Lightning ducked just in time to miss the swift slice of the oncoming javelin and grunted at the impact when she lifted her blade up to block the weapon's following downward strike. With a huge surge of strength, she pushed her blade upwards to throw the javelin and its wielder backwards, giving her enough time to jump back in the opposite direction and recoup.
"Are you alright?" Fang asked through laboured breaths, standing straight up with an apprehensive look on her face instead of rushing to start another onslaught of attacks. "Usually I'm the one on the defensive. Ya seem a bit… distracted today."
"I'm fine," Lightning dismissively responded, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand before crouching back into a fighting stance.
"You sure ya don't wanna just take a break?" Fang asked uncertainly. "I'm starting to feel like I'm taking advantage of ya."
Lightning ground her teeth. Something about this whole situation wasn't right. Fang was the one who pushed her lips onto Light's, not the other way around. So why was it that Light was the one left feeling all tense and awkward every time they were together instead of her?
"I don't need a break. I just need you to stop talking and start fighting again," Light snapped.
Fang's eyes rounded in surprise at her partner's snippy comment. "Well, excuse me," she said, following suit behind Lightning and getting into a fighting position. "No need to work yourself up into a tizzy."
But Lightning had indeed 'worked herself up into a tizzy', and immediately started sprinting towards the taller girl with her weapon at the ready. With a low growl, she began to assault the Gran Pulsian with a barrage of quick, successive hits.
Fang was totally caught off guard by the intensity of it all and struggled with her balance as she tried to keep up. "Aye! Can ya calm down?! Ahhh!"
Fang ducked and swung her javelin low in order to sweep Lightning's feet. Light hadn't been expecting the move at all and tumbled over easily while Fang turned away. She grabbed at the bottom of her shirt to pull up and dab at her cheek, letting out a soft, hissing sound as the cloth touched her skin. "Alright, G.I. Jane," she asked in a reproachful voice, turning around to face Lightning again. "What'd ya do to my face?"
Whatever red Lightning had been seeing before quickly faded away when she saw the actual red of blood smearing Fang's right cheek and splotching the bottom of her shirt. "Fang." She quickly hopped back on her feet and approached the girl with quick steps. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go at you like that. It's just my mind's been cluttered these past couple days and just… a lot of stuff has been weighing on me that I need to work out. I didn't mean to take it out on you."
"Meh," Fang just shrugged off. "Probably means I need to quicken my defenses. If some crazy chick on her period ever comes afterrr-IIII'm just gonna stop while I'm ahead." Fang's statement slowly morphed on seeing the reprimanding glare that Light was now aiming at her.
Light shook her head and lightly touched Fang's chin, gently turning it so that she could get a better view of the cut. "It's big," she stated. It almost spanned the entire distance across her cheek, not leaving Light much room on Fang's face to touch it without getting blood all over her hand. "Let's get something to clean it up with, then I'll see about healing you."
Light led the way back to Fang's car where she started going to work on Fang's cheek. She felt extremely self-conscious as she became more and more aware of Fang's eyes following her every move. "Here," she finally said, plastering a big bandage across Fang's cheek before gently cupping it with her hand. She only allowed herself a fleeting moment to glance into Fang's deep green eyes, which were still intently focused on her, before bringing her full attention back to the cheek. Her fingers tingled as a green glow emanated from her hand.
When the glow had subsided, Light took her time in slowly sliding her hand down from Fang's cheek, but was stopped by the other girl's tanned hand pressing against her own to hold it in place. "Wait," Fang said, bringing Light's attention back to her eyes. "It doesn't feel like that healed it."
Lightning's brow furrowed as she tried to look over the wound. However, it was of no use. The bandage was big and thick enough to where she wasn't able to see the cut at all. "Are you sure?" Light asked.
"Positive. It must be some special material from the bandage that's blockading the magic."
Lightning quirked an eyebrow, which caused Fang to grin and shrug bashfully. "Vanille practices a lot with different things."
"The real question is where she gets her test subjects," Light murmured. "Okay. So do I have to take the bandage off, or is there a way around it?"
"There's a way around it," Fang confirmed, looking attentively at Lightning as if waiting to gauge her reaction. "More contact."
"Oh…" Lightning's mind immediately went to an inappropriate place, causing her to take a hard swallow. "How much contact?"
"It all depends on the injury and material, so it's kind of a trial and error thing," Fang explained. "Here, let's start out with this." She gently grabbed Lightning's free hand to place against her other cheek. "Now try."
"O-okay." Light took a deep breath and let her magic take hold again, this time closing her eyes so as not to fall prey to Fang's mesmerizing stare. When she opened them, she was greeted to Fang shaking her head.
"Still didn't work," she pointed out. "How 'bout this… Keep those there," she let the hands that had been holding Light's hands against her cheeks slip away to instead wrap snugly around the pinkette's waist and pull her flush against her body. She then leaned forward so that their foreheads were resting against each other. "This oughta work, yeah?"
"Yeah," Lightning breathed heavily, trying to maintain her cool and pretend that it wasn't taking all of her strength to keep her legs from shaking.
Light once again closed her eyes and summoned her healing magic. When she opened them again, she was met with such an intense gaze from her sparring partner that it sent an uncontrollable shiver down her spine. "Fang…" she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "If you tell me that didn't work, I don't think there's a way for us to get any closer."
Lightning could feel Fang's forehead wrinkle against her own as her brows somewhat creased in thought. "That's not entirely true."
Keeping her cool was becoming a more and more difficult task as Lightning felt Fang's hands begin to run up her back, sensually rubbing against the back of her shirt as she did so. Even breathing was starting to become more of a struggle as Fang's forehead twisted against her own, giving her head the slightest tilt that made it so much easier for Lightning to feel the other girl's steady breaths brush against her lips. Light lifted her eyes once more to meet that deep green stare.
She couldn't take this anymore.
Before she could think better of it, she moved in.
The very next thing Light registered was feeling the press of Fang's lips moving against hers, slowly at first but steadily growing in intensity. As if they had a mind of their own, Lightning's hands strayed from Fang's cheeks, one moving to play with the soft curls at the nape of her neck and the other snaking behind her head to full-on dig into her scalp and pull her in closer.
Fang groaned and tightened the grip she had around Lightning's body. The bumper of Fang's car pressed into the back of Light's knees as Fang's body pushed against hers, their lips still hungrily grabbing and pulling at each other. Fang finally pulled away, taking in quick breaths as she gazed at Lightning through clouded eyes, a smirk partially tugging at her lips as her eyes flitting from Lightning to the hood of the car. With one swift motion, she easily scooped the girl up and gently laid her on top of the vehicle, running a hand down Light's leg and hiking it up behind the knee to wrap around her waist as she leaned over her.
Light couldn't help but smirk herself as Fang slowly crawled on top of her. There was just something invigorating about that dark look in the Gran Pulsian's eyes and that predatory way her body was hovering over hers. Lightning lifted both hands to wrap around Fang's neck and pull her back towards her lips. Fang released a low, satisfied grunt as she obliged, giving Lightning a slow, lingering kiss before dragging her lips away from Light's face in order to place soft kisses behind her ear, running a trail down to her neck.
Light fought back a soft moan as she felt the sensation of tongue brushing against her skin coupled with the feeling of Fang's hand dipping under her shirt to stroke her stomach. When the appendage didn't receive any opposition from the pink-head, the hand continued its journey upward, opening up to cup its plump prize and earning another strained groan from Lightning when it did so.
"Mmmm…huh?"
Light looked up confoundedly when she felt Fang's mouth detach itself from her neck. Fang lifted herself up from Light a bit to stare down at the hand hidden beneath the other girl's shirt. Light could feel the pad of her thumb slowly caressing the skin right above her breast that the rest of her fingers were still cupping.
It was where her brand was located.
"Fang?" Lightning asked softly, starting to feel more and more insecure about the situation as Fang's facial features started twisting deeper and deeper into one of confusion and deep thought. "…Fang?"
Fang finally lifted her eyes to meet Light's again, just staring at her with a breadth of raw emotion that Lightning just couldn't place while that thumb still grazed over the skin under her shirt. Finally, Fang opened her mouth to speak, but that usual accented voice was not what came out. Instead, it had been replaced with a loud, quaking, "RAAAAAWWWWWHHHHHRRRRR!"
"Ahhhhh!" Lightning shot up in her bed, hand unabashedly gripping her breast. Her body was soaked and trembling, and on her nightstand the alarm was buzzing.
Taking in deep breaths, Light tried to calm herself down. That was DEFINITELY a change from the usual dreams she had had concerning her brand. She tiredly threw her hand over to slam against the off switch of her alarm to stop its buzzing.
As she began to relax again, she noticed that her hand was still cupping her breast. As random images of her glued to Fang's lips and Fang leaning over her with that steamy look in her eyes passed through the forefront of her mind, she idly rubbed her thumb over her brand, just as Fang had done in the dream. It sent an immediate tremor through her body, causing her to quickly remove her hand from her chest. She knew that she didn't miss the erratic visions of her focus that haunted her dreams every other night, but she was sure as hell positive that she didn't want her body to be this wound up in the mornings either. Etro, this would never have been an issue if Lebreau wouldn't have started that whole 'liking Fang' conversation.
"Arggh…" she tiredly snatched a pillow from behind her to cover her face as she flopped back down to the mattress. "Fuuuuuuugggggggg, Leebbbbboowwwwww!"
"Exactly how much farther do we have to hike again?" Snow called ahead to Vanille, who was leading the group through the dense forest a few feet ahead of him.
"Shouldn't be much further!" Vanille hollered back without turning around.
"You said that twenty minutes ago," Snow groused, whacking a branch out of his way as he continued to move forward. In his other hand, he gripped a long walking stick that he had found on the ground not too far after their first mile, which was right around the time when he had taken off his shirt to wrap around his head over his usual bandana. It actually made him look quite the character.
"Whoa!" Fang yelled from her place in the line behind Snow. "Don't tell me you're not havin' fun up there!"
Snow peeked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Fang. "You're enjoying this?"
"Hehehe," the girl gave a low, husky chuckle. "With a view like mine, how couldn't I?" She then winked at the boy.
A wide grin lit up across Snow's face. "So this is all about the gun show, huh? You should've said something earlier! I would've brought out the canons!" With that, Snow started flexing so that his muscles bulged insanely. "Hazaahhhh!"
"Ummm… SWOOOON!" Fang excitedly cooed from behind.
Hope laughed at the two older teens as Snow twisted his arms into different flexing positions while Fang continued to play the part of an eccentric fangirl. With a smile still on his face, he glanced over his shoulder to check on Light. There was only one rule that their group had made when they started off on this trip, and that was that under no circumstances was Hope to be the last person in line. He, of course, thought the rule was ageist, but didn't make any arguments about it.
Unlike her two classmates, Lightning didn't seem to find any redeeming qualities in their wooded trek at all. She watched the Snow and Fang show for only a few moments before putting on a discontent face and bringing her attention to the trees instead.
"Hey, Light," Hope called with a look of genuine concern on his face, "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Lightning responded dully, taking a high step to walk over a fallen tree branch.
"Do you want any company back there? You seem kind of quiet."
"No, Hope, really. I'm fine. Although I do find it a bit disconcerting that we're travelling, unbeknownst to anyone who can tell authorities where we are if we go missing, miles into uncharted territory to meet a magical hermit who was cast out by his own people. Am I the only one who finds that disconcerting?"
Hope gave Lightning a hesitant look, not really sure how to answer. He jumped a bit when an assuring hand rested on his shoulder. "Don't worry, small fry. I'll take this one."
Hope just nodded and quickened his pace to catch up more with Snow while Fang stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for Light to reach her. Light made a low grumbling sound as she approached Fang and shot her a long side eye when they began walking in step. "That wasn't an invitation for you to come back here, you know."
"I know," Fang replied with an airy shrug of her shoulders. "But it just seemed like you could use some company. You've been actin' extra distant today. Something the matter?"
"I told you what's the matter," Lightning stated gruffly, keeping her eyes trained forward and not turning to look at Fang.
"Oh, really? You were ready to jump into battle with a fal'Cie, but now you're gettin' fidgety over an old blind man?" Fang made an exaggerated duck face to show her disbelief. "I call bullshit."
Lightning just grunted and continued to walk.
Fang let out a deep breath as she watched the rigid girl, racking her mind for reasons as to why she might be so off-balance today. That's when it hit her. She took a side step to shorten the distance between her and Light a bit more before leaning over and asking in a low voice, "You had a bad dream, didn't you?"
"What?" Lightning's stomach dropped.
"Your dreams," Fang reiterated. "The focus images. Did they wake you up again?"
"I-uh, no! I'm not having bad dreams! I mean, my dreams aren't bother—I'm just fine. Okay?" Lightning stumbled through her retort. "I just want to get this walk over in peace."
Fang was sure that it just had to be her dreams. It was the only explanation as to why Lightning suddenly got so much more defensive when asked about them. With those kind of problems plaguing her at night, the girl was probably just tired. With a determined look on her face, Fang shot forward, jogging a few steps to get a sizeable distance ahead of Lightning. "How 'bout this?" she called, bending over.
Lightning's eyes grew wide in alarm as Fang's backside was suddenly tooted right at her.
"Hop on and I'll give ya a piggyback ride the rest of the way!"
"I…" For a moment, Lighting actually considered taking the piggyback ride. It had been a long and tiring walk so far. It would be so much easy if she could just hop on Fang's back, wrap her legs around the girl's waist, and just be done… but the image of Fang hovering over her on the hood of her car, hiking one of Light's legs up to wrap around her in the process quickly flashed across Light's eyes. No, no, no, no. Not a good idea. Ugh, there weren't enough swear words in her vocabulary to fling at Lebreau right now…
"C'monnnn!" Fang continued to goad, now playfully wiggling her butt at Lightning. "I've got extra strength. It won't slow me down any."
"Fang, I don't think—"
"Guys!" Vanille's voice chirped from further ahead. "We're here!"
"Hm?" Fang straightened herself up again and inquisitively took off into a brisk stride after the other l'Cie. Lightning let out a quiet breath of relief and followed, thanking all the divine forces that may have had a hand in getting her out of that situation.
Hidden within the trees, not too far away from where they stood, was a rough and shoddy looking cabin. Everything about the small house just seemed seedy. None of the walls appeared to be the same height and the one visible window looked as if it had been built tilted.
Lightning studied the structure skeptically, happy to finally be able to concentrate on something a little more bizarre than her dream last night. "How can a blind man build a house?" she finally asked, folding her arms.
"Magic!" Snow gasped in an excited whisper, popping open his hands and wiggling his fingers.
"Well, one thing's for sure," Fang mused, placing her hands on her hips to also examine the home. "No self-respecting man with sight would've built this piece of crap."
"Looks a bit creepy," Hope added as he eyed the building.
"Yeah, it kind of does…" Vanille agreed with a hand rubbing her chin. "Let's knock on the door!"
"Huh?" Hope swung his head worriedly in Vanille's direction, but she had already broke into a skip towards the cabin.
"Aye! Watch out when ya touch that!" Fang hissed, walking after her. "The whole thing looks like the birthplace of the splinter."
Vanille hopped to a stop in front of the cabin's misshapen door and gave it a couple of light raps with her knuckles as the rest of her the group cautiously approached from behind her.
Two long seconds passed before a cracked voice croaked, "It's open," from the inside.
Vanille turned around to check the faces of everyone behind her. "Ready?" she asked quietly, and was answered unanimously by nods from everyone. "Kay. Here goes."
With that she gently gripped the knob and pushed the door open.
The first distinct thing that Lightning could make of the inside of the house was the smell. Before she had even take her first step in, her nose was greeted by the pungent odor of what she wanted to peg as a mixture of dirty socks and urine. She instinctively wrinkled her face as she stepped further inside.
After she had somewhat wrapped her head around the smell of the home, it was then that Lightning tried to take in the rest of her surroundings. There was a murky haze that seemed to fill the dusky place, making it hard to discern what any of the shadowy structures in the room were, especially since the only sources of light were the few beams that were able to shine through the wooly-looking curtain that blocked the lopsided window.
"Well, well, well…" the cracked voice hummed. Lightning squinted her eyes through the haze to land on the smoky outline of a tall chair a few feet away. "I've been awaiting you."
A step ahead of her, Light could hear Vanille make a soft gasping noise. "So everything they say is true… You are a great prophesier."
"Great prophesier…" the voice repeated lowly. "Prophesying had nothing to do with it! With all the racket you lot made outside on your way getting here, I coulda predicted y'all dragging in here if I was deaf and dumb, too! Hey! Bumbles!" the voice called out just as Snow bumped into a small table, "If you're having problems seeing, there's a lamp on one of the thingies around here. Crank it up."
The room filled with the sound of shuffling as each l'Cie cautiously moved around, arms outstretched as to not bump into anything else, in search of the lamp. "Got it," Hope announced. A moment later, a warm orange glow appeared from the left side of the room and continued to grow until the whole area was now dimly lit.
The smoky haze still remained, adding some fuzz to Lightning's vision, but she was now able to make a better assessment of her surroundings. The cabin was obviously only a one-room home. Slanted shelved were carved into the walls and filled with various trinkets, pots, urns, and other objects that Lightning didn't know what to make of. All around the room were different trays and tables, each piled with plants and bowls filled with mystery liquids or ground substances. Near the back of the room was a slim cot and sitting against the back of the middle wall was a tall, cushioned chair. Seated in the chair was the hunched figure of a bald, shrunken man.
"Dia Opie," Vanille greeted in the most serious tone Lightning had ever heard her use, "We know that you have had your issues with the rest of the reservation clans in the past, but we come to you now with the most sincerest of apologies, hoping that we can put these differences aside for a day in order to find the solution to a horrible happenstance that has fallen upon us."
Dia Opie tilted his head curiously. He was quite a wrinkly old man and his skin was covered in dark splotches. He had wild, bushy eyebrows that that made big, gray upside V's on his forehead, yet they somehow served as the perfect buffer to distract from his blank, milky-white eyes.
"Heeheehee! Oh, isn't that unpredictable?" Opie's face lit into one of amusement. "You're using my clanswoman as your spokesperson! Hmph." All the amusement immediately left his face as his expression dropped into a grouchy stare. "Well listen here, little Dia, everyone always wants to put our differences aside when they need something…"
"Pssst," Lightning whispered from the corner of her mouth, hoping to get the attention of her sparring partner. However, Fang was busy glaring Opie down from her spot a foot away. The blind man had somehow shifted his conversation with Vanille from the downfalls of being a suck-up to asking about the well being of some woman on the reservation named Willow.
Fang was so engrossed in Opie's recollections that she didn't notice Lightning trying to call her. She just stood, arms folded, with a displeased look on her face as the blind man continued to talk.
"Don't let the arthritis fool ya. That woman's as spry as a spring chicken…"
"Pssst!" Lightning repeated again, reaching out an elbow to lightly tap Fang's upper arm. Thankfully, Fang finally turned Lightning's way.
"Gods, I don't think this can get any more disgusting," she breathed, giving Lightning a look that damn near begged her to tell her something to get her mind off of the topic currently being discussed in the room.
"Why was he cast out?" Lightning mouthed slowly, not wanting to be heard by the elder in the room. Between the smell, cluttered mess, and seemingly bipolarness, she was having a hard time making her own educated guess on the matter.
Fang turned her head to begrudgingly peek at the old man before sidling closer to Lightning and leaning in so close that her Lightning could feel her breath warming the side of her earlobe. "The Dias are pretty much known throughout Gran Pulse for their extensive knowledge of herbal remedies, right? Well, word is that Opie here started gettin' really experimental with 'certain' plants. After the third month of the real heavy hallucinations, he was asked to choose between the clan and the concoctions."
Lightning cocked her head back and whirled around to face Fang. Her eyes widened before slitting dangerously at the other girl. "He's a drug addict?!" she hissed.
"And you!"
Light froze. She forgot that her intent had been to be quiet enough so that Opie would not overhear her. She slowly turned her head to meet the calm, white stare of the elder, who was now rubbing his hands in his lap. "All of you are not of Gran Pulse," the old man stated in more of an out loud observation than an actual conversation piece. "But if ya have any questions about me, please ask me and not the Yun girl."
Fang's eyebrows rose at Opie's correct guess of her clan, but before either she or Lightning could ask anything more of the man, Hope beat them to punch. "Well, I was actually wondering… Did you build this whole house by yourself? And where's the bathroom? Or do you just go out in the woods?"
"Ah—" Opie opened his mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by Snow.
"Ewww, nope." The brawny boy stood near a table in front of one walls in the front of the house with a pained look on his face. One of his hands was placing the lid back down on top a wide, flower-decorated vase while his other hand was raised in a way so that his nose was buried into the inside of his elbow. "I think I found the restroom," he coughed.
"And of course, it got more disgusting," Fang mumbled as Lightning made a horrified face in the vase's direction.
"HEY!" Opie snapped, swinging his head toward Snow. "Stop touching my stuff! What kind of disrespectful lot are ya? Coming to my house asking for favors but not wanting to mind your own manners while you're here? If there's one thing that hasn't changed in a hundred years, it's the fal'Cies' picking standards."
And with that one statement, the room fell deathly silent.
"Oh, don't act so surprised," Opie grumbled, waving a careless hand in the air. "You lot reek of fal'Cie handiwork. I haven't been separated long enough to forget the reasons as to why a group of young, educated Cocoonians and two poor, Gran Pulsian orphans would come together to ask for my help. So who wants to start off? Oi! Yun girl! Hand me that cylinder on the shelf over there."
Fang scrunched her eyebrows at the gruff request but consented anyway, sauntering over to one of the wall-shelves. "And ya talk about our manners…" she griped as she grabbed a nicely sized, hollow cylinder from the shelf.
"Orphans?" Lightning asked herself. She didn't know Fang and Vanille were orphans. She was actually pretty sure that she had heard a few conversations that referenced living parents.
"You didn't know that?"
Lightning quickly turned her head to look up at Snow. She must've been thinking out loud. So she just shrugged and looked back towards Opie, hoping Snow would do the same.
"Okay… well I guess I'll start then," Vanille said uneasily, following Fang across the room with her eyes before focusing back on Opie. "Since the cat's out the bag, we can just say what we need help—"
WHAP!
"OWW!"
Vanille halted in mid-sentence, watching through shocked eyes as Fang jumped backwards, scowling at Opie while holding a hand on top of her head. "Ya geriatric, old loon! What the hell was that for?!"
"Heeheehee, you deserved it! I heard you outside," Opie accused, waggling a sock filled with unidentifiable objects at the older Gran Pulsian. "My house is NOT a piece of crap! And stop tellin' all my business to strangers! Now you. Dia girl. Go on."
"Oh." Vanille startled at regaining Opie's attention so quickly again. "Yeah, I guess as I was saying, we all had an unpleasant run-in with the fal'Cie, Anima, and he turned us into his l'Cie."
Lightning watched Fang curiously as Vanille spoke. The dark haired girl never left from Opie's area after getting whopped in the head with his sock, but instead seemed to be searching the shelves and tables around him for an object with which to enact her revenge. Light softly shook her head. If there was one thing she could say about Fang, it was that the girl obviously didn't believe in discrimination against the disabled.
"Our original plan was to face Anima again and see where that went, but that kinda fell through," Vanille continued with her explanation. "So now we feel like we're stuck and we don't know who else to turn to."
"Hmmmmm…" Opie lifted a hand to rub his stubby chin with. "Stuck, ya say? Weren't you lot given a focus?"
Fang smirked as she zeroed her vision in on what looked to be a toy, similar to a fishing rod with a rubber ball attached to the end of the line. It had been a while since she had done anything fishing related; usually that was Vanille's forte. However, she could definitely see herself getting enough good poke-poke-reel-in action out of the toy to annoy the hell out of the blind man. So with this plan set in her mind, she slowly started inching over towards the shelf and lifting her hand towards the assumed plaything.
"Uh, yeah." Meanwhile, Snow had picked up where Vanille had left off in answering Opie's questions. "We did. It's kind of cool, cause we all got the same one too."
"Ohhh, all the same focus, eh?" With lightning quick reflexes, Opie's arm shot outwards to grab Fang's wrist, which was still moving towards the toy on one of the above shelves. "That's not—"
Opie paused mid-response. His head slowly turned away from Snow to face Fang instead, the expression on his face darkening as his ghostly eyes rose to meet Fang's green ones.
Fang immediately forgot all about the rod that she had previously been focused on. She didn't know why, but a feeling of shame seemed to wash over her in that instant. She had no doubt that it had something to do with the troubled way that Opie was staring at her. His vacant eyes shifted and flitted around in his sockets, almost seeming as if they were actually studying the girls face until they stopped directly at her eyes again. It felt more as if the old man was looking into her, seeing something that everyone else in the room couldn't… And it was obvious that he was not pleased with the view.
Fang was the first to break 'eye contact' by quickly turning her head away to examine the floor, making sure to pull her hand from his grip as she did so.
Opie stared after her a second longer, eerily as if he could actually see her reaction, before slowly turning his head back to Snow. His expression lightened again as he finished his previous statement, "…not too uncommon."
Lightning's brows creased at the sudden change in demeanor, not so much Opie's but more so Fang's. The moment that Opie had turned to her with that grave look on his face, something had changed in her too. That mischievous smirk she had been wearing in anticipation of her prank had faded once she locked eyes with the elder, and instead had been replaced with something akin to disgrace. Even now, the girl still had yet to lift her eyes from the floor.
"The fal'Cie aren't stupid. They know success comes in greater numbers." Opie scooted forward in his chair before gripping the arm rests to pull himself into a standing position. "Tell me, then. What is this 'shared' focus that you lot have been given?"
With the cylinder in hand, Opie hobbled over to a nearby tray to grab a handful of colorful dust that sat in a huge bowl. The l'Cie watched him carefully as he threw the dust into the cylinder and hobbled over to a shelf to grab a few bottles of colorful liquids to pour into the cylinder as well. "Well?" he asked in a loud voice, whirling the cylinder around to mix the contents as he made his way back to his chair.
"Oh… uhhh… that's sort of the problem," Hope timidly spoke up when no one else did. "We have these really quick flashes, but we're not able to piece them together well enough to figure the focus out."
"Hmmm," Opie hummed, taking his seat again. "Well, that I may be able to help you lot with."
"You can tell us what our focus is?" Vanille asked optimistically.
"Heeheehee, oh no, my dear." Opie reached under the cushion of his chair and dug his hand around. Suddenly, a crooked smile emerged on his face and he whipped his hand back out, this time holding a small, fuzzy little ball of gunk. "But I can show you."
Opie dropped the small, fuzzy mass that he held between his fingers into the cylinder. A soft popping sound broke through the air as a rush of thick smoke began to spill out of the container. Lightning stiffened and leaned forward on the balls of her feet to get a better view.
"So which one of you lot will it be?"
"Pardon?" Vanille asked, her eyes also glued to the overflowing cylinder. Truth be told, the only person in the room whose eyes weren't trained on the cylinder was Fang.
"I need a volunteer in order for this to work," Opie stated. "And I'd rather it be one of my new Cocoon friends. Clanswoman, why don't you dim the lamp though? It'll make it easier for you lot to see."
Vanille nodded and walked over to the lamp while Lightning, Hope, and Snow all exchanged insecure looks between each other.
Hope let out a deep breath and took a step forward toward Opie, but was yanked back by Lightning tugging at his arm. "Snow," she mouthed to the older boy in the room. "You. Go."
Snow's eyes grew in shock as a soft whimper inadvertently escaped his lips. "Why me?" me mouthed back, pointing a questioning finger to his chest.
Lightning fought hard to keep herself from growling at the boy. "You're. The. Strongest," she slowly mouthed in reply, pointing an angry finger at him then at Opie. "BE. A. MAN."
Snow shot Lightning an argumentative look as the lights in the room dimmed.
"By all that's right in the world, do you lot take this long to do everything?" Opie spat from his chair. Before anyone could give an answer, he stuck his head inside the smoking cylinder and took a loud inhale. "Ahhhh…" When he lifted his head back up, his look of annoyance had turned instead into a loose and dopey one.
"Oh, hell no," Lightning growled under her breath. She pulled Hope closer to her body and took a huge step forward in order to plant her free hand into Snow's back and give him a strong shove.
"Wha—Hey!" Snow objected as he stumbled forward, but it was too late.
"And we have a taker!" Opie cackled, using his hearing to know exactly where to reach his hand out in order to grab Snow's arm and reel him in. "My, you're a big one. They don't skimp on the meals in Cocoon suburbia, do they? Anyway, here. Take this." He thrust the cylinder into Snow's unassuming hands. "Now I want you to spit in it, then as hard as you can, blow into it."
"Wait. Actually spit in it, like—"
"Just spit, boy!"
"Pfttt!" Snow hocked up a large loogie and let it fly into the cylinder. He then took a deep inhale, and as hard as he could, puckered his lips and blew into the container.
Thick, cool smoke shot out of the open end of the cylinder and quickly spread throughout the rest of the room, completely covering the floor in an opaque mist. Near the center of the room, parts of the smoke began to rise to form columns before moving on to outline steps that led up to a huge, smoky throne.
"Whoa, that's the room," Snow breathed, tightly gripping the cylinder with both hands. "That's the room we're always in for the visions."
"Hey… I think I know where that is now," Hope spoke softly, gently wriggling out of Lightning's loosened grip and taking a step further into the smoke scene. "That's the primarch's palace. In Eden. We're studying it in my social studies class this week. It was hard to tell before, but I'm pretty sure that's where it is."
The smoke on the ground began to rise until it was around waist-level of the taller teens. As if standing up all at once from a crouching position, a multitude of small smoke-soldiers rose from the smoke and broke out running towards the throne in the middle of the room with their miniature guns at the ready. Lightning stared, her mouth slightly agape in amazement, at the small popping sounds that sounded and echoed off the walls as the tiny men fired their weapons.
"Hahhhh!" a rough cry broke out, and flashes of light flickered through some of the thick plumes and columns of smoke.
"Awww, heyyy," Snow cooed, bending over to get a closer look at the newest little smoke person to appear in the crowd. "Lightning, I think that's you."
Lightning arched an eyebrow and leaned forward to study the smoke person in question. The little thing was quick, and seemed to have the same long hairstyle as she did. Not too far away was a taller, and bulkier smoke person who was throwing punches in the air. No doubt that one was Snow. There was even a smaller figure that ran along the outskirts of the room, thrusting its arms out at random times, that she thought somewhat resembled Hope. The only two people who she couldn't find a feasible smoke counterpart for were…
"RAAAWWWRRRRRRRRR!"
Lightning felt a tingle run down her spine and her body involuntarily straightened on hearing the same roar that always haunted her dreams at night.
From the corner of the room, Fang's head shot up on hearing the roar to cautiously eye the events going on in the center of the room as well.
"Whoa, oh!" Snow's face turned frightful as a clawed hand reached out to grip the edge of the cylinder from its inside. Another clawed hand grabbed the edge of the cylinder from the opposite side, and with a forceful push, a much larger figure burst out from out of the container. "Eeeeeee!" Snow immediately dropped the cylinder and shook his hands nervously, taking a quick step backwards away from where the thing was probably rolling around on the floor in the smoke.
The figure seemed almost humanlike, but was definitely not human. It was at least three times the size of the soldiers below and had a huge, spiky mane (that creepily almost looked like it was composed of clawed hands) that ran from the top of its head to the middle of its shoulder blades and reached all the way down its back. As it ran, leapt, and swung its longs arms at an unbelievable speed across the room, a long, pronged tail whipped the air behind it.
"And that's the monster," Lightning said, staring at the newest addition to the smoke party. "That's the monster from our visions."
Fang just gaped wide-eyed at the creature. She had spoken to Lightning before about what the other girl had seen in her visions, but even her imagination could never have made her picture this. And in comparison to her own visions, she realized that she had never seen the monster, although she could hear its mighty roar; she'd go as far to say that sometimes she could even feel the roar deep within her being. But the more she watched the erratic smoke scene play out, the more unsettled she became. There was way too much familiarity in the movements of the beast. The way it jumped from pillar to pillar… the way it quickly glided across the room to stare its opponents in the eye before standing to beat its chest… those were actions that more and more matched some of scenes she had had in her visions.
The gentle grip of a soft hand sliding into her own was the only thing able to tear Fang's eyes away from all the smoke action that had almost everyone in the room still mesmerized. Fang's face scrunched as she now looked down into the knowing, pale green eyes of her best friend. She hadn't seen so much fear and sadness mixed in Van's eyes since their first night together at the orphanage in Oerba. She tried to give the girl's hand a comforting squeeze, but she knew there was no comfort at all to be found dealing with this situation.
The sounds of gunshots, shouting, and roars slowly started to die down as the smoke faded away. Lightning released a pent up breath that she didn't even realize she was holding and looked across the room for the first time since Snow had spit in the cylinder.
One of her eyebrows spontaneously arched.
Fang and Vanille stood isolated away from the rest of the group with their sides damn near plastered against each other and hands tightly clasped together. It shouldn't have bothered her. She had seen the two of them do much touchier things than this before. And although their actions were sometimes questionable, there was always such a nonchalant manner with which they usually did them that made them easy to shrug off and forget a moment later. But this… something was different about this. It seemed much more close. And intimate. Almost as if it were something that was not meant to be witnessed by anyone else. Nevertheless, Lightning still couldn't find it in herself to stop watching, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it.
"Man, that was heavy." Snow bent over to pick up the now empty cylinder that he had dropped on the floor earlier. "What in the hell was that thing? Do you think we were fighting it? It was hard to tell. None of the people things seemed to be aiming at anyone in particular. One of the soldiers looked like he was shooting at a wall for a good minute."
"That 'thing' you saw in the smoke was Ragnarok, the fated beast."
All heads turned back to the elder in the room, whose face had now turned serious in contrast to the goofy look of high euphoria he had been wearing when the smoke had first come to life.
"I thought that Ragnarok was just a bed time story," Vanille peeped quietly, finally pulling away from Fang to take a step closer to Opie's chair. "An old tale just to make children behave."
"Heehee, my dear clanswoman," Opie grimly laughed, "what tales are scarier than the truth? You do not know much about fal'Cie terror and rule, but the bedtime stories of Ragnarok weren't started to make sure you don't fight or steal. Oh, no… they were very much real warnings to children to stay away from the fal'Cie unless they wanted such a fate to befall them."
"W-what exactly is Ragnarok?" Hope asked nervously.
"My Cocoonian friend," Opie began, now leaning forward on his knees, "Ragnarok is the legendary beast whose destiny is to destroy Cocoon."
"What?" Lightning asked, bristling at the explanation. "Are you trying to say that there's some ancient monster running around trying to destroy our planet?"
"Precisely," Opie answered. "The legend states that it has always been the plan of the fal'Cie to choose a mighty Gran Pulsian warrior to become Ragnarok and strike down Cocoon. I guess that the fal'Cie may finally have found that warrior."
"But why now?" Hope asked, the unmistakable look of fear in his eyes as he spoke. "Why not during the war?"
Opie made a disgruntled face and shook his head. "The fal'Cie knew better, boy. The war was a time when many of the people of Gran Pulse were turned into l'Cie and sent off to do the fal'Cie's bidding. It separated families, and lovers, and friends. The people came to despise the fal'Cie even more than they despised Cocoon, making it unsafe for any fal'Cie to grant their l'Cie such power."
"So that's why so many of the fal'Cie on Gran Pulse suddenly disappeared," Lightning thought aloud, remembering an exerpt on Gran Pulsian fal'Cie she had see on the history channel as she began piecing the puzzle together in her mind. "They must've went into hiding, waiting for a day when the people of Gran Pulse would forget about them and see Cocoon as the bigger enemy."
"And you Cocoon lot played right into it," Opie grumped.
"It makes sense…" Lightning continued, disregarding Opie's jab at her people. "Maybe Rosch was on to something as well. Maybe some Gran Pulsian fighter did run into Anima, and got turned into Ragnarok. No, we definitely would've heard about some giant monster running around trying to destroy Cocoon."
"Maybe he just hasn't picked out someone to be Ragnarok yet," Hope offered. Lightning turned to look at him questioningly. "If our visions show us what's supposed to happen in the future, maybe Ragnarok still hasn't been chosen yet."
"Maybe, but none of that explains what we're supposed to be doing," Lightning said, crossing her arms and looking down to think. "We were marked by a Gran Pulse fal'Cie, too. Why would he need us? Unless we're supposed to help this thing…"
"Maybe we're looking at this all wrong," Snow finally said, attracting most of the attention his way. "If one fal'Cie can hide away up here, maybe there's more. What if Anima's not trying to destroy Cocoon, but trying to save it?"
Lightning gave Snow a skeptical look, but the boy still pushed on, "Just hear me out. Anima is pretty much stuck on Cocoon. Something that big and obvious has no way of sneaking off. Maybe he was hiding out, all comfy here and knew about some other fa'Cie plan and just wanted to save his new home? I just can't help but believe we were given these powers to save the world."
"Likely plan or not, if we don't stop Ragnarok, he's going to destroy Cocoon," Hope said somberly. "I'm not sure if it's our focus, or if helping him will turn us to crystal and save us while the rest of the world burns… I just know we can't let that happen. Not when so many lives are at stakes. Our parents, our friends, just innocent people… We've got to stop it."
Lightning felt sick to her stomach. There was a sense of pride swelling in her chest at how brave and honorable the young and timid Hope Estheim had become, but it also worried her that this whole ordeal had forced him to grow up way too early. The theft of his innocence was just another strike that the fal'Cie, and now Ragnarok, had against him. It was another thing, added on to Hope's previous stated reasoning, on why they both needed to be defeated. There was no question about it.
With that in mind, Lightning released a deep breath and looked over her fellow l'Cie's faces, not exactly being able to catch Vanille or Fang's gaze. "Then I guess that pretty much sums up one thing… We need to get to Eden and defeat Ragnarok."
Vanille took a deep swallow and looked back over her shoulder to Fang, whose face had taken on a ghastly expression.
Shit.
"I don't know. I have exams next week, so that may not be a good time."
"Dude, forget about exams! If we don't fight this thing off, they won't matter anyway. The more important thing is that I've got a party coming up! We can't leave before then! Gotta blow off some steam before we fight the dream, right?"
Lightning led the way out of the house as the other l'Cie followed. Hope and Snow continued to talk potential strategy concerning when they should begin their trip to Eden while Fang and Vanille remained eerily quiet.
Fang stopped at the open door and paused as Vanille stepped beside her to give her a worried look.
"Ahh, guys," Fang called in a less than sure voice, breaking eye contact with Vanille to look over the questioning expressions of her other friends. "Me and Van need to hang back awhile and ask Opie some questions about stuff going on at the rez. Mind waiting outside a bit?"
"No prob!" Snow immediately answered with a smile while Lightning watched Fang with a subtly disturbed expression on her face.
Fang nodded gratefully and waited for Vanille to step fully back into the house before closing the door behind them.
"So you are the two who have been fated to become Ragnarok," Opie stated in a gravely voice. His head turned to the direction of Vanille. "The young, sweet girl…" His head then rolled so that he was now resting his empty eyes on Fang. "…and the older, insolent one."
"Aye, can ya lay off a bit?" Fang snapped, taking a menacing step forward.
"Oooh, touchy, touchy," Opie sang, wagging a warning finger in Fang's direction. "That anger will be nothing but your downfall, young Yun. You should try your best to tame it."
"But she is good at taming it!" Vanille defended. "Well, usually…"
"I know," Opie calmly replied, not seeming too affected by any of the shocking truths that had been revealed in his home today. "She's been holding a lot of that anger, especially anger against Cocoon, deep inside her… and for a very long time too. That's why the fal'Cie chose her as the trigger."
"The trigger?" Fang asked.
"The trigger," Opie repeated. "All that anger inside of you, the monster feeds off of it. That control you may have had over it before, you now must compete with the beast for it. And if you let that anger get the best of you, if you give the beast enough fuel to take control… then that will be the trigger that jump starts you and your friend's transformation into Ragnarok."
Vanille's eyes grew big with worry and Fang just let out a sad, disbelieving breath. "So you're saying that if I get too much of a temper tantrum, then I'll turn both of us into that thing we saw?"
"I'm sure up to reasonable measure. I can feel the bond that you two share. It's a strong, lifelong one. The fal'Cie must've been felt it too; it probably helped in why he chose you. You two don't like being away from each other. You don't trust it… don't trust the world to not be cruel with someone you hold so dear, and I understand. The fal'Cie knew how close you are. It knew that you wouldn't leave each other, and that if one of you experienced pain, or anger, or fear, the other's emotions would spike as well, making you both vulnerable for the transformation. And you, missy, seem to be the biggest threat for pulling the pin."
Fang silently stared at the ground in contemplation. It felt as if a million thoughts were running through her mind. "How can I stop it?" she asked softly, her voice breaking a bit from the guilt and anguish that was starting to weigh down on her from their growing predicament.
"You can't," Opie replied solemnly. "The means may change, but there are only two ends. You can try to ignore your focus, but I know you won't." His head once again turned to face Vanille. "The consequences are too grave."
"But there has to be something—"
Two loud knocks on the door interrupted Fang's plea. "Fang, it's starting to get late," Lightning's voice sounded through the wood. "We should start heading back now before we get stuck travelling through the woods in the dark."
Fang sighed. "We'll be done in a minute!" she called back.
"Listen," Opie said in an authoritative voice, "I can tell what you're thinking. And I sense that you have questions. I already did ya one favor tonight by throwing the gum in that Vision Smoke to skew the actions in the vision, and I don't mind doing ya another. When you leave, I will make you a batch of herbs that should help curb that anger a bit. You can come back later tonight, alone, to pick them up and ask your questions then."
"Alone?" Vanille echoed, quickly turning her head to look back and forth from Fang to Opie.
Fang just tried to give Vanille a reassuring smile and placed a hand on her back to lead her to the door. As she grasped the knob, she looked back over her shoulder at Opie, sitting expectantly in his chair. "I'll consider it."
The sky had grown dark by the time Fang had been able to return to the woods. Vanille was not pleased at all with the idea of Fang traveling alone to meet up with Opie again. She was even more perturbed that Fang wouldn't tell her what Opie had been talking about when he said he knew what she had been thinking. She simply shrugged it off saying that the old man must've been having more hallucinations. Nevertheless, Vanille had made it a point to stick to her older best friend like glue for the rest of the day, meaning that Fang had to use all types of sly tricks and maneuvers to finally get away from the girl and steal off towards Dia Opie's.
She had a feeling that the woods would be a bit creepier at night, but she had no idea that they would be this ominous. Dark tree branches that looked like claws reached out and grabbed for her with every step she took. The wind whistled an eerie tune, and every single animal outside felt the need to screech as if it were dying a horrible death.
Fang had never felt so relieved when she finally stumbled upon the horribly built hidden cabin in the trees.
She brushed the leaves, and nerves, off of her shoulder before taking more confident steps toward the home. As she neared, she shot a curious glance to the window.
Completely dark.
No light spilled from under the door or out of the presumed million cracks that had to be covering such a ramshackle of a house. Fang didn't know much about the needs of blind people, but she at least thought it would be courtesy to leave the light on if he had been expecting her.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the door and knocked against it with the toe of her shoe.
No answer.
She knocked again. "Dia Opie?"
No sounds returned her call but the rustling of leaves in the trees and the raucous chirping of the night bugs.
"Oi!" She exasperatedly gave the door a much harder kick than she had in her former two attempts, and instead of being met with resistance, the door flung open.
"Uh… Dia Opie?" Fang stuck her head inside the home. It was pitch black inside, but as the door began to swing further and further back, more moonlight was able to shine in and illuminate the place.
"Dia—oh…" Fang's breath caught in her chest.
Something was wrong.
The once cluttered room, stuffed with trays, bowls, vases, and trinkets… was completely empty. There were no tables scattered across the floor. No toys hanging off the shelves. No cot pushed against the back wall. And most importantly, no tall chair with a peculiar old man sitting in it.
No anything.
Fang took an alarmed step backwards and out of the house, quickly looking around to see if she was being watched.
A twig snapped in the distance.
Fang ducked into a crouch and adopted a defensive position. Her eyes darted through the trees, trying to make out any figures in the bushes as she slowly, quietly, started backing away into the thicker foliage.
BANG!
Fang quickly spun around with her hands raised in a fighting position, nearly jumping out of her skin she was so startled. However, it was just the door that she had failed to close. A nighttime breeze had pushed it back to crash against the inside wall of the house.
Fang let out a shaky breath and turned to hurriedly scurry through the thicket. Screw caution. She wasn't going to wait for any surprises.
As she swiftly weaved, ducked, and crawled her way through the forest back to the living area, one thought repeated over and over in her mind.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.