"AUGHH!"

Lightning bolted straight up in bed, her hand clutching her breast. Her entire body trembled as she took in deep gulps of air. In all the time since the trip to the Vestige, she had never had such a vivid dream about the fal'Cie's images. Just like in the ones before, she remembered there being gunshots, lightning bolts, and a snowstorm, but there was something much different about this dream… and it had everything to do with that giant monster.

Usually all the images would come to her in quick flashes, but for some reason tonight was different. Her images brought her to a huge room. She wasn't alone; there was a multitude of others in the room with her. Shouting. Running. Fighting. She felt as if she had been struggling herself. These sorts of details of the dream were already fading fast, for she couldn't tell what she had been doing that made her feel like she was exerting such energy… but there was one thing that did stick out clearly in her mind from the vision. That loud roar that started off sounding like a pained cry before forming into a deep bellow. The whole room beginning to shake. Then suddenly, being face to face, no more than an inch away from the monster, staring into its wild, angry eyes. Although it was just a dream, she swore she could feel its hot breath against her face and an enraged heat emanating from its body…

She ran a still trembling hand over her face before peeking down to look at her chest. Her other hand still rested against her shirt, over her brand. She grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand to check the time. It was a little past three in the morning, meaning Serah should be sound asleep.

Lightning slid the phone into her pajama pocket, and with light steps, hopped out of bed and carried herself to the bathroom, making sure to lock both doors. She then immediately peeled off her shirt and unhooked her bra, letting it drop to her feet.

Her breath froze as she stared at herself in the mirror. Curling out from one of the top corners of her brand was a new, curvy arrow.

Lightning could do nothing but stare. Her body felt numb. She didn't know when she had started breathing again, but in the mirror she could see her chest quickly heaving and she could hear the loud huffs escaping her lips.

She wasn't exactly sure what to do… what to think. She had been warned that this was going to happen, but there was always a difference between hearing about what may happen to your body and actually seeing it; she wasn't sure if she would have ever been prepared for this. Part of her wanted to silently dress, creep into Serah's room, and sleep in bed with her sister for the night like Serah had done for a month after their mother's death, but that would cause Serah too much alarm. Nonetheless, she felt like she needed something, or someone, to help ease all of her anxiety.

She took a deep breath and pulled her phone from her pocket. She quickly scrolled down to a specific number and called. She didn't waste any time hovering over the contact or thinking about whether or not this was a good decision because she didn't want anything to dissuade her from dialing. However, with each unanswered ring, more and more of her conviction started to fade away.

Until the fifth ring…

Fang could hear the loud buzzing sound of her phone vibrating against imitation wood on the other side of the bed. By the second ring she willed herself to force her eyes open. She hadn't really expected any calls tonight, or she might've thought of sleeping on the side of the bed with the makeshift nightstand instead of the side against the wall.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang released a deep breath and slowly began to turn. Vanille's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist while the rest of the younger girl's body was curled into a ball against her back. Ever since she was young, the Dia had always been a contact sleeper, and Fang couldn't help but pray that whatever man she ended up marrying down the road wasn't a skinny one. Although Van was small, she had an iron clamp grip in her sleep; she could probably snap a poor, stick figure man in half... Trying her best not to wake the sleeping redhead, Fang slid herself up while gently peeling Vanille's hands away from her sides. In response, Vanille made an aggravated grumbling sound, and retracted her arms, turning away to face in the opposite direction.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang made a move to lean over Vanille to snatch the phone from the wooden plank, but her heat-seeking missile of a best friend reached up to pull the Yun back down to her chest, cuddling her to her bosom like a teddy bear. "Van!" Fang hissed, planting her hands to the bed, one on each side of Vanille's slender frame.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang quickly yanked her body upward. Vanille's sleep-grip was strong enough to carry her up for halfway of the ride, but the grip eventually gave way, causing the redhead to drop back down to the bed with a muffled snort. Fang let out a tired breath and reached to snatch the phone off the makeshift nightstand. She then flopped back down on the bed while simultaneously closing her eyes. On cue, Vanille instinctively curled back into her side, resting her head atop Fang's shoulder as the older girl groggily answered her phone without even looking at the caller i.d.

"Mmm… 'ello?"

"Fang?"

Fang's eyelids flew open again on hearing the shaky voice that called her name on the other end. "Light? S'that you?"

"Uh, yeah…" Lightning answered quietly, her voice still sounding a bit unsteady.

"Everything alright?" Fang rubbed her eyes and continued after Lightning's last response had trailed into a moment of silence.

"I'm not sure."

Fang stiffened and slowly tried to raise herself up on her elbows without bothering Vanille. "You didn't lose control of your powers or anything, did you?"

"No."

"…there isn't some body that needs to be disposed of somewhere, is there?"

"No, it's nothing like that but—"

"Fanngggg," Vanille moaned, lifting her head from her best friend's shoulder and attempting to glare at her through drowsy, half-lidded eyes. "No phone calls in bed. Out."

Light's end of the phone remained eerily quiet for another few seconds. "I'm disturbing you… I… I shouldn't have called. I'll just talk to you later—"

"Nah, nah," Fang quickly interjected. She forcefully shoved Vanille's face into her pillow as she climbed over the other girl to exit the bedroom area. Once the older Pulsian had left, Vanille groaned and quickly snatched the pillow to curl into a tight ball with before drifting back into slumber land. "It's totally fine. Vanille's perkiness usually wears off after daylight hours is all. What's on yer mind?" Fang yawned and took a seat on the sofa, leaning forward on her elbows and staring at the dark window of the trailer door. She wondered what time it was.

"Oh… okay." Another pause. "My… my brand changed. Another arrow popped up."

Fang lifted an eyebrow and turned her shoulder to take a peep at her own arm. Sure enough, a new arrow had formed and sprouted from her brand. She leaned forward to peer into the next room at the dark lump she knew to be Vanille (who now seemed to be burrowed in a ball beneath their blankets) and wondered if hers had changed as well. "Whaddya know… Looks like mine got a new addition too. Kinda heavy realizing that the stories are actually true, huh?"

"Yeah…" Lightning breathed, starting to sound a tad bit more relieved already, which made Fang feel a little better despite the situation. "I'm staring at mine now. Even with the powers, things never really sunk in. Everything's just starting to feel realer now, you know? Like we actually are on a time limit, and our time is running out."

"Then it's a good thing y'all are going back to the Vestige this weekend," Fang gently reminded, running a hand through her hair. "I'm pretty sure if the fal'Cie gets a second look at Snow, he'll realize there's a huge flaw in his recruitment methods and set us all free."

Once again, Lightning's side of the line was silent. Fang forced an uneasy chuckle, nervously wishing she could take back the failed joke that had just crashed and burned so badly. "But really, Light. We're all gonna get through this alright. I promise."

Fang heard Lightning release a pent up breath. "I hope so," she responded. "I can't take anymore sleepless nights. How bad do your visions get?"

"Hm. I guess they're bad when they come, but they don't come often." To be honest, aside from when they first got branded and her little tirade in the hallway over a week ago, Fang hadn't suffered with the visions at all. "How bad are yours?"

Lightning took another deep breath before telling Fang about the dreams she'd been having ever since the Vestige and how they had been intensifying, going into specific detail about the particular one that had woken her tonight. Fang just patiently listened and tried to give some interpretations on what it could mean in connection to her focus. By the end of the talk, Lightning had indeed become more settled about the entire situation.

"So ya sure you're okay? I could drive over there and keep ya company... if ya want." Fang offered meekly as they started to wrap up their conversation.

"No, that's alright. I don't usually do these types of conversations and all, but this… this really helped. I think I'll be able to get some sleep now, and I wouldn't want to pull you away from Vanille…"

"If you say so. Soo… guess I'll not be talking to ya in school today then?"

Lightning had technically been freed from bondage with Alyssa Zaidelle for over a week, but due to the fear that the class president would curiously go snooping around in her business, Lightning had decided to continue to hang out with the girl. When explaining it to Fang on one of their sparring days, she simply said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." On the other side of this spectrum, because of Alyssa's budding curiosity about their relationship, Fang and Lightning made sure to avoid each other during most school hours and Fang had to be especially wary when driving into the neighborhood after their training sessions.

"I've still got you after school tomorrow, though," Lightning said, referring to their scheduled sparring session.

Fang faintly smiled at Lightning's choice of words. "Yes, you do… But before ya go, can I ask ya one last question?"

"What's that?" Lightning unsurely answered.

"When you were looking at yourself in the mirror… can ya describe exactly what ya saw? And please. Be very detailed."

Fang smirked. She could practically hear Lightning's lips pursing through the phone.

"Seriously, Fang?"

"What? Can't I wanna have vivid images in my dreams tonight too?"

"Goodnight, Fang," was the simple, terse response she received to her question.

"Night, Light." Fang smiled as she hung up the phone. She turned to enter her bedroom and froze in the doorway. All the covers and pillows had been practically stripped off the bed and wound into a tight Vanille cocoon in the middle of the mattress.

"Aww, fuck me…" Fang mumbled, lightly hitting her forehead with the bottom of her palm. She turned around to walk to the bathroom, wondering if towels could serve as decent makeshift blankets.

Meanwhile at the Farron household, Lightning felt much more at ease as she stepped back into her dark bedroom. She slid underneath her covers and reached for an extra pillow lying near her. She wrapped her arm around the pillow and dipped her head to lean against it. As she snuggled against the soft cushion, she closed her eyes and tried to think of more comforting and reassuring thoughts. When sleep finally began to overtake her, her mind was clouded with images of a certain dark-haired classmate.

"So what did you get?" Lebreau asked, leaning over to look at the card held between Lightning's index and pointer finger.

Lightning puckered her lips to the side to make a disinterested looking face before lifting the card for Lebreau to get a closer look at it. "Social worker, Elementary school teacher, and librarian," she droned in a dull voice. The two stood in the crowded school auditorium, surrounded by classmates and promotional tables with employees of different companies and professions.

"They pegged you as a school teacher?" Lebreau laughed, pulling Lightning's wrist forward to bring the card closer to her face. "I don't know how they come up with these Career Day predictions."

"It's probably because I put down babysitting as a work experience on that questionnaire," Light responded with a shrug.

"Well, if they had talked to the kids first and found out they call you Fascist Farron behind your back, then maybe they'd have sent you in a different direction."

Lightning chortled lightly and shook her head, taking back her card. Lebreau couldn't help but smile as well. Something had been different about Lightning for the past few days. She seemed much less broody. At first Lebreau thought it had something to do with being off the Alyssa Zaidelle hook, but Lightning had resumed spending time with the hoity toity class president only a day or two after being freed… so it had to be something else. Lebreau's next guess was that Lightning might be getting laid, but then again she didn't want to jump to astronomical conclusions. "But seriously Light, you don't find it a little disturbing that all your career choices mirror some of the most popular porn roles?"

"And of course!" Alyssa's high-pitched voice cut through the air. Lebreau rolled her eyes and sighed. Speaking of the class president devil… "On the day that the junior class comes together to explore their possible future professions, Lebreau is talking about porn." Both Lightning and Lebreau turned to greet Alyssa, who approached with her two friends, Erin and Stacy. "But it is so unfortunate that there isn't a table for that set up in here, Breau-Breau. We have such a diverse class, we can't cater to everyone's needs. Something you'll probably learn not too long after getting in the business."

"Don't worry. I'll just stop by your place and ask your mom for tips about it after school," Lebreau returned with a tight-lipped smile.

"Funny," Alyssa dismissed flatly before turning to Lightning. "So what professions did you get?" Lightning handed Alyssa her card and allowed the girl to quickly scan over it before handing it back. "Aww, Lightning, those are such romantic jobs!"

"Teaching elementary school kids is romantic?" Lebreau wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You really are your father's child."

"It figures that you would get such noble careers," Alyssa continued without paying Lebreau any mind.

"Anyone get it? Cause her mom's like fifty years younger than her dad?"

"I, myself," Alyssa began proudly, placing one hand to her chest and using the other to hold her card outwards for all to see, "was given fashion magazine editor, modeling agent, and boutique owner."

"Okay. Maybe fifty years was a LITTLE bit of a stretch… but it has to be forty at the least. Sperm that old, it's kind of a wonder Alyssa wasn't born looking like Yoda."

Lightning just nodded vigorously while trying to put on an interested face. It was hard enough dealing with Alyssa by herself, but when Lebreau was around warring with her, it just got tiring.

"You know what I bet would be really interesting, though?" Alyssa's eyes cut down so that they were slightly narrowed. "Finding out what's on Fang's card." With that, the girl turned her head to look over her shoulder. Lightning hadn't even noticed that Fang had been walking down one of the aisles near them, looking at all the titles above each career table. "I didn't even expect her to come to school today, but I'm guessing it's only right to let everyone participate."

Lightning watched Fang through soft eyes as she remembered how patient she had been with her on the phone earlier that morning. Meanwhile, Fang continued to walk along the aisle, looking both ways to study each table that she passed with a thoughtful, somewhat serious expression on her face. She was totally clueless to the fact that there was a group of girls staring at her from the back of the auditorium.

"What do you think, Lightning?"

Lightning's head snapped away from Fang and towards Alyssa as she was jolted back to reality. "What's that?"

"Aren't you curious about what they put on Fang's card?" Alyssa smiled innocently at Lightning as she asked the question. Lightning wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or what, but it seemed as if most of the conversations she had had with Alyssa for the past few days always ended up including Fang. Who Fang had recently given her number to… Flirtatious lines she had told a specific person in class… Who she had been seen getting touchy feely with after school… Some of the conversations, Lightning knew to be just rumours because she had been spending so much time with Fang afterschool, but others did make her wonder about where her training partner would go and who she would be talking to after dropping her off home. She felt her stomach uncomfortably churn at the thought, but tried not to let it show on her face. Just like she felt as if Fang was always being brought up in conversation, she always felt as if Alyssa would stare at her during these convos.

"I'd be curious," Alyssa's friend, Stacy, spoke up. "I sit next to Tammy Bridges in English, and all she's been doing this week is yammering on about how Fang's going to teach her a bunch of exotic Pulsian 'techniques' this weekend while her parents are out of town. So I guess at least now I'd have my own Fang story to tell her in English."

Lightning's stomach twisted a bit more. She could feel Alyssa's eyes on her again, making her much more uncomfortable than usual. "Then let's call her over," Alyssa cheerfully suggested. "Fang! Ohhh, Fang!" Alyssa called daintily. Fang continued to peruse the aisle obliviously. Alyssa let out an exasperated sigh. "FANG!" she yelled in a louder, gruffer voice.

Fang looked up from near the end of the aisle, where she had picked up a pamphlet off of one of the tables. Her brow scrunched skeptically at Alyssa when she noticed who had called her, but lightened a tad when she saw Lightning standing with her. She turned to give a few words to the man standing behind the table before cautiously walking over to the group.

"Hi, all," she greeted pleasantly, eyeing down Alyssa and her two friends before turning to Lightning and Lebreau. From her body language, Lightning could tell she was still trying to figure out why Alyssa would be calling her over, and didn't blame her one bit for being so apprehensive about it.

"Hey, Fang!" Alyssa beamed. "How's it going? Are you enjoying Career Day?"

"It's alright," Fang answered with a shrug. "Beats going to class."

"Do you mind if we take a look at your career options?"

"Don't see why not." Fang reached into her back pocket to pull out a crumpled index card and hand it over to Alyssa. "I haven't really been paying much attention to what's on my card though. I've been tryna work my way around the room and just learn about the professions that sound interesting from there."

"That's not how it's supposed to work, Fang," Alyssa informed without looking up from reading over Fang's card.

"Well, I didn't exactly like my choices," Fang replied in explanation.

"What were your choices?" Lightning asked, folding her arms and tilting her head.

The corner of Fang's lip twitched up in a partial smile when her attention turned to Lightning. "Well, let me break 'em down to ya." She cleared her throat dramatically before continuing, "After extensively going over the skills and experiences outlined in that oh so pleasant questionnaire we were given in homeroom, this prestigious institution decided that with my exemplary knowledge of Cocoonian history, my Etro-given gift of dealing with numbers, and not to mention my hotty toddy rockin' body…" Fang paused to wink at Lightning who let out a comical huff in return, "…the jobs best suited for me are in the areas of garbage disposal, dead animal pickup, and sewage sanitation. Oh, the wondrous doors that are opened by education… What'd you get?"

"Librarian, social worker, and elementary school teacher."

"…sounds like a porno lineup."

"Exactly what I said!" Lebreau agreed ecstatically.

"I'm surprised. I would've guessed they'da given ya something like GC or PSICOM officer."

Lightning's brows furrowed in curiosity. "Why? Because of my dad?"

"Uh…"

"Hmm. None of these jobs require you to know how to read," Alyssa pointed out, disrupting the other three's conversation to hand Fang's card back to her. "Surprising."

"Oh?" Fang averted her attention to Alyssa again. She had already mentally prepared herself for all the bull-crap she'd probably have to take from everyone today, so she was ready to roll with the punches while throwing some of her own. "And what are your careers?"

"Fashion magazine editor, modeling agent, and boutique owner," Alyssa answered with the same pride she had when she first read it to Lightning and Lebreau. "I think it might have a lot to do with the spreads that I create for yearbook and the…"

Fang immediately stopped paying attention to Alyssa and lightly nudged Lightning in the side with her elbow. She turned her head slightly to gain eye contact with the pinkette before grinning and slowly rolling her eyes, looking in Alyssa's direction before bringing her eyes back to Light. Light partially grinned back, softly bobbing her head and letting her eyes float to the top of her lids to display her disinterest in the subject as well. Neither action went unnoticed by Lebreau, who watched the two with a knowing grin of her own.

When Alyssa had finally stopped talking, Fang just nodded, a smug smile on her face. "So that means all your jobs require good fashion sense, right?" Fang made a show of slowly roving over Alyssa's clothes with her eyes, wearing a displeased expression on her face as she did it. "Surrr-prising."

Lebreau snorted in trying to hold back her laughter while Alyssa glared at Fang distastefully. "How much time did you actually spend at your careers' tables, again?"

"Not much. The garbage disposal folk are the only ones here. Thus another reason for the roaming."

"Well, you're getting in the way of people who actually have a chance of going into these jobs, so do you think you could maybe find something better to do with your time? Maybe you should go out on the yard and start picking up trash. It'd be good practice."

"Alyssa…" Lightning took a step toward the other girl, thinking she had gone too far. The memory of Fang storming out of history class over issues like this was still fresh in her mind, and she didn't want to see it happen again. However, she was halted by the tan hand that quickly shot out and pressed against her stomach, stopping her from going any further.

Light's eyes travelled from the tanned hand and up the arm until she was staring into a pair of deep emerald eyes. Fang gave a quick, bashful smile before swiftly removing her hand from Lightning's midsection and turning her head to face Alyssa again. "Nah, nah. You're right. Just cause I don't have reason to be here, doesn't mean I should stay and cause anarchy… much like your choice of blouse and skirt. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the hallway singin' folk tunes and witch doctorin' up the joint so no mo' bad trash fall into them parts."

Fang raised a hand in goodbye and looked over everyone's faces, lingering on Lightning's for a milli-second longer than everyone else's before taking her leave, loudly humming a spiritual tune as she left.

"The nerve of her…" Stacy began.

"She should just be happy that they even included her in Career Day," Erin backed up.

As Alyssa and her two friends continued to bicker about how out of line Fang had been and how Alyssa's outfit did not clash as bad as the Pulsian had insinuated, Lightning quietly excused herself from the group. She looked around cautiously as she walked along the back wall of the auditorium until she had hit the opposite corner. This corner was pretty much devoid of people, its only occupants being a bunch of empty cardboard boxes that had once been filled with brochures but were now piled carelessly into the corner.

Lightning took a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling. Directly above her was one of the auditorium's fire sprinklers. She took one last look around to make sure no one was watching before setting her gaze back up to the sprinkler.

"Concentrate…" she said to herself, deeply exhaling and facing her palm upwards toward the ceiling.

There was no immediate response.

She took another deep, albeit quicker, breath. She tried to relax, thinking of how much better she would feel if she pulled this off. Sure enough, her hand tingled in that familiar way and she could feel a wave of relief coming along as that tingling feeling quickly surged through her chest, down her arm, and out her hand. A small fireball spouted upwards from her palm and flew directly to the ceiling, hitting the sprinkler dead on.

A loud hiss suddenly filled the room as the sprinkler head popped out and started to shoot out water. Screams and groans then filled the auditorium as every single fire sprinkler in the huge room opened and began spraying water to the crowd below. Lightning smirked contentedly at the sprinkler above her as water poured down and plastered her bangs to her forehead. She was now satisfied with her Career Day.

A loud clanging sound rang through the air as javelin connecting with metallic blade. Lightning gritted her teeth and ducked down, simultaneously swinging her weapon around to attack Fang at a different angle, but ever so quick with her spear, Fang was able to turn and block the attack. Lightning jumped back, swiftly spinning, dodging, ducking and striking, but nearly every time, her weapon was batted away by the javelin.

Lightning had to admit that at first she was unsure of whether Fang would be a good sparring partner. The girl didn't behave like someone who had been disciplined well enough in battle to hold their own against her and, well, her weapon of choice was a school javelin. However, their sparring sessions were much more taxing than some of her formal trainings had been, and both of the girls were learning a lot from each other because their techniques were so different.

"Yield?"

Fang's javelin was raised upwards to the air while the tip of Lightning's blade poked Fang's belly. Fang looked down at the sharp tip prodding at her stomach before eventually nodding.

"Yield."

Both teens retracted their weapons. Fang wiped her head with the back of her hand. "Whew-Ow!" She grimaced and tried to look behind her shoulder, but couldn't see anything. "How sharp is that blade? I think ya might'a got me somewhere." Fang turned in circles, looking somewhat like a dog chasing its tail, trying to peer at the mark she felt on the backside of her shoulder.

Lightning let out a tired breath at Fang's antics and grabbed the top of her shoulder to stop her from spinning any further. "Hold still and let me see." She turned Fang around and took a sharp inhale, making a hissing sound at the ruby red slash that decorated the back of her t-shirt.

"Can ya see it? Is it bad?" Fang questioned, still trying to peek over her shoulder.

"Looks like it's bleeding a bit," Lightning answered. "And stop trying to turn like that; you're making me nervous. Does it hurt when you raise your arm?"

"Stings. A lot." Fang hiked her shoulder and made a face as she tried to place the pain somewhere on the Richter scale. She must not have felt it much during their sparring from all the adrenaline, but now it was bothering the hell out of her. "Can't ya just heal it?"

Lightning lightly tapped Fang's elbow to signal her to turn back around. She then nodded her head to the direction of Fang's car, where most of their supplies had been piled onto the closed trunk. "I'm still having problems controlling some of my powers, remember? Medical ones especially. It'd probably be more helpful if I just cleaned it off here for Vanille to heal later."

"You sure ya just don't wanna give it a go? Practice makes perfect."

Lightning had already reached the trunk and was rifling through her bag. She pulled out a towel and tugged lightly at the bottom of Fang's shirt to pull her closer before lightly placing a hand on her side to turn her. Fang held a soft, goofy grin on her face the entire time. "I don't want to mess up and accidentally electrocute you or something. Who'd be able to heal you then? Your shirt's in the way."

"Ya make a good point," Fang agreed. She and Snow would usually strength train right after everyone else would practice for magic, meaning that Fang would be able to sit and watch the end of their sessions during those days. Although Lightning was getting much better at using her powers, it was obvious that she was still having some troubles with consistency. Fang pulled her arm out of her shirt and lifted half the garment up to rest on her shoulder, immediately feeling Lightning press the towel onto her wound afterwards. She smiled, turning her head in an attempt to deviously catch Lightning's eye. "And then what excuses would ya have to get me to take my shirt off? Aahhh!"

"Whoops." Lightning said casually after squirting a bit more peroxide than was necessary over Fang's cut. "Now lift your arm a bit so I can get the medical wrap around."

To be honest, nowadays she wasn't really as scared of hurting Fang with her powers as much as she used to be. When they had first started training with each other, she noticed that she'd usually get those weird sensations, those feelings of going out of control, mostly when she was near Fang. They would still pop up now and again when they were having an intense workout or when they got too close, sometimes even when Lightning caught Fang just staring at her in one of those Fang-like ways… but for the most part she felt more comfortable and at ease when she was around the dark-haired girl now.

Lightning patted Fang's side once again when she had finished wrapping the wound, allowing Fang to try to survey the bandage as best as she could. "Not bad," she said, nodding her head in approval. "But I'm still not sure how comfy I am about you going to face a fal'Cie without being able to control your healing powers."

"You should be comfy enough," the Cocoonian replied. Fang studied Lightning as she started packing the wrap and other supplies away. She still seemed so uptight and Fang couldn't really help but worry about her. "Hope has enough power to heal the three of us simultaneously if something goes wrong, and we don't have enough time to prolong the trip any longer with more training." Lightning paused from the packing for a brief moment to stare Fang earnestly in the eyes. "I'll be fine."

"I know. I've been wanting this to happen for so long, and now that it's two days away, I'm gettin' the jitters. I just worry about ya, is all. Wish I could go in with y'all."

Lightning felt her cheeks warm a bit at Fang's words as she zipped the supply bag up. "After what happened last time, this seems like the best situation. Besides, this gives you more time to plan your own agenda this weekend." Lightning's voice started growing quieter as she continued. "Like how to teach someone certain exotic Pulsian techniques…?"

"Like what?" Fang's head popped up in confusion. "You're the one that pulled the elementary gig at Career Day, remember?"

"Yeah… Just a thing I thought I'd heard from Alyssa and them." Fang continued to watch Lightning with a puzzled expression. Lightning took a quick moment to glance at Fang and wave the conversation off. "Forget I said anything."

"Okay…" Fang drug out, before slightly smirking to herself. "I still can't believe ya set off all the fire sprinklers in the auditorium cause of them."

"Not just because of them," Lightning replied with a heavy shrug before looking up at Fang again. "You don't deserve to get picked on like that by some bitchy teenager girls, the school administration, or some dumb career questionnaire."

"Because that right's only reserved for you, huh?" Fang joked lightly.

Lightning just stared blankly at Fang for a second before shrugging again, this time making a smug face of acceptance. "I think I've earned it."

"Heh... Well I appreciate the thought and all, but like I said last time. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" Lightning's expression twisted into one of slight disbelief. "So you'd rather I just sit back and let people degrade you like that?"

"No, I'm just saying I'd rather ya didn't get involved with it all." Fang stated as if it were the most reasonable answer in the world. "What? You're the one who said we should stay clear of each other's business at school. So it's okay for you to try and protect Gran Pulsian dignity when you're in the mood while the Gran Pulsian isn't even allowed to wave at ya in the hallway? A bit one sided, don't ya think?"

Lightning exhaled heavily out her nostrils. "Fang, it's not like that and you know it. Us not talking is a precaution."

"Then let's even it out. If I can't talk to you when I wanna, then I think it's only fair that you stop worrying yourself about what the people who freely talk to me say. Is that really too much to ask?"

Light had no idea why Fang was being so difficult about this, but whatever. "Fine. From this moment on, you can change my superhero alias to Dr. Don't-Give-A-Shit." She raised her hands in the air to make an 'it's out of my hands' gesture before picking up the supply bag and striding over to the back door on the passenger side of the car.

"That's all I ask," Fang replied, taking the hint and walking to the back door on the driver's side. She lifted her eyes cautiously to peek at her visibly agitated training partner from over the vehicle. "And ya know, for the record, I just want to clarify that the whole you picking on me thing was just a joke, because as a strong, confident, and fearless Gran Pulsian woman—"

"Unlock the doors."

"Yes, ma'am."

They loaded their supplies and weapons into the back of the car in silence before settling into their respective seats in the front. Lightning stared forward through the windshield with her arms crossed, a stale look on her face. Fang just sighed and turned the car on. She let the engine rumble a bit before reaching forward to turn the radio on, wanting something to cut the tense silence inside the vehicle.

Fang guessed that one of the older adults on the reservation had used the car radio's last, because the car was suddenly filled with the soulful voice of some woman crooning about being such a fool for her love… It sounded good but it was a bit sappy, and its timing was damn near comical. A smile crept to Fang's face just thinking about it. Still leaning forward with her hand on the radio's dial, she peeked at Lightning in the passenger seat.

Lightning head was turned to look down at the radio interface as well, a tiny smirk tugging at her lips. She must've realized how unbefitting the song was to the moment too. When she caught Fang's eyes staring up at her, she just let out an airy snort, shaking her head and letting her smirk widen. Fang silently chuckled and turned the volume up in response before putting the car in drive.

"Such a foooool… for yooouuuuu," she quietly mumbled along with the woman on the radio as she drove the car onto the dirt path leading out of the clearing with a faint smile on her face.

A/N: Sorry for taking so much longer than usual to update. I wasn't really feeling the lack of plot movement in this chapter, so I kept putting off editing it, hoping some new ideas would come to me. I finally decided to just go with it because it works as a good segway for the next chap (which should be up once I get a little more free time for editing). As always, hope y'all enjoy!