Chapter Text
Lightning felt completely drained, her legs barely able to support her weight. She was so weak she had to lean heavily against the ancient stone walls of the Temple of Etro just to prevent herself from collapsing. Chaotic black blood and dark smog oozed from the deep wound Caius had inflicted upon her chest, staining the sacred ruins.
She did not understand how it could have happened, nor how she could have been reckless enough to let her guard down in such a fatal manner. What made matters worse was how she had downplayed the strike. In her mind, she had tried to justify the oversight because the initial agonizing pain had receded quickly. Though she had felt a slight depletion in her stamina, it had been barely perceptible at the time, leading her to dismiss the injury as a minor threat so she could rush forward to meet her eternal foe.
It had been mistake after mistake.
After spending agonizing minutes navigating the intricate maze of the ruins, cutting down monsters while her mind was assaulted by the contradictory cries of the various Yeuls, she realized the true implications of the curse far too late. The proof was undeniable: trails of dark, corrupted blood marked every single step she took, representing small fragments of her divine strength and her very life force taking physical form and draining away into the abyss.
Now, standing face to face with her sworn enemy, she bitterly regretted her naivety. Caius had not wasted his opportunity to cripple her. He had always wanted to see her like this—stumbling into his domain utterly debilitated, completely at his mercy, and driven to her knees so he could mock her before delivering the final blow.
But she refused to give him that satisfaction.
"Right..."
By sheer force of will, Lightning straightened her posture, forcing her stance into one of pride and power before meeting Caius's silent threat.
"I will save your soul… even if it's against your will."
Caius only smirked at her and raised his immense blade, attacking with all his strength.
She redirected the killing blow with her sword, far too weakened to mount a counterattack. Caius immediately retaliated with a brutal strike that clashed against her blade, sending bright sparks flying from the friction and forcing her to reel backward. Blow after blow, she found herself driven into a purely defensive strategy as her dark blood painted intricate, corrupted patterns on the stone floor beneath them. With every clash, she also noticed her body beginning to give up on her. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her muscles protested in agony, refusing to move as fast as her mind demanded.
Caius smirked knowingly.
With a swift, practiced movement, he shattered her guard with a heavy strike, forcing her to open her arms and immediately redirected his blade's trajectory, seeking the definitive fatal blow. Lightning read the intent effortlessly, but her exhausted muscles failed her completely this time. She was an agonizing second too late to intercept the trajectory. Without anything blocking its path, Caius's massive sword struck her chest full force, tearing through the dark front plating of her armor, shattering her savior insignia, and tearing open a deep gash across her sternum and part of her left clavicle.
Lightning staggered backward, intense pain clouding her vision as utter disbelief plastered her countenance. Bright human blood poured from the fresh wound, mixing with the chaotic black sludge oozing near her heart, staining the pristine white cloth of her Providence garb in a grotesque display of crimson and shadow.
Still stunned, Lightning looked up, her steel-blue eyes wide with shock, only to receive a devastating kick to the jaw that sent her crashing violently against the temple wall. She collapsed to her knees, one hand gripping the hilt of her blade out of pure instinct, while the fingernails of her other hand dug desperately into the stone floor. The ancient rocks beneath her were quickly baptized in her spilt crimson life force. She breathed in and out in ragged, desperate gasps, fighting to regain control, trying to focus her blurry vision and recover her strength, but she knew it was a losing battle; cold tremors ran down her spine, and her sight blackened for a terrifying second.
A pair of heavy boots approached her, but she refused to look up. She knew she wouldn't have the strength to endure the triumphant smirk on her enemy's face, even as she perceived the shift in the air when he raised his blade to deliver the final blow. This was the second time he had taken advantage of her flaws in such a dirty manner. But could she truly call it dirty? He had simply seized the opportunity that presented itself, capitalizing on the chain of mistakes she had foolishly made.
It was war, after all. He was only doing what was necessary.
Serah…
Time seemed to slow down. She could hear the wind whistling the exact moment he lowered his blade, aiming straight for her neck. With a desperate reflex, she grasped the emblem over her chest—the broken, split insignia that had once represented her divine power.
But she was Lightning. The Savior! How could she die here? Serah depended on her. The entire world depended on her.
‘I can't die here! I won't die here! I've got to see Serah!’
As if responding to her frantic plea, a blinding light suddenly surrounded her, only to instantly mutate into a deep, foggy blackness. The Chaos enveloped her entirely, rushing into her lungs and obstructing her sight. She felt herself floating weightlessly for a few seconds before crashing down onto her knees. The ground beneath her was soft and scorching hot, burning her palms and knees, while the air grew so scorching it nearly scalded her lungs. With her free hand, she clutched her chest, feeling the impossible pain still tearing her apart. The fatal wound was still there; unless she did something immediately, she would surely bleed out. Lightning looked up, but the raw intensity of the sunbeams reflecting off the terrain blinded her, stripping away any possibility of orientation.
“I-I've got to…”
She could not finish the thought. Her mind went numb, yet her fierce determination lingered. Clutching her blade even tighter, she gritted her teeth and gathered every ounce of her remaining willpower to force her body up. She dragged herself forward, using her other bloody hand to push against her knee. Laboriously—the simple effort feeling like a titanic accomplishment—she managed to stand upright on both legs. But her triumph was short-lived. Her strength vanished completely, and she fell headfirst onto the soft sand, slipping into unconsciousness. Her mixed blood intertwined with the warm earth, forming a dark, muddy pool beneath her as her final thought drifted back to her sister's memory.
“Serah… I'm going to see you soon…”
ooooOOOOOOXIIIOOOOOooooo
Fang had to accept that she was somewhat stalling her moment of departure. She was not entirely sure why, since she already knew there was an urgent need to be in Luxerion to prevent the Order's ritual from taking place. Though she was well aware that nothing would happen until the appointed day, she still needed to gather every resource and ally required to succeed. Yet, for the love of Etro, she could not bring herself to leave these ancient walls—the Ruffian oasis where she had found the greatest sense of peace she had experienced in decades. Centuries, even.
"Boss! Boss!"
It was Adonis who rushed inside, abruptly interrupting her train of thought.
"What is it, man?" Fang grumbled, leaning back. "Do you really have to barge in without knocking? What if I were completely naked?"
Against his will, the young man blushed at the vivid image her words planted in his head, but he quickly shook it off to focus on the urgency of the moment.
"S-sorry, boss, but you need to come out here right now," Adonis stuttered, catching his breath. "It's the Savior. We received word from the northern outpost that she crossed back into the Dead Dunes, so I deployed a patrol to track her. They just found her."
Her eyes sparked with sudden emotion, but the warrior quickly turned around, forcing herself to hide the relief playing on her lips as she attempted to feign absolute nonchalance.
"So what?" Fang scoffed, dropping heavily into her chair with her arms and legs crossed, crossing her features into a mask of bitter resentment. "Let her wander around. I'm not exactly thrilled with her right now anyway. The first thing I'll do when I see her is demand an explanation for her stunt. It's her fault I lost the Clavis."
"I really think you should come, boss," Adonis pressed, his voice dropping all pretense of hierarchy. "The patrol sent word that she's heavily injured. They said it's serious. They say she could actually die."
"What?!" All her manufactured anger evaporated in an instant. Fang bolted from her seat, rushing toward the door. "Why didn't you begin with that?" She pushed past the man, shoving him aside in her desperate rush.
As they arrived at the lounge, Fang saw a commotion forming inside. A group of bandits—most likely the patrol Adonis had mentioned—shuffled into the building. Fang pushed her way through the gathering crowd, her eyes immediately tracking the flashes of white cloth and pink locks standing out in the center of the room. But the moment her emerald orbs took in the full picture, Fang's face contorted into a mask of pure dread.
Lightning was completely unconscious, her limp body resting heavily in Biggs's arms. The desert rogue, normally known for his rough, callous, and indifferent attitude, was carrying the young woman with a jarring amount of tenderness. To a man who had witnessed her godlike power firsthand back in Yusnaan—having seen her stand tall as the invincible Savior—holding her broken body now was a shattering spiritual blow. A haunted, hollow expression consumed his features, his gaze fixed on her face as if the mere act of carrying her might tear his own soul apart. He held her as if she were no longer an untouchable deity, but rather a delicate doll sculpted from fragile crystal; his wide, terrified eyes betrayed a desperate fear that a big, clumsy brute like himself could shatter her with a single misplaced movement.
Fang's eyes locked with the man's. She could see how utterly terrified and shaken Biggs was; a haunted expression plastered his face every time his gaze drifted down to the wounded warrior, his previous adoration turning into pure horror. The brunette could not help the cold knot of sympathy tightening in her stomach.
"Boss… she's…"
Fang only nodded, still refusing to fully process what she was witnessing as she stepped closer to them. With her head resting weakly against the rogue's shoulder, Lightning's eyes were shut tight, her features twisted in an expression of deep, agonizing pain. Her once pristine white garb was ruined, caked in sand and drenched in heavy stains of crimson and black that stood out starkly against her deathly pale skin.
"Take her to my quarters. And find Ramon immediately—tell him we'll need every medical supply we have."
As Biggs hurried to do her bidding, careful not to jostle her broken frame, Fang lingered in the lounge, her gaze dropping to the dark trail of blood left behind on the floor. Kneeling down, she examined the distinct texture, noting the volatile mixture of scarlet fluid and something far worse. Even without touching it, she could sense a heavy, suffocating malice emanating from the pool.
“I might not be a seer or a priestess,” Fang whispered to herself, clenching her teeth as worry threatened to consume her, “but I'll be damned if this isn't the work of the Chaos. Helping her is going to be a hell of a lot harder than I thought.”
As she arrived at her quarters, Fang found it difficult to even enter the room, since the doorway was already crowded with curious thieves trying to catch a glimpse of the dying Savior.
"Out! All of you! Only the women stay!"
Many of the male thieves groaned in disappointment but immediately complied, their obedience driven partly by deep respect and partly by sheer fear of her wrath. With the hallway cleared, Fang was finally able to step inside. Lightning was already resting on her humble bed, blood still weeping continuously from her severe injuries. Fang frowned, and without further ado, she sliced through the remnants of the woman's ruined clothes, unceremoniously tossing the blood-soaked fabric onto the floor.
She then shot a sharp glare at the five female thieves who had remained in the room, and they nodded at her silent orders. No words were needed; they instantly understood her unspoken commands and rushed forward to help Fang free the wounded Savior from the fragments of her useless armor. Working with a delicate balance of swiftness and care, they stripped Lightning completely, leaving her clad only in her black undergarments before immediately draping a clean white sheet over her semi-nude body.
With the armor out of the way, Fang could finally inspect the damage. A jagged trail of torn flesh traveled up from Lightning's right ribs all the way to her left shoulder, leaving a gash so deep that, as the women applied wet towels to staunch the flow, they caught horrifying glimpses of exposed white bone.
But as they worked to cleanse the soft skin of sand and gore, the raven-haired warrior discovered the second, more insidious injury. Positioned directly over the pale left breast—precisely where Fang had once seen the brand of the l'Cie curse centuries ago—lay a grotesque puncture in the flesh. It was shaped like an ill-drawn, distorted star, pulsing with a dense, black smoke that continued to ooze dark blood no matter how many times they wiped it away.
Oh, Lightning… what in Etro's name happened to you?
"Boss, the healer is here."
"Let him through, and continue cleansing her wounds."
Fang rose from her spot, facing Ramón as he bowed to her in obvious respect and fear. Without hesitation, she forcibly grabbed the man by his collar and slammed his back hard against the nearest stone wall, bringing his face mere inches from her own as she bared her teeth in a silent threat.
"There's something I want to make clear to you, Ramón. You see, not only am I the boss of this outfit, but more importantly, that woman lying on my bed happens to be a very dear friend of mine. My sister in arms. So, you can imagine exactly what will happen to you if you let her slip away."
"I-I'll do my best… b-boss! I swear it on my life!" Ramón stuttered, trying desperately to sound reassuring.
Fang released him slowly, giving his collar a final, warning pat. "Good. I expect nothing less. Otherwise, you can imagine the consequences."
The man gulped audibly and rushed toward the bed, eager to get as far away from Fang as humanly possible. As the scholar began inspecting the grotesque wounds, Fang cast a desperate look at the supine warrior. The air inside the chamber suddenly felt too dense for her to breathe, prompting her to turn on her heel and step out of the ruins.
Twilight was already falling upon the Dead Dunes, and the cooling desert air filled Fang's lungs, offering a modicum of relief. The tall Pulsian inhaled deeply, her brow furrowing as she weighed her next course of action. Unable to find answers in the quiet camp, she decided to go for a stroll. Fang walked slowly, following the path leading west, her thoughts in complete turmoil as she sought a shred of calmness under the bleeding light of the dying sun.
"She's so amazing, isn't she? I bet so many people would be heartbroken if she were to die…"
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by that familiar, childish voice. Fang stopped dead in her tracks, letting out a weary sigh.
"What do you want, Lumina? As you can see, I'm in no mood for your pranks."
"Aww… c'mon, Fangy! It's been quite a while since I last saw you. I'm sure you missed me."
"Nope. Not in the least." Angrily, the tall warrior turned around to confront her unwanted guest. "Spit it out already. What do you want?"
Lumina pouted mockingly, tilting her head to one side as she gingerly circled the infuriated Pulsian. "Oh, Fang… I'm hurt. Don't you think I'm only here because I'm genuinely concerned about Lightning's well-being?"
Those words set Fang's blood on fire. In a flash, she made her bladed spear dance menacingly toward the girl, the steel cutting through the warm desert air.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on her, you little brat," Fang snarled, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Because I swear I'll split your throat in two."
But Lumina was far too fast for her. She floated backward effortlessly, dodging the weapon's reach, and shook a finger in playful admonition.
"Now, now, that's just plain rude, Fangy," Lumina pouted, her eyes wide with fake innocence. "And here I thought you'd actually be happy to see me if I proved to you that I've come on good terms."
"I really don't care what you claim your intentions to be," Fang growled, her voice dangerous. "If it's you, it's bound to be malicious. Just give me one more reason, and I sure as hell will give you the spanking you've earned for centuries."
Lumina laughed heartily this time. "Well, wouldn't you want that? That's for sure a wish coming straight from your heart!" The girl giggled some more, making Fang seethe with quiet fury. However, the warrior fought the urge to fall into her trap; she ignored the mockery and simply sheathed the beautiful, blood-stained weapon against her back.
"You're completely out of your mind, brat," Fang muttered, her jaw clenched tight. "I'm not wasting my breath on you anymore."
"My, that's very mature of you, Fangy," Lumina chirped, tilting her head with an enigmatic grin. "But I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you. Punishing me, even when is a deep wish of yours, is something you won't be doing anytime soon." she continued, the playful foolishness suddenly vanishing from her face as her features hardened into something unsettlingly mature. "But joking apart, I came here to warn you: I know of a much deeper desire resting inside of you, one that you are currently refusing to accept."
Fang smirked at her words, crossing her arms. "If you're talking about the Clavis, I think you've arrived too late. My wish to prevent Vanille from performing the Soulsong is already out in the open. Everyone knows it, even the Savior."
"Ooooh… our dear Savior…" Lumina batted her eyelashes mockingly. "Yes, I indeed know she's already aware of your true intentions, but I'm certain you're missing something. The moment she saw you—especially after your cold reception—the Chaos around her shifted. Your previous encounter actually made me wonder: could hiding your feelings from her have hurt her at all?" She let the words linger in the heavy air for a moment, then sighed. "But I'm sure you know I'm not talking about that."
Fang raised a delicate eyebrow, thoroughly weary of the game but unable to suppress her growing concern. The stretching silence made Lumina giggle, reading the older woman's inner turmoil with terrifying ease.
"Bingo! I think you already know exactly what I'm talking about."
"No. Not a clue," Fang lied, turning her back on the girl. "So, if you're not going to say anything coherent today, you'll have to excuse me. I have a guest to attend to."
"Ah, yes… you're sooo wishing to see those beautiful blue eyes open, right?" The sweet, honeyed tone embedded in the girl's voice sent a sudden shiver down Fang's spine, and her instincts screamed in warning. Yet, against her better judgment, the raven-haired warrior spoke her mind.
"I don't like your tone, Lumina. What is this circus all about?"
The young girl approached the warrior once more, her playful steps tracing slow circles around the tall figure.
"I've always wondered why you like Lightning this much, you know?" Lumina mused, looking intently at Fang. The Pulsian eyed her with her deadliest glare, but the girl just giggled. "I mean, it can't be her hair or her eyes. After all, Serah and I share those features too, and you absolutely hate my guts. So, it can't be that." The girl took several more steps around the woman, pressing a finger against her lips to mock a thoughtful pose while keeping her piercing stare locked onto the warrior—a scrutiny that unnerved Fang to no end.
"Why are you suddenly so interested in my preferences? I'm starting to wonder if you have a crush on me."
Fang teased her, attempting to deflect, but the enigmatic, playful look Lumina sent her made her even more wary. The girl simply continued her monologue as if she had not been interrupted at all.
"It could be her body. Have you seen it? Seen her naked? She is absolutely beautiful, isn't she? Those perfectly formed curves, sculpted with such toned muscle... they make her body appear as if chiseled by a master artist." Lumina sighed dreamily, clasping her hands tightly in front of her chest. "She's like a dream come true…"
The vivid images evoked by those words involuntarily made Fang blush, a reaction that set her anger ablaze anew. She stormed back toward the building, only to be stopped when Lumina materialized directly in front of her. Blocking her path, the girl's blue eyes fiercely pierced hers, a devilish smile plastered across her features.
"But of course not! Silly me. It is her eyes! Those eyes so full of fire, determination, and power. And I bet it's that fierce, indomitable personality, too—the one that speaks of no regrets, no turning back, and no defeat."
Fang growled, her visceral reaction bringing a triumphant smile to Lumina's lips.
"But I do wonder," the girl purred, her tone shifting to something darker. "Would you still love her if you knew she's not the same Lightning you met centuries ago? She might not even be human anymore, you know?"
"I know that." Fang tried to walk away again, but Lumina stood in her path once more, her icy blue eyes blazing with malicious excitement.
"But the most important issue is, would you still love her this much if you were to see her weak, scared, and defeated? Have you ever seen her cry like a child?"
Fang smirked this time, bending just a little at the waist to bring her face close to the girl's.
"Well, I have some news for you: what you just said seems rather a description of your own petty self, and guess what? She's nothing like you, Lumina. But if you must know, I've already seen her weak, scared, and defeated. I have seen her at her absolute worst, and my feelings haven't changed at all. So, if you're done with your childish babbling, I'd rather go check if she is getting any better than spend another minute with you, silly girl."
With that, Fang strode past her, marching resolutely toward the ruins, leaving Lumina alone in the desert sands. For a fleeting second, the Pulsian wished the spoiled brat would actually ponder the harsh words that had just been thrown at her. But knowing Lumina, Fang assumed her warning had fallen on deaf ears.
For all she cared...
"She's the Savior, remember?" Lumina called out once more, her voice suddenly embedded with an unfamiliar emotion that Fang could not quite place. "She came to this world to make all of our wishes come true, no matter how small or deeply buried inside us they are. Her mission is to save us through the accomplishment of our deepest desires." The girl raised her voice to be heard over the rising desert wind, her words bordering on a yell, but Fang only growled and shook her head, refusing to acknowledge her presence anymore. "Even yours, Fangy! Don't you dare forget that when she awakes!"
Fang did not turn around, not even once, her blood running hot, angry and flustered to no end. Because of her stubborn stride, she completely missed the small, soft smile that illuminated the pinkette's lips, replacing for a brief moment the sarcastic, devilish grin usually plastered on the girl's face.