Lightning, Fang, Snow, and Hope all stood in the main control cab of the Lindblum, the Cavalry's airship base. Each of them seemed to be preoccupied with studying a different thing. Lightning was eyeing the pilots and soldiers who casually walked around the space. Fang was captivated by the clouds that floated by them in the large window panels. Snow was leaning down, trying to better hear the thrum of the engines. And Hope was excitedly looking over someone's shoulders at a small control panel.

"L'Cie!" Rygdea called jovially as he bounded into the room. "Now that I've got y'all all up here, I guess it's best we get down to business."

"About that," Snow began, immediately straightening himself up from his crouch to give Rygdea an accusatory stare, "What happened to all that talk about the Sanctum not outing us to the public?"

"I know we kinda hit a bump in the road with Sanctum doing what they did, but that's a good thing," Rygdea coolly responded. "Means they're desperate."

"That Rosch guy made me sound like a good-for-nothing!" Snow whined.

"And he had to try so hard to do it…" Light droned from beside him.

"Alright, enough of that. Enough of that. Don't let their tactics fool you. Did they expose you? Twist your stories to make you out to be the bad guy? Imply that this is the Gran Pulsians' way of declaring war? Rally the people behind them in a united cause to bring you to your demise?" Rygdea paused to catch his breath. "Yes. All of the above. But they've also lost a lot of control. The people are running wild down there. They're turning on each other. Working themselves up into panics. Not listening to reason. Starting their own vigilante groups. They're even calling for the people of Bodhum and some neighborhoods in Palumpolum to be purged, exiled just for having been around you."

"What? That's insane," Lightning said, crossing her arms.

"So what do we do now?" Hope asked.

"Well for now, we start planning our strike," Rygdea answered. "The Sanctum's made it clear that they're trying to re-spark the war against Gran Pulse. We need to stop them before it's too late. I figure y'all will come in handy, not just cause of your powers, but cause the Sanctum wants y'all so bad. You can attract most of their attention to one point while we sneak in and take control of Eden. But first things first… I've been straight with y'all. Now it's time for y'all to be straight with me. What's your focuses?"

All of the l'Cie grew quiet. Fang thought she could even feel Rygdea's eyes on her when she turned her gaze back to the window.

"There's a cure."

"Hm?" Rygdea stopped staring at Fang and instead focused his attention on Lightning. Fang turned her head away from the window to inquiringly stare at Lightning as well.

"What?" Hope quietly asked.

"There's a cure," Lightning repeated. "Or there may be one. My dad said he freed some scientists from a terrorist camp awhile back who made a potential cure for him."

"Wait. When your dad took you… You were on your way to a cure and ya came back?" Fang slowly asked, a clearly perturbed look on her face.

Lightning pretended not to hear Fang as she continued. "We fulfill our focus, we might turn into crystal. We don't fulfill it, we turn into something much worse. But if we help you, maybe we can get PSICOM off our backs, get the cure, and have a shot at a normal life. So as far as I'm concerned, as of now, my focus is toppling Dysley and the Sanctum."

Rygdea smiled at Lightning with a look of pure admiration. "Well, hell! That's what I like to hear! Hey, uh, you! Over there!" He motioned a crewmember who was walking by. "Go to intel and tell 'em to get a team to investigate all terrorist camps busted by Colonel Farron along with the names and occupations of all those who were freed. Stat!"

Rygdea watched the crewman power walk off before turning back to the l'Cie. "Since we know we're all fighting for the same side now and there won't be much time later, we should probably get started on your anti-campaign today."

"Anti-campaign?" Light asked.

"Yeah. The Sanctum is campaigning that y'all are scum, so we'll need to make an anti-campaign," Rygdea explained. "When all is said and done, the people will still be hostile to y'all. They won't like the new ways or the new government, and they'll try to blame you. So think of this as a campaign to humanize you."

"But we are human," Hope said.

"You know what I mean. Give the people something to relate to that'll make 'em like you more. Do something to embody the Cocoon dream. I'm sure we can turn the two of you into quite the sex symbols as well." Rygdea pointed to Lightning and Snow with the pointer finger and pinky of one hand. Snow blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while Lightning grimaced. "Cause let me tell you... if you have an army of young hormones on your side, there's nothing you can't conquer and no douche move you can't get excused. Am I right?"

"Figures I didn't make the sexy cut," Fang said offhandedly. She casually turned her head to the side just in time to see Lightning's eyes slowly trailing up her body. When their eyes met, Lightning just quirked an eyebrow and smirked, causing Fang to grin before turning back to Rygdea. "So if we're supposed to be embodying the Cocoon dream now, what's my bit gonna be? Should I walk around wearing a dress quilt from the Cocoonian flag and singing the anthem?"

"Haha, good one, but no," Rygdea chuckled. "For you, we have different plans. Like I said, once this goes down, people will be riotous. Cocoon won't be safe for any Gran Pulsians, especially you and Vanille. So with that being said, I was wondering… how would you like to go home, Fang?"

"Home…" Fang asked, giving Rygdea a strange look. "Whatta ya mean by that?"

"I mean back to Gran Pulse," Rygdea said with a slight smile. "How would you like to go back to Gran Pulse?"

Fang's face looked as if she had just gotten the wind knocked out of her, a reaction that made Rygdea's smile grow even wider. However, standing not too far away from her, Lightning's brows ruffled in alarm. "What?" the word simultaneously slipped from both girls' mouths.

"I, uh, I of course would want to go back," Fang stammered. Her expression had all of the telltale signs of disbelief as if she still didn't trust that Rygdea was talking about her Gran Pulse. "But how?"

"Portal technology," Rygdea simply answered. "If we can take control of the technology center in Eden, we'll get control of the portals they used to travel between here and Gran Pulse in the Rescue Initiative scheme. After that, you just set the coordinates. Beep. Boop. Boop. Beep. And zippidy-doo-dah! You and your people are transported back home!"

Fang's dumbfounded expression slowly began to open up into a goofy, open-mouthed smile. Lightning's look of alarm, however, did nothing but settle further into her face.

"But it's not safe on Gran Pulse." Lightning turned her head from Fang to Rygdea. "What about the toxins?"

"Ahh, I forgot to tell ya." Fang was at the point where she couldn't help but grin now as she walked over to Lightning and held one of her hands. "The toxins weren't real! It was all made up by the Sanctum. Just a lie. I can… I can go home."

"But…" Lightning fought to piece together a new sentence. Something. Anything. "But what about the wilderness? The planet hasn't been inhabited in years. It could be overrun with monsters!" She was having a much harder time grasping this news than Fang, whose feet were nearly levitating off the ground, she was so far up on Cloud Nine.

"I know, right?!" Fang replied, giddily bouncing on her toes. "Think of all the hunting! Ahhh, this is soooo good! Rygdea. Man… Thanks."

"Haha, no problemo. Just think of it as a gift from us to you," Rygdea beamed. "And since there might be a cure on the way, we can just send someone down to shoot you and Vanille up once we know for sure it's done! But remember, for this to work, we can't have PSICOM or any Sanctum lackeys getting in the way. We need to be in full control. Keep all this in your head as motivation for when we get to Eden."

"Yeah, yeah," Fang vigorously nodded her head, stars still floating in her eyes. "Of course."

"Wait, wait, wait," Snow cut in, slightly raising his hand as if he were in a classroom. Both Fang and Lightning were too lost in their own thoughts to really have caught Rygdea's last sentence, but he had been all ears. "Eden? Why are we going to Eden? I thought we were supposed to be distractions while you guys took Eden."

"You are," Rygdea said, eyeing Snow as if he had just asked the dumbest question in the world. "In Eden. We'll have y'all paired with a few of our beta teams so that most of Eden's armed forces are chasing after y'all. In Eden. You'll be able to break out Vanille and the rest of the Gran Pulsians. In Eden. Which will attract even more of the artillery in your direction. In Eden. That way, the alpha team will be able to slip in, take out whoever is left, and get to the primarch. In Eden. Are you following?"

"Uh…" Snow looked from the distracted girls to Rygdea. He had followed the plan perfectly, but he couldn't think of a single unsuspicious way to tell Rygdea about its huge flaw, and it didn't look as if Fang or Lightning were about to step in and help. "Yeah. Will you excuse us for a second?"

In one swift motion, Snow snatched Fang and Lightning by the crook of their elbows and dragged them to a spot across the room, leaving Rygdea and Hope alone. Rygdea curiously watched the three older l'Cie as Snow moved them out of earshot before looking down to see Hope forcing and awkward smile in his direction. "So…" Rygdea asked, beginning to feel uncomfortable with the young, silver-headed boy, "Do you have any questions?"

Across the room, Snow was now whispering impatiently to his two comrades. "They're taking us to Eden." He cautiously looked around to make sure that none of the crew could hear him. "I thought that was our golden rule. Priority number one. No Eden."

"Calm down, blondie. I haven't burst yet," Fang coolly dismissed. "And seems like these guys have everything under control. We run in with them and their teams, save everyone, and then head home. What could go wrong?"

"Something always goes wrong!"

One of Fang's eyebrows flew up, her stupor being broken by the whispered exclamation. Snow sounded panicked. Really panicked. It was such a stark contrast from his usual nonchalant demeanor that Fang could even feel some of her nerves stirring in her stomach. "Then what are ya getting at?"

"You shouldn't come with us. Stay here in the airship or something."

"What?" Fang looked taken aback. "No way. Vanille's there. I'm going to Eden."

"But you could destroy the—the everything!"

"I'm going."

Snow let out a loud, exasperated exhale before turning to the one quiet l'Cie of the group. Her head was dipped down in thought and she didn't seem to be paying any attention to Fang and Snow's argument. "Lightning! A little help here?"

"Huh?" Light's head shot up on hearing her name. "What?" She looked to Snow with a puzzled expression.

"Fang." Snow's eyes impatiently darted from Light's to Fang's. "Tell her why it's too risky to bring her to Eden. Maybe she'll listen more to you."

"No, I won't," Fang retorted, crossing her arms.

Lightning could feel her brow tightening and a deep frown twisting at her lips. It was a dumb idea for Fang to want to go. Just another one of Fang's dumb, rash, not fully thought through ideas. She could even feel her ears and cheeks beginning to heat at the thought of it. "Fang, you can't go," she ground out.

"Well, since ya put it like that, guess I have no choice but to stay now," Fang sarcastically quipped. "Get outta here, you two. You need me. Vanille needs me. Rygdea needs me. There's no way I'm staying up here for that."

"You're being unreasonable," Lightning firmly stated.

"Oh, and you weren't? Ditching your father when he was leading you to a cure? What were ya thinking? What makes me so much different from you?"

"I'm not willing to risk innocents!" Lightning hissed, immediately jumping in Fang's face. Her cheeks were cherry red and her nostrils flared, but Fang remained calm, undeterred.

"I won't change," she said in a low, even tone. "And these 'innocents' have been discriminating against my people for years now. They're even talking about exiling their own. How innocent are they?"

"So what? If you can't beat them, join them?" Lightning asked coldly. "You do this, and you can destroy this whole world. And if you haven't thought about it, Cocoon floats. It'll probably fall and destroy that home planet you're so fucking anxious to get back to as well."

Fang froze, conspicuously bristled by Lightning's comment. She took a brief moment to think before glaring back at Lightning with a hardened look in her eyes. "Right now, Vanille's locked up in some Eden cell, and I'm supposed to trust an army of Cocoonians who aren't even loyal to their own government to treat her like a top priority and not some prop or distraction in their political mess? If I'm not down there, what's stopping them from using her as some kinda dispensable pawn or leaving her in that cell to turn into some monster if things go south, hm? So ya know what? Cocoon and Pulse can rot for all I care… I'll tear down the sky if it'll save her."

Lightning's muscles tensed as she and Fang held each other's angry gazes.

A loud whistle pierced the air.

The three l'Cie turned around to see Rygdea still looking their way with a slightly interested expression on his face. "Hate to break up your little powwow over there, but time's a'wasting! Farron, if you don't mind coming with me, I can take you downstairs to someone who can get that suppressor cuff taken off your wrist. The rest of you, I'd like to just have a quick talk about logistics in the meantime."

Lightning huffed, finally breaking eye contact with Fang to quickly glance in Rygdea's direction. "Look," she growled in a low voice when she turned to face Fang one last time, "I came back for you. I've gone against my family and all their beliefs standing up for you and your people, who've made it transparently clear that they hate my guts. The least you could do is consider doing the same for me." Light's eyes never lost their ferocity and her nostrils were so flared that it wouldn't have been surprising if smoke started to shoot out of them. Fang watched the girl march off into Rygdea's direction without another word. Across from her, Snow just looked flabbergasted.

"I… uh," the boy mumbled, trying to find something to say, "Guess we should… I'll just go ahead…" he loosely pointed forward in Rygdea's direction before also shuffling off.

Fang released a heavy breath. She softly shook her head before slowly ambling off in Rygdea's direction as well.

Fang leant against the hall wall outside of one of the studio rooms with her arms crossed. She was supposed to be meeting Rygdea when he was done hosting his little pre-battle photo op for the rest of the l'Cie. In his words, "We should probably get some of your photos in before we hit Eden tomorrow. Just in case y'all all don't come back as pretty." She remembered receiving the iciest of stares from Lightning after he had made the comment and feeling like crap immediately afterwards. Her foot restlessly tapped against the floor, her mind swimming with so many different thoughts, as she continued to wait.

Finally, she heard the light zipping sound of a door sliding open followed by the pang of footsteps.

"Fang!" Rygdea greeted as he stepped out of the room. "Right on time. Sorry for the hold up, but there were a few wardrobe malfunctions with Snow and Hope. We couldn't really find anything to fit 'em, so they're going to have to work overtime in there."

"Uh huh…" Fang nodded, kicking her foot against the wall as she lifted herself into an erect standing position. "It's no… Light."

Rygdea hadn't even taken a couple steps out of the room before the door had slid open again and Lightning had stepped out. Once again, Fang was met with one of those hard, judgmental stares.

"Um, Ryg, do ya mind if the two of us just take a minute? Real quick?" Fang asked, looking apologetically over to the cadet.

Rygdea sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. It's not like y'all haven't been taking enough already. But can I just say, if we pull this off tomorrow, I want an exclusive membership to all these club meetings y'all keep having. Deal?"

"Sure," Fang tiredly smiled. "Light?" She nodded her head to the side and began walking, feeling somewhat relieved when she heard Lightning's footsteps following behind her. When she was confident that they were far enough down the hall, Fang stopped to turn around. As it had been before, Light's expression was unforgiving. Fang opened her mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything, so she just ran a hand through her hair as she tried to piece something together. "Light, I know you're mad."

Lightning crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.

"And I understand why," Fang slowly continued. "I'm a walking disaster, I know."

The hard creases in Lightning's face slightly softened at that last statement, but still remained stern.

"And I also know it's a big risk… but I'm still going."

Lightning's face darkened.

"But I have an idea. I talked to the guy who got that cuff off your wrist, and he said that he could have it all fixed up and working again by tomorrow morning for me. Maybe even juice it up a little bit more than it already was. I can just nip the problem in the bud."

Lightning's brows crinkled with skepticism as she eyed Fang's face. "How will we know that'll work?"

"It worked for you, didn't it?" Fang shrugged.

"But how will we know it'll work for if… you know?"

"I'm not totally sure. But one thing I know is that when it starts, when I usually get all worked up, I can feel my powers starting to surge. Like they all turn on at once and try to come out of everywhere. My hands. My feet. My eyes. My pores in general. When you were wearing the cuff, didn't ya say that it didn't even make your fingers tingle anymore?"

Lightning nodded.

"Sounds like a deep-down enough working action to me. And even if it's not enough to stop all my power from seeping out, then just maybe it'll be good enough to stop enough coming out for me to change."

Fang's face looked so hopeful, so genuine. Lightning thought it was a bit refreshing to see that kind of optimism in her eyes, even if it had to deal with something so grim. "And if it does work, then you're just going to march into Eden, PSICOM's main headquarters, with no powers at all?"

"Heh. We can't have it both ways," Fang humourlessly smiled and shoved her hands in her pockets, looking down to the floor. "Besides, Rygdea plans on having me flanked by so many Cavalry men, it'll be a wonder if I get any action at all."

"Then stay here," Lightning blurted. "I mean, on the ship. Where every scenario doesn't have a big 'WHAT IF' floating above it."

"Light, every scenario IS gonna have a big 'what if' floating above it." Fang reached out to take Lightning's hands in her own. "And you know why I can't stay. Tell me, if it was Serah that all this had happened to… If, let's say, somehow she had turned l'Cie and was being held somewhere by the Sanctum… wouldn't you take the risks to get her back?"

Lightning didn't respond. She didn't need to. Even though she wanted to argue that she had already left Serah behind once, she knew that if she thought Serah was in any real danger, she would throw all caution to the wind to make sure she was all right. And she could tell that Fang knew it, too.

"So," Fang began, lightly rubbing the tops of Light's hands with her thumbs. "Am I still getting the cold shoulder or can we be friends again?"

Lightning released a heavy breath and slowly nodded her head.

"Good," Fang smiled in relief. "Our last day together before the main event and I thought I was gonna be in the doghouse."

Lightning tensed at Fang's statement. Their last day together…

"But speaking of doghouses, I better get back to Rygdea before he gets too impatient and blows a gasket. But I did hear from one of the crewmen that around sunset, there's a beautiful view from one of the lower lounge rooms if you're interested…" Fang leaned in close to give Lightning a parting kiss but stopped short when the pinkette turned her head away.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Hold it right there, you two!" Rygdea's voice cut through the hall as the young man quickly marched in the two l'Cies' direction. Even as she felt his hand grip her shoulder to pull her away, Fang was still gazing at Light with a slightly hurt and puzzled expression. "Well aren't y'all the little revolutionaries?" Rygdea joked as he held Fang and Light apart at arm's length. "A Gran Pulse-Cocoonian-lesbian-l'Cie couple… Now that surely wouldn't wind the people up into a bigger tizzy…"

Fang steadily moved her head around to try and catch Lightning's eye, but the girl was focusing all of her attention to the opposite wall.

"Truthfully, guys, I don't care what the hell y'all do behind those closed cabin doors, but you're standing right outside the studio rooms. Cameras. Recorders. All other type of futuristic things that I'm not allowed to play with…" Rygdea continued to talk, "…so can y'all try to keep it strictly professional when anywhere even remotely near a recording device. We're trying to diffuse a war, not hand the people lighter fluid and matches. Sound doable?"

Fang stared at the side of Light's face for a second more before releasing a defeated sigh. "No lovey dovey stuff. Seems doable enough. So what is it that me and you are supposed to be talking about?"

"You're needed for a call in the comm. room," Rygdea simply answered. "Need me to show you—"

"Nah. Comm. room. Third floor, room with all the touch tables and buttons."

Rygdea tilted his head, giving Fang an impressed smirk.

Fang just shrugged. "I like to wander. Guess I'll just head over then. See ya, Ryg. Light." Fang's eyes lingered on Lightning for one last moment before she began making her way down the hall.

Rygdea was still smirking as he watched her go. He placed his fists against his hips and shook his head. "That one is something else," he said lightheartedly, turning to Lightning. "Guess I never really had a shot with you, did I?"

Lightning finally looked up, just in enough time to catch Fang disappearing behind a closing elevator door. "Not while she was around…"

Fang lightly smiled as she sat on one of the cushiony chairs of the comm. room. Her elbow was resting on the ledge of one of the table interfaces with her hand propping up her head. In her ear was a slim, silver communication device that was attached to the table she was leaning on. "But I have to say," Fang said, her voice mixed with hints of cheer and fatigue, "you were the last person I was expecting to be on the other end of this line. Super hyper enrypta-thingy mabob or not."

"Haha, yeah…" Dane's voice replied from the other end. "Ya should've seen the look on everyone's faces when those Cavalry guys rolled up here in that black cruiser. After what happened in Bodhum, it was about to be one hell of a take no prisoners moment."

"So what stopped ya from attacking then?" Fang asked.

"Well, we had already pinned one to the ground and slashed the tires before one of the guys said they were trying to help you and 'Nille out. Said that you were over in the streets of Palumpolum, knocking people around with some elderly person's walking cane. I remember ya used to do that with the elder's walking sticks back in the day… pretending it was a spear. So I told everyone to lay off until we got down to the bottom of things."

"Wow, look at you. Putting your big boy draws on and giving people commands," Fang cooed.

"Oh, shut up," Dane chuckled. "What about you? A l'Cie? I remembered hearing the stories all the time back when we were tykes, but I don't think I ever thought somebody I knew—one of us—would get hit, ya know?"

"I know," Fang sighed. "There's still some moments when I have to stop and remember this is all really happening myself. But hey, do ya have the coordinates we need or not?"

"Yeah, I've got 'em. Ready?"

"Yep."

Fang softly hummed affirmatives after each set of coordinates that Dane recited for her.

"Now that I think about it, I think I was supposed to scratch that last one," Dane said.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's the coordinates for one of the planes in the Archylte Steppe. One of the elders is from the Bur clan, the nomadic ones who make those really good at making stuff outta pelts. She said she had a nice little siesta cave over there that she used to spend some vacation time just relaxing in that she'd like to get back to. But then she thought about how overrun the steppe might be and how much bigger the monsters have probably gotten without us hunting them, so she decided against it."

"Hm," Fang said thoughtfully. She made a motion to scratch the coordinates out of the pad she had been recording them on, but then thought better against it. Maybe they could later come in handy.

"So Fang… Does it hurt or anything?"

Now it was Fang's turn to chuckle. "What? When I fell from heaven?"

"No, you twat. When ya fell out of a bad bedtime story and became a l'Cie," Dane retorted. Fang could practically see the disparagement on his face as he spoke.

"Nah, it doesn't hurt. Feels tingly sometimes, but doesn't hurt."

"And it's not gonna hurt later?" Dane asked.

"Like an after burn?"

"Like a knife sticking out your back."

"Oh." Fang turned her head a bit sideways to scratch her scalp. "I don't think so, man. These guys seem pretty all right. Like they don't want any issues."

"That's because they want something from you," Dane replied. "To be their walking diversion, right? What's to say they won't change their minds about us once they get their way? Or what if they lose and the Sanctum doesn't want to release their favorite prisoners? I'm just saying, have ya thought of a back-up plan?"

"No… but I'm guessing you have?" Fang knew Dane well enough where she already knew he had.

"Did they tell ya at all how the portals work? Like what makes one go up on one end to the other?" Dane asked.

"It was something about gate technology, I think," Fang said. "They have multiple gates here on Cocoon, and during their 'rescue initiative' thing, they had someone build a couple of gates on Gran Pulse. You get coordinates. They put the coordinates into this machine that figures out which gate is closest, then something with energy and yadda yadda, you've opened a portal."

"Is that why they can't create a portal in the prison for 'Nille and everybody else to just walk out?"

"Nah. The walls in the detainment cells are built to block portal waves so no one can use them to escape. It's a prison. Thought that'd be self-explanatory."

"Hardy har," Dane mock laughed. "So what you're saying is, if we were to destroy the gates on our side, no one from the Cocoon side could follow us back by portal?"

"Yep, that's what I'm—wait." Fang sat up in her seat as she realized what her friend was getting at. "Dane. No."

"Fangggg," Dane pressed. "They're a people who go back on their word. They do it all the time. You know this! We've got to be smart and take preventative measures."

"They're delivering my cure, you jackass!" Fang retorted. "If we don't keep the portals open, me and Vanille are good as done!"

"What about us? Ya don't think we'd be done if they change their minds?"

"Are you seriously asking me to be a martyr?" Fang asked in disbelief. "Me? You know how selfish I am!"

"Fang, we'd be too busy trying to rebuild, resettle, control wildlife, and repopulate to fight off another Cocoon invasion."

"So this is about fucking then?" Fang exclaimed incredulously. "So let Fang bite the big one just so you all can pitch tents, hunt, and hump? And I'll have you know that I'd be the hottest piece of breeding stock ass that would ever step foot back onto Gran Pulsian soil."

"You don't even like guys!"

"You're just looking for reasons to condemn me!"

Dane loudly sighed from the other end of the line. "Listen. Fang. I love you. Ya know I do. We wouldn't even be talking about going home if it weren't for you and 'Nille. So this will be the plan. I'm guessing you're gonna want to go back to Oerba, right? I'll go through the portal with the coordinates we've set closest to there. We'll have it so that everyone destroys the gate that brings them down, except that one; we'll make it a high security area and everything for however long it takes. But once you get your cure, we've got to destroy it, Fang. For us to feel truly free, we've gotta cut the chord so we can't be followed. At least not right away."

"Yeah, yeah," Fang nodded, although it felt as if a heavy knot was beginning to settle in her stomach. They would be cutting off all immediate connections with Cocoon… and all connections with the people who lived there. "I understand."

"What do these gates look like anyway? Gotta know what we're aiming at when we're ready to fire the explosives."

"Oh. Umm," Fang rubbed at her eyes as she tried to recall what the engineers had told her. "They're like really white, extra fluffy, ever-present clouds in the sky. They'll look really outta place on Gran Pulse. Ya won't be able to miss 'emmmm—hold up. Explosives? How'd you get explosives?"

"We were staging a rescue mission," Dane stated as if it were common sense. "We needed explosives."

"Heavens…"

"Well, Fang, it's been great to hear from ya, but I've got a lot of prepping to do. Big day tomorrow, going home and all…"

Fang lightly smiled and nodded even though she knew Dane wouldn't be able to see her.

"…so, uh, just make sure ya take care of yourself. Don't do anything too stupid, and uh… guess I'll see ya on the other side, right?"

"Right. Be safe, Dane. And don't do, uh, things that you normally wouldn't do? Peer pressure is a killer."

"Yeah. Right," Dane softly laughed before hanging up on his end of the line.

Fang just dropped her head back down into one hand while yanking the earpiece from her ear with the other. Nothing was ever simple.

The lights in the tiny sleeping cabin were dimmed when Fang opened the door and slid in. Lightning was lying on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed, ankles crossed, newspaper in hand, and dressed in the unisex sleepwear that they had all been given when they first arrived on the ship. The corner of Fang's lips twitched upwards in a hopeful half-smile as she took one step towards the bed, but when Lightning's eyes lifted from her newspaper to give her a piercing glare, Fang's feet instinctively swerved around to walk to the mini dresser. She snatched up her pack of sleeping clothes and walked to closet-sized bathroom at the end of their room.

Lightning looked back to the paper to continue reading her article. About a minute later, she heard knob of the bathroom door twist open and the soft padding of feet on the floor. The padding stopped maybe a few steps into the middle of the room.

Light tried to keep her attention trained to the paper, but she just couldn't concentrate. She could feel Fang's eyes on her. Staring at her. Finally feeling as if she had had enough, Light rolled her eyes and turned her head to the side.

Fang was standing in front of the bunk bed with her hands on her hips, fully donned in the generic sleepwear… that looked more as if it had been sized for Hope than herself. The sleeves of both her arms and pant legs only covered about three quarters of her actual limbs. The fabric of the shirt was stretched tightly against her bosom, causing the top few buttons to protrude as if they were about to burst. Worst of all, Fang had this comically dismayed look on her face as she stared at Lightning, softly shaking her head.

Lightning tried to bite back a tiny smile, but despite her best efforts, she could feel her lips stretching into a weak, subdued smirk. Fang grinned in response before walking around the length of the bed to the top bunk ladder. Lightning continued to watch as Fang's last foot had disappeared over the roof of the bed and she heard the mattress above her squeak from the added weight. She quietly sighed to herself before folding the paper she had been reading into fourths and sticking it into the tight space between the bunk and the wall.

"Light?"

Lightning rolled onto her back to look at the small lump, which she guessed to be Fang's ass, that was sagging down from the mattress above.

"I know you're still mad at me—"

"I'm not mad at you," Lightning interrupted. She wasn't exactly sure what she was. There was a little bit of anger there, mixed with some subtle hints of aggravation. The most prevalent feeling was one that she couldn't exactly put a finger on. Sadness? Hurt? Fear? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that it was something cold that twisted in the pit of her stomach.

"Okay…" Fang's voice sounded hesitant to continue. "Then I know you're generally mad at something. If tomorrow's really gonna be the big day, it's probably best to get everything off your chest. Before we used to go on practice hunts back on Gran Pulse, the elders would sometimes make us just sit in a circle and talk about our day. They'd say that a clear head would make for a clear—"

"Etro, Fang, could you stop talking about it for just five minutes?" Lightning snapped.

The room went deathly silently. There wasn't even any squeaking from Fang's top mattress. Lightning could feel her face beginning to flush, and her breathing sounded like roaring waves in her ears.

"Talking about 'it'?" Fang quietly asked. "Ya mean Gran Pulse?"

Lightning guiltily looked across her bed to her feet. She knew that Fang had never asked to come to Cocoon in the first place… to be dragged from her home just to become the social scum of her captors' society. It was expected for Fang to be excited, but even though she wanted to, she couldn't find it in herself to feel the same way. "It's going to be wild over there. Dangerous," Light said, still staring at her feet. "Depending on the damage from the Rescue Initiative, you might have to start from scratch. No weapons. No shelter. No medicine. No anything. And both sides will still be hostile. You'll have to destroy the portals…"

Fang's mattress squeaked, accompanied by what sounded like shuffling covers. A second passed before Fang's pajama top and bottoms floated over the side of the bed to land on the floor. Lightning rolled her eyes, and wondered if Fang was even taking this conversation seriously or just writing it off. However, if she could actually see through the mattress, she would've seen the glum look on Fang's face, just thinking about the little things that sometimes shed light on the bigger issues. Lightning was thinking the exact way that Dane had been. The two could sometimes seem so alike, but neither could stand each other, even without ever having one real conversation.

"You… you should stay."

"What?" The mattress bounced with a sharp squeak overhead as Fang asked the question.

Lightning looked up to the bottom of Fang's mattress, not even sure where she was going herself with this request. "How are we supposed to convince people that the Gran Pulsians aren't a threat if there aren't any Gran Pulsians around to spread a positive image?"

"They wouldn't see me as a positive image. They'd see me as the main conspirator. They'd probably try to take my head off."

"I wouldn't let them."

"You'd be my 24/7 bodyguard?"

"If I have to."

"You should come to Gran Pulse instead. Beautiful scenery. Fresh food. Not swarming with people. Not to mention all the hunting and fighting you could ever hope for," Fang said dreamily. "I think you'd like it there."

"But I couldn't just leave Cocoon," Lightning replied, knowing that she had just asked the exact same thing of Fang. "I've got school. And my family. Serah. My dad. I just can't leave them behind."

"The same dad that drugged and kidnapped ya?" Fang asked haughtily.

"He meant well," Lightning defended. "It's—it's just not fair. After everything we've done and been through, it's just… we were just getting started…"

Once again, Fang was silent from the mattress above. There was one particularly high-pitched, prolonged squeak that sounded as if she were rolling over to the very edge of the top bunk. "Are ya talking about us 'doing it'?" she finally asked after the slight pause.

"No!" Lightning huffed. She fought the temptation to smile as she lifted up a leg to give the lump in the above mattress a gentle kick. "You know what I mean."

Fang could barely be heard chuckling to herself before going quiet again. "This isn't the end, though."

Lightning cocked an eyebrow and waited for Fang to continue.

"I still need my cure. We're not destroying all the portals… We can still visit each other."

Lightning stared up at the top bunk unsurely. There was a bit of hesitancy in Fang's voice. "What about after you get cured?"

Fang went silent again as she carefully thought about her answer. "Then I'll build a rocket ship, so I can fly up to Cocoon any time I want. Or you could boost one of the Cavalry's interplanetary ships and come down to see me. Just convince Rygdea that I miss him and I bet he'd find some type of head hauncho to give the trip a thumbs up."

"It's really that easy?" Lightning asked.

"I think so," Fang replied. "We're gonna make this work, Light. No matter what happens with the portals. I'll make sure of that."

Lightning smiled at Fang's words. They were optimistic, but maybe that's just what they needed right now. A little bit of faith and optimism.

"Ya know…" The top mattress aggressively squeaked and wiggled as if Fang was wrestling something in it. "It's really drafty up here. Is it really drafty down there or—"

"Get down here," Lightning sighed.

Light's last word was still on her breath when Fang's body had plopped down beside her on her small mattress, immediately wrapping her arms around the pinkette.

"Better?" Lightning asked, turning onto her side so that her back was pressed against Fang's chest.

"Better," Fang confirmed, snuggling closer to Light on the mattress. "And I meant what I said Light. We are gonna make this work. I promise."

A/N: The home stretch...