"Mmmm… Uggghhhh." Lightning awoke with a staggered groan.

She slowly opened her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. Her throat was dry and the stale, disgusting taste of burped up alcohol filled her mouth. She tried to lift herself up from the mattress, but her head throbbed in protest at the movement. So instead, she dropped back down to bury her face in her pillow.

Never. Again.

She slowly turned her head to spy two empty water bottles lying flat on her nightstand with a full one standing up right behind them. So maybe Drunk Lightning did have some sense…

With a yawn, she turned her head to look at the opposite side of her bed. It was empty, but all of the covers were wrinkled and disheveled.

Two loud knocks on her door made her head ache even more.

"Claire?" her dad's voice boomed through. Why was everything so loud?

"Yeeessss," she groaned in reply.

"Get up and get dressed. We've got company coming over."

"Yes, Dad," Lightning responded, rubbing her temples and finally finding the power within herself to sit up straight. The room spun, as well did her stomach, but she decided that the hardest part was over.

As she reached to pick the full water bottle up off of her nightstand, something caught her eye. The wind was lightly blowing through the window, causing her curtains to flutter backwards into the room. That was odd. She never left her window open at night.

"Light!"

Lightning jumped and grabbed her head as the bathroom door flung open. "Holy hell, Serah, could you be any louder?"

"Sorry," the youngest Farron apologized, walking further into the room to join her sister on the bed. "But I come bearing gifts of aspirin and Cactuarade. Thought it'd make you feel better. You were pretty far gone last night."

"Feels like I got into a head butting competition with a train," Lightning admitted, gratefully taking the aspirin and sports drink from her sister.

"From what I heard, you almost got into a fight with Jason Stallone. If Gadot hadn't shown up, you might've injured him," Serah chuckled.

"He would've deserved it." Lightning tossed the aspirin in her mouth before taking a few gulps of water.

"Well, if you ended up hurting him before the homecoming game, you'd probably become the most despised person in the school. Even lower on the totem pole than… ahem," Serah cleared her throat and stared down at her lap as she thought of her next question. "Light, how well do you know Oerba Dia Fang?"

"Oerba Yun Fang?"

"Oh. Yeah. She was very adamant about bringing you home last night, and she already knew where we lived. I've never seen you two talk before, and with you training to be in GC and from what Vanille says about her, I wouldn't even think the two of you would get along. Is this some type of juvie-bonding thing that happened when you all got caught at the Vestige?"

"We sit next to each other in history, Serah," Lightning replied. "We see each other all the time. And it's not everyone's business what I'm training for."

"Sorry. It just felt like you two were closer than that, especially since Snow said we were all invited to her track meet today."

Shit. Her track meet was today, wasn't it? Lightning let out a deep breath. She barely felt like getting out of bed, so she definitely didn't feel like sitting out in the hot, bright sun as a multitude of people screamed and shouted around her.

"…and after the two of you left, Gadot was pretty upset. Something about knowing Fang would pull something like that after the body shot you two did?"

As if Lightning's stomach could feel worse, she felt it twist a bit tighter as memories from the night before flooded back to her. Lying on the bar as Fang licked her stomach… swaying together on the dance floor… sitting on the sidelines watching Tammy tongue her down… and being supported by her as they walked home. Her last coherent memory, before everything faded into a gray haze, was her telling Fang how much she disliked the thought of Tammy or Vanille putting their lips on her…

Oh, Etro.

Lightning's eyes widened and an accidental moan of shame left her lips. She placed the water bottle down and fell backwards onto the bed, wanting the mattress to just swallow her alive and spit her out into some alternate universe where she hadn't made a total ass of herself.

"Light, are you alright?"

"Nooo," Lightning mumbled back, grabbing hold of a pillow. What were the odds that Fang had witnessed some freak disaster, like a meteor crashing, that would have distracted her enough to forget everything that Lightning had said to her on that walk home? There was no way that she could face Fang today. Absolutely none. "Serah, hand me my phone, please?"

"Okay… sure." Serah hesitantly grabbed Lightning's phone from the nightstand and handed it to her, still not entirely sure what to make of the scene that was playing out before her eyes.

Not paying much attention to her sister, Lightning scrolled down to Fang's number.

"Hey. Not feeling well. Can't go to meet today"

Not more than a minute passed before the phone beeped to signal a new incoming message. Just as expected, it was from Fang.

"really? just pulled up outside your house. can I come up to say hey before we ride serah over?"

Fuck.

Fang squinted in the sunlight as she and Vanille exited her car. Lightning had just messaged her saying that she wasn't feeling well, but since they were already here she figured she could still give Serah the ride instead of passing the duty off to Snow. Truthfully, she just wanted an excuse to see Lightning. Her stomach had sunk when she initially read Lightning's text and she feared the worst. Last night, in her drunken state, Light had called her Ragnarok and then went on to speak of her fated focus… the destruction of Cocoon. If she had woken this morning and remembered that, well… Fang didn't even want to think of the full repercussions if she remembered. She just hoped she didn't.

A few feet behind her, the sound of another car door slamming caught her attention. She turned her head to see a stocky, mid-sized young man with blue eyes, scraggly light brown hair, and an overconfident walk step onto the sidewalk.

"Hmm." Fang shrugged, not thinking too much of it as she and Vanille also started walking from behind their car to get the sidewalk.

As they walked, all three young adults met and turned to go up the path to Lightning's house. The common action caused all of them to stop and stare at each other curiously.

"The Farron household?" the young man asked, pointing a thumb towards Lightning's house.

"Yeah. You, too?" Fang asked, as Vanille nodded behind her.

"Yep," the guy said, his face breaking off into a lazy smile. "Well, since we're going to the same place, might as well introduce myself. Name's Rygdea. Nice to meet ya!"

He reached his hand out to give both Fang and Vanille a firm and hearty handshake. Fang smiled. "Oerba Yun Fang. And this is my best friend, Oerba Dia Vanille."

"Hi!" Vanille chirped from behind with a little wave.

"Nice to meet ya as well."

"Well, I'll be…" Rygdea placed his fists against his hips as his smile wrinkles deepened. "I figured from the looks of you two, but I wasn't completely sure. You're Gran Pulsian, ain't you?"

Fang's smile widened and she turned to Vanille, who wore an impressed look on her face. It wasn't every day that they met a Cocoonian who said 'Gran Pulsian' without being corrected at least five times beforehand. "Why, yes, we are," Fang finally replied with lit eyes.

"Hot damn, that's exciting!" Rydgea whooped, slapping a hand against the side of his leg. "I didn't think Colonel Farron was pro-Gran Pulse."

"Ya didn't?" Fang asked in astonishment. "You'd be surprised. Colonel Farron loves me!"

"Hah, guess you learn something new everyday!" Rygdea beamed as the three started walking the path to the house's front door.

"So Rygdea, what brings you to the Farron household this early in the day?" Fang asked.

"The Colonel wants me to meet his oldest daughter. Says she's a bit on the anti-social side and could use a boost in the companionship department."

"Really? Why, I'm here to share companionship with the older curmudgeony daughter, too! Twinsies!"

"Fang..."

"I think he wants me to ask her out to the PSICOM Cadet's Ball. Is she any type of good-looking?"

"You're a PSICOM cadet?" Fang pouted. "And just when I was starting to like you… But believe you me, don't let the stories fool ya. She's a fox. A bit of a rabid one in some cases, but a fox nonetheless."

"Nice," Rygdea said with a smile, stepping up to the front door to push in the doorbell. "Fang, mind if I ask you something personal?"

Fang lifted an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Gorgonopsid burgers or behemoth steaks?"

"Claire! Come downstairs! You have company!" Colonel Farron called as he marched to the front door. Twisting the lock and turning the cold knob firmly in his hand, he gave it good yank, expecting to see his bright, new protégé standing straight and honorably at the door. He didn't expect to instead see the traitorous young bastard leaning over, hand holding his stomach in laughter as the current bane of his existence raucously laughed on the step beside him.

"And that's why I'd take either of 'em over hedgefrog ANY DAY!" Fang finished whatever story she had been telling that currently had Rygdea in stitches. "Oh! Hey, Mr. Farron! Good to see ya again!"

Farron didn't answer her but just stared at her through hard, tempered eyes.

"Colonel!" Rygdea choked as he tried to calm himself. He stood straight and saluted the superior officer before reaching out to shake his hand. "Colonel, I didn't know your family was on the Gran Pulsian Equality forefront. I especially didn't know you were friends with such good-hearted Gran Pulsians."

"We aren't," Farron dryly stated with his eyes still fixed on Fang. "But what do I owe this please to, Yun Fang? And Dia?"

"We're here to pick Serah up to go to the school track meet," Vanille answered with an innocent smile. "Cheerleaders are needed and she didn't have a ride."

"I see. Well, you can wait out here until she's ready."

"Actually, sir, if it's not too much trouble," Rygdea cut in modestly, "I was hoping to ask Fang and Vanille some questions about the climate on the reservation. One of my higher ups requested I get some Gran Pulsian insight for one of my reports, and this would be a great opportunity for it."

Farron was now giving Rygdea a disgruntled look, but consented nonetheless. There was no need for the neighbors to wonder why two Pulsians were lounging on his lawn anyway. "Come in."

Fang grinned smugly at the pink-haired man as she crossed the threshold into the house and led the way to the living room sofa to converse with Rygdea.

"Hey, Light?" Serah tapped on the inside of the bathroom door before stepping into her older sister's room. "Are you sure you're not coming to the meet with us?"

"I'm positive."

"Because I just got a text from Vanille, and she says there's some PSICOM guy downstairs that Dad wants to set you up with."

Lightning paused midway through zipping up her jeans and her head flew up to look at Serah. "What?"

"Says he's supposed to be asking you out to some type of ball." Serah giggled a bit before continuing with her next statement, "And he asked if you were hot."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lightning grumbled.

"You can always try to use the meet as an escape route."

She could. It just mattered which situation she'd rather be in, and right now talking to some stranger that her father wanted her to date was actually winning. "Let's just get downstairs and see what all this is about."

"Yay." Serah smiled as she followed Lightning out of the bedroom.

She'd only been talking with the guy for about five minutes before she wanted out. He was nice, she'd give him that. He was also handsome in a bit of a rugged way. But everything just felt forced, especially with her father in the corner, quietly nodding his head along with the conversation. Each word that Rygdea said to her sounded like it had been read off a cue card that Farron had given him to study beforehand. Thankfully, Serah immediately sensed her discomfort and found reasons to stall the rest of them from leaving. It was even more of a comfort that Fang was able to act as the perfect conversation buffer. She seemed to get along quite well with Rygdea, and since she knew Lightning pretty well too, she was easily able to lighten the conversation by asking them certain questions and adding her own side comments in here and there. If not for the embarrassment that Lightning felt every time they made eye contact, she probably would've straight up told Fang that they all needed to leave for the track meet now.

Instead, Lightning took a deep breath and stood. "I need to grab something out the kitchen. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for a reaction, she briskly strode into the kitchen and placed her hands against the surface of the island. She was already feeling like crap, so maybe there was a way that she could make her father and Rygdea see that, just enough to make them decide that it was best to leave her alone to get some rest.

"Light?"

She lifted her head to meet the concerned face of Fang, standing in the kitchen doorway. She felt like a deer in headlights.

"Didn't mean to startle ya. We've gotta get going in a few, so I just wanted to check on ya and make sure you're feeling alright. Ya had a bit of a wild night last night."

"Oh." Lightning tried to settle herself down. "I've felt better. Just wish my dad had chosen a different day to become my pimp."

Fang lightly chuckled and stepped further into the kitchen. "I dunno. I kinda like Rygdea. He's a good guy. A bit of a bogan, but who isn't nowadays? And if ya want, one touch, and I can give him a big enough virus to have him KO'd for like a week."

Lightning softly smiled at the offer and shook her head. "I considered it, but no thanks. Dad would probably want me to be his nurse."

"I understand." Fang slowly turned to head back to the door, hesitated, and then swiftly spun back around. "Last night, you said some things," she blurted. The expression on her face looked cautious and insecure as she eyed Lightning down. "When we were walking here. Do ya… do ya remember what you said?"

Lightning's body went rigid. This was the exact moment she had been dreading. Fang's face looked so desperate for an answer and she couldn't help but still feel nothing but embarrassment over what she had said, so she took the easy way out. "No."

"Ya don't?"

"Um, no." Lightning raised a hand to rub at her forehead. "It's all bits and pieces after the whole trying to blow up a basketball player thing. I really did go overboard with the drinks. What I said… was it something noteworthy?"

"Um, well..." Fang took a deep exhale and let her shoulders relax. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't lose some hours of sleep over it."

Lightning's head tilted as she looked to Fang with a mystified stare. A tinge of regret over her little lie was already beginning to creep into her conscience.

"But it's nothing ya need to worry about! Just some drunken banter. I do hope ya feel better though," Fang was saying as she turned to the door. "And if you need anything—"

"Wait." Light rushed around the island to catch up with her. "I'm coming with you. My dad's real big on not backing out of commitments and I'm sure Rygdea feels just as awkward as I do in there, so they won't protest too much. Just give me a minute."

Fang just nodded as Lightning slipped past her to tell her father of her departure plans.

Lightning, Serah, Vanille, Snow, and Hope all sat on the bleachers a few rows above where the rest of their school's track team had set up shop. They had just finished cheering Fang on as she finished doing some of her jumps.

"I just think it's interesting that all of you became so close after everything that happened at the Vestige," Serah said, looking from Hope to Snow to Vanille and Lightning curiously. "I thought Light would do more to forget everything had ever happened instead of hanging out with the people it happened with. And the whole time, I never even knew."

Lightning shot Serah a peeved look over her shoulder. She could tell the girl was prying.

"In detainment, we found out we all had something in common," Snow stated, right before stuffing a whole hotdog into his mouth. Serah looked at him expectantly, not disgusted at all by his eating display as she waited for him to swallow. "We all love track."

Hope held back a chuckle as Serah's face dropped to a point where it almost looked as annoyed as Lightning's.

From below, some of their peers started clapping and cheering as Fang climbed the bleachers, wearing sweat bottoms to cover up the tight spandex shorts that Lightning had earlier enjoyed watching the girl move up and down the steps in. Fang smiled and lifted her hand to give a number of her teammates high fives until she reached the upper set of seats where her personal fan club sat. "Whew! I think that went well!" she grinned, taking a towel from Vanille to wipe the sweat from around her hairline.

"You did great!" Vanille cheered.

"Yeah," Lightning agreed in a more level tone, but her eyes showed how proud she actually was of her friend. "You really did do well."

"Thanks." Fang beamed. "See that guy over there?" She leaned over to point at a husky man who was hunched over in his seat, paging through a clipboard. "That's the scout for Nautilus U. From the field I could see him watching and smiling at me. I think he's feelin' my swag!"

Lightning rolled her eyes as Fang plopped down on the seat beside her. It was hard to imagine that a couple of hours ago, she had been morbidly terrified of even speaking to Fang. And now, just sitting around and talking like this felt nothing but natural.

"Fang!" Coach Reeves stood up from where he had been sitting amongst the team. "They're about to medal the javelin winners! They need you back on the field!"

"Oh, shit," Fang let slip as she jumped back up to hurry down the bleachers to jog back to the entrance of the field.

"Hmm, you two seem really buddy-buddy," Serah continued to think aloud, pointing a finger from the direction Fang had run back to Lightning. "Is that from the shared love of track, too?"

"Serah, enjoy the meet," Lightning simply ordered, leaning back against the bleacher behind her.

A few minutes passed before one of the meet officials marched Fang, along with the first and third place winners of the javelin throw, out across the field to where the medal blocks were. Fang had a jubilant smile on her face as she stood behind the second place block, waiting for her name to be called on the loudspeaker.

Lightning looked on with admiration as well. She was happy for Fang. This was her little slice of heaven, where it didn't matter if she was from Gran Pulse or Cocoon. She was still treated the same, like a fine teammate and competitor.

Fang and the other two medalists continued to stand patiently as a second official jogged up to the whisper something into the ear of the first.

The name of the third place winner was announced over the loud speaker and met with light applause as said athlete stepped onto the shortest block.

One of the officials placed a hand on Fang's shoulder. Fang turned her head to give him a questioning look as the two began to talk.

"That's strange," Vanille pointed out, using her hand as a visor as she watched the goings-ons on the field. "That never happens. Wonder what's the hold up."

Fang's mouth was starting to move more quickly and she turned around to fully face the two officials. From below, Coach Reeves stood up and made his way down the bleachers to investigate what was going on as well. Fang continued to go back and forth with officials, now adding long, sweeping hand motions to what looked to be a heated conversation with them while the first place medalist continued to stand awkwardly behind the largest block.

"No, no… This can't be good…" Vanille was now saying under her breath, her eyes glued to what was going by the medaling blocks.

Lightning could feel her own muscles beginning to tighten. She had a bad feeling about this as well.

In a matter of moments, Coach Reeves had jogged across the field to enter the conversation. The two officials calmly looked to him and seemed to be explaining something, but whatever they said definitely had to be something that wasn't to his liking because he snatched the hat from his head and slammed it to the ground before thrusting an angry finger into one of the official's faces. The official just shook his head. Fang grabbed the official's arm to turn him to her and from the look on her face, she seemed to be pleading with him. He continued to shake his head and promptly pulled his arm from Fang's grasp.

A name was announced on the loudspeaker again. It was the name of the third place winner, except this time, the announcer was calling them the second place winner. The young athlete turned to give Fang a hesitant look before taking a step up to stand on the second place block instead of the third place one.

Fang turned to face the bleachers. Her expression looked utterly miserable, but she wasn't looking at her team or any of the l'Cie. Lightning turned her head to follow her gaze. She was looking at the recruiter, who was on his cell phone shaking his head with a disappointed look.

Back on the field, Coach Reeves dejectedly picked his hat from off the ground and placed a consoling hand on Fang's shoulder. That's when the Fang's face hardened. She yanked her shoulder away and stormed off the field, nearly bowling over some poor guy who was unlucky enough to be standing in her way as she left.

"Why didn't they call her name?" Hope asked, voicing the question that was on everybody mind.

They would get their answer a moment later when Coach Reeves agitatedly stomped back up the bleachers. "They say she was using performance enhancers, could you believe it?" he announced to the rest of the team. "They said there's no way she could consistently keep placing in all her events the way she did. She even offered to piss in a cup for them! But nooooo, they say they know drugs in action when they see them, and that she definitely was on the drugs. This is bullshit!"

"Oh no…" Vanille murmured, shakily getting to her feet and frantically looking around. "I need to find Fang."

"Vanille," Lightning jumped up and grabbed the redhead's wrist before she could descend the bleachers. "Don't worry about it. You sit down and relax. I'll find Fang."

"No, Lightning, you don't understand. If she gets too mad, she'll…" Vanille froze, not really knowing the right way to explain it without explaining it all, "She's just been really sensitive lately and she can get really bad when she's angry."

"I can get worse."

"No, Lightning, you don't understand!"

"What's going on?" Serah asked, leaning forward to enter to conversation.

Vanille froze again, forgetting that there was a non-l'Cie amongst the group today. Lightning took this as her chance. "Vanille, you can explain Fang's anger issues to Serah while I go find her and defuse them, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer before hopping down the bleachers and weaving through the crowd to search for Fang.

Vanille sighed worriedly after her.

"Snow," Serah said, turning away from direction her sister had just run off in, "Would you like me to get you another hotdog?"

Lightning jogged a few blocks away from the stadium, hoping to catch any glimpse of Fang. She would finally find success when she heard loud, dull thumpings booming from around a dark corner not to far from where she currently stood. Not wanting to waste any more time, she broke out into a sprint in the direction of the strange noises.

"Arggghhhhh!"

THWOMP!

Metal crumpled around her foot as Fang delivered another mighty kick to an abandoned car that she had found lying about the area. She couldn't see straight. Couldn't think straight. All she could do was seethe.

She grabbed at the nearest thing, a metal trash can, and tossed it against the wall, finding some pleasure in both the way the metal bent and the bricks of the wall broke upon contact.

"Hey!"

She stopped and turned to meet the glacial blue stare of Lightning Farron, who was taking calm strides towards her in the junky lot that she had found.

"Fang, are you okay?"

"Heh. Am I okay?" Fang's shoulders humorlessly hiked up and down. "Does it look like I'm okay?"

Lightning's eyes softened on seeing how much pain the dark-haired girl seemed to be in. "No," she admitted, shaking her head. "You don't. Do you want to talk about it?"

"With you?" Fang asked disbelievingly.

The words cut deep. Deeper than Lightning had expected them to… "I know I'm not the best at the whole feelings—"

"Ha! Hahaha!" Fang's rough and cynical laughter interrupted Lightning's heartfelt offer, almost to the point where it stung. Light was beginning to think that she really should've let Vanille come looking for Fang instead. "Now that's the understatement of the year. And what's there to talk about that isn't already blatantly obvious, hm?!" Fang reared her foot back to kick the battered car again, this time hard enough to make it temporarily jump off the ground before landing with a loud, screeching thud.

"Blatantly obvious…" Lightning mindlessly echoed before tearing her eyes away from the previously airborne car. Fang seemed a bit off of her rocker. Lightning had seen an upset Fang before, but never like this. Never to the point where she would willingly and unapologetically say things she thought would hurt her. "What's—"

"Everything!" Fang roared, this time grabbing the car and sliding it so that it went skidding into the wall of the building with a large crash. Lightning's eyes widened. Had Fang always been that strong? "They say I'm disqualified because I'm using enhancement drugs but they won't even test me?! You tell me how that's fair! How I can consistently get second and third place in most of my events and still be the one accused of cheating!"

The trashcan went flying again into another wall. This time the impact was so rough that it left a trashcan sized cave in the bricks.

"And now, no scout will ever look at me again with drugs on my record! None! Tell me how I'll ever get into uni now! I WORK HARDER THAN EVERY SINGLE OTHER ATHLETE OUT THERE JUST TO CONTROL MYSELF!"

"I know," Lightning softly agreed, chancing a cautious step forward. She couldn't take her eyes off the nylon sleeve over Fang's brand. From beneath it, something seemed to be glowing.

"You know?" Fang snarled.

Lightning halted. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and quickly moved her eyes to scan Fang's face. The girl's voice and taken a dark and sinister turn, one that Lightning didn't care too much for.

"You know?!"

Lightning ducked as a dumpster went flying across the lot, missing the top of her head by only a few feet. "How would you know?," Fang's voice boomed over the thundering sound of the dumpster crashing at the base of the building. "You're Cocoonian! I saw the way ya looked down at everything on my reservation! And the way you're always tryna solve my problems like I'm some poor 'Pulsian' girl who needs the help! You know nothing! And I don't need your damn pity!"

"It's not pity!" Lightning combated. "I'm just trying to be a friend!"

"Oh, you're trying to be a friend? Why the hell even bother?! You're planning on joining the Guardian Corps when this is over anyway!"

Lightning stilled.

"What? Didn't think I knew? What kind of friend joins an organization whose main M.O. is to tear her friend and her friend's people down, huh? A really good one?"

"Fang," Lightning tried to say in the most soothing voice she could manage. "Just because I'm joining the GC doesn't mean—"

"You were there! You saw what they did to me!" Fang interrupted, thrusting an emotional finger downwards to the ground as she spoke. "And that's exactly what you're gonna do when you become one, too. I just hope that since you know my techniques, you'd have the decency to try and dispose of me quick—AH!"

Lightning had had enough. She couldn't be sure whether it were impatience or fear that drove her actions, but before Fang could finish that angry sentence, Light had pulled enough power together to send a heavy chunk of ice flying into her shoulder.

"HEY! Don't you—" Fang stopped again in mid sentence to dodge the another frozen clump that flew her way. With a growl, Fang clenched her fist to punch the next block of oncoming ice before it could hit her, shattering it to pieces. But Lightning wouldn't stop there. Even though it took a lot of energy to make such heavy blocks, she felt it needed to be done. So she kept creating them and sending them off for Fang to angrily punch and scatter. "Fang," she gasped between throwing the chunks of ice, "Calm down before you damage something you can't repair!"

"What if I don't want to calm down, huh?!" Fang yelled as she punched through another ice block. This wasn't working, and Lightning could see that. And it was taking way too much effort to make all these giant cubes.

"What if I want to damage something?!"

Lightning took a deep breath and brought her hands to her chest to summon more magic before flinging them back out towards Fang. A mini tornado filled with snow and ice surged in Fang's direction, but Fang just ground her teeth and braced herself as it violently swirled around her, causing the nearby bricks to frost and snow to pile on the ground as she continued her rant.

"Better yet, what if I want to damage everything?! What if I just decided to give in and—AUGH!"

Lightning's eyes widened and she quickly retracted her hands to call back the mini blizzard she had summoned on seeing Fang's head suddenly kick back and her limbs go rigid before breaking into an aggressive fit of shakes. There was an undeniable light shining from beneath the girl's nylon sleeve, but Lightning barely noticed as she sprinted over to find out what was happening to her friend.

She tried to get closer but it was hard with the powerful tremors that ran through Fang's body. She was afraid that an accidental hit might be strong enough to break one of her own bones. So she just had to watch, horrified, as Fang's body twisted and wretched in its unnaturally crooked position.

There was a loud gasp of air as the shaking suddenly stopped and Fang doubled over, heaving in large, deep breaths.

"Fang? Fang, are you okay?" Light immediately took her chance to rush to the girl and hold her up by the shoulders. "What the hell was that?"

"V-visions," Fang choked, her whole figure now slightly trembling from the ordeal. "I'm sorry. I-I wasn't being serious about what I said before. I don't wanna do it. I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay." Lightning wrapped her arms around Fang and pulled her into a tight hug. "You've got a right to be upset."

"No." Fang shook her head and pulled away. "You don't remember what ya said last night—"

A dagger of guilt stuck straight through Light's heart.

"—Ya really don't care as much as ya should."

That dagger twisted.

Fang was hurt; that much was obvious. And Lightning knew there was nothing she could do to fix what had happened on the field earlier, but if Fang was hurting from their conversation this morning, that was one thing she could probably help. Lightning took a hard swallow and reached out to take the still frenzied Fang's face in her hands.

"If you remembered, then maybe ya—"

Lightning pulled Fang's face forward to interrupt her with a kiss.

She could feel Fang's trembling face stiffen in shock beneath her palms before she slowly began to break contact. She knew she wasn't good with words, but she wanted to say something. She wanted to tell Fang that they were all in this together; that it wasn't just her and Vanille against the world anymore. She wanted Fang to know that she cared because Fang cared… but she wouldn't get a chance to voice these things.

Before Lightning could even attempt a word, Fang had reached out to pull the pinkette back to her. Their kisses started off hard and just as frantic as Fang had been moments earlier, but Lightning was soon able to take control of the tempo and slow them down. After one last, lingering kiss, the two broke away again, both needing time to catch their breath.

"Calm?" Lightning panted, still lightly gripping Fang's cheek.

"Calm," Fang nodded. She lifted her head to survey the wreckage that she must've inflicted on the area in her rage, and Lightning once again felt her body stiffen.

Lightning looked up to make sure she wasn't getting upset again and noticed her fixedly staring at something behind them. Light turned her head to look over her shoulder and her body tensed as well. Standing near the entrance to the lot, with wide and panicky eyes, was her younger sister.

"Serah…"

"Claire?"

"Serah, how long have you been standing there?"

"You—you created a blizzard with your hands…"

"Shit," Lightning sighed. She turned back to Fang, who still looked shaken up herself. "Fang?"

"I'll be okay. Talk to your sister."

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"I'm sure," Fang solemnly nodded.

"Alright. Wait here and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay."

Lightning ran her thumb gently over Fang's cheek before turning to quickly walk over to her shocked sister.

"Any idea what this is about?" Colonel Farron asked one of the other decorated military men who sat beside him at the long table in HQ's conference room.

"Not even a clue," the gentleman replied, shaking his head. "But I hear Yaag Rosch is heading the meeting, so it must be something important from 'His Royal Highness'."

The colonel just smiled politely and faced forward when Rosch entered the room. It was well known that the Primarch didn't have the highest of approval ratings, but he tried his best not to take sides and just do as he was told.

"Good evening, all," Rosch greeted once he had reached the head of the table. "I know you all must be wondering why I've called for such an impromptu meeting, and I assure you that the matter is not a waste of time." As he received a fair mix of inquisitive and uninterested looks from his audience, Rosch paused to look down at the table and rub his chin. "You know what, we are all honorable members of the government and we know each other well enough where we shouldn't have to entertain all these formalities. I'll just get to the chase.

"As many of you know, I was called to Bodhum to respond to an alarm that went off on one of the area's high-grade energy detectors. Following up on that alarm led me and my team to the Vestige, where we performed a full forensic investigation. In that investigation, we learned that a very ancient and very important artifact had been placed and then taken from the Vestige premises. We had our suspicions, but it has now been confirmed that that artifact was indeed a Pulse fal'Cie."

The room filled with a multitude of amazed whispers as the area's military leaders turned and conversed to themselves in astonishment. Farron could feel a tight knot forming in his stomach and beads of sweat beginning to materialize around his shirt collar. A Pulse fal'Cie had been hiding out in the Vestige?

"Sir!" One man's hand flew up ad Rosch promptly acknowledged him with the nod of his head. "Sir, how is this possible? There's been such a long period of inactivity from fal'Cie on Pulse that it's hard to believe that a Pulse fal'Cie has been living on Cocoon. What was it using its powers for?"

Rosch gave the man a tight smile. "That question actually brings me to my next point. After further investigation, we were able to verify that during its time at the Vestige, the fal'Cie used its powers to create l'Cie minions."

The volume of the whispers increased so that the room was now filled with loud murmurings. Colonel Farron's chest constricted to the point where he thought he would have a heart attack, but he did not allow any of his inner worries show on his face.

"It's been making l'Cie?" A female general asked, looking at Rosch through worried eyes. "How many? How long has it been on Cocoon?"

"Rest assured," Rosch said calmly, never letting his tone stray to any level of uneasiness that would give anyone in the room further reason to fret, "That the l'Cie count must be low. Fal'Cie power usage was only detected once and for a short period of time. New information also supports the idea that there were very few human casualties."

"And what information is that?" Another voice from around the table asked.

"We were able to get our hands around a Puls fal'Cie expert," Rosch answered. "An older gentleman from Pulse who was alive during the time of Pulse fal'Cie rule was used as a consultant concerning fal'Cie matters even then."

"So you used a Pulsian man to receive help about a Pulse fal'Cie?" the general scoffed. "That doesn't sound trustworthy to me."

"Believe me," Rosch's composure never wavered. "He was reluctant to talk at first, but with the right form of coercion, we were able to get the information we needed from him. The man was indeed approached by the minion l'Cie, and he was able to inform us that there were few enough to fit into his small cabin and…" Rosch paused to receive a small stack of stapled papers from one of the analysts behind him. He paged through the papers until he found what he was looking for. "I quote, 'A Pulse fal'Cie would only choose those of Gran Pulsian blood to carry out its divine sentence.'"

As Rosch turned to hand the papers back to the analyst, Farron could feel a heavy weight lifting from his chest. He would not experience full relief, though. Soon, his mind was once again muddled as visions of his two unexpected houseguests from earlier that morning began to float around his head.

"So then we're looking for Pulsians?"

"Doesn't the majority of the Pulsian population live on that reservation on city outskirts? I say we go there and level the place."

"I agree!"

"Comrades!" Rosch raised his voice and lifted his hands in a calming motion as he regained the attention of everyone in the room. "I know that you are all very passionate about this oh so sensitive subject, but we mustn't lose our heads. Our energy detectors can only pick up readings of fal'Cie magic, not of its l'Cie. Therefore, we must be very careful and precise in our actions so that we don't tip the l'Cie off or give them any chance of escape. More importantly, this is why I need all of you."

Everyone at the table grew tensely quiet, awaiting their roles in this grand military operation.

"Right now, our number one priority is to find this fal'Cie, which me and my people are handling. Our second most important priority is to find out the identities of these l'Cie. That is where all of you come in. We need eyes, ears, and firepower in the street, on the net, and especially around the reservation to watch out for anything unusual, anything that may give us hints as to who these rogue l'Cie are. Although they may look physically harmless, you must remember that they are no longer human and that they are rash and extremely dangerous. If they are foolhardy enough to use their powers anywhere outside of their own bedroom walls, I want it to be the last time they ever use them. General, you are on board with the heavy armature initiative, are you not?"

"Yes, sir," the female general responded.

"Good. I would like a word with you after this meeting. And Colonel Farron?"

Farron lifted his head to dead on meet the stare of Yaag Rosch.

"Afterwards, I would like to converse with you in my office as well."