Chapter Sixteen: Phantom Threat

Lightning was never one to get extremely groggy after sleeping. She was a soldier; she always slept lightly so that she could jump up and fight if she had to. That was a lifestyle that she never really abandoned, since her life hadn't been peaceful for years now.

Yet the morning after Caius put her to sleep, she woke up in a complete daze. She fought the urge to groan, unbelievably foggy mentally. What even happened? When she went to sleep the first time, she awoke because she couldn't stand hearing the screaming any longer. And when she noticed Caius's arm over her stomach…Well, it was a chain reaction. She came up with the idea that he send her to a dream world.

And he did. She had a nightmare instead of a sweet dream though. It's alright, she thought with furrowed eyebrows. Nightmares I can handle. Better than just hearing screaming for hours on end. But unfortunately, the nightmare didn't even block the curse. In the background, she heard the cries of all the people who died. Serah especially.

Lightning finally opened her eyes, seeing the tree in front of her as she continued to lay on her side. She glanced down at her stomach and saw that Caius's arm was still draped over it. And hers over his. Honestly, she was surprised with herself. She wasn't intimate with people. She didn't even know how she felt towards Caius, or so she told herself. She couldn't put the emotion into words so she tried to just go with her gut feelings.

"Lightning?"

She glanced over her shoulder, seeing Caius looking down at her. Had he laid there with her, waiting for her to awaken? She nodded faintly to him to show that she heard him, and that she was awake. That was obviously the reason that he spoke her name. And he wanted to know if she was alright. Was she? She didn't even know anymore. It was too much to decipher.

Instead of giving a verbal response to Caius's unanswered question, she gave him the privilege of being able to study her and reach his own conclusion. Lightning carefully rolled onto her back, and Caius propped himself up with one arm while the other remained over her. Go ahead and see for yourself, she told him through her eyes. You've earned that much of my trust. Surely Caius knew not to take that for granted. She was sharing herself with him, as he shared his heart with her a while ago. It was scary to let him in, but at the same time, she trusted him. She really did.

Caius, being the smart that he was, silently accepted Lightning's offer. His eyes danced over her face, studying her unguarded expression. What showed was probably tiredness and sadness, but Lightning hoped that her eyes showed that she wasn't broken. She could survive this. She had to.

Caius opened his mouth to say something after a few moments, but the words never left. A loud cracking noise came from the forest.

Eyes wide, Lightning bolted upright and Caius bolted to his feet. She quickly followed suit and pulled out her sword, eyes narrowed as she looked into the trees. It may have been daytime now, but the woods were still shaded pretty well. There was no doubt in her or Caius's minds though. Something was in there. The question was, was it a friend or a foe?

Lightning saw him first. A man, stumbling towards them. Wounded. But this wasn't just any man. "Corin," she grunted, rushing into the woods to meet him before Caius could stop her. She stopped by the man, eyes dropping to the obvious wound. Somebody struck him with an arrow? "What happened?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows, looking up at his green eyes.

"I was hunting you two, but then me and my men were ambushed. I only took an arrow to the knee."

"Who shot at you?" Caius asked, suddenly appearing right next to Lightning.

"I don't know," Corin panted. "I couldn't see anyone. We were sniped off. I'm the only one to have survived."

"We need to move," Lightning said. "We're sitting ducks in the forest. Caius, take Corin away from here. Go to the ruins or something."

"And what do you plan on doing?"

Lightning pulled out her gunblade, swiftly holding it with both hands as her left hand caressed the gun. "I'll cover you. And try and figure out who this sniper is." Upon feeling Caius's concerned look on her, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked over at him. "Don't even think that you could be the one to do this. You don't have a gun."

"But I could take yours."

"And leave me lugging your weapon and Corin," she finished with a jerk of her head. "Forget it. You know that this is the only plan that's going to work."

"This attacker just took out five men," Corin stated a bit angrily. "And you believe that you can handle him on your own?"

Lightning didn't even bother answering, furrowing her eyebrows. What is it with these people underestimating me? She'd show them.

Opportunity came in an arrow flying right at her head. With lightning fast reflexes, she lifted her gunblade and shot a bullet directly at the arrowhead. The bullet knocked down the arrow, also tearing it in two. With a satisfied hum, she shifted her gaze to Corin. "You seriously need to stop underestimating us," she said. "Who defeated five dragons in one day?"

With bitterness, Corin responded. "You did…"

"Mhm, that's what I thought. Have you saved the world yet Corin?"

"I was working on it…"

"And failing miserably," Caius interrupted. "This is a waste of time. Let me ask an important question: Why are we helping him, Lightning?"

"Because he's not a bad person," she said without looking over. "He's just on the wrong side.

"And how do we know that this isn't a trap?"

"He has an arrow lodged his knee," Lightning said as she jerked her head towards said arrow. "Nobody would be stupid enough to create a serious wound like that for the sake of trickery."

Caius grunted his response, not happy but unable (and unwilling) to argue with her. He knew that she was right, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked.

"I suppose so."

"Then go," Lightning said, eyes searching the forest. "Like I said, I'll cover."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caius nod. With Corin's arm wrapped over his shoulder, Caius started to lead the man away from the dark forest. If they walked down the path of the river, they'd come to an opening. From there, they could enter the ruins. There were still places for the sniper to hide, but at least there, Lightning had a chance of shooting back without shooting blind.

No attacks came. Not at first. Lightning walked backwards, facing the forest while Caius and Corin made their way closer and closer to the ruins. She wondered if the person wasn't after her and Caius today. But why wouldn't they be? She had a theory about this, but not a good one. She'd have to talk it over with Caius and Corin before she came to any conclusions.

Then, when they were right between the forest and the ruins, an attack came. A volley of arrows, coming from one source and then spreading out in midflight before coming at her. Magic arrows, not arrows from multiple shooters. She grunted, quickly lifting her sword and shutting her eyes. Shield! A translucent shield appeared around her, Caius, and Corin, and not even the magic arrows could penetrate it. They all dropped to the ground.

They came from right there, Lightning thought with squinted eyes, staring at one spot in the forest. She started running in, hearing Caius cry in protest. "Lightning!"

"Get him to the ruins," she barked. "I know where the shooter is."

Just as quickly as the words left her lips, she disappeared from Caius's sight and entered the forest. The shooter had been in a tree, sitting on one of the lower branches. And whatever bow and arrow they were using…Lightning knew that it held magical properties. How else would the arrows have deceivingly changed to be more spread out before narrowing in on them again? That was physically impossible to do without magic.

She stood in the middle of the trees, glaring up at the tree that she hadn't taken her eyes off of. "Show yourself!" she cried, tightly gripping her gunblade. She gritted her teeth and shot a bullet into the place the person had been kneeling, but it only struck air. "Coward!"

The branches of a tree to her left ruffled. Lightning spun on her feet, pointing her gun at an empty area. She was meant to hear that. Whoever this person was, they were toying with her. "Sadistic, huh?" she muttered, though she made sure the villain could hear her. "Fine. But you're not in the mood to shoot me, are you? You want to finish off what you started earlier."

Silence was her response.

"The question is, how did you manage to kill the others off so easily but only shoot Corin's knee? Was it a warning shot? Or did you flat out miss your target?"

To answer her, an arrow came directly at her heart. Lightning's gunblade blocked it. "Your aim is right on," she said, understanding the message that was sent to her. "Okay, it was a warning shot. You wanted him to reach us so we'd know that you're a major threat. Now that we got the memo, you want to kill the messenger. But you're stuck here with me. So, what are you going to do about it?"

A barrage of arrows came at Lightning from her right. As if this attack would work on her. She rolled forward, allowing the arrows to pierce the ground behind her as she shot bullets towards the exact location that the arrows originated from.

This time, the shooter had no time to run to another tree. One of the bullets struck, and the person fell out of the tree. They weren't in the light, but Lightning could see the outline of the figure. Small, thin, and crouched down on the ground in a defensive position that Lightning herself had perfected. She would have thought it was a clone of herself. Except for the long ponytail on the side of the person's head.

She grunted, eyes widening. That figure was…

They disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Gone for good.

Lightning tried to recapture that second that she saw the figure in her mind. They were all black, just a shadow. She saw the girl's eyes, but they weren't the blue hue that Serah's were. But the figure's shape, their technique with the bow and arrow…All of it told her that it had been some kind of illusion of Serah.

But no, she refused to accept that. As she headed out of the forest towards the ruins, she started talking herself out of it all. The techniques were coincidence. The figure wasn't really Serah; Lightning just hallucinated and pictured her because Serah was on her mind all the time these days. Most importantly, the eyes weren't the same as Serah's. Even in the shadows of the forest, Lightning knew that was truth.

She entered the ruins, walking up the stairs until rubble blocked her path. Caius must have gotten Corin up further. How that was possible with his wound, she didn't know. Maybe Caius threw him over the debris as revenge for attacking them a while ago. Yeah, that was something that Caius would do… So she jumped over various piles of rubble to get deeper into the ruins, further away from the forest and the phantom enemy that they had faced. They would be safe for a little while. But the enemy would come back eventually to finish what they started with Corin. Their orders must have been to kill him before going for Lightning and Caius. There was only one person who would want all of them dead—

"Lightning," Caius said. Over to her right, Caius was on his feet and Corin was sitting down. "Is the foe gone?"

"Gone as in not here anymore," Lightning responded, her voice sounding off. "She got away."

"She?"

"They got away," she corrected. "Whoever they were."

Though she tried to cover up her blunder, Caius was smart enough to pick up on her mistake. He didn't confront it directly though. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Corin. "Come look at this arrow in his knee," he said. "It's familiar."

I already know that, Lightning wanted to snap, though she locked her jaw and stared at the arrow. It looked just like Serah's. "Yeah, familiar," she said tightly, not encouraging the conversation.

"I only see one logical conclusion," Caius continued, looking at Lightning as he spoke.

Say it, I dare you, Lightning thought without looking at Caius. "And that would be?" she asked lowly.

"Etro is messing with our hearts."

"You mean my heart," she finally snapped.

But Caius only shook his head. "No, Lightning," he said. He gently reached for Lightning's hand, which was still tightly gripping the gunblade by her side. "Ours"

Lightning looked up at Caius, and upon seeing the look in his eyes, she had to force her own to soften. She understood what he was saying. He was saying that Lightning wasn't the only person suffering because somebody similar to Serah was attacking them. Lightning was the one most affected by it directly, but Caius was affected because he hated to see her in pain. Again, he was reminding her that somebody actually cared about her.

"Sorry," she muttered, glancing down at the ground. She really had to stop losing her temper with Caius. The last thing that she wanted was to chase him away.

"Apology accepted," he said easily. "Now, back to our situation. Etro must have resurrected some form of Serah to come and hunt us."

"How?"

"She's a goddess who deals with life and death. How hard could it be?"

"This wasn't Serah though," Lightning said as she faintly shook her head. "…She was all black like a shadow, except for her eyes. Those were a dull grey."

"So then, it's simply an illusion. It is only meant to play with our heartstrings. We won't allow that to stop us."

Lightning didn't respond right away. She knew Caius was right. She had to stop letting Etro get inside her head, because it was tearing her apart. The only reason it was her going through this and not Caius was because Etro had the nerve to try and recruit him before…What a foolish move on her part. She should have tried breaking his heart too if she was so wise. Caius's strength was going to be her downfall. He was the one keeping her going now after all.

"Lightning."

"You're right," she said, nodding faintly in hopes of convincing him. "It's not going to stop us."

"How sweet," came a sarcastic voice from the ground. Lightning shifted her gaze to Corin, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he continued. "But whether you plan on allowing this to stop you or not, you have a serious problem. Etro is ten times more powerful than you and you have no idea how to defeat her."

"Even the gods aren't invincible," Caius said lowly. "We'll discover a way."

"Not before she kills you off first through that phantom enemy."

"Why do I get the feeling you care?" Lightning asked with suspicion.

"I don't," Corin said, though he was not a very good liar. "I only wanted to make sure that you two understood your fate."

"And that fate would be?" she challenged.

He laughed. "Death, obviously. What other fate could the goddess have in store for you?"

Lightning didn't respond, though she did have an answer. Odin had told her that he had once stood against Etro as she was doing now. When he lost, he was forced into being her servant for all eternity. She assumed that would be the fate that she and Caius would face when they lost. "Here's a question for you, Corin," she said. "What fate does Etro have in store for you? You admit that warrior is from Etro, yet she attacked you, Etro's servant."

"The goddess has betrayed you," Caius added. "You couldn't complete your task, so she sent somebody that would. And somebody who would kill you in the process so you could never become strong enough to threaten her."

"I'm not convinced that's true," Corin said uneasily, shifting his gaze to the ground.

"What part aren't you convinced about? The warrior of Etro attacking you and trying to kill you? It is clear as a bright morning in New Paddra!"

"Perhaps the goddess has a bigger plan then I can see…"

"Yeah, a plan where she rules the universe all by herself and kills off anybody who could be a threat to her," Lightning said as she rolled her eyes. "That's the bigger plan."

"She wouldn't!" Corin cried.

"She already is," she responded lowly. "Believe it or don't. But if I were you, I'd find somewhere safe to hide. Somewhere safe. Otherwise, you're as good as dead."

"My duty is still to kill you," he said in confusion. "Why allow me to go recover? I could pose a serious threat to you."

"Like I told Caius earlier, you're not a bad person," Lightning said. She knelt down next to Corin as she finally put her weapon away, staring at the arrow in his knee. "Just confused and on the wrong side. Now hold still, we need to get the arrow out of your knee. Caius, keep a lookout."

"I do not believe compassion is wise here…"

"Oh well." Lightning set one hand on Corin's knee while the other hand wrapped around the purple arrow. She glanced up at his face briefly before she tightened her grasp on the arrow and yanked it out in one swift movement.

Corin's cry of pain split the air, and both Caius and Lightning grunted in alarm. Not at the pain; at the notion that somebody else would hear his cry and come running. Running into natives of each time period was not something that Lightning and Caius enjoyed doing. But quieting him in the few seconds that he screamed wasn't going to do any good.

Instead of scolding him once he was quiet, Lightning focused on her magic. She shut her eyes and cast Cure on his knee in hopes of healing him quickly. "It's alright," she found herself saying. "The worst is over." Funny, she thought, Caius said the same thing to me when I was recovering from an arrow to the stomach. Well, I'm just passing it forward, I guess.

"You're right," Corin breathed, shutting his eyes as he leaned his head back against the rubble he was sitting against. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lightning said before she shifted her gaze to her other companion. "Caius, you think anybody heard that?"

"We were fortunate. Nobody is coming."

Lightning nodded in relief, dropping the arrow to the ground. That was good. Actually, it was one of the first strokes of good luck that they had. At least there was something good going on and not just the nightmares, pain, and being hunted. "Alright, well, what should we do now?"

"Get rid of Corin."

She looked over at Caius at his comment, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. "Well that's rude."

"He's the enemy."

"You really don't like showing compassion, do you?" she asked with minor irritation.

"No," he said without flinching. "I don't. Not towards people who would take advantage of it."

"Does he look like he's going to take advantage of us?" Lightning said as she motioned to the man on the ground. Seriously, is Caius blinded by that much hatred? We just saved his life! He'll repay the favor somehow. And even if he doesn't, I wasn't about to let somebody defenseless die.

"Appearances are deceiving. Look at you for example."

"Me?"

"Well, you don't look like a warrior necessarily," Caius said, not flinching at Lightning's glare like he should have. "You're small, thin…and…"

"And?" she said tensely. Caius's comments were coming across as insulting now. So what if she wasn't built big and brawny like other warriors? She did just fine the way that she was. Just because she was small didn't mean that she was weak.

"And beautiful," he finished.

Lightning's temper faded immediately. That was a compliment; she wasn't that dense. But it wasn't one that she ever heard before, or expected to hear. Beautiful. She was…beautiful? "As if," she muttered automatically, looking away.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Caius's look of disbelief. "Must I really do this in front of Corin?"

This time, she really was dense enough to not understand what he was saying. "Do what?"

"Convince you that you're beautiful."

"You don't have to convince me of anything," Lightning said as she shook her head. "I already know the truth. I'm not beautiful."

"Why not?" he challenged.

"You're really making me go over this in front of Corin?" she asked awkwardly.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I'll take my leave," Corin said as he rose to his feet.

"N-no, I didn't mean-" I didn't mean to imply that you should leave. This conversation is already awkward; it's going to get worse the deeper in we get.

"That's alright," he responded. "I'll just leave something here for you guys to look at when you're done." Corin pulled a book out from behind his back and set it down on the rubble, nodding faintly to both Lightning and Caius. "Hopefully I will meet you two again, whether it is because I am hunting you or because I am still alive."

Just like that, Corin started walking away from the scene. He disappeared behind some of the rubble and was gone.

"Well?" Caius prodded after a few moments.

"We're really having this conversation?" Lightning asked as she rose to her feet, still not looking up.

"Yes," he said evenly.

"Alright, fine," she said. "I'm not beautiful because I'm a warrior. I'm tough, stoic, and don't show my emotions well enough."

"You're referring to inward beauty," Caius responded more gently. "And I do not view those as ugly…" He trailed off, not finishing what he had to say until he saw Lightning's prodding expression. "Keeping emotions hidden is not a crime. Nor is being able to push them aside when necessary. Showing them is challenging, but you show your emotion more than you think."

"No way," she said in disbelief, shaking her head. "How do I show emotion?"

"Your eyes."

Lightning looked up at Caius then, meeting his eyes in stunned silence. She knew her eyes spoke volumes, but she didn't know that he could see emotions in them…or this beauty he claimed to see.

"Your eyes cannot lie, Lightning," he said gingerly. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Not going to drop this, huh? she thought silently, looking down at the ground. Caius was certain that she was beautiful for some reason. But he wasn't inside her head. He didn't know how messed up she was. Still…his words meant something to her, incorrect or not. For her cheeks began to turn red as she tried to think of some other direction to take this conversation.

Looking to her right, she saw the book Corin left. She cleared her throat. "Let's take a look at this."

Caius decided to humor her, fortunately. "Alright, let's see what our enemy left us."

Ignoring the title Caius gave to Corin, Lightning picked up the book and turned it over so that she could see the title.

Uses of Dragon Fragments.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Hello hello! Sorry for the week-long wait, this past week has been INSANE. I had basically ZERO free time. It was terrible. Dx Other than that, life is okay. Just okay.

MusaBakaChan- Welcome to the story! Glad to have you aboard (:

Loxed- Glad you've made yourself known! Hope you get your computer fixed soon

xxx- bummer about the picture, but oh well, I suppose it can't be helped.

The Darkness Factor- I've never actually watched or played Pokemon (I must be one of the only people in my generation who hasn't xD)

Jchongmeeluk- I'm fine, but I'll accept that virtual chicken noodle soup! Delicious (: It's just been an insane week.

The rest: I can't believe so many of you are Legend of Korra fans! SEASON FINALE TOMORROW MORNING. Crazy that it's ending already. Hopefully the next season has more character development, especially with Bolin. I have lots of opinions on the show, but I'll save that rant for another day when I'm more awake.

Peanut's out for the night. Peace. (This is how Peanut talks when she's exhausted as she is now. Sorry for the quirkiness).