A/N: I am so, so, so sorry for the long delay BUT, to make it up to you guys, I will post two chapters. THE FINAL TWO CHAPTERS! I will not bug you with a long Author's note, so just enjoy!
Special thanks to mooncanvas, who's been helping me getting those two chapters right! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own the game, Final Fantasy XIII, or the characters used in this story! They all belong to Square Enix.
Storm Driven
a Final Fantasy XIII Fanfiction. (slightly) OOC, (slightly) AU, Lanille
Encounter
"The Guardian Corps?" a very unsure voice of a young girl with pink hair asks another girl, who appears to be the older sister. Tears are streaming down the younger girl's face. They are both standing in the middle of their living room. A gloomy aura seems to be hanging in the whole house.
"Yes. When I finish school I will join the Guardian Corps." the other girl says. She seems determined, clutching a newspaper tightly in her hands. The title of the paper says, 'Lt. Farron and his wife died in- ' the rest is not visible anymore.
"Why? Daddy never wanted us in the military!" the younger girl sounds angry now. She's clenching her hands into fists while giving her sister a look of disapproval. The tears still running freely.
"This way I can protect you, Serah. I don't have a choice!" the older girl tells her sister with a sigh. She lifts her hands to rub her eyes, a sign of stress. And she feels tears stinging in her eyes, too. But she won't let them fall. She has to be strong.
The girl named Serah averts her gaze to the side. "You can get a regular job and still protect me until I'm old enough!" her voice is not as angry anymore. Only shaky.
The older girl takes a step closer to her sister and puts her hand on top of the not just younger, but also smaller girl's head. "But in the Guardian Corps I will learn how to fight. This way I can properly protect you."
"Claire … " Serah starts sobbing again, and soon later buries her head in her older sister's shoulder, crying bitterly. The girl named Claire just holds her tightly, promising silently that she will protect her younger sister with everything she has …
ooo
Serah is angrily stomping up and down the living room of her and her sister's apartment. The pink haired soldier, Lightning, is just standing, her arms crossed, and she's following her sister's movements with her eyes.
"You're going to Pulse? There's a war going on down there!" Serah exclaims, stopping shortly. "What does the Guardian Corps want down there, anyways? Aren't you supposed to protect civilians?!"
Lightning sighs. "They need reinforcements down there."
"And you just said that you will go?" Serah asks, continuing her angry pacing.
"I can't just disobey my orders."
"What happened to protecting me? When mom and dad died you swore to protect me! And now you will just leave me here?" the younger sister's voice is getting angrier by the second, and tears are starting to form in her eyes.
Again, the soldier sighs. "If I fight down there I will still be protecting you, Serah. It's the creatures from Pulse that are threatening our home. When we get rid of them down there, then I will do my job and protect you, and a lot of other people, too. And for the time that I am gone you can stay with Snow."
Not knowing what to reply, Serah starts stomping towards the front door now. "You know what, I will do that just now! And don't you dare follow me!" she throws into the room and slams the door closed with a loud bang.
Lightning shakes her head and sighs. "She'll come around." she says to herself and then heads to her room.
ooo
It is in the middle of the night. Lightning is lying in her bed, bright awake. Tomorrow she will move out to Pulse. She wouldn't admit or show it, but she is nervous.
Her door suddenly opens. "Light?" comes a quiet whisper from Serah. Lightning heard her coming back home some time ago, so she wasn't alerted by the sound at all.
"Hm?" The soldier turns her head to face her sister. Her eyes already adapted to the dark, so she could at least make out some features.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure … "
Serah then steps into the room, still quiet. She walks over to the bed and sits down on it. Lightning doesn't say a word. She's still lying down, her arms crossed behind her head.
"I'm so sorry, Lightning, about our fight earlier … I should encourage you instead of yelling at you. I know that you will still protect me, even though you're down there." Serah admits, which makes Lightning smile a very faint hint of a smile. She is relieved.
"Can you forgive me?"
The older sister finally sits up. "Of course I forgive you."
Serah lunges forward to hug Lightning fiercely. She can feel tears stinging in her eyes, but this time she wants to stay strong. She doesn't want Lightning to worry. She can cry when Lightning returns home. But now, she has to stay strong.
"I love you, sis … please be careful."
Lightning raises her hand to stroke her sister's head affectionately. "I love you, too." She shortly looks out of the window, wondering when she will be back, hoping that it will be soon. "I'll watch out for myself, I promise."
ooo
Serah … I failed you … I got into a huge mess … I almost made it, if these Pulsians weren't so damn stubborn, I could have made it … we could have made it … Vanille and I … we were so close … if they had only believed us … but now …
I sigh. There is nothing I can do. I am completely tied up. I can only wiggle around like a stupid fish that jumped on land. I feel helpless … and I feel weak. I can't let this happen. The war must stop, so that Etro can stop the fal'Cie that is giving all the orders in Cocoon …
"Lightning?" I hear a weak voice beside me. I struggle to turn my head so I can look into those perfect, green eyes of my lover. I try to give her the most encouraging look I can. She looks so scared. "Did we mess up?"
Did we? I don't know, but I can't show her that I am afraid as well, now can I? I can't let her down like this. But should I really lie to her? Tell her that we'll be fine? That we will be okay? I don't know how to get out of this situation, I can't move.
"I don't know … " I tell her, honestly. It would take a miracle to get us out of this situation …
I hear footsteps of the army coming closer. I look to the front and can see the soldiers from Cocoon marching this direction. All of them have their guns in their hands and ready. The look determined, but scared as well. Yes, you can see that they are frightened.
I then look to the other side. The Pulsians are just standing behind us, armed as well. I can't even tell which ones of them are actual fighters and which are just regular civilians. They all look determined. Ready to fight. They don't seem to fear anything. Not even death … I can see that they just want us off their land, to be left alone.
"Will you stay by my side?" Vanille then speaks up again, giving me a hopeful look.
"Forever." I reply, even adding a small smile. It's the most I can come up with right now. Yes, if we survive this, I will stay with her, forever. Whatever this means. I just know I never want to leave her side.
She gives me a smile in return. Suddenly she doesn't seem afraid anymore. And this smile … it also washes my worries away. It gives me new hope. As long as we stick together, we can make it.
I look to the front again and see that the army is almost here. I'm prepared, for whatever comes. Somehow I will get my chance to speak up.
The marching sounds are getting louder and louder. I look at the Pulsians again. They're starting to clutch their weapons even tighter. And the two l'Cie are standing in front of them. They're all about to charge. I must interfere before they can do anything.
I wait and wait until the soldiers are close enough. Otherwise they won't hear me.
Suddenly I feel hands on mine. It's Vanille's. She scooted closer to me. Then her hands let go of mine again. What is she doing? I feel something pulling on the ropes around my hands. She's trying to untie them!
Vanille exclaims in a whisper, only loud enough for me to hear, "They're too tight!"
Well, they're supposed to be that way. She probably doesn't know how to untie knots like this one- wait a second.
"Hold on, let me open yours first." I reply. I start searching her hands with mine, and when I find them I start searching for the rope … I then quickly start untying it. When they're loose I quickly check if the Pulsians recognized this. To my luck they are completely fixed on the Cocoon soldiers, who are heading this way.
I hear Vanille moving behind me. I sure hope she's not drawing anybody's attention towards herself right now. All of a sudden the rope around my wrists loosens. She did it!
I quickly crouch so I can untie my feet as well, before helping Vanille, too.
I can hear someone on the Cocoon side shouting an order to stop. I look back up to the soldiers and see that they all halt abruptly. I can feel the tension in the air, and it's getting thicker and thicker.
"Ready your weapons!" comes the next order. Okay, now is my chance. Now is my only chance!
"Stop!" I shout as loud as I can.
Time stands still. Did they hear me? Nobody is moving … did I even shout? Or did I just imagine I did?
"Lieutenant, it's Sergeant Farron!" I hear one of the soldiers shouting. They heard me!
I look towards the army again and see that my superior, Lieutenant Amodar, is stepping into the picture. He is still behind a few soldiers, but I can make out it is him, and he's taking a good look at me. His eyes are confused and angry, but also a little relieved, all at the same time.
I can see him giving an order to the soldiers, but I can't hear it. It was too quiet. Everything is quiet right now. Nobody is moving. The Cocoon army has their weapons ready but they aren't firing, and the Pulsians aren't moving either.
Then finally, one l'Cie speaks up, "Go back to where you came from, vipers! Or we will force you to do it! We already got one of you! Do you want to end up like her?!"
Suddenly something's forming in his hand. He's using magic! And he's aiming it towards me.
I hear a familiar clicking sound and turn my head see one Cocoon soldier pointing his weapon at the l'Cie who was just talking. No! Don't shoot!
I jump. There's a gunshot. And a pain in my shoulder. The bullet digs deeply into my flesh. Fuck!
I hear a few gasps, from both sides, but then everyone falls silent again, and they're staring at me. I bite back the pain and straighten up.
"Fighting is not the right solution!"
"She's damn right!" I hear someone agreeing with me. I turn my head to see Fang approaching me. I give her a nod, which she returns.
Weapons are being readied again.
"Listen to Vanille and me!"
"Hold with the fire!" I can hear Amodar shouting on the Cocoon side. The soldiers just keep their weapons ready until another order comes.
Fang's pose relaxes a little as she realizes that she has all the attention. She looks at her people, then Vanille, then at me. I've never seen anybody looking so sure of what they're doing than this woman right now.
"Captain Fang?" a Pulsian man asks her.
"Listen to what they have to say!" she says in a loud voice, so that the Cocoon soldiers can also hear her. I stand up and face my people. Amodar came out from behind the soldiers, standing in front of them. His look even more confused than before.
I then turn my head only to see Vanille rushing towards me, hugging me tightly and burying her face in the crook of my neck. I just hold her securely.
She looks up at me, giving me a smile. I nod at her, and then she turns to her people and speaks up, "This war was started by an evil fal'Cie, who wants to gain the power Etro possesses! It wants to rule over Cocoon and Pulse!"
"This war weakens Etro! If we stop it, we can restore the harmony between Cocoon and Pulse, give the strength back to Etro, so she can defeat this fal'Cie." I continue now, just that I am facing my people.
"All we have to do is stop this war! Just give it up! Go back to what we used to do!" Vanille says, her voice sounding hopeful. At least now the people are listening.
I look at Amodar again. He seems to be debating with himself. He never has been a bad guy, he always tried to find reasonable solutions. Maybe he will listen to us. At least he is thinking about our words.
"Do you have proof, Farron?" the Lieutenant then finally asks me.
"Lieutenant! I just got a message from Cocoon!" a soldier exclaims. Amodar gives him his attention, but his eyes are still fixed on me.
"Something about the Sanctum, about confusing orders. They said it has something to do with Orphan." the man tells him. Orphan? Isn't Orphan a fal'Cie? I heard about him, but I never really believed in his existence. "And Primarch Dysley disappeared."
The Primarch? He was the one who gave the orders! Does he have anything to do with what is going on down here? But of course! And now that we are standing here, and halted our thoughts of war for a moment, we weakened the evil fal'Cie, who might be Orphan, and strengthened the Goddess Etro. It is working!
"There is your proof, Lieutenant! We halted our actions and the Sanctum is in a uproar! Now if we stop the war, the Sanctum will calm down again!" I tell him.
"I got another message, Lieutenant. Some Pulse-Gates disappeared." the soldiers says again.
"Etro is gaining power and closing the gates to Gran Pulse!" Vanille says. She almost sounds excited. But she is right! Our plan is working!
Lieutenant Amodar keeps looking at me with a very confused expression. Seems like he is starting to realize that we are telling the truth.
"No!" A deafening scream fills the complete area. I turn to see who it was, and I spot one of the l'Cie twins charging towards me. "I will not let you mess with my focus!"
I make myself ready to fight this guy. I may not have beaten him before, but I might do it now, even without my weapon. He was the one who touched Vanille and he will pay for it!
Before he can reach me, though, Fang stops him very quickly, kicking him in the side so he tumbles and falls over. Being a l'Cie, too, she doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." she adds, crossing her arms. She now stands protectively right between me and that guy. Wow … who would've thought … saved by the woman who wanted nothing more than to kill me.
"I'd rather die than turn Cie'th!" he yells at her, getting up again.
This time the l'Cie charges at Fang. She tries to hit him with her spear, but the guy just grabs it, obviously trying to pull it away from her.
"I will fulfill my focus!" he yells at her, but he doesn't seem to be able to get her spear. Fang must have a very hard grip.
"No!" another person from the Pulsian side yells. It is the other l'Cie twin. He grabs his brothers' arms and he starts pulling him back. "Brother, I forbid you to fight our own people!"
"No!" He forcefully pushes his brother away, looking ready to strike again. Though, very swiftly, Fang shoves him back into his brother's grip.
"I said, it's enough!"
The l'Cie who was charging at us mumbles something I can't make out, seeing that he doesn't stand a chance against two l'Cie, then finally stops his attempt and steps away from Fang. She lets out a sigh of relief, then turns around to look at the Cocoon soldiers, who all seem to be very confused by now, even though they still have their weapons ready.
"Soldiers of Cocoon!" she starts, "We are ready to give up this war! And I'm asking you, are you willing to do the same?"
I can feel Vanille clutching my hand tightly. I look at the Lieutenant. He looks from Fang to me and back to her. A moment later he turns around and kneels down, as if he is working on something. What is he doing?
I can hear the Pulsians readying their weapons again. They're suspicious, just like I am. What is he up to?
Lieutenant Amodar then straightens up again and raises a rifle. And on the very tip of this rifle is a flag. A white one.
"My focus!" Fang exclaims. The Cocoon soldier raising his weapon! Of course! But what she obviously didn't see was the white flag! I turn to look at the Pulsians and I see their white flag now, too.
The Cocoon soldiers lower their weapons and relax their poses.
The Pulsians do the same thing.
I smile.
It's over …
