Hey there!
So, despite the low number of reviews, I decided to update this piece. I'm actually rather proud of the way this chapter came out…. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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Disclaimer: It belongs to Square. Wow.
Chapter 2 ~ Back to Back
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Lightning woke uncharacteristically early the next morning, opening her eyes to the vast plains of the Archylte Steppes. She fell asleep underneath a tree the previous night, a bit far off from the camp, but still within their earshot if something were to happen. Judging from the silence that was hanging in the air, none of them were awake yet.
She got to her feet and stretched her arms over her head, inhaling deeply the smell of wet grass and nature that clung to Gran Pulse in the morning. Apparently, Fang was right for once. The soldier walked back to the camp and found it intact, no signs of attack whatsoever; or any other disturbances, for that matter.
Lightning glanced to the spot where she left Fang the night before, finding no sign of her. She found Vanille sleeping with her head on Hope's shoulders, and Snow snoring with both his arms behind his head, but still no trace of the wild woman. While making her way back to place where Fang was to stand guard, Lightning stumbled upon the warrior's lance stuck deep in the ground beside the tree she slept under.
Glancing upwards Lightning found Fang sleeping peacefully in one of the tree branches, snoring lightly. She stared at her for quite some but, surprisingly enough, she wasn't mad at this; quite on the contrary. It brought a small smile to her lips, those of the kind your brain doesn't process, it just happens.
Lightning walked over to Fang's lance and, after some effort, pulled it out of the ground. She was surprised the thing still had a tip to it, considering the way it was treated by its owner. The soldier threw the heavy lance up twirling in the air and caught it in midflight with ease, the tip of the blade facing her own body.
She turned to the sleeping woman once again and gazed at her briefly with deep, caring blue eyes, before poking her lightly with the blunt side of the weapon. Fang shot her head up in surprise as soon as the material brushed at her skin, her right hand immediately reaching to the place where she stuck her spear to the ground. Lightning found herself very surprise by her display of balance.
The two faced each other for a while until Fang brushed the sleep out of her eyes. The soldier turned her gaze away when Fang stretched out her whole body, revealing way more than necessary to the younger woman. When she finally climbed out of the tree, Lightning had her eyes in the ground and her arms crossed in front of her chest in their usual pose while leaving the lance leaned on the tree trunk.
"Mornin', Sunshine…" Fang said while yawning.
Lightning lifted her head to the woman standing before her, only to find herself almost hypnotized. Fang's hair was a lot messier than usual and her sari was completely out of place, revealing her bronze toned legs and her well-defined belly. Lightning's first thought was that she looked like a goddess.
The soldier adverted her gaze once again, muttering a weak 'good morning' as she grabbed the spear in both her hands and offered it back to its rightful owner. Due to Lightning's lingering tension whenever the two of them were alone, an uncomfortable silence fell between the two, and it didn't go unnoticed by Fang.
"It's late, we have to get going", the soldier said while Fang reached out to her weapon, her fingers brushing Lightning's far longer than necessary. Fang met her gaze and noticed the familiar stoic mask that Lightning wore when around the group; no rocking tides, no wondering thoughts. Just their perfect, every-day leader, with no emotions whatsoever.
Fang followed her when Lightning walked back to the camp and awoke Hope, giving him the chore of waking up everybody else. The warrior smiled to herself and once again thought that their leader's moods swings were a lot like the endless tides of the ocean. The thing is that, when one watches it close enough, one will be able to see beauty where others are only able to see chaos.
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"Alright, now that we're all ready, let's schedule today's activities.", Lightning said in her military tone to the barely half awaken group standing before her. Snow was unable to keep his eyes opened for too much time and Vanille was supporting all of her weight on Fang's back. Sazh was the only one who managed to keep conscious enough to understand whatever words their leader was saying.
"What activities? We have nowhere to go next!", he stated matter-of-factly.
"Precisely. We've got a lot of ground to cover, or else we'll waste precious time looking for a way out of here. Now, we'll divide in three teams."
She turned to Snow and almost shouted his name to get the sleepy man's attention. "You and Hope go south as much you can, understood?". Snow took some time to process the information, but immediately nodded at his future sister-in-law for his better good.
"Vanille", the soldier called to the petit form standing behind Fang. "You and Sazh go far to the west. As for Fang and me, we'll cover north and east. That way, every team has a proficient healer."
"How will we meet again if we go so far apart?" Vanille asked, jolted with energy on account of exploring Pulse and bouncing at Sahz's side.
"Like this", Lightning said and lifted her right arm skyward. Moments later, a small magic sphere left her hand and flew up high to explode brightly in the atmosphere.
"Alright, sounds good to me!" Snow joined in after a while, punching his fists into his hands, any sign of sleepiness barely noticeable. Hope nodded in agreement; he was already standing by their side with his boomerang in hand and a look of determination in his eyes.
"Right. Give the signal as soon as you find anything", Lightning finished off. "Let's go."
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Surprisingly enough, Lightning felt Fang's company quite enjoyable when there were creatures to slay and things to keep her mind occupied. Immediately upon leaving their camp she regretted her choice of companionship, since the older woman always seemed to get past all the barriers their leader had put between herself and the others and obviously had no sense of personal space.
However, as soon as the first enemy appeared, they seemed to have come to a mutual understanding of each other, at least on the battlefield. Fang knew what Lightning's next move was going to be even before she started her own attack, molding herself to the tactics of the soldier with incredible easiness. They managed to bring down a Behemoth King in less than five minutes.
Fang noticed during one of the fights that Lightning always had the same expression on her face when she was battling. Something of extreme focus, like if she was blocking out the rest of the world and there was only there and then. Of course, the information was sure steep, since she got hit pretty badly for stopping dead in her tracks in the middle of a battle to admire Lightning's expressions.
"What happened?" she asked Fang after the battle.
"Just got distracted, that's all…", she apologized to the soldier, turning her eyes to another direction when Lightning stood close and cast a Cura spell on her. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks." Fang said, finally meeting her eyes. "So, where are we? I'm sure half the day has already gone by."
"I was expecting you'd tell me. Does any of this look familiar?" Lightning turned back to the vast green area that extended itself to all sides. Fang moved to stand closely behind her, one hand on her hip and the other falling at her side.
"Sure looks all the same to me…", she said in a carefree way, as if she was to pick up a spot to a picnic. Lightning turned back angry with her lightness of spirit, intending to say that if they all kept that attitude they'd become Cie'th before they even found a way out of those God Forsaken fields. However, she was visually surprised by Fang's sudden proximity, which brought a smile to the taller woman's lips.
The two stood gazing at each other for some time, the stupid smile lasting on Fang's lips and the angry look standing its ground at the soldier's stare. After a while, all the anger was gone from Lightning's eyes and she found herself almost as if hypnotized by Fang's gaze. She noticed the way her hair would fall in small amounts between her eyes, making her look mysterious and unconcerned most of the time. It was the first time Lightning acknowledged that Fang was indeed beautiful.
Fang gazed back at Lightning, mesmerized, her smile long gone. She took in all the details about the smaller woman's face: her unique colored hair, her piercing eyes, the way she looked much younger when she didn't have her defenses up… She then gazed at her lips, and, without noticing, her face started to slowly tumble forwards in their direction.
Their faces were barely inches apart when lightning pierced through the sky roaring loudly, making both women shoot their heads up to the sky in surprise. Before the soldier even acknowledged the whole situation Fang was already pulling her by her wrist, running through the plains and leading them to a small group of rocks that could provide cover for them.
By the time they reached their destination, the sound of thunder was loud enough to be considered menacing all by itself. Fang kicked loose some wooden boards off the entrance to a sort of cave and pushed Lightning in just before a torrential rain started to fall above Pulse.
Fang was trying to recover her breath when Lightning evoked a small fire spell, only barely enough to light the place they were in. She noticed the place had rails and mining materials, but was apparently deserted.
"The Mah'habara Subterra", Fang explained. Lightning turned to her and saw the usual smirk on her lips. "Looks like we finally got ourselves a ticket outta here."
Fang turned to the rain outside. "They always come with electrical storms, it's impossible to let the others know where we are. It'll be gone by tomorrow morning, though."
Even thought they were both trying to pretend that nothing happened, the tension between them was almost solid. Fang sat in the ground near the entrance to be on the lookout for monsters and set her spear on the tracks nearby, bringing her arms to her sides to protect herself from the cold wind. A few moments after that she felt the familiar fabric of Lightning's coat on her lap, and glanced at her side. Lightning was sitting close enough so that they could both share the coat as a blanket, her eyes staring at the ground.
They fell into a comfortable silence sometime after, enjoying their presences and the sound of the rain fading into the background, seeming so far away. Fang soon felt sleep taking over her, but not before Lightning would shift her position and rest her head at Fang's shoulder.
"Just like the sea, sunshine…" she said smiling, already fading into sleep. Fang could have sworn Lightning muttered a 'shut up' before she lost consciousness, but she would never know.
So, not saying that I deserve lots and lots of reviews 'cause I'm the master of the universe or anything, but only 2 for the last chap.? Is this really so bad?