BAND OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 1

CONFRONTATION

The cute, beautiful Esper is feeling overwhelmed by Sephiroth´s powerful strikes: no matter how fast she casts, this man´s blade has not left her a second to breathe, and every time he swings his sword, she´s left with just barely fractions of seconds to avoid being cut in half.

His long sword, the Masamune, reaches for her flesh again, and she barely makes it in time before it strikes her. Terra Brandford rolls on the ground, avoiding for a second time the deadly slash, and raises to throw a powerful blizagga spell against the one-winded man. But he slashes the magic in half as if it were nothing, passing through it unharmed, and raises his weapon over his head, ready to finish his enemy. Without time to get out of harm´s way, Terra only manages to close her eyes and cover her face with both arms. But suddenly the man stalls the attack; he looks up and immediately jumps away from the Esper, as a bolt of lightning strikes the place he had been standing in, just a fraction of a second ago. Right behind the magic bolt, a tall pinkette makes her appearance, landing in front of her comrade and, without breaking her momentum, she makes a second attack with her long blade, the Crimson Blitz, that forces their enemy to jump further away.

"L-Lightning!" Terra whispers, surprised she could have such great timing.

"It´s ok, Terra, I´m here." The Materia warrior offers a hand to her friend, and the smaller woman takes it joyously.

"Thank you so much! I´m glad you came!"

Without breaking eye contact with Sephiroth, Lightning addresses her friend. "Don't thank me yet. We're not done here." She glances up, searching for the other battling pair, and Terra follows her gaze. "Zidane is in deep trouble, but I'm not much use against a wizard. Please go help him; you're the best choice for that. I'll handle things here."

The smaller woman nods at her peer and runs towards her fallen comrade, while Lightning locks eyes with her enemy.

"Damn you, Sephiroth!" she reprimands the tall man, furious at the sight of her friend covered in bruises. "Attack me instead and leave her alone. I'm the one you want to fight."

He smirks at her words. "Do you think she can't fight for herself? That she would need someone else´s help because she´s a fragile doll? Of all people, I never expected you to look down on a comrade just because she's a woman."

"I'm not looking down on her, but on you," she replies, unfazed. "You know you're stronger than most, yet you still attack her. Don't be a bully—pick on someone your own size."

He spats at her words, entertained. "You´re not of my size, woman."

She retaliates with a smirk on her own. "I think you´re just too afraid I might prove you wrong."

He smiles at her but remains unyielding to her taunting. "We'll soon find out about that. But first, tell me, why shouldn't I attack anyone I want? Should I feel ashamed of my superior power? Is that your suggestion? Should I only seek the strongest of your kind? What makes you think I'm not doing exactly that?" A delicate eyebrow raises at his words, and Sephiroth smirks at her silent response. "Oh… But don't overestimate yourself, woman. I wasn't talking about you. As I said before, you're no closer to my level than she is."

She knows he´s just pushing her buttons, but Lightning is unable to contain the ire his words bring. "Just stop talking and come here! I want you to feel my blade!"

His smile grows wider. "It would be my pleasure."

They clash blades, each thirsting for the other's blood. After a few exchanges, Lightning grudgingly accepts the gap between them. He's been able to drive her into defensive strategies with brute force alone, forcing her to admit his superiority in strength. However, this realization only fuels her determination to devise superior strategies, relying more heavily on her speed and prowess to counterbalance his raw power.

And no one is faster than Lightning.

With her determination fueled, she spins on her axis, aiming to leverage his heavier weight against him. Yet, as she slashes at him, the man effortlessly reads her movements, swiftly protecting his exposed side.

Damn.

She tries once again to gain the upper hand, doing a summersault to fall upon him and trying to surprise him. But the moment she´s falling onto him and their swords clash, she feels an intense pain in her back, the attack piercing through her body and breaking her momentum, almost forcing her to kneel. Sephiroth, apparently not noticing her injury, clashes swords with her once more and sends her flying away from him; she falls and rolls on the ground, the pain intensifying.

Lightning grunts while she stands with one knee on the ground. As she looks down at her abdomen, her eyes open wide with surprise at finding the piece of a broken arrow protruding through her flesh.

"W-what…? How did…? Firion…?"

Sephiroth approaches her slowly, noticing her weakness, and she looks up, surprised at being found out of focus. Before she´s able to stand, he sends a kick her way but she raises her arms on time, and his leg collides with her forearms. She rolls away from him and then forces herself to stand in spite of the pain. The moment she looks at Sephiroth again, she finds the culprit of her current plight. Behind the tall man, there are two forms: her comrade, Firion, the man she once shared a secret with, is standing in front of her, his eyes fixed on her form. Only, his entire skin and clothes are gleaming, his frame formed by shimmering diamond. She understands then, that the one attacking her had been none other than the perfect manikin of her friend, presently pointing a bow at her, as he readies his next attack. The second man has the exact same description as the first, only this time is the Warrior of Light´s manikin brandishing his weapon menacingly at her.

"Tch. Sephiroth, I thought you were braver than this. Are you so afraid of fighting against me one on one, that you had to call upon reinforcements?"

The man stalls his movement for a moment, as if pondering her words, and then looks behind him, following her sight. When he finds the two combatants, the ex-soldier smirks and turns at the woman, shrugging and eyeing her wound.

"Don´t look at me, I didn´t summon them to attack you, they came on their own; I bet they followed your delicious scent all the way here. As for me, I must say I´m sure I´ll enjoy the show."

She scoffs at his words, taking the end of the arrow and pulling, to no avail. It would seem the piece is embedded deep in her body, and she can feel the end of it protruding from her back. For Lightning, every movement is torture, since the arrow is working against her, injuring the flesh in its vicinity every time she has to move, not allowing her to heal, and not letting her cast any cura spell. Lightning stands up straighter, breathing heavily, as she tries a second time to pull out the offending object, but before she does it, the Warrior manikin attacks her, and she´s forced to repel, raising her weapon. The pain is just exquisite as she clashes swords with the manikin, blow after blow she grunts, just barely resisting the torture, until another intense pain explodes in her lower limb. She looks down, finding another arrow, this time penetrating her leg.

The new injury makes her recoil by instinct, and also makes the Warrior manikin stagger, since he had his weight forced against her. Lightning uses his stumbling to retaliate, breaking her enemy´s guard and, with a swift motion that takes the manikin by surprise, slashes him in two. As he disappears into thin air, she lets herself fall on the ground, following the momentum, and just in time, since a third arrow flies in front of her, seeking her flesh and failing. She rolls on the ground and the moment she stands, sends a powerful thundaga spell towards the Firion manikin, destroying him instantly.

But the pain and the blood loss numb her concentration, and thus Lightning doesn´t notice Sephiroth coming closer to her, so the moment she stands tall again, she doesn´t react on time to the man´s attack; as a result, Masamune finds its trek towards her absolutely free, and impales itself on her right shoulder, forcing her to drop the crimson sword.

"Aaargh!"

The surprise attack steals a scream from her lips, and before she can look at the weapon hurting her, her azure eyes find themselves at the level of green orbs looking straight at her, as if trying to pierce her soul, and with a maddening tint behind them.

"I´m sorry, Lightning, I hope you understand I just couldn´t stand it. With all that blood coming out from you, I just had to give my own contribution to your demise." His words are followed by his hands pushing forward, drawing the blade deeper inside her flesh, making her yell.

She huffs, forcing her vision to focus and glaring at the madman; making a titanic effort, she uses her uninjured hand and takes her enemy by the collar.

"Don´t worry, Sephiroth. I understand."

Her enigmatic words make his eyebrow rise, and then, as if he could understand her hidden intentions, his eyes open wide in surprise, the moment he feels her hand getting warmer. He tries to step back, away from her, and tries to push her too, but the explosion in her hand takes him by surprise, as the piro spell detonates into his chest, sending him flying backwards.

She´s propelled backwards too by the force of the explosion; in her trek she hits a column with her back, almost doubling it over, and she falls unceremoniously onto the ground, as if she were a ragged doll. Fortunately for her, Terra had watched them in the distance, and had sent her way a shield spell, that prevented the blast to tear her into pieces. As it is, just a couple of first-degree burns on her left arm is the price she has to pay. Lightning stays on the ground, panting, unmoving, allowing herself a few seconds of respite and to collect her strength, but then forces herself upwards, refusing to give in.

I have to… She looks up, finding Sephiroth´s unconscious form away from her, and in the middle, her sword waiting for her. I… have to…

She forces her body upwards, but her knees buckle for the blood loss and the pain, and her vision is becoming blurred. She knows she´s about to enter in shock. After a couple of steps, her knees finally give way, but the moment she´s about to fall, Zidane reaches her, holding her upright.

His eyes grow wide at seeing the broken pieces of arrows embedded in her flesh, and the deep wound in her shoulder, all of them gushing blood in free streams, especially the last one. He closes his eyes as if to erase the horrible images and then looks into her eyes, forcing her to stand straighter.

"C´mon Light! Don´t give up on me now!"

She looks down at him, her weight almost crushing him, but the thief stands his ground, determined to help her. Lightning notices he´s injured too, fresh blood over his temple, and there seems to be a gush in the shoulder that isn´t carrying her, but he pushes her upwards anyways, using his free hand to hold tightly her crimson weapon.

"You… you took my sword."

"You bet I took it, I know I´ll never hear the end of it if I were to leave it behind." He smiles at her, and she manages to smirk at his words.

"Terra, where is she?"

The thief looks up with a worried expression on his countenance.

"She´s fighting the Emperor, but… he´s becoming harder than I thought."

Lightning looks up too, and finds the shorter woman crashing hard against a column, as the Emperor looms over her, readying another strike, one that fortunately doesn´t reach Terra, the blonde being able to move faster.

Lightning´s eyes close in slits, considering their options, and stands taller, taking her weapon from Zidane´s hand.

"I think it´s time we lend her a hand." But the moment she takes a step forward, she stumbles. The Crimson Blitz is embedded in the ground, and Lightning uses it as leverage to keep herself standing. She huffs, the pain intensifying by the effort, but her eyes stay focused on Terra´s form, determination fixed on them.

"But Light… your wounds…" Zidane hesitates, his hands hovering around her figure, but doubting his help would be well received.

"I´m sure Terra can help me." She spats, giving hesitant steps, but resolute in helping her friend. "We all have to get away from here, and fast." She eyes the prone figure of the silver-blonde male. "He will wake up soon. And that won´t be good."

oooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

A/N:

I don´t own Final Fantasy. I just write this out of fun.

I adored the moment they portrayed Sephiroth and Lightning clashing blades; though I know he wouldn´t be an easy opponent, I´m still firm on thinking Lightning is capable of defeating him, though I´m aware it will be a bloody battle. But what about fighting a powerful wizard? In Dissidia NT, I actually hate those encounters, because most of the time the magicians turn around away from you and have long-range attacks, thus they can easily get to you, while I prefer close contact. Well, we can´t always have what we want, ne?

I was a bit mad (spoilers here! Read at your own risk) that Lightning didn´t come to save Terra when she was being overwhelmed by Sephiroth´s attacks, and instead, they had to rely on Kuja for that. They, Terra and Zidane, were her comrades! Part of her group! She should´ve been more careful about them.

I´d also like to explore Lightning´s relationship with her group comrades, since, in some way, Zidane could resemble Hope, and Terra Vanille (obviously, a lot stronger), what would Lightning think of that? What would happen when she notices she cannot treat them like she did her other friends? They are full warriors, after all.

Well, hope you enjoyed the story!