Fang slouched in her seat in homeroom, twiddling a pencil between her fingers so that it spastically hit the surface of her desk. Most students in the room were currently giving their undivided attention to the small TV in the upper corner, where the student broadcast team was relaying the morning news. Fang usually didn't pay the television any mind, but she was especially ignoring it today. Her head was just too filled with the plans of this upcoming weekend.

There were only a couple days left before she, Vanille, and Snow were supposed to take that drive to Hope's vacation home in Palumpolum, which was probably a good thing. Tensions were heating at the reservation. PSICOM had started performing random security checks, bursting into many of her people's trailers and waving around small pieces of paper that they knew the Gran Pulsians couldn't read or comprehend, saying that it was a new decree to ensure everyone's safety. It was total bullshit in Fang's opinion, and she couldn't help but feel more weighed down by the idea of leaving. She would be abandoning her people to roll in the mess that she had initially created. While she was relaxing in some hoity toity house in Palumpolum, armed strangers would be lawfully breaking into their homes. To make things worse, she didn't even know if she'd come back. PSICOM might never find out that she was the rogue l'Cie and could continue to punish her people for it. Or they would let up, but the Cocoonian school system might not allow any more kids from the reservation attend public school because the first two experimental ones caused hell then dropped out. No matter which way she spun it, it always came back looking like a lose-lose situation.

"Whoop! Whoop!"

Fang looked up from her desk as someone made a loud cheer, followed by a multitude of clapping hands. Some guy was standing up at the front of the class and bowing as everyone applauded him. Fang looked up towards the television to see the boy's picture flash across the screen before a video of him running down the court, dribbling a basketball, played.

"What's all this about?" Fang leaned to the side and whispered to the girl sitting in the desk beside her.

The girl gave Fang an apprehensive look, her eyes darting from the screen to Fang's face, before releasing an annoyed breath. "They're showcasing the homecoming nominees. Duhhh. Pay attention next time, Pulsian."

Fang crinkled her nose contemptuously at the girl before crossing her arms and turning in her seat to look back up at the screen. "It's Gran Pulsian… heifer," she muttered under her breath.

On second thought, maybe getting away from school for a bit wouldn't be too bad an idea.

Lightning stared at the TV in homeroom with a forlorn look on her face. At any moment, her name would be called, followed by a picture and some sort of video montage showcasing her 'school spirit'. She still had no idea how the production crew would pull that kind of footage out of their asses…

"Etro, I am SO pumped for this," Lebreau stated from the desk beside her, her fists clenched and her eyes fiercely glued to the television. "I'm gonna scream, shout, and fucking hula dance on this desk when your name gets called."

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"What? You can't let Stacy have a louder reception than you. And I'm sure Alyssa's paid people in her homeroom to cheer for her."

"I don't need people to cheer for—"

"There you are!" Lebreau pointed upwards towards the television screen. "WHOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH, LIGHTNING! Whhhooooooooouuuhhhhhh—ooohhhh…."

All of the applause and cheering that had initially accompanied Lebreau all died down as everyone stared blankly at the screen in the corner of the room. Lightning's breath caught in her throat and her insides twisted as she gaped at the television as well. There was no peppy video, taking place out on a grassy field. No brightly lit basketball court or crowded auditorium like most of the other candidates. Instead there was a dark street, lit by a lone streetlamp that wasn't strong enough to brighten the whole frame but perfectly sufficient enough to illuminate, clear as day, the figures of Lightning and Fang, who were standing beneath it. Lightning was pushing up closer against Fang, who was grasping the sides of Lightning's head, slightly tilting it this way and that to try out new angles as they continually kissed.

"So, I, uh… I see things have been coming along with Fang," Lebreau said in a small voice. "Yayyy."

The face of a different homecoming princess nominee flashed across the screen. It was then that Lightning could feel all the attention in the room being placed back on her. No one spoke outright to her, but she could hear some of her peers begin to whisper amongst one another. At the front of the room, their teacher nervously looked at Lightning from her desk before quickly looking back to the television.

"Light, don't let it bother you," she could hear Lebreau whispering beside her. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. If it was Tammy or damn near anyone else kissing Fang up there, no one would care. I bet this was Alyssa's idea just to bug—"

"Not now, Lebreau," Lightning snapped. Her heart was beginning to thump violently in her chest, and she wasn't exactly sure whether it was due to anger or humiliation… maybe even both.

There was a loud buzz from a different corner of the room as the class's intercom popped on. "Claire Farron, please report to the principal's office. Claire Farron, please report to the principal's office."

The murmuring in the class became louder, this time accompanied by some snickering. Lightning could feel her face heat up as the bell for first period rang.

The halls felt nauseatingly overcrowded as Lightning pushed her way through the sea of students to get to the front office. As she maneuvered between the different bodies, she was met with all kinds of attention. Some kids would cheer, telling her 'way to go!'. Others would loudly scoff at her as she walked past. She heard some particularly insulting names being thrown her way from kids who she couldn't get a clear look at, along with feeling the judgmental stares from others. The thing that she hated, almost as much as the attention, was knowing that there were too many people to try and shut up.

"Hey, Lightning!" one boy excitedly called as he approached from the opposite end of the hallway. Lightning didn't entertain him by looking in his direction, yet he still continued on. "I didn't know you were part of the Pulse community service project! Or should I say… servicing project!" He then laughed and raised two fingers in the shape of a 'V', sticking his tongue through them to make lewd rolling motions.

Lightning stopped to angrily glower at him. She had been quietly taking in all the comments, jokes, names, and dirty looks without giving a reaction, but this was too much. If there was someone that she had to take out her frustrations on, it might as well be this asshole. She moved to take a step closer in the boy's direction when out of nowhere, a quick blur shot across the hall, flinging the boy into the wall of lockers with a loud thud and eliciting a high-pitched squeak from him. Lightning stopped in mid-step, watching as Fang stood, angrily gripping the boy by his shirt against the lockers.

"What did you just say?" Fang snarled, holding the boy a good foot above the ground as she pinned him up against the wall.

"I-I-I," the boy stammered as his brain failed to properly function. "I was just joking—"

Lightning just continued to stare in shock. Gods, Fang looked furious. Her chest was heaving and it looked as if smoke was about to start fuming from her nostrils. She almost looked mad enough to… oh shit. "Fang, stop!" Lightning commanded, snapping back into the moment. She hurriedly started making her way past the gawking students who watched in amusement at how Fang was so easily manhandling the boy.

"I didn't like that joke," Fang growled, rotating her fists so that they twisted deeper into the boy's shirt. "Didn't find it funny at all. Did you think it was funny joke?"

The boy yelped as his back was pounded into the locker again.

"Fang!" Lightning reached forward to try and pull one of the girl's arms back, but it was no use. Fang was much too strong. She shouldn't be getting worked up like this. This meant trouble for everybody. "Fang, put him down!"

"If I hear that joke again," Fang narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer to the boy's frightened face, "No matter who I hear it from, I'll be looking for ya. And we'll be continuing this conversation."

Fang then released the boy, letting him drop to the floor and taking a step back before watching him scurry off down the hall. When she turned back to face Light, a satisfied smirk was situated on her face.

"No worries. I don't think he'll be messin' with ya anymore."

Lightning's face fell in surprise.

"What? Thought I was going all monster mode on ya?" Fang asked lightheartedly. "I may be pissed, but I'm not homicidal. Talk about an invasion of privacy though, right?"

Lightning continued to stare at Fang, still unsure of what to make of things until she heard the whispers start up again. She looked over her shoulder and to her dismay, some students were even pointing their camera phones at them. She growled and turned back around. "Fang, I can take care of myself," she said, lowering her voice. "Especially if you're not going around making such big scenes in the hallway."

"Making a scene?" Fang asked, tilting her head in confusion. "That guy made the scene. I was just tryna help out."

"You really want to help out? Then stop helping out. Make yourself scarce for the rest of the day."

"What?"

"A fire burns out if there's nothing to fuel it. So that's what we'll do. Stick to our original plan. No talking in the hallways, after school, or whatever. And you'll be in Palumpolum soon. So while you're gone, everything will die down and they'll all forget about it when the next new story comes along."

Fang stared at Lightning, conspicuously taken aback by what had been said. "So that's what ya want? For everyone to just forget about it? And I guess it's hard for anyone to do that with me always talking to ya and trying to help out, right?"

"It's the best thing to keep our cover—"

"Nah, nah. I get it." Fang said, putting up her hands. "Guess the whole fighting together thing only works when it's convenient for you, huh? But hey, I should be used to it by now. Tis the Cocoon way."

Lightning's eyebrows knit together and her eyes hardened as Fang's words began to sink in. "Fang, don't compare me to—"

"No, really. I understand." Fang took a few steps around Lightning to start walking down the opposite direction of the hall. "And to show it, I'll even help ya out. I'll get a head start on the whole forgetting it ever happened part."

Fang didn't wait for Lightning to reply before turning and continuing down the hallway. She didn't even rush. She knew the Cocoonian wouldn't follow or call after her.

And just as expected, near the center of the hall, Lightning did nothing but watch as Fang walked away. The whispers started up once again, but this time Lightning didn't find herself caring as much. All she could think about was Fang and that betrayed look in her eyes. She lifted a hand to rub at her temples as she broke into a quick stride towards the principal's office.

Back down the other end of the hall, Fang continued to walk until she heard a high pitched, "Awwww, did you two just have a lovers' quarrel?"

Fang glanced up. Not too far ahead of her, leaning against the lockers, stood Alyssa along with some of her friends. "Piss off," Fang mumbled, as she continued to walk.

"What do you think the title of the yearbook page should be if Lightning wins the homecoming race? Princess and the Pauper or Princess and the Pulsian? Doesn't matter. Not like she'll win now, anyway. And you were so close to somewhat being considered royalty. Although, from the looks of it, she probably wouldn't have asked you to be her date anyway—"

"SHUT UP!"

There was the loud screech of metal as Fang's fist collided with the locker right near Alyssa's head, the door of the compartment bending and molding around Fang's fist. Alyssa stood frozen, wide-eyed and terrified at Fang, as the other girl took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Just…" Fang sighed, slowly removing her hand from the fist-shaped hole in the locker. Alyssa's bewildered eyes also darted to the side to glaze over the huge dent next to her head.

"H-how did you… What…" she began, looking to the locker then looking to Fang in some kind of disturbed awe.

Fang took a step backwards. Behind her, she heard the scuffle of tennis against the floor as the students behind her scattered to move out of her way. An eerie quietness settled over their section of the hall, followed by an onslaught of hushed whispers. Fang's eyes just continued to jump from Alyssa to the locker. She would have to explain that. But how? "I've—I've gotta go." With that, Fang gripped the book bag strap over her shoulder and rushed off into a different direction down the hall.

Lightning sat by herself in the outdoor bleachers during lunchtime. It was the only place where she could be alone without a multitude of people staring at her, mocking her, or making inappropriate catcalls at her. Earlier today, she had been called into the principal's office to be told that there had been a homecoming vote miscount and that she hadn't actually been nominated for homecoming princess. She truthfully felt relieved, but at the same time felt disgusted. She knew there hadn't been a miscount. And even worse, she was disgusted with herself. The school had yanked her from the homecoming race because they didn't want someone involved with a Gran Pulsian to be in the limelight, and she had done the exact same thing in the hallway when she told Fang that they needed to avoid each other in public.

Lightning sighed and dropped her head in her hands. Between this whole mess and the growing symbol on her chest, her life felt like it was spinning out of control.

"Farron!"

Light slowly lifted her head to spot Gadot and Snow walking along the bleachers in her direction.

Shit. Just what she needed…

"How ya doing there, Farron?" Gadot asked with a smile, plopping down on one side of her while Snow slowly lowered himself on her other side.

"Peachy," Lightning answered in a nonplussed tone. "Isn't it obvious?"

"I figured so much…" Gadot replied, still wearing that smile. "…since you've got a woman and all now. You could've given me a heads up on your preferences though. I wouldn't have spent so much time hawking ya if you did."

"Oh, for Etro's sake," Lightning mumbled, rising to her feet. "I'm out of here."

"Wait." Snow's hand shot up to grab her shoulder and push her back down onto the bleacher. Lightning's head immediately snapped in his direction, her eyes ablaze, and Snow instinctively flinched away from her. "Please? We come in peace."

"Yeah. We were looking around for Fang, but word through the hallways is that she left school early this morning. We aren't absolutely sure why, but we figure it had something to do with that argument you two had in the hallway," Gadot said.

"What makes you think we had an argument in the hallway?" Lightning asked, leaning forward to rest her chin on her elbow.

Gadot looked to Snow, who shrugged. They simultaneously reached into their pockets to grab their cell phones. As two different video feeds started playing, Lightning leaned back to lift her hands in the air. "Okay, I get it! Everyone in school has an HD inside look on everything that goes on between me and Fang! What does this have to do with either of you? I doubt you can come up with anything more original than what I've already heard today."

"We didn't come to tease you," Gadot replied, crossing his huge arms across his chest. "If nothing else, I'm kinda impressed. Fang's sexy as hell. You did good, Farron. We came over because we want an apology."

Lightning's eyebrows dipped downwards in confusion. "An apology? What would I apologize to either of you for?" She swore to Etro, if Gadot mentioned something about any more of his failed flirtation attempts, she would really set that orange hair ablaze.

"For treating us like shit since the third grade for the cooties thing," Gadot answered simply. "We want our apologies, and we want them now."

"You can't be serious." Lightning looked from Gadot to Snow skeptically. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"But you owe us," Snow said, his voice a bit more sincere than Gadot's. "You gave us the coldest of shoulders back then, like an iceberg shoulder, for that rumour. You made us feel like crap, gave me bruises in dodge ball, AND you kept putting sand in my applesauce at lunch!"

"You made me the school stigma for three years."

"You liked it," Snow quickly retorted, earning him an angry glare from Lightning. "I mean, you acted like you liked it. When we started the rumour, you wore those cooties like it was the violet letter."

"Scarlet."

"Who's she?"

"Ugh… forget it."

"So yeah. You wore them like the violet letter. You used them to clear the swings for you and Serah, or to skip the line at lunch. If you heard people talking about you, you'd just walk over and tag them. You didn't give a crap about what everyone else said or thought. You just brushed it off and acted like you couldn't care less. It was pretty bad ass."

"Is there a point to any of this?" Lightning asked tiredly.

"Since that video hit the net—" Gadot began.

"It's on the net?" Lightning's face became cross with disbelief.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. On the school's video channel. I think it's got a couple hundred hits already. At least ten of them are from me."

"Just… ugh. Go on."

"Well, since that video hit the net, a lot of things started making more sense to me." Gadot introspectively rubbed his chin as he spoke. "Like how you were clearly the only person more hot and bothered in the basement of our party than I was, or how you kept staring at Fang when she wasn't looking when we were on that Vestige field trip. That's when it kinda clicked on me. You must really dig Fang."

"I—"

"I've seen the way you two are around each other," Snow said, looking Lightning in the eyes as he cut her off. "And even though you try to hide it, I've caught you giving her this look as if you're the only two people in the world." Snow's thoughts flicked back to what he had seen the previous night in the back of his car, and from her shifting facial expressions, he could tell that Lightning knew exactly what he was referring to. "So you can't lie and say you don't care about her. And we figured that if you like Fang that much, but act like you're ashamed of her… then you really must've loved those cooties. And we deserve an apology for being treated like crap over them."

Lightning just gave Snow a hard stare. For someone who she rarely saw eye to eye with, she had to admit… he sometimes had his moments. "Hphhh," she let out a light snort. "I'm sorry, you two. Maybe I should've given you guys a little more slack."

"Awwww, all water under the bridge, Farron!" Gadot cooed, wrapping a huge arm around Lightning's shoulder and pulling her into a sideways hug. Lightning grimaced at the contact and tried to squeeze away, but her escape was blocked by Snow, who wrapped his arm around her as well to sandwich her in. "Now when we go out places, we can use you as a wing woman! To scope out who's on our team and who's on yours."

"You're a pig."

"But Lightning… One more thing."

Lightning looked up at Snow, who had pulled away from the hug to face her again. "You might, uh, want to apologize to Fang before the weekend, you know. I hear she's moving out of town soon, and I'm sure she'd appreciate it. I've kinda had my own experience with having someone you like look at you like you're—like you're not one in the same, and it's not a good feeling. Fang's been getting those looks most of her life. She'd probably feel much better knowing that she doesn't have to worry about getting them from you."

"Serah…" Lightning thought aloud as she took in Snow's statement. Yes, her sister had become a bit more distant recently, but it never occurred to Lightning that she was not the only person who was being affected by it.

"Me and Serah will figure ourselves out," Snow excused, averting eye contact so as not see whether Light approved or not. "I think it's more important that you concentrate on settling things with Fang first."

"Okay," Lightning said with a nod. "But I might need the two of you do me a favor."

Lightning could spot the PSICOM cruiser the moment it turned into the school parking lot. "There it is," she stated, keeping an unwavering gaze on the vehicle as it slowed to a stop behind the long line of cars trying to maneuver their way out. "Do you guys have a plan?"

"A plan?" Snow asked, as he tossed a football to Gadot. "Heroes don't need plans."

"Then you two definitely need a plan."

"It's almost here!" Snow said excitedly, refusing to acknowledge Lightning's last statement. "Uhhh, Gadot! Go long!"

"Gotcha, big guy! Ready annndddd aye-ohhh!"

Snow took off into a sprint across the parking lot as Gadot tossed a high floater into the air. Lightning didn't move an inch, but studied the ball as it soared upwards, paused, and began its wobbly descent.

The PSICOM agent driving the cruiser never stood a chance. He would just shout in shocked horror as, out of nowhere, a buff bandana'd blonde kid would jump in front of his car, causing him to slap on the brakes in just enough time to still hit the boy. He would still be in his seat, taking long, hard, breaths, wondering how he couldn't have seen the boy coming, as the boy lay splayed out on the concrete, discreetly smiling to himself.

"Not bad. I can work with this," Lightning said with her eyes glued on the distressed driver as she and Gadot jogged towards the cruiser.

"You hit my friend!" Gadot started off in an accusatory yell as the PSICOM agent stepped out of the car. On the ground, Snow gripped his ribcage and let out a long moan. "I can't believe you hit my friend!"

"I-I'm sorry! He just flew out of nowhere! What was he even doing running in the—"

"This is bad. This is really bad." Lightning knelt down next to Snow before looking up towards the agent. "Do you know how much negative publicity this will bring if people find out that my dad sent a PSICOM soldier to run one of my classmates over?"

"What?" the agent asked. "That makes no sense!"

"Everyone knows that Snow's been trying to date my sister." Lightning now turned to scowl at the agent. "Dad didn't have to send someone to hit him with a car to make him stop. I hope the press eats him alive. And you'll probably get demoted or put on some dangerous, deadbeat shift without a partner for helping him out. I can't believe this."

"What do you mean? I didn't want to hit him!"

"Ugh… Hurts… so… bad…"

"C'mon, buddy," Gadot reached down to help Snow up. "How ya feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," Snow said, giving the agent a mean side eye glance. "But I'll survive. I think I need to see the nurse, though. Is she still here?"

"I better walk him to the nurse's office; talk him into not going public," Lightning stated, not even bothering to ask permission. "You just stay here and try not to hit anyone else. Think you can handle that?"

"I—"

"Good."

Lightning didn't spare the agent a second glance as she and Gadot helped 'support' Snow back into the school building.

"What's taking her so long? I can only pretend to be in the nurse's office with Snow for oh so long before my dad's babysitter comes looking for me," Lightning groused as she paced back and forth in the yard behind the school, her arms tightly folded against her chest. She stopped her pacing for a brief moment to glare at a couple of girls who seemed to be pointing in her direction. She let a deep breath flow from her nostrils before turning away to continue her pacing.

"Dane had to use the car today, so she had to take the bus back," Vanille explained. "For someone who doesn't drive, you sure don't seem to be familiar with the area's public transportation system."

Lightning stopped pacing again to now glare at Vanille, who quickly put on an innocent face and did her best harmless shrug. "Ooh! There is she is now!"

Lightning's head quickly flung around to spy Fang casually walking across the yard towards them, her eyes curiously rolling from Light to Vanille before settling on Vanille completely.

"Van," she finally greeted in a low voice. She stopped in front of the two teens and placed one hand on her hip, staring solely at Vanille as if Lightning didn't even exist. "There was an emergency?"

Vanille looked to Lightning with a shaky expression on her face while Lightning just eyed Fang with a reserved stare. "Umm, yeah," the redhead began, turning back to Fang. "Lightning said she needed to see you…"

"And I'm outta here," Fang muttered, spinning on her heel to leave.

"Fang, wait," Lightning said, taking a few steps after Fang. "Can you just stop and listen for one second?"

Fang spun around again on hearing the question, both her eyebrows lifted in a disbelieving expression. "Ohhh, so we're talking now?"

"I'll, uh, give you two some alone time. Fang, I'll be on that bench next to the flowers when you're ready to go," Vanille said, backing away from the two older teens. She tried to shoot Lightning an inconspicuous thumbs up, but decided against the idea when she noticed the reproving glare that Fang was giving her. She quickened her pace as she left.

"So," Fang began with a rough edge to her voice, "Should we take this under the bleachers or somewhere more private?"

"No." Lightning shook her head. Her brows were slightly knitted, as if there were some internal battle going on in her head. "Right here is fine."

"Okay. Then what's the emergency that ya needed to see me for? I don't wanna hang around here longer than I have to." Fang placed her hands on her hips as she asked the question.

Lightning thought for a moment more before answering. "Do you remember that conversation we had on top of your trailer? The one about how things wouldn't change if a became part of GC?"

"Yeah," Fang said. She watched the pinkette with a guarded expression. She had no idea what this had to do with anything, and just thinking of Lightning wearing a Guardian Corps badge would probably make her more peeved than she already was.

"I was wrong."

Fang tilted her head, even more confused now. "Huh?"

"What I mean to say is, I was taking the wrong approach. How things are right now… how we are right now… is wrong."

One of Fang's eyebrows flew up.

"But not in that way. In that, I've been wrong. I've been thinking that things between us are just fine the way they are and that they'd be just fine if we stayed like this if I went to the GC, but that's the problem. I've been treating you like something to be ashamed of, even though you've done nothing wrong, and that feeling is one of the issues at the root of this whole Cocoon versus Gran Pulse thing. And the worst part about it is that you're pretty amazing, and I actually kind of like you…"

"Awwwww!"

Both girls looked up to see Vanille still standing a few meters away from them, having stopped to listen in on what was being said before walking to the bench. Both Lightning and Fang's eyes narrowed into impatient glares, causing the younger teen to jump and start walking away again. "Sorry!"

Lightning let out a heavy exhale as she thought of where to pick up again. "I guess what I'm really trying to say is—"

"It's not all your fault."

Now it was Lightning's turn to look confused as Fang cut in to her apology.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting your private life to be private. And maybe I was looking to make a few scenes. It was kinda nice having everybody know that the prettiest girl in school was actually into me, ya know. So I wasn't really making it easier for ya, either."

"Fang, I don't think that's the same—"

"Look," Fang interjected again. "We've both said and done things that we obviously didn't mean, right? Things haven't exactly been looking up for us lately, and if things go south… I'd rather we weren't arguing when it happens. So you're sorry. I'm sorry. How about we just call it even now?" Fang reached out a hand. "Deal?"

Lightning stared at Fang for a second. There was something behind her expression that Fang couldn't quite place.

"Okay."

Light reached out to grasp Fang's hand and give it firm shake. Fang barely had time to lightly smile at the compromise before her body lurched forward, propelled by Lightning's quick tug of her hand, and she felt Lightning's lips pressing against her own.

"Deal."

"Ohmygosh!" a loud squeal broke out across the yard.

Fang's eyes bulged and her mouth slightly gaped as she stared at Lightning, who was calmly looking over her shoulder at the two girls who had been sitting on the other side of the yard. "Do you think they got a picture of us?" Lightning asked in an even tone.

"I—uh—I don't know," Fang stammered, still recovering from the surprise kiss that Lightning had laid on her. "Probably not." Even she hadn't expected the kiss. There was no way those girls could have.

"Hm." Lightning turned to face Fang again. "Then maybe they'll get one this time."

Light's hand reached up to lightly grab the back of Fang's neck and pull her down into a new, searing kiss. Almost instinctively, Fang's hands found Lightning's hips and tightly gripped them as Light's arms wrapped around Fang's neck to pull her closer and intensify the lip lock.

"Ya know…" Fang breathed when the two finally separated, "I'm not sure if they got a picture that go round either."

Lightning smirked and unwrapped her arms from around Fang's neck. "Cute, but I've got to go. My dad has a PSICOM cruiser waiting for me out front. He freaked out about me breaking curfew and has me on lockdown."

"So no Palumpolum?" Fang asked, obvious disappointment laced in her tone.

"No Palumpolum," Lightning shook her head. "But we still have the school day."

"Not exactly," Fang said in bit higher pitched tone, running a hand through her hair. "There may or may not be rumours tomorrow about an incident involving me, Alyssa, and a locker. Needless to say, I'm not gonna be here to defend 'em."

Lightning sighed and gave Fang a tired look. She didn't even want to know… "Then I guess we'll just have to part ways here. I'll go home, sit alone in my locked room, and think about what we would be doing if we were hanging out together… with my window open."

Leaves crunched and twigs snapped under her feet as Fang wove between the trees of the reservation forest. It was pitch dark outside and the canopies were thick enough to block out most of the moonlight, but Fang had walked this way enough that she knew the secret path by heart. It was the shortcut she would take through the thicker part of the wood whenever she wasn't driving to get to her living area.

She had initially planned to walk from Lightning's house to Sazh's shop to get a ride from Dane, but she had lost track of the time and ended up leaving too late.

A smile spread across her face as she thought about it.

Lightning's house.

After school, she had walked Vanille to Sazh's home, which was right above his shop actually, to babysit Dahj. She then headed straight for the pinkette's place, where she spent the next few hours.

For most of the time, all the two did was talk. A little bit about school. A little bit about how creepy Alyssa had gotten. A little bit more about how Serah had been acting lately compared to how if the apocalypse was happening, Vanille would still probably be skipping through it and singing show tunes. At some point in time, Lightning started polishing her invertible blade thingy, which led to a joke about whether Fang should be worried about Light's urges to stroke hard equipment… a joke that consequently led to a backhand smack in the stomach and ultimately led to a wrestling match on Light's bed. A few grapples, holds, and fleeting kisses later, and the two were laid out tired across the bed. That's when the real conversations started… mostly about their hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. Neither of them wanted to ruin the whole illusion by mentioning their visions, Fang's new temper, the chaos connected with them solving their focus, or the unknown uncertainties that awaited if they didn't.

Fang would probably still be in that bed, talking with Lightning if that PSICOM agent hadn't banged on the door, shouting something about new evidence from the forensics team that would keep Colonel Farron at work a bit later than usual. It was then Fang noticed how late it already was and decided that it was best to head back to the reservation before the colonel showed up.

Fang's smile widened as Light's voice echoed through her head, saying, "One more thing…" as Fang had straddled the window sill, ready to climb down. The pink headed girl lifted her hands to hold on to the sides of the window as she leaned forward to give Fang a goodbye kiss, and whew! Talk about a kiss… Fang nearly fell out the window.

WHOOSH!

A shiny blur flew over Fang's head, causing the girl to instinctively drop into a crouch and warily look about as she was violently brought back to reality.

She strained her eyes, but she knew she wouldn't be able to see anyone in this darkness. She couldn't hear any movement nearby either. With the number of leaves that littered the ground, she should be able hear if someone was trying to approach her. Never rising from her crouch, Fang took a slow and cautious step forward to look up in the direction that the shiny blur had flown. Whatever it was, it had been flung into the bark of a tree not too far from her. Fang squinted as she continued to study the object. There was something familiar about it… It was a handle. The handle of an axe that had been worn and modified to better fit the grip of its owner.

Fang let out an aggravated breath as she lifted back into a standing position. She knew exactly who that axe belonged to. "Seriously, Dane?!" she called out, not knowing exactly where the boy was, but knowing he was close by. "As dark as it is, ya don't think you might've missed and, I don't know, beheaded me?"

"You shouldn't yell," Dane's voice drifted from above. Fang looked up. She still couldn't see him, but she was certain that his voice had come from one of the larger trees in the area. "Come up here. And bring my axe."

Fang crinkled her nose and turned to look at the handle sticking out of the tree. "And bring my axe," she mimicked under her breath as she stood on her tiptoes and reached up to yank the handle from its lodged position. "No type of apology for almost taking my damned head off…"

With axe in hand, Fang walked over to the tree that she was now fully sure Dane was perched in and began her climb. She had to take a couple of breaks in between, finding it harder than she had first expected to climb while holding an axe. She was finding it even more tiring since Dane had apparently climbed all the way to the top of the tall ass tree. "Almost… there…" she puffed, when she had looked up to see Dane's leg dangling over the side of one of the higher branches. They were far up enough over the surrounding trees where the moon was able to provide enough light for her to see the boy clearly. He sat, one leg pulled up to his chest and his arm resting across it as he intently watched something in the distance, an expressionless look on his face.

"Fang," he said, still staring off over the trees, "Do you think Etro's real? Or any of those gods that they tell us about?"

"What?" Fang harshly wheezed as she stopped to take another breather.

"The powerful and compassionate Etro…" Dane's voice sounded empty as he spoke, something that slightly worried Fang. What was he doing up here? Fang took a deep breath and reached up to grab another branch. She was almost there. "Do ya think she really sees everything that goes on in the world like they say? That she listens to prayers and is always watching?"

"I don't know," Fang answered, reaching Dane's axe up for him to take before grabbing hold of the branch to hoist herself up. "Ya know, this almost sounds like a conversation I had with somebody about Santa Clau—what the hell?"

Fang had finally reached Dane's branch, but when she had gotten settled, she immediately caught sight of what he had been staring at. From their vantage point, they could both clearly see their living area in the distance. The space was completely flooded with armed PSICOM soldiers and their robotic guard dogs. She wasn't sure how she couldn't hear it before, probably too focused on her own heavy breathing, but she could now even hear the loud, mechanical barking accompanied by the pained screams of some of her people. She couldn't help but gape as she watched the soldiers pull families out of their trailers and force them to the ground in a line across the dirt, cuffing and frisking them before pulling them back up and pushing them through the doors of some unmarked vans. "Dane, what's going on?"

"Look at them… The second time they've forced us from our homes without a care in the world," Dane said, his voice beginning to strain from all the sadness it held. "At Gran Pulse Charter, they made us recite the words to their Cocoonian anthem every morning. Every. Single. Morning. Remember we used to get hit with a ruler if we refused to say it or messed up the words? And there was always that one line in the middle, 'Because all men are created equal'… Every morning they used to make us say it, but look at that. The words to their own anthem and they don't even believe it."

"Vanille…" Fang murmured under her breath, her mind automatically going to younger girl as her eyes scanned over the heads of the people who were currently being lined up on the ground. "Shit! Vanille!" She swung her head around to look at Dane with an alarmed look on her face. "Where's Vanille?"

"Still babysitting. Sazh had a date. I'm supposed to pick her up in an hour."

"Ohh, thank the gods…" Fang breathed in relief.

"Thank the gods?" Dane asked coldly, turning for the first time to look at Fang. His eyes were glassy and his face was trembling, fighting to hold back the pure rage he felt towards the situation. "How can you watch this and thank the gods for anything? When have the gods ever helped us out, huh? As much as Nille's been prayin' lately, do ya think Etro gives a shit?! Tell me, Fang, if Etro sees all, do ya think she's watching this?!"

Fang just gave Dane a long look, not being able to find any comforting words to tell the boy. She could feel her own chest beginning to ache and eyes starting to burn.

"When has Etro ever seen a Gran Pulsian in pain and decided to help, huh? When has she ever helped us with anything?! See if you'll ever see me thank the gods for anything again… We're going to make our own luck. We're going to free them, and take down any PSICOM son of a bitch who stands in our way. You keen?"

"Yeah." Fang could feel her body trembling as she tightly clutched the branch beneath her. She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now. Anger… Sadness… She just felt numb. Everything that was happening just felt so surreal, as if she was watching one of those disaster movies with the l'Cie group at Lightning's house instead of crouching in a tree, watching as the last of the reservation dwellers were thrown into those vans. "You know where they're taking them?"

"Overheard one of the soldiers. They're sending them to a containment facility in Eden in the morning."

"Eden?" Fang repeated, looking to Dane with a hopeless look in her eye.

"If we leave now, we can pick up Nille and find somewhere safe for her to stay, since I'm sure ya don't wanna bring her along."

"I can't go to Eden…"

"I would say leave her with Sazh, but we're gonna have to boost one of the cars from his shop for our first leg of the trip tomorrow morning."

"Dane, I'm serious. I can't go to Eden."

Dane stopped relaying his battle plans to stare at Fang incredulously. "Whatta you mean you can't go?"

"I just can't," Fang said, her brows deeply creased as she stared hard at the branch below her. She couldn't find the strength to look into Dane's face as she said the words. She could barely even take saying them herself. "If I go to Eden, there's a chance something really bad could happen, and I can't take that kind of risk."

"Something really bad DID happen," Dane said through gritted teeth. "And you don't seem to be bothered at all! Where were you even when this was happening, hm? With that Cocoonian girl you're so sweet on?"

"Why do you always have to bring her into this?"

"Because ever since you started seeing her, you've been turning your back on us! Your own people!"

"I haven't turned shit! Did ya even stop to think that maybe two teenagers going against an army of armed PSICOM soldiers might not even be a good idea to begin with?"

"There's a reservation in Eden, too! Ya don't think they'd help us if we told 'em what happened?"

Fang sighed and lifted her hands to her head. "Dane, I know you're hurting. Believe me, I'm hurting too. But I just can't go to Eden. If I could explain it to ya, I would. But I can't."

Dane released an audible breath, giving Fang a uncomprehending stare that cut worse than anything he could have thought to say to her. "Fine then. I'll go by myself. But here. Before you make a permanent decision, you should take a look at this." Dane reached into his back pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper and shove it into Fang's chest.

"What is it?" Fang asked. Her mind was so muddled that she could barely control her fingers well enough to even unfold the paper without a hassle.

"One of the soldiers dropped it. I was able to scoop it up without anyone seeing me before getting to the trees. It's what they came here looking for."

Fang finally managed to pull the paper open and she immediately had to bite her bottom lip to stop her face from totally crumbling.

It was a picture of her and Vanille. Vanille was staring, wide-eyed and excited, directly into the camera while Fang's face peered over her shoulder, wearing a more shocked an annoyed expression. The paper shook in her trembling hands as she continued study it. When had this picture even been taken?

And then it all came flooding back to her. That flash from the Bhakti look-a-like in the Vestige… It took a picture of them. PSICOM must've taken that robot when they did a sweep of the place and figured out how to power it back up and extract its data. PSICOM knew her and Vanille's identities, and they knew that they were l'Cie. And because of that, they arrested everyone on the reservation and were shipping them off to some special prison in Eden.

Fang was so caught up in her own feelings of remorse that she didn't even notice Dane slip down from the branch to start his climb down. "I'm picking up the car tomorrow morning at two," he said, just loud enough for Fang to hear him. "So if ya change your mind, you know where to find me."

"Claire!"

Lightning looked up from her desk when she heard her father thumping up the stairs. She cautiously approached her bedroom door, not sure what she could've done now to piss her father off since she had been locked in her room all day. She had barely cracked the door open before Colonel Farron pushed through to march straight to the middle of her room and look around.

"Dad? Something going on?" Lightning asked, watching her father pace around the room, opening her closet and dropping down to look beneath her bed. "Did you lose something?"

Colonel Farron didn't answer her but instead strode over to push the bathroom door open and peer inside. "Hmph," he grunted, closing the door behind him as he stepped back into his daughter's bedroom.

"Really. What's going on?" Lightning asked again, now somewhat concerned at her father's growing weird behavior.

Farron turned to give her a calculating stare. His eyes darted to the window, which was currently shut and locked, before landing back on Lightning. "Here," he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling a paper the size of an index card from his inside pocket.

With the flick of his wrist, he flung the paper so that it landed on Lightning's bed. Lightning took a step forward to pick it up and study it. Her jaw slowly began to drop in disbelief. It was a picture of Vanille and Fang with the line, "IDENTIFIED L'CIE. PROCEED AS NECESSARY," written in a thin white space beneath it.

"Something for you to consider," she heard her father mutter, before marching out the door.