcing her will against the invader in her mind.

~NO!~ She cried mentally. ~Get OUT!~

At first, nothing happened.

And then, there was screaming.

And it didn't belong to Lightning, or Fang.

Just as quickly and as brutally as it had began, the tornado strength winds suddenly and inexplicably stopped. The terrible, indescribably vastness in front of Lightning and Fang suddenly vanished, one second there, the next completely ceasing to exist, replaced with a simple human man, floating in the air, an expression of extreme shock and incomprehension fixed on his face, even as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

For a moment, nothing happened.

The Door of Souls was still.

And then, Lightning blinked. And gravity began to work again, and all the debris that had been kicked up into the air by the tornado strength winds began to rain down onto the ground again, all around them, showering them with crystal dust, dirt, rock, and grass. Lightning had to shut her eyes again to keep the dust out of her eyes.

When she was finally able to open her eyes, Lightning realized that the half-Cie'th had all gone, replaced by many, many glowing balls of blue light dotting the landscape around them. As Lightning contemplated what this meant, a weight she didn't realize she'd been carrying slumped off of her shoulders and landed on the ground roughly beside her.

Fang was unconscious, and looked terrible. Dark red was spilling out from her ears, staining her hair, and dribbling down onto her clothing. Despite her unconsciousness, her entire body was shaking and convulsing.

"Fang!" Lightning cried, terrible, terrible dread twisting her stomach into knots. Quickly, she knelt to the ground and laid her trembling hands on the side of Fang's head. "Raise," she whispered softly.

The magick went to work, and Fang groaned, her eyes eventually fluttering open. She didn't move, save to swivel her eyes to meet Lightning's.

Lightning swallowed back her anxiety, even as she gently turned her hand to lightly brush the back of her fingers against the side of Fang's face tenderly. "... are you... alright? Can you hear me?" she asked softly, not quite sure she could handle the answer.

But, thank Etro, Fang cracked a smile. "I feel like shit." She proclaimed hoarsely, even as she struggled to upright herself. She wiped at one of her ears, and wrinkled her nose in disgust as her hand came away from her head caked with her own dried blood.

Lightning let out a sight of relief. "You look like it too." She advised, offering her lover a hand.

"Gee, thanks." Fang murmured though she gratefully accepted Lightning's hand and managed to get to her feet. Then, the Pulsian hunter sniggered. "Can't say you're ready to eat at a fancy restaurant either, Love."

Frowning, Lightning followed Fang's line of vision back to her hips and couldn't help but give an 'ugh!' of sufferance when she realized that the other woman was referring to her feathered skirt.

It looked like, well, it had been through a tornado. 'Ruffled' didn't even begin to describe the state the feathers were in.

Lightning released her Eidolon armor, changing back into her normal clothes.

Now that their priorities (and not-quite priorities) had been attended to, they wearily looked around, surveying their environs for damage.

The place *definitely* looked like it had just been a warzone, with the ground still showing the marks of destruction. There was a fine layer of crystal dust over everything. There was no sign of their enemy, only the many, many glowing balls of light that Lightning recognized to be human souls.

A little ways away from them, was the humanoid figure who was apparently responsible for all of this.

Lightning and Fang shared a look, and wordlessly approached the figure.

The man did not seem injured - only unconscious.

Fang and Lightning shared another cautious glance, before Lightning nodded and Fang nudged at the man's foot with her spear. "... Hey. You alive?" She asked unsurely.

The man groaned, but didn't otherwise form words.

They didn't have time to investigate him further, however, as, at that moment, the sky suddenly filled with Lusita.

Lightning cursed her vanity and wished she hadn't released her Eidolon armor - ruffled feathers be damned. Gunblade poised, she got into a ready position even as she felt Fang do the same at her side.

They needn't have worried. The Lusita were not interested in them. Instead, the winged figures were busy attending to the souls - the little balls of glowing light - that were dotting the field. There were roughly two dozen of the winged creature, and as Lightning watched, they went from soul to soul, carefully scoping them up and holding them into their hands for a few moments, before lifting their arms up into the air, and sending the souls off on their way.

Seeing this, Lightning was almost ready to relax her hold on her omega, until one of the winged creatures regarded her, and approached.

'The Abominable Dead... did you defeat them all?' The Lusita asked, directly into Lightning's mind.

Despite the wariness she felt at having another's thoughts projected into her mind, given their earily mental assault, Lightning shared a glance with Fang, and then looked down at the unconscious man at their feet. "... we... may have." She hedged. "We're not entirely sure ourselves what happened."

The Lusita looked at Lightning, then flicked her eyes over to look at Fang. 'You should come with us,' the Lusita decided.

It reached out, and grabbed both of their arms.

"Wait-!" Lightning tried to protest, but before she could, the world disappeared on her.

AUTHOR'S NOTES AND OMAKE

[pushing index fingers together worriedly]. Mmm... I'm not sure if CDE should be rated mature for the contents of this chapter or not. I think, complying with the strictest sense, the answer is probably yes, but when I think about the ratio of clean to naughty bits in this story, I really don't think it warrants a higher rating, as I don't think it'll be getting any more explicit than this in the future (no promises though!)...

I'd appreciate it if folks let me know what they think?

Warning! I like the idea behind Omake 1 so much, it might not stay omake! ^_~

As a heads up, I've been averaging roughly one chapter / week for the last little while, but things are starting to snowball together IRL, so the next chapter may be a little while in the coming...

Cheers,

jen-chan

OMAKE 1: Just How Connected Are You Two?

LIGHTNING: [Suddenly realizing something] Hey, Fang?

FANG: Hmm?

LIGHTNING: Do you remember how, in Chapter III.3, you told me that you and Vanille were linked?

FANG: Yes...

LIGHTNING: ... [Left eyebrow twitching] and in the same chapter, Vanille told the readers that since you two were in crystal sleep together, you two could share your consciousness if you wished for it, and that anything that you did, she could know...?

FANG: [Sweatdropping] Yes...

LIGHTING: ... [Suddenly horrified] ... then... last night... when we...

[Cut to VANILLE, wherever she is. She is holding her knees up to her chest in a fetal position and rocking herself back and forth with a wild and haunted look in her eyes.]

VANILLE: OhgodohgodohgodohgodohgodI'mnevergoingtobeabletolook Lightningintheeyesagain.

OMAKE 2: Fang on Top!

[FANG is BEAMING like the Cheshire cat while LIGHTNING's face is so red from blushing so hard, she looks like she could explode]

FANG: Woooh! WOOO! YEAH! [Can't stop celebrating gleefully]

SNOW: [Whispers To SERAH] What's wrong with Sis?

SERAH: ... [Whispers back] I don't think she agrees with the author's portrayal of her as a bottom.

LIGHTNING: [Grabs the AUTHOR'S lapels from off screen and hoists her up in the air] Fix this! NOW! [Points at the JUBILANT FANG] You've created a monster!

AUTHOR: [Sweatdropping massively] Y-yes Ma'am! [Ducks away fearfully]

FANG: [Stops in mid-celebration] Wai-what? You can't just- !

LIGHTING: [grins predatorily at FANG] Oh yes, I can! Just you wait, Oerba Yun Fang! Next time, *I'm* rocking *your* world!

FANG: ... [Can't decide if she's happy or horrified]