UNDER KINGSGLAIVE TRAINING.
CHAPTER 9
A Very Unlucky Mission
Primal subject: Lightning Farron
Age: 17
Height: 5.5 feet
Occupation: First Sergeant of Insomnia´s Army, Crownsguard Elite Force.
Second Subject: Nyx Ulric.
Age: 24
Height: 6.1 feet.
Occupation: Second Lieutenant of Insomnia´s Army, Kingsglaive Division. Commission: Under BSEALS Training, Bodhumn Division.
ooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo
Still on the airplane that would carry them to their final mission, Nyx was cursing and glaring for their rushed return to Insomnia, just like the rest of his teammates. He had paid his debt to the world in order to get to the BSEALS´ 6 years of training, and instead, their time was cut almost a year shorter, why would they do that?
War against Niflheim, of course.
He had to remind himself of such thing every time he got angry at his earlier-than-needed return. The city of Lucis had been under attack the past month, the Kingsglaives managing to force the Imperial Army to retreat only by a miracle under the name of the famous Crownsguard, leaded by none other than Noctis Lucius Caelum himself, or so Nyx had heard. But such retreat had been only to regroup, and they knew it, so the kingdom called forth all the manpower they had, in order to protect itself from the next assault, thus cutting short Nyx´s well earned course. He cursed again, while the officer in front of them briefed them about the objectives of the next mission. They were to find and destroy the storage supplies and Magitek production compound in a Niflheim facility recently discovered in Leide.
As soon as the debriefing was over, inside the plane, Nyx´s platoon jumped from the airplane, taking advantage of the night covering their fall, their dark parachutes melting with the darker landscape. They all fell safely, a hundred of meters away from the Niflheim facility, and as soon as they were close to the entrance, Nyx and Brasidas took care of the two guards closest to them, while a perfect and silent shot from one of his teammates killed the soldier at the top of the roof.
They were advancing pretty nicely, no alarm set off yet, the stillness of the night enveloped them, only small patrols were guarding the facilities, and they only had to wait a few minutes before each patrol. They were behaving as if they knew nothing would dare to threaten them, even though the importance of the supplies they were guarding. Though slow, their advancing met no limitations. As planned, they divided into two groups, Nyx, Brasidas and two of his mates taking the left side, while the rest took the other. They were already close to the two majestic towers, the facilities´ source of energy and their first target, when Nyx noticed movement on his peripheral vision, and saw two forms moving a hundred of feet ahead of them, closer to a small building by the side. Making a warning signal, he separated from his group and got closer to what had distracted him. From that distance, he could make out the forms perfectly well.
A man, almost one head taller than himself and shoulders very broad, and a fair, slender woman, were pressed against a wall, just short of its corner, looking from time to time beyond it and apparently guarding the entrance of a door he hadn´t noticed before.
But what made him wearier, were their uniforms. They were similar to his, completely dark, with many intricate buttons and carvings, as well as the assortment of protection that covered their eyes and the cloth around their face, but what differentiated them from his, was the golden bracelet sewn over each arm. Distinctively Crownsguard. Nyx shook his head in disbelief and, silently, approached the pair.
"What the hell is the Crownsguard doing in here, Gladiolus?"
The pair was startled by Nyx´s voice, and though Gladiolus just jumped up and glared, the woman (a quite tall, and nicely curved woman, Nyx immediately noticed) aimed her gun immediately at his head, though Nyx didn't even flinch.
"What the hell are you doing here, Ulric? Aren´t you supposed to be on commission?" Gladiolus asked, evidently shaken, while uncovering his face.
"Well, to let you know this is my commission, we are under a mission here. What´s your reason?" He eyed the woman as she sheathed her gun, though her glare was evident if he read well her body language, but made as if it was nothing.
"You mean to tell me BSEALS are here?" Gladio smiled. "Well, that´s pretty convenient for us."
Nyx raised an eyebrow. "You still haven´t answered my questions. And please, tell your chick to stop glaring at me like that."
"And why would I do that?" In spite of the cloth covering her mouth, muffling the sound, her voice still sounded soft, husky, sexy, taking Nyx by surprise, and making him turn to look at her so fast it almost hurt his neck. He couldn´t see her eyes too well, nor her mouth or the rest of her head for that matter, but her long eyelashes and the smooth skin he could barely see, made him know she should be very beautiful underneath all that.
The man smirked at her. "Because I´m no immediate threat to you, babe." He eyed her blatantly up and down, his smirk growing wider when he noticed her discomfort. "I wouldn´t dare to hurt a chick like you, even less if you´re Crownsguard. By the way, since when the Crownsguard became weak enough to start collecting women to their numbers?"
The woman´s eyes close like slits, as she immediately returned the tip of her gun to its original position, which was close to his head. "Oh, please, Gladio, let me shoot him."
Gladiolus only chuckled, witnessing their exchange. "You should stop saying that, Nyx, or you´ll get into real trouble."
"Oh yeah? I´ve met real trouble before, babe, and survived, thank you very much." He eyed the woman and then turned to address the man. "And by the way, where´s my Lightning? I really hope you didn´t make her tag along with you in this… whatever suicidal mission you two are in."
"What?" Gladio opened his eyes wide, as if not understanding his question, and turned to look at the young woman beside him, "what do you mean? She´s…" but before he could finish, the woman kicked him in the shin, silencing him in mid sentence. After doing that, she holstered her gun, made a motion towards the man in front of her, evidently glaring daggers at him, and turned around.
"You know what? I think I should go make a round, see for any patrol lurking. You guys have fun chit chatting."
As she walked away, Nyx couldn´t help his eyes lingering on her perfect rear, framed by two magnificent Kingsglaive golden daggers attached to her back, until he felt an enormous hand grabbing him by the neck and making him bend forward for the sheer strength of his arms.
"He-hey! What the hell are you doing?"
"Don´t you even dare disrespect that little woman, you hear me?" Gladio grunted at the man pinned under his hands. "Not only me you´ll have to respond to, she herself will make sure you don´t have eyes anymore, if you keep staring at her like that."
"Little woman? She´s quite tall, and well developed, mind you…" Gladio hit the man on the head after that.
"You´ve got a really big mouth, Nyx Ulric. Just mind my warning." Then he took a good look at the woman´s back, and raised an eyebrow. Why would Lightning want Nyx to stay ignorant to her identity? But he wasn´t going to judge her, so he kept his mouth shut, and instead chose to change the subject. "Well then, what are the BSEALS doing here?"
"On a mission I said, why is Prince Noctis here?"
"Prince Noctis?" Gladio asked, and had to restrain a laugh, given their situation. "Didn´t you know that he´s already our king?"
"What? How come?"
"King Regis abdicated on Noctis a few years ago. Noct has been leading the Lucii Army and the attacks for quite a while now. Seriously, where have you been?"
"You know where, but you haven´t answered. Why are you here?"
"On a mission, too, but it´s good to know the BSEALS are around." Both men turned around the moment they heard a third voice, and saw Noctis passing through the door that Gladiolus had been guarding. The moment Nyx looked at him, he kneeled, bowed his head and placed a hand over his chest.
"Your Majesty."
"Raise, Nyx Ulric, you and I share a history and a link, such demonstrations are not needed between us."
Nyx hesitated, because even though his words weren´t harsh, the tone of his voice was. Wearily, he rose. "Thank you, your Majesty."
"Now tell me, where are the troops you brought with you?"
Thankful for the change of subject, he immediately got in soldier-mode. "We´re reaching for the two towers, heading to cut off their electric supply, blow out the assembly building, and then sabotage their storage buildings."
"Well," Noctis smirked, "that won´t be necessary anymore, and I would truly recommend your teammates to step as far away from those buildings as possible."
Nyx raised an eyebrow at his words, weary of them. "And why´s that?"
The King smirked childishly. "Because things are going to get noisy very soon."
"How soon?"
At that moment, there was a loud explosion heard very close by, and then a group of chained explosions, and debris started to fly all around them; the group took cover on the small building next to them.
"Ignis! You were going to give us time enough to get away!" Noctis yelled at the bespectacled man who had just stepped outside the door to meet them.
"I´m sorry, Noct, something happened and the counting was amiss. I really suggest we get going before the troops get to us. They´re already alerted of our presence."
"Yeah, I agree. Nyx, tell your group to find us at the entrance, and give us cover fire for us to leave the facilities."
"Yes sir." Nyx opened his communicating device, yelling warnings and orders to his commander. They could hear the man yelling back in spite of the entire ruckus around them. They had obviously messed up Nyx´s mission.
At that moment Prompto exited too, and looked around them. "Hey! We´ve got one missing, have you noticed? Where is Li…?" But before he could finish that sentence, Gladio put a huge hand over the blond´s mouth, silencing and almost chocking him, and then eyed intently the form of the Kingsglaive still yelling at his radio, while he whispered to the clueless boy.
"Someone we know doesn´t want you-know-who to know of her true identity."
Ignis and Noctis turned to meet the man´s eyes the moment they heard of his words, their eyes opened wide at the information.
"Really? But…" It was Noctis the one to speak.
"Yeah, really…" Gladio eyed him warningly, "and you know her, we should respect her wishes."
Prompto raised his hand as if he was still at school, and Gladio finally let him go.
"I´ve got just one question, who are we talking about?"
The three friends groaned and Gladio hit him on the shoulder.
"Just, don´t say anyone´s name, alright?" Noctis said. "And that´s an order, Prompto. I´ll explain everything to you later on."
"But…"
"We are ready to go, your Majesty," Nyx interrupted them, "the three platoons will meet us soon at the entrance, and orders have been issued to take positions to make cover fire, including snipers."
Noctis nodded and they were about to take a sprint, when three Niflheim soldiers started to fire at them from the other side of the street, running as fast as their robotic legs would allow them to.
"Be careful!" Gladio pushed Noctis to the side and stopped the bullets with his massive blade, and immediately they took positions. At that moment, Lightning fell upon them from the walkway on top of the soldiers, and with perfectly calculated movements, she beheaded two of them with a sword, while the last one turned and aimed at her. The soldier was on her but before he could touch her, Prompto reacted fast, shooting at the robot and destroying its head. The woman nodded at him in thanks.
"Well done, Prompto." It was Noctis, while they ran for cover, since there were enemy troops approaching from the main buildings. "We need to reach the rest of BSEAL´s group and find cover, it´s the only way we will all make it." They nodded and ran towards the exit, while Lightning ran as fast as she could to reach them. Nyx lingered a step behind the rest of the friends, waiting for her, when he noticed she suddenly took another direction.
"What are you…?" Then he noticed her intention. An M.A. Veles, a battle machine as big as a house, loaded with weapons like any other fortress, was parked at one side of the main road, and he could see an enemy soldier running up the stairs to reach the cabin. Before he could get inside, though, the young woman had sent a dagger towards him, embedding itself on the troop´s leg, and in a blaze of purple fire, the woman appeared besides her enemy, killing him immediately and taking the cabin of the robotic tank. Nyx had run towards the woman to give her back up, and could easily see two soldiers running and shooting at her, trying to prevent her from taking the reigns of the M.A., but Nyx sent his daggers towards them, reaching their side and defeating them swiftly. He looked up searching for the woman´s eyes, but she was already too concentrated on trying to make the robot to work, to pay him any notice. He even had to jump from the stairs to avoid a direct hit from the metallic arm while she awkwardly tried to get a hold of its functioning.
As Nyx fell, a dozen of Imperial soldiers approached Nocti´s group, and they drew their blades menacingly towards them. Lightning managed to make the robot run towards them, but she still was too far away from Nocti´s enemies. Before any of the Crownsguard could react, though, the pinkette found a way to put the heavy weaponry to work, and high caliber bullets reached the threatening soldiers, making them fly into pieces under the attack of Lightning´s powerful machine gun. She continued her clumsy race towards her friends, the M.A.´s arms spilling bullets like mad to anything that would even look like a threat. But the Crownsguard and Noctis hadn´t realized it was her, so the moment the massive robot almost reached them, they stopped and took defensive stances, Prompto shooting at the cabin, but his bullets didn´t even dent the armor.
"Damn!" Noctis was about to throw his blade at the massive robot, when Lightning raised the powerful arms and lowered the cabin, so her friends could see her through the glass.
"Don´t worry guys, I´m here!" She called them through the speakers, and everyone exhaled, relieved. "Hurry up, now! I´ll cover you!"
"Don´t do that L… damn!" Ignis cursed, frustrated at her stupid need of putting herself in danger, plus not being able to yell her name. "What you´re trying to do is just plain stupid and suicidal, young woman! Just get out of that thing! You´ll get hurt!"
"Don´t worry, Iggy. I´m getting the hand of it." She tried to reassure him, while she made the machine turn and send a missile towards an incoming group of Imperial troops.
"That´s my girl!" And while Ignis was scolding her, Prompto encouraged her, always an admirer of her bravery, while he pushed Ignis and Noctis forward, forcing them to obey and taking them out of harm´s way; Gladiolus remained close to the King, he was sympathetic too with Lightning, but he also felt it was just too risky; the group of friends ran forward, while Lightning used her new toy to protect them. Nyx followed them behind, covering the group´s rear, while his mind was reeling too at witnessing the incredible braveness the young woman was demonstrating, but also at the words the blond had yelled.
How is it possible that such kick-ass girl can go out with Prompto? Is it… is it even conceivable?
He looked back, searching for the fearless young woman, and saw the huge robot awkwardly shooting at the buildings around them, making them fall and creating a makeshift barrier against the Niflheim troops that were approaching them fast. As they ran, Lightning was trying her best to control the machine, and though it took her longer than she would´ve liked, in the end she finally managed to walk backwards, while she kept on shooting at the incoming troops coming out of almost every corner.
"Where were those hordes a minute ago? It´s too many of them!" Prompto yelled, and Ignis glanced at Gladiolus.
"It´s almost as if they were expecting us…" then he looked worriedly at Noctis. The possibility of them falling into a trap had been forming on his head when he noticed the very few patrols they were facing in spite of the importance of the facility, and was almost convinced of it right before the setting of the explosives. With this sudden appearance of what seemed to be a full battalion that had been absent as of now, he had no doubt left.
"We´ve got to take Noctis out of here, and now." Gladio nodded at him and ran closer to his King. The group was a few steps from the entrance, almost reaching the end of their adventure, when they noticed a second robot coming from the side, surprising them, evidently aiming for the MA robot Lightning was driving and that was creating so much ruckus among the enemy troops.
"Lightning!" The friends yelled at her, but there was too much noise, and she too far away from them to hear, so the first projectile hit its target with efficiency.
"Aaghh!" The missile hit the right side of the cabin, and though fortunately its armor was strong enough to resist most of it, the direct hit had created a dent deep enough to trap Lightning´s leg, fracturing it and making it impossible to control the robot´s legs. She was trapped with no possibility to either move the robot, nor herself.
"D-damn you… but you haven´t defeated me yet…" forcing herself to put the pain aside, Lightning shook her head, freeing her face from the cloth to breathe better, and made the machine turn and shoot at the incoming enemy, destroying both legs, but the machine, on its travel towards the ground, shot another missile at her; Lightning reacted fast, raising a robotic arm, the missile destroying it, but at least it didn´t reach the cabin. Before the smoke dissipated, the pinkette raised the other arm and shot at the cabin, destroying her enemy definitively. The robot went completely still and the Crownsguard and BSEALS yelled in exhilaration.
The pinkette exhaled, and then tried to free her leg, making her best effort to ignore the sharp pain the movement produced, when her eyes opened wide in surprise and terror the moment she saw another robot walking behind the first one and approaching her fast. Lightning raised the remaining arm to shoot as fast as she could, but her enemy was ready sooner than she was, and shot right against her cubicle. The aiming arm stopped a few of the bullets, but a couple of them reached the cabin and penetrated the already compromised armor, hitting her fractured leg, her left hip and left shoulder, the last bullet destroying the bone of her back. Her scream was heard all over the battleground, and it found an echo on her friends. Prompto and Noctis tried to run at her when they noticed the robot taking a second aim, but Gladio held them back as the M.A. noticed them and shot another round of bullets that hit quite close to where they were.
The monstrous tank was separating its pray from any help the pinkette could get.
Seeing this, Ignis yelled an order, having seen one of the BSEAL snipers taking aim at the M.A. machine using a bazooka; the man shot immediately and destroyed the cabin of the enemy; though it had managed to shoot before being destroyed, the bullets hitting Lightning´s robot and destroying its metallic legs, fortunately for her they had missed the cabin whatsoever. Once they saw the enemy robot falling, the four friends ran at her, shooting at the troops that had already broken free from the barrier she had created, while they saw, impotent, how Lightning´s battle robot finally gave way and fell to the ground, completely defeated.
But the girl wasn´t going to give up. She had a mission to fulfill, a sister to protect, she wasn´t going to die there.
Though bleeding profusely, and ignoring the pain, Lightning was still struggling to free her trapped leg, when she heard a voice she knew all too well.
"Misssyyyy! Jump! Just jump!"
Nyx, who had been protecting himself from the blasts behind the closest building, was still too far away from her to throw his daggers, but knew she could still do so to step out of the robot and receive his aid. And Lightning understood too. Though trembling from the pain and the blood loss, her uninjured hand took one of her daggers and threw it as close as she could to the Kingsglaive, and then disappeared and reappeared enveloped in violet flames, now safe on the ground. But once her fractured and shot leg touched the pavement, she yelled again, and fell, though fortunately for her, Nyx was already there before she hit the concrete floor.
"I´ve got you, girl, don´t worry."
"Nyx…"
"Yeah, that´s my name. Don´t worry, we´ll make it out of here." For a moment he was distracted at the look of rosy, kissable lips, but once he took a good look at her injuries, understood she wasn´t going to survive if he didn´t hurry. Plus, he could already hear the incoming troops. He picked her up bridal style, and ran as fast as he could, while he saw his comrades shooting at the enemy, covering him. But once he felt debris falling around him from the bullets reaching their level, he realized they were being caught up by the enemy. At that speed, they weren´t going to make it.
The shooting and the explosions were deafening around them, but Lightning was bleeding out, so close to shock, that the only sound she could perceive was Nyx´s ragged breathing. And then, with her head resting on the base of his neck, she could smell his skin too, her memory bringing her back to the very moment where he had held her like that, saving her just like he was doing again, and once again she felt safe in his arms. She inhaled deeply, carving his essence in her memory, and wanted to cling to his clothes like she did before, but her body felt so numb, that her arm wouldn´t respond to her command. And then, she felt like falling.
Nyx felt her going limp on his arms, realizing how the warm wetness dampening his arm on her back was diminishing, and understood he was losing her. He looked forward, seeing they were still too far away from the entrance, from getting help for her, and took a decision.
"I´m sorry, beautiful, this is gonna hurt." Nyx dropped her legs, which hit the ground and conjured a yelp out of her, already too exhausted and drained to even scream. Once his arm was free, he projected his dagger forward, and they both were enveloped in violet flames. But before her legs touched the ground, he threw his dagger again, and they reappeared in a blaze of purple fire very close to the Crownsguard.
"Nyx! Give her to me!" Noctis met the man while the rest of his friends made a wall around them, and the BSEALS kept shooting towards the enemy. Once Lightning was safely put in Nocti´s arm, he gave two steps, sent his blade forward and then warped following it, landing very close to the Regalia. As soon as he touched the ground, Ignis opened the door for him, the man preparing the car previous rescuing, and they both entered, ready to help the fallen woman.
Nyx wanted to warp towards them, but Gladiolus held him by the arm.
"Don´t go, Nyx, you have no idea how much we appreciated you saved our friend. But your mission is over now. Tell the rest of the BSEALS to return to your quarters, and thank your commander for us."
"Don´t do this to me, Gladiolus," Nyx almost begged, his eyes on the man in front of him and then towards the form of the Regalia, their convertible already moving its roof apart, which allowed him to see the desperate attempts of the King and his counselor to save the girl´s life. "I wanna know how she is, I wanna help any way I can!"
"You´ve done enough, my friend. Rest assured we´ll see each other soon."
"She saved my life!" Nyx pushed, eager to see for the young woman. "She allowed us all to escape, giving her life for us all, Gladiolus, including you! If it weren´t for her, we would be probably dead by now, I wanna stay with her!"
"I know." Gladiolus gave him a sympathetic look. "You´re right, but don´t worry. You know very well the power of the Lucii King, Noctis will be able to save her."
Those were his last words before the tall man ran towards the Regalia, its occupants minus Noctis prompting him to reach them. Nyx exhaled in frustration, but saw his commander already yelling at him too, as they ran towards the forest to hide from the Niffies.
Meanwhile, Lightning was battling against death. She had lost so much blood, and was breathing so shallow, she didn´t even feel pain anymore, and had fallen into a deep unconsciousness; but Noctis was there for her.
"C´mon, little girl. Luna is gonna kill me if you die here." He placed his glowing hand over her shoulder, the worst injury of all, while Prompto emptied a potion over her bleeding hip and Gladiolus pressed his hands over her wounded leg, where there wasn´t a fracture. The pinkette was bleeding profusely, inside and outside, soaking the car´s interiors, and her lungs and abdomen filling with her blood. They were losing her.
"Noctis! It´s not working!"
"I know, Prompto! I know!" the man yelled at him, desperation getting the best of him.
"Calm down, Noct. We know you can do it. She knows you´ll save her." Ignis said, rooting for his King, yelling from the pilot seat of the Regalia, which had already picked up speed enough to set to fly. "You just have to concentrate. It´ll work. It has to work." Still speaking, he gave a vial of potion to Prompto and another to Gladio, who poured it over the injured leg. They had almost bathed her lower body with potion vials, until they finally saw the injuries had stopped bleeding. But, in spite of that, her breathing was still shallow, her skin was still paper white and her eyes were still shut.
"Iggy… she´s not responding." Said Prompto, voicing everybody´s fear. Ignis risked a look behind and saw the woman was completely still. His countenance changed and for a moment it would seem he was about to lose control as he saw her lying broken like that, but he inhaled deeply as he looked forward again, reaching out for that will power inside of him that had always impressed Lightning, and gained control over himself once again. When he spoke once more, his voice was cold and collected, as he usually was.
"Noct, extend her arm in front so that I can touch her." The man did as told and, once her hand was at his reach, Ignis searched for her pulse using one hand, while with the other he kept the reign over the plane. A full anguishing minute stretched an eternity for the group of friends while Ignis checked her pale wrist. The silence was so overwhelming once the man spoke again, he startled the rest of his friends. "Prompto, put your ear over her nose and mouth and try to hear her breathing."
The blond immediately obeyed, and he almost stopped breathing in order to let himself hear better.
"I can… I think I can hear her…"
"Count how many times she breathes until I say so."
Another minute passed by, until they heard the bespectacled man call for a stop.
"How many breaths you counted?"
"A-almost 15."
A ghost of a smile appeared on Ignis´s face, as he exhaled in relief.
"Well?" Noctis asked, voicing the concern in each man inside that cabin.
"Her unconsciousness must be for the loosing of all that blood, but it would seem to me her vitals are normal. You made it guys."
Prompto exhaled and fell on the floor, next to the pinkette. "I was just about to cry." Gladiolus sat straighter on the co-pilot seat, closing his eyes and letting his head rest back, while he inhaled and exhaled, his mouth moving, as if he were silently praying. Ignis nodded at him, knowing all too well how much Lightning meant to all of them.
Noctis shook his head, sitting on the other end of the floor, while his palms covered his face. "I thought… I thought we were going to lose her… and all for a mischief…"
"May I say something." Ignis asked, his eyes still fixed at front.
"Please don´t…" The young King groaned, while he dropped his still hidden head from his friend's vision. "I´m really in no mood for an 'I told you so' right now, Specs."
Ignis just smiled, too shocked still to laugh at all. "I wasn´t going to. What I meant to say is that you should still be proud of yourself. Your magic has reached such level of power that you took a life from death´s very own hands."
Noctis risked an eye towards his friend. "You… think so?"
"We all saw you, Noct. She´ll live another day thanks to you." Of course, he omitted the parts where the other guys had been bathing her body with dozens of potions but… what the heck.
"Yeah… I think you´re right." The man stood straighter, as a small smile formed on his lips, while Gladio slapped him on the back and Prompto punched his arm. Ignis interrupted their ministrations.
"But it´s still too premature to cry victory. We need a doctor to check on her, just to make sure she´s healing well and there is no permanent damage after all that blood loss."
"What would you have me do?" Asked Noctis, all seriousness and business.
"Call for your doctor, Noct, it´s time you take responsibility for your decision; after all it was you the one who decided to take this risk. It´s you the one who has to make sure she´s ok."
The man groaned, bowing his head in sadness. "And here I thought you would let me go unscathed."
"I´m sorry. But a true King learns of his mistakes too. What we did back there was too risky, and we had to pay that price. Fortunately for us, the price wasn´t that high. It could´ve been worse."
"It almost got worse." Gladiolus was usually sympathetic towards his King, but Noctis should´ve known. The big man was also usually criticizing about his best friend. "We need to thank Lightning for protecting us, but we need to be careful with ourselves too, just for her sake."
Prompto, lying on the car´s floor, rested the back of his head against the woman´s legs, while he eyed the pinkette´s pale face. "And we will, Gladio… neither of us wants her to be hurt…"
But there were words unsaid that lingered on each one of them, and neither of which had the bravery to voice them.
oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo
"Uungghh…"
The groan startled the man, who immediately approached the bed.
"S-Serah…?"
The blond smiled softly, reaching the bed and caressing the pink locks. "I´m sorry, but no. She just went to bed, she hadn´t been sleeping at all since she arrived."
Lightning tried to open her eyes, but the light coming from the tall windows was so blinding she had to close them immediately. "Iggy? Where are we?"
"We´re in Tenebrae." The man responded, covering her with the blankets. "We had to make sure it was safe for you to take a long journey before we returned to Insomnia."
"What… what happened?" She tried to get up, and the futile attempt allowed her to realize how weak she truly felt.
The blond came to her aid, helping her to sit up and rearranging her pillows.
"Can you remember anything?"
"I can… I remember the battle and… and the M.A. shooting at me, and…" Once her mind caught up with her, she kept silent, feeling ashamed.
"You almost bled to death, Light. You were close to dying if it weren´t for everybody doing their best to save your life." Ignis´ voice seemed calm, his volume didn´t even rose a bit, but there was something in it, a reproachful tenseness behind it that made Lightning wish he would yell at her instead.
"It´s my job to protect the King, Iggy…"
"No, it´s not."
The young woman closed her eyes, startled by the harshness in his voice, and opened them only to fix her sight up front. She didn´t have the strength to look at him in the eye.
"That job belongs to Gladiolus," he kept on, refusing to soften his voice, "and you know it well, but ever since you came to us it would seem to me you have some sort of death wish. Which are you testing, Light? Your luck? Your destiny?"
"Ignis…" before she could say anything else he rose from his seat, evidently finishing the discussion without speaking a word. And by that action, Lightning understood just how much she had hurt him. He gave his back to her, and spoke without looking back.
"I love you, Lightning. We all do. It would kill us to see you hurt, will kill us the moment you meet your destiny." He looked at her from his shoulder, and the intensity of his stare forced her to meet his eyes. "So please, Light, don´t make us suffer prematurely." His defeated voice, plus the deep sadness in his eyes, felt like a direct punch on the gut. She couldn´t breathe after his words.
He walked forward, but right before he opened the door and without turning to look at her, Ignis asked one last question.
"Why didn´t you want Nyx to know who you were? Why did you hide from him?"
Through Lightning´s face passed many emotions, but in the end, she contained them all, her eyes fixed once again at the base of her bed.
"I don´t want to talk about it."
"I don´t think…"
"Ignis." She spoke, hard, shushing him mid-sentence. "I really don´t want to talk about it."
Although her rudeness startled him, he smiled in spite of himself. She was, after all, his pupil too.
"Alright. Rest well, in two days you leave for Insomnia." He turned off the lights and Lightning rested deeper into her pillow, sighing, while her heart was in turmoil. Meeting Nyx had been quite a pleasant surprise, one she would´ve never expected. But it tore at her heart knowing he was still the jerk she remembered. And felt elated when he saved her, just like that one last time. As usual, the feelings he forced out of her were complicated and mixed up.
"Such a moron." She smirked at her own words, and closed her eyes, letting exhaustion take her to a place of dreams, wishing with all her heart she wouldn´t dream anything about the future. And even less of gray eyes.
oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo
The temperature was warm in the Crown City of Insomnia, but Nyx didn´t mind: he had survived and even enjoyed the heat of Bodhum beach, a lot warmer than the Crown City, and had enjoyed a lot more the type of people that lived there. Joyous people with bodies all too perfect to be truth, the heat of the land impeccable for scantily clad fashion. Too bad he had been engrossed on his training to make any effort to actually meet one of those curvaceous girls. He should´ve brought at least a girlfriend with him. Or maybe two?
Instead, in the Crown City, women were less… developed? Their bodies where less formed, a lot less curvaceous, and their fashionable clothes didn´t help at all. He could barely get a glimpse of skin under those many layers of fancy clothing. And the worst of it all, was that his group had been deployed for almost three months into the wild lands, and before they could get a proper bath and a glimpse of proper feminine visit, they were sent to that disastrous mission shared with the Crownsguard. And, right after that, as if it were some sort of punishment, they were immediately sent straight to Insomnia.
That was why his eyes roamed the place, as if he were some sort of hungry animal, while he walked nonchalantly through the airport´s hallway, in need of at least looking at beautiful things. His eyes scanned his surroundings, finding a pair of nice legs on a small skirt here, a couple of nice-looking boobs there, beautiful eyes up front… he was in such a state of mind, when his eyes noticed a woman leaning on a counter, apparently searching for something on a small shop, her butt the only part he could properly see… and obviously, he just had to allow his eyes to linger on her rear.
Such a nice piece of ass.
Too bad he couldn´t see her face, hidden underneath a black hoodie. Well, maybe he had passed judgment far too soon, for after watching that rear, now he had to admit. There were really beautiful girls in this city too, he just had to look harder.
I get the feeling you´re becoming quite a jerk, Nyx. He smirked at his own joke. At least that´s what Crowe will be saying, I´m sure.
He looked the other way and saw the next woman, a rather tall brunette with very well-formed butt who turned around to greet him… and who slapped him in the face at noticing him checking her rear.
"I should´ve known too much sun and too many swimsuits would ruin your brain."
"C-Crowe?" He recovered fast, and realized his mistake. "I-I wasn´t looking!"
"Yeah, well, tell that to Libertus, once I let him know you were checking my ass."
"No! I swear I wasn´t looking!"
She huffed at him, and suddenly a giggle broke their exchange. He then took notice of a beautiful teen standing right next to Crowe, her pink locks making her look beyond cute.
"L-Lightning?"
The girl giggled again, covering her hand with her mouth. Before he could come out of his stupor, Crowe hit him on the arm.
"Ough! What was that for?!"
"It´s the second time you make the same mistake, Nyx Ulric."
The pinkette giggled at him again, her deep blue eyes evaluating him. "I´m not Lightning, Nyx." At her words, he finally realized what those eyes lacked. They didn´t have the piercing blaze that he had associated with his former pupil.
"Oh! Serah? Is that really you?"
"Yep, flesh and bones!"
"But you were a lot smaller the last time I saw you!"
And a lot less developed too. He prevented his words from coming out, knowing he would gain a harder punch from Crowe, but still appraising the girl´s almost formed body.
The pinkette giggled a bit more. "People tend to grow up as the years pass by, have you noticed? I´m not a girl anymore, I´m already 12 years old."
He smiled at her words, patronizing her. "Twelve already? Wait! That was the age your sister was when I first met you both!"
"Yep."
"Well, let me tell you, you´re a lot taller than she was."
Crowe and Serah laughed at that.
"I know, right? Just please don´t let her hear you saying such things! She´s gonna kill you if she does."
"Oh yeah? By the way, where´s that sister of yours?" With his hands over his hips, his eyes searched for the older pinkette, hunting for her petit frame, all too eager to see her again. "I bet she hid herself because she´s as short and flat as the boy she always seemed to be, and not as beautiful as you´re getting."
Serah giggled at his words. "Actually, I´m sure you just passed her by. She went there to buy something that caught her eye." She pointed at the path he had come from.
"Really? I didn´t see her." He turned around, and searched among the crowd for the pink locks he had missed, and, unintentionally, his eyes once again lingered on the rear he had noticed before, but this time the woman was standing, though her back was still to him, and yet he could notice perfectly well her fantastic rear was accompanied with such a perfect waist. The man sighed. Thinking he could spare some time for Lightning to come to greet him, he approached the woman, hopping to get at least a number. With that ass in tow, he would even forgive her if she were ugly as hell.
"Excuse me, miss? Can I help you with something?"
His voice obviously startled her, and he had to refrain his hands from taking the goddamn hoody off and finally see the face, to make the decision whether she was worthy of his time or not. But as he got nearer, her small shoulders, paired with excessively long and well-toned legs, helped him to make up his mind. Nope, it didn´t matter whether her face looked like a Behemoth. He was really going to get that phone number out of her. As he approached, the girl turned around, and he noticed her hoody was opened up at the front, letting him take a glimpse of some cleavage framed by two perfectly round breasts, their ivory skin showing but just a tad off of her shirt; watching at her breasts, he noticed her hair was loose, resting over her left shoulder, cascading over the left breast in silk-like waves of pale pink… as he looked up to her eyes, blazing, baby blue orbs looked back at him through the longest eyelashes he had ever seen in his life, and the action, almost sensual, almost daring, rooted him on his spot.
He had seen those eyes before. But the fire and beauty behind them had disconnected all train of thought.
And then, before his mind could process some coherent thought, a powerful right hook met his face, and the man fell backwards, destroying a small stand right behind him. He fell hard, his butt hitting the cold pavement. Groaning, and once he got his bearings, he heard the voice. A voice that unavoidably woke up a very intimate part of him, lower on his belly, a voice that sounded as if angels were singing to him. Too bad they didn´t sing something nice.
"Yes, I think you could help me. I´m looking for a jerk that used to be too much of a loser to be my coach."
His mind had gone numb, just like the rest of his senses, as he felt blood pumping over his abused jaw. He could almost hear his heart beating in his ears. Nyx hadn´t noticed his jaw dropping at the sight of her, until Crowe, who had approached them without him noticing, bent at the waist and closed his mouth with a finger under his chin, the touch making him recoil. The action took him from his spellbound state and he finally found his voice.
"L-Lightning?"
oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo
A/N: Yay! Finally we´ve arrived at the moment when Nyx meets an older Lightning! Honestly, this last scene was the one that started the story in the first place. After all we´ve been through, I gave you our long-awaited-moment between Lightning and Nyx. Did you like the exchange? Please leave a comment if you did! And if you feel the need to criticize my work, please feel free to do so. I´m always open at comments either positive or negative, after all, both of them make me grow. Also, I´m sorry Nyx looks like a jerk now, it´s actually intentional. You know, for the sake of the story, but the idea here is that they´re almost back to square one, at least from Lightning´s side, who can´t stand him much. Again. But now we have the man´s heart pumping just for our beautiful and tough pinkette. Poor Nyx! Will he be able to earn her love? We´ll see!
Another thing. Yeah, Nyx never recognized Lightning under her Crownsguard uniform, why? Because he met her as a teen, so he was expecting to meet again a small, lanky, underdeveloped and wailing young woman, while in Leiden he met a powerful, tall, proud, beautiful full-grown woman who had part of her face covered, and never got to see even a glimpse of her hair. I would be clueless as well, wouldn´t you?
Thank you so much for your patience and I hope it paid. Have a nice day!