Chapter 11: Recovery

Lightning and the crew was able to return to the hospital at an impressive speed with a dwindling hope that their friend Eliza would be able to make the trip. The normally tanned skin paled to a sickly white while that usual grinning and goofy face was covered with bruises and dry blood. It was difficult sight. Lightning taking it especially hard having to watch a good friend slowly dwindle into the dark abyss.

The New Bodhum Hospital's doors flew open as the eldest pinkette nearly shoved the unconscious woman into the nearest doctor's body. "Take her into the emergency room immediately! We have no time to explain just hurry! Go!" The flabbergasted doctor just stood there for a moment trying to get his wits back before his senses finally returned to him. "Nurses! Get a stretcher and help me get her on there. She'll need an IV and get prepped for surgery stat." The male doctor turned back to look at the group. "Do any of you know her blood type? She's lost a considerable amount and if we don't get a transfusion, she may not make it."

Lightning just growled in response. "Then take mine. Just hurry up already!" Serah rushed up the lightning's side and shouted at the doctor. "No this is all my fault for getting captured in the first place. If anyone is going to be helping her it should be me. Eliza and you all saved my life. I need to do this." Lightning could feel the intensity of her siblings voice. It was difficult to convince Serah out of things she was so strongly for. In this situation neither could spare the time to argue. "Serah...are you sure?" Lightning asked. The younger farron stared back with those intense icy hues. "Of course. Please let me give Eliza a fighting chance. Let me return the favor."

Lightning reluctantly agreed and turned to face the doctor who was currently placing Eliza on the stretcher as the nurses rushed her down the hall toward the ER. Lightning and Serah was quick to follow side-by-side with the doctor. "We'll both do it. I'm sure she'll need quiet a lot of blood with how much she lost along the way." Lighting spoke. The doctor acknowledged the statement without a response as they pushed past the doors into a spare room. The nurses was quick to carefully lift the dying soldier from the stretcher and onto the bed, wasting no time in undressing the woman while getting a look at that bullet wound. The doctor turned to face the sisters and shooed them away with a hand.

"You guys can't be in here! We need the space to operate efficiently. Wait outside and we'll spare a nurse to get those blood transfusions going." Serah shot the man a trademark farron glare and huffed. "But-!" Lightning grabbed the tenacious pinkette by the shoulder and pulled her back. "We can't do anything here Serah. Let's focus on what we -can- do for her." She spoke firmly and Serah inevitably gave in as they both exited the room and went to join the others in the main room, Lightning was surprised to find that all the extended family was already there. Lebreau, Sazh, Hope, and Snow who just up and ran past everyone and straight for Serah, wrapping those lumbering arms around that tiny pinkette's frame in a tight embrace. "Serah! I'm so sorry I wasn't there. I had no idea what happened until the last minute. Are you alright?"

Serah released an exhaustive sigh while returning the hug, burying her face in the huge lug's chest. "Yeah I'll be fine and it's okay. It all just happened so fast and to think something like this would've happened after everything was going so great." Snow gave her another reassuring squeeze and backed away from her a bit, feeling the glare from Lightning nearly burning right through him. Snow looked to Serah and then to Lightning. "What happened out there? How is Eliza?" Lightning's expression loosened up a bit and huffed out a sigh. "She's in critical condition. Me and Serah will be staying for blood transfusions. Afterwards I'll be staying here to see..." If anyone thought their mind was playing tricks on them it would've sounded like Lightning's voice broke there for a moment. "Just pick up Serah when we call. Can you at least do that Snow?" Snow released an aggravated sigh. Not so much at Lightning but with how truly pathetic he was. "Yeah...of course. Anytime."

Fang and the rest of the group was still sitting there. Thinking of ways they could help but ultimately couldn't think of anything constructive to do besides well just being there. The brunette could tell Lightning was hurting from this. It took a lot for someone as stoic as Lightning Farron to cause a break in her voice. The huntress walked up the soldier and reached down to rub those dark hands along her lover's forearm, giving them a soft squeeze. "Hey there love. Would you like for me to stick around? I know...that this isin't going to be easy for you if things take a turn for the worst. I'm here for you. You know that." Lightning forced herself to smile before snatching one of those loving hands and giving them a soft kiss on the tip of fang's knuckles. "I'll be fine for now. Tomorrow I may just need someone to bring me lunch is all."

Fang snickered while maneuvering those arms around the soldier's lithe waist while giving her a tight squeeze. "We'll get it together. Can't shoo me away that easily sunshine besides I just wouldn't feel right leaving you here. I'm here to support you till the end." This indeed helped Lightning feel better even if just for a moment. Lightning returned the embrace and snuggled closer into her huntress lover, gloves gripping the back of that blue sari as Lightning continued to struggle keeping her emotions from pouring out. Lightning relished the comforting warmth of her lover's embrace before reluctantly having to pull away, a stray tear being swept away before anyone would notice.

The rest of the group followed suit and joined in on the conversation. "Are you okay light? Is there anything I can do? I don't understand why anyone would want to capture Serah and Vanille. Not to mention who. Ever since we've been here in New Bodhum everything's been pretty peaceful." Hope commented. "I actually was hearing a few rumors back at the bar about these "Cocoon Reformists" that has been setting up shop somewhere by Taejin's Tower. I honestly thought it was all rubbish but with everything's that's happened it just might be true." Lebreau spoke up. Sazh quirked a brow. "What? These "Cocoon Reformists" are just some sort of cult or something? The hell could they gain by capturing defenseless little girls? Setting up some sort of tea party with their fal'cie?"

Lightning furrowed her brow. Cocoon reformists huh? It was understandable that some of the refugees would miss the life they had back in Cocoon where the fal'cie literally handed them everything on a silver platter but to go this far as to attempt to bring about some form of revolution. Whatever they had planned she made no mistake the former l'cie was their target. They made a fatal mistake by putting her sister and vanille in danger. A mistake that won't happen again. Lightning was interrupted from her thoughts as lebreau started speaking. "Light? You okay?" The pinkette shook herself from her thoughts and nodded. "Yeah I'm okay. Lebraeu would you mind watching Eliza tomorrow afternoon? Fang and I some plans but we won't be long. Will that be okay?" Lebreau smiled. "Yeah no problem. I hate working with those dumb boys all day anyway. It'll be a change of scenery at least."

"Thanks I appreciate it." Lightning muttered. A nurse caught the soldiers attention as her name was called out from behind her. "Miss farron we are ready for you now. If you will please follow us." Lightning turned to face the group but not before leaning forward to give Fang a deep affectionate kiss. One of which Lebreau couldn't stop but adding a little whistle at the sign of affection. "I have to go. If you all want to stay or go home I understand. I'll let everyone know the situation tomorrow." Fang smiled and refused to let go of Lightning for a few minutes longer, whispering affectionate murmurs against Lightning's ear before finally releasing her. "I'll be right outside love. I'm not going anywhere."

Lightning replied with a little kiss on the jaw before turning to face Serah. "Are you ready?" Serah nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this." The soldier placed a hand against Serah's back while guiding her down the hallway as the two followed the nurse down into a room beside Eliza's. Serah and Lightning took a seat in two chairs that was placed right beside one another as it would make the process a bit quicker. "Alright we'll start with you miss lightning." Serah and Lightning shared a look for a moment and Serah reached over to place a hand on Lightning knee, giving it a tender squeeze to reassure her everything was going to be okay.

Fang was tapping her feet impatiently back in the main waiting room. It had only been fifteen minutes but the huntress was already finding herself becoming uneasy in the silence until she heard vanille and hope chatting behind her. Fang decided to turn around and join in on the conversation, sauntering up to the couple and took a seat beside vanille. "Hey there kiddo. Everything alright?" Vanille smiled up at the huntress and offered a sheepish smile. "Yeah me and hope was just talking about what happened. Why do you think someone would want to hurt us? After the fall of Cocoon I thought the truth about the fal'cie was spread to everyone. I just don't understand it why some people would still want to be used by the fal'cie?"

Fang gave a shrug. "There'll be trouble wherever you go. It's like these blocks want to try and revive their cocoon fal'cie but we killed Barthandelus when he merged with Orphan. I don't see how it's even possible. Unless they have some sort of other agenda but whatever it may be they signed their death warrant after messing with our family. I won't let anything like that happen to you again vanille." The redhead smiled brightly this time and leaned against her adoptive sister. "I know you won't Fang." Hope gave a huff of disappointment. He already apologized the vanille, the same way fang had, but he knew better than to try and join the conversation. Fang already wanted to murder him after meddling with her only sister, let alone let her get captured. The silver haired man turned to see what the others was talking about in the mean time.

Lebreau had Snow pulled off suspiciously to the side of the room with a concerned look on her face. "Come on big guy cheer up! We can't all be perfect muscle heads who protect their swooning wife-to-be all the time can we? She's perfectly fine. Besides it all happened so fast, none of us knew for a while." Snow shook his head in anger. "It still doesn't change anything! I've let Serah down so many times now. I keep vowing to protect her and I keep falling short. What good is my word anymore?" Lebreau sighed. "Look. I know you think this can't be fixed but we all make mistakes. Serah's a big girl and she knows you love her. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I was you. She choose -you- to be her husband. That should mean something."

Snow still looked uneasy but eventually started to see where she was coming from. "Yeah I guess. I just need to push myself harder. I don't feel safe until whoever did this to her is still around here somewhere. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again when I show up at their front door with something waiting for them." Snow grinned and winked. Lebreau chuckled and gave a light punch to his shoulder. "Now we're talkin'! Show these losers what NORA can do. Though we still need to get maqui, yuj, and gadot to stop getting drunk off their lazy butts long enough to actually be useful." Snow gave a chuckle of his own. "Yeah I guess you're right."

Lebreau proceeded to tap her chin. "I've been thinkin' however. I heard little miss Eliza has a thing for our pink soldier girl. They used to hang out all the time back at the bar, god, if it wasn't obvious enough that she flirted with Lightning every chance we got. Poor girl though hadn't a clue about Fang since Lightning wouldn't know what flirting was if it bit her on that tight little tushy. I mean I know Eliza pretty well, we used to talk quite a bit and she would help around the bar after her shift at the guardian corps. She's a tough girl so I have no doubt she'll make it through this. I am wondering what this means for Eliza. I know she won't give up on Lightning. I'm worried that'll be but really puts her in the ground. Not this."

Snow reached around the scratch at the back of his head. Unsure of what he could really contribute to the conversation. "I only met up with Eliza a few times while she would come to the bar and we would talk sometimes so I can't say I know her that well. Light however I know pretty well and the bond she and fang have is unlike anything I ever seen before. I never thought sis would open herself to anyone other than serah let alone be in a relationship. All the things we went through-that lightning and fang went through I don't anything could match it. I'm positive Light only thinks of Eliza as a close friend." Lebreau smirked and leaned against the wall with a finger twisting through brown locks. "Food for thought. It'll be really interesting how it all turns out. Eliza is a pretty and tenacious girl. She'll find someone soon enough."

Snow caught what looked to be a hint of affection in Lebreau's voice when she talked about Eliza. Maybe there was more to this than he understood but none it was really his business. Love talk was not exactly his forte to begin with. The person he only really related those feelings with was with serah. Snow heard a small fit of arguing coming from the reception desk and turned to find Sazh arguing with a persistent nurse.

"Sir it'll only take a few days. With men your age it's always a good idea to get a regular check-up every few-" "Men my age?! How old you think I am woman?!" Sazh interrupted the woman. The nurse sighed. "Sir please calm just calm-" "Calm down?! I come into a hospital to support my friend and I get little girls trying to take my blood samples. What are you a bunch of vampires?" The group busted up in laughing in response and Sazh frowned at them. "Oh sure. Laugh at the old guy what's new. Anyway I'm going to bed at my own house. A place I can feel safe without fear of being sucked dry. I'll be back tomorrow you kids stay safe." Sazh waved a hand farewell before exiting the building. The group finally coming down from their laughing spurt as they all seemed to come together now.

"So what do you guys think? I'm sure we can something besides sitting here waiting for results right?" Hope asked the group. "Hmmm...maybe we could figure out more about these reformists. Find out what their agenda is?" Vanille suggested. "Aye we could. The only thing I can think of is we go back to that factory you all was captured at and see what we could find." Fang spoke. Snow punched his fists together. "Sounds like a plan to me. I can't wait to give these people what they deserve for laying their hands on serah!"

Fang chuckled. "Easy there big guy. We still don't know what we're getting into. Lightning needs all of us here in the meantime so we should support her the best we can. Once Eliza is up and better we'll move from there. No need to worry we'll make sure these guys get what's coming to 'em." The group nodded in agreement. "Now that's all taken of where are we going to sleep?" Hope asked. Vanille brushed a shoulder against his in a teasing gesture. "Well hope if I remember right you have a spare room do you not? I'm sure Snow and the rest could make due while we have a bed to ourselves don't ya think?" Hope blushed furiously while Fang gave him an equal intense glare. "W-Well uhm..I have a couch and...I don't know."

Fang huffed. "Whatever works. You guys can go on ahead I'll stick around here. Lightning should be coming out soon and I'll stay with her if she decides to stay the night here which is probably the case. I'll see you all tomorrow yeah?" The group nodded and said their goodbyes to fang before heading out the door but first vanille spun around and gave fang a big hug. "Take care fang! We'll be here as soon as we can." The huntress smiled and ruffled a hand through those red locks. "I'm sure you will. Don't get too crazy tonight yeah? I don't want to have to kill hope if I hear anything nasty coming from that bedroom yeah?" Vanilled scoffed and turned to grab a pale hope's arm and drug him out. "Stop worrying about it! We'll be back tomorrow!~" With that the group disappeared into the distance and a familiar stride came up behind her.

"Hey Fang did everyone go home?" Lightning spoke up from behind her with serah at her side. Both of the pinkettes seemed to be a much paler than before. Fang sauntered up to them and rubbed a hand across the soldier's left cheek which was rather cold to the touch. "You alright sunshine? Your skin feels like the rear-end of winter. How much did they take?" Lightning didn't fight the touch but simply leaned against Fang. "More than I suspected. They took all they could from me and serah and even then they said they'll probably need more tomorrow. Until then they gave us some juice and food."

Serah looked up to Fang. "Did Snow already leave?" As if on cue the blond-headed bulk of a man came walking through the doors. "Serah!" He shouted and jogged up to her. "I told the other's I'd catch up with them later. I wanted to stay long enough to make sure you was alright. How are ya feeling?" Serah smiled and wrapped her weak arms around him. "I'll be fine just regaining my strength for a while. They still need more blood samples by tomorrow." Snow nodded and turned to Lightning. "Mind if I take her back home? They can take my blood as well if they need to. Serah already looks pretty drained." Lightning scoffed and leaned more into fang for the warmth it was radiating into her body. As much as she wanted to say no she couldn't help but realize he was right. Serah wouldn't be up for another transfusion so soon. "I guess. Try not to screw up and let her captured again." Snow released a sigh. "Yeah I won't. I promise. Are you ready to go?" He asked Serah who weakly nodded and with a arm wrapped around her shoulders the pair walked through the doors as the smaller pinkette turned to face Lightning. "We'll be back soon."

Lightning watched the two set out the doors and disappeared into the distance while Fang wrapped those arms toned arms around her lithe waist. "You can't blame him forever y'know? Nobody saw this coming. Hell even I was getting too comfortable. We'll get them back. All of us. Though first things first we need to get you to lie down. Any beds around here?" Lightning gestured toward the hall with a gloved hand. "They have a couch we can use in Eliza's room." Fang nodded and picked up the weakened soldier bridal style which was only met with a surprised gasp from Lightning. "Let's head that way then shall we?"

Author's Notes: Hello again! Some time freed up during this new year's break and I was able to push out another chapter that was long overdue. I still have great plans for this story to come and with new years resolutions I'll continue to keep pumping these chapters out. Sorry for the long intervals of these chapters being released, to those that have stuck around, I won't let you down. This story will continue with your support.