AN - Ain't no stopping this traaaaaain! If you've seen any of my last lot of posts on tumblr, you'll have seen just how maddening this project is. This story (likely) won't be as huge as the behemoth that was In Too Deep, as it was originally made up of a few one-shots before I started to piece it together to form its current manifestation. Ignores events of FFXIII-2 and FFXIII:LR, Fang and Vanille wake from crystal post FFXIII. Onwards with a new story!

"Lightning! You have to come quick! The pillar.." Hope didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before the now Major Farron had hung up on him and fled the office, narrowly avoiding bowling over General Amodar in the process.

"Farron! I was just coming to tell yo-"

"Already on it sir!" She called over her shoulder as she leapt onto a hoverbike and sped off without hesitation. Lightning hurtled herself across the plains at great speed, barely keeping stock of her surroundings and focused only on the looming crystal in the distance. Her breath hung in her lungs, caught somewhere between determination and panic.

After Serah left to live with Snow once they'd gotten married, Lightning's house was empty and silent. It wasn't something she was able to handle, so threw herself into working hard to build New Bodhum. Sazh went back to piloting with his son to ferry people back and forth from Cocoon to Pulse so they saw each other rarely. Hope decided to join the Guardian Corps after The Fall and while he was close by, until he had finished training he wasn't around as much either. So without the others around her, she instead she focused on what she could control; her work.

They had been working for two and a half years to get Fang and Vanille out of the pillar without compromising its integrity. Two and a half years of solid work and sleepless nights. Constantly obsessing over her two lost friends to the detriment of her own personal life. The two Pulsians trapped within sometimes felt like they were all she had left. She'd be damned if she lost them now.

Lightning arrived at the pillar in record time to find a pulsing light coming from the top where it held up Cocoon. She wasted no time and accelerated hard, zooming up the spire and landing on a ledge near the entrance they had painstakingly carved out to get to their friends. The crystal shimmered in the morning sunlight, glinting off the sharp jagged edges and smooth surfaces to create patterns along the glass-like tunnel she moved through.

She raced inside to find the small cave bathed in white light, coming from the crystal statues before her. The sight caught her breath in her throat as she scanned her surroundings hastily and searched for signs of danger. Lightning approached her two friends, who were hand in hand, carved out of the walls. She reached out a tentative hand and touched the smooth crystal that was Fang's face. It felt warm to the touch and the pinkette suppressed a shiver at the feeling, mouthing her friend's name with a worried brow.

"Lightning?"

She spun around to find Hope at the entrance, eyeing the cavern with suspicion. The light hadn't dimmed; if anything had gotten brighter from their presence.

"I'm not sure what's going on... I don't think the pillar is compromised, at least not yet."

Her last words were punctuated by the sound of a shrill loud cracking coming from the statues. Hope and Lightning turned to find the crystal surrounding the Pulsians creaking and groaning. Lines began appearing along the glass-like faces and light poured from them.

"Lightning!" Hope yelled and pointed at the tanned skin that was appearing from beneath the crystal that was breaking off from their bodies. They both ran forward as the statues exploded around them, with Hope catching Vanille as she fell and Lightning following suit with Fang.

Unprepared for the shock of seeing her friend or suddenly bearing her muscular frame, Lightning fell back and landed hard on the crystal. It cut into the skin on her arms and legs as the tall Pulsian crashed into her. She ignored the pain and checked Fang's vitals, silently praying that this wasn't a dream. She exhaled when she felt the brunette breathing shakily against her. A tanned arm weakly reached up and clutched at the lapels on her soldier's coat.

"Light...?"

While rasped and strained, that drawling accent was music to Lightning's ears. "Did... We…" The pinkette smiled and brushed the dark hair out of the jade eyes looking up at her.

"It's ok Fang. You did it. We won."

The doors to the local New Bodhum Emergency slammed open as Snow, Sarah and Sazh raced inside. Hope was in the lobby waiting for their arrival. "Is it true? They're back?" Snow asked hurriedly, looking around for a doctor.

The silver-haired boy smiled broadly and even welcomed the giant bear hug he knew he was going to inevitably receive. He was too excited to care about being crushed by the behemoth that was Snow. "We don't know what happened, or what triggered it. Just after sunrise this morning there was a reading on the monitors that checked for seismic activity around the pillar. It was barely perceptible by the detectors, but enough to draw our attention. Then it started glowing. Lightning and I headed up to the pillar just in time to catch them as they woke."

The ward was in full work mode, with staff rushing around them, making preparations just in case there would be any repercussions from the two Pulsians waking up. Thus far there wasn't any news that the pillar had been compromised, but they were being cautious regardless.

"Hope, where is my sister?" Serah asked as she placed a gentle hand on his arm.

He smiled and ducked his head, holding up his hand to try to calm a bouncing, eager Snow. "They're fine, everyone is fine. Lightning got a little cut up on the crystal when she caught Fang so they're just stitching her up. The other two are just being checked out to make sure they're ok, and that nothing has impacted on them from being in stasis for the second time. But I assure you, they're fine."

No sooner had he said that a crashing sound came from behind them where the beds were, a metal tray flying across the room. It hit the wall with a loud clatter and the group flinched at the noise.

"Ha! You missed! You get rusty while I was taking a glass nap, Sunshine?"

"God dammit!"

"Faaaaang!"

Blank stares met Hope as he turned back to the group with a fed up look on his face. "Like I said. Fine."

Sarah raced to the curtains and found her sister fuming in the bed across from the grinning Pulsian. "Claire Farron!" The elder Farron's head snapped up in her direction, startled at both the chastising and being caught in an act of immaturity.

"She started it!" Lightning retorted with an uncharacteristic pout as a nurse reluctantly resumed stitching up her arm. She hissed as the needle entered her skin and lamented the fact they weren't L'Cie anymore. She could have just healed herself by now and would already be across the room throttling Fang.

The brunette in question was giving Lightning a cheeky smirk while a doctor fussed over her vitals, checking her blood pressure and taking a blood sample. He asked her to not move about, his voice tired and sounding like that wasn't the first time he'd asked her to sit still since she was admitted.

"What? All I said was that she should have known I'd always fall for her when I landed on her."

The nurse beside Lightning pre-empted her anger this time around, rolling the trolley away from the pinkette's reach with a stern gaze. "Ma'am, please. Let me at least finish my job and once you're both discharged you can go to town on each other. It's my day off tomorrow so it's not like I'm going to have to deal with patching you up again..."

Serah looked exasperated and instead went to Vanille's bedside with a sigh. The redhead beamed as she reached out and took the young pinkette's hands. It was a miracle of the gods that they were all awake, all safe and of course, all happy. "So uh, that's your sister huh?" Serah asked as she embraced her friend. Vanille rolled her eyes as she returned the hug.

"Yep. And before you ask, yes. They were like this the entire time."

After they were discharged from the hospital, Fang was taken back to the younger Farron's house with Vanille, as it was closer than Lightning's house on the outskirts of the village. They all stayed the night, Serah cooking up a feast for her returned friends and her sister even stuck around. The elder Farron was mostly silent for the evening, though Fang saw the softest of smiles on her face, looking like she had been a little less unburdened with their freedom.

Fang shivered as she stepped in the shower the following morning, looking around the small tiled space. This afforded privacy was unlike anything she was used to from growing up in communal living. She perused the assortment of scents coming from the bottles and tried to figure out what was for where and whom.

A sweet, subtle floral scent wafted from one white bottle when Fang squeezed it, and it reminded her of sweet fruits, not dissimilar to the scents she caught from Lightning from time to time. There were other bottles and she grumbled to herself that she didn't take the extra time to learn Cocoonian writing better so she could figure out the labels.

Fang could ascertain some of the pictures on the bottle with happy looking women massaging their hair and rolled her eyes. "Bloody weird Cocoonian aesthetics..." she mumbled, and hesitantly reached for what she hoped was a soap bottle. It smelt a little muskier and had a picture of a man on the front, so Fang guessed this was for Snow. She decided to use that, as smelling like Lightning would be... Distracting.

Feeling like a bit of a snoop, Fang investigated other cans, jars and containers on the shower shelf. She found a fascinating can that had a picture of a lady baring a white substance on her legs. Eyeballing the item in the lady's hand, Fang looked around until she found what she was looking for. She picked up the razor and turned it over, inspecting it. "May as well see what all the fuss is about..." she chuckled, recalling a specific memory from their travels.

The L'cie fugitives sat around the campfire in the fading light, looking and feeling exhausted. Within Vallis Media, the gorge created an echo chamber for the various screeches, roars and howling of the Gran Pulsian wildlife.

Fang was suppressing her relief for the sake of the Cocoonian companions who were likely scared out of their wits at the untamed wilds, but inwardly she felt at peace being back home. Her eyes travelled over the others, Vanille pointing out the various night chatter from the local fauna trying to calm the boys down. Hope sat bundled with his legs close to his chest, Sazh looked nervously about and Snow just looked like his usual excited self. Fang noticed however that Lightning was only half listening, staring absently into the fire.

The Pulsian took the opportunity to give her a once over, taking the time to absorb the lithe body and commit the curves to memory. Her gaze stopped at the pale legs, however, as tiny lines glinted from the fire. As if she sensed the observation, Lightning's eyes snapped up and bore into hers. Fang yelped and looked away quickly, finding something else in the night to occupy herself.

"What are you staring at?" came the low warning tone in her ears. Fang shrugged while still avoiding eye contact.

"Um, nothing, just... Nothing."

Lightning's eyes narrowed and she slowly turned her head away to regard the fire once more. Sure enough, once again she felt Fang's eyes on her, more specifically her legs. "Alright what, Fang? Are you looking for a tail or something?"

"... No..." Fang replied sheepishly after being caught staring for a second time, "It's just... I'm trying to figure it out... They always called you hairless vipers, with skin like scales and yet, the lights on your legs say otherwise."

"The lights on my..." the pinkette looked down, confused until she saw the firelight dancing off the tiny hairs along her calf. She figured out what the Pulsian meant and scowled. "I... We've been on the run, I haven't had time to shave! Shut up!" She snapped, folding her arms and looking away in embarrassment.

"Shave? You mean you cut it all off?"

"Regularly." Lightning glowered, her face flushed. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation. She eyed off the Pulsian's legs to understand the confusion and realised why. While by no means unkempt, the finest hairs barely visible ran down both Fang and Vanille's legs. "You... Don't do that in your village I gather."

Vanille shrugged. "When would we have had the time let alone the inclination? We were all too busy with the war."

Lightning bowed her head, conceding the point and looking like she had been thoroughly chastised. Fang sighed. It was too easy for their new found friends to forget that they were from another time, with very different priorities. Priorities that Lightning herself now shared it would seem, as she glared at her own legs by the fire.

The brunette smiled at the memory, recalling just how easy it was to ruffle Lightning's feathers- something that quickly became a hobby for Fang as it was the only time she'd ever really see the soldier emote. "Well I guess I have the time now don't I?" Fang chuckled at Vanille's words in her mind. "Let's see if I can figure this out..."

Lightning was downstairs sitting at the kitchen bench, sipping a coffee and enjoying the tranquillity. Vanille was sitting in between the two Farron sisters, as Serah went over the village map so the young Pulsian knew where everything was. The peace was shattered when they all heard Fang yell out from the back of the house.

"Holy shit!"

Lightning spun around, instinctively searching for a weapon as Fang ran down the hallway. Dressed in black shorts along with her usual black crop top, the brunette raced into the kitchen with the biggest grin on her face. Lightning stared hard, realising the shorts were her own that Serah must have accidentally wound up with. Due to her height, they rode extremely high and tight on those tanned legs. The pinkette fought with her gaze to not let her eyes drop to them. They instead landed on Fang's abdomen that was on full display, tiny droplets of water still visible on her skin from the shower. That wasn't helpful either. Lightning cleared her throat and looked away, focusing intensely on her coffee in her hands.

"Oh my gods. 'Nille you've gotta try this." The Pulsian said breathlessly, sticking her leg up on the bench between her sister and Lightning. "Look at it! It's so bloody smooth!"

"Ooh!" Vanille said as she ran a tentative hand along her calf, "Wow Fang, it feels so different! What's it like?"

"Like you just want to rub your legs over everything and everyone! Light is this why you were so crabby when we were on Gran Pulse? I can certainly see why. Go on Light, feel my leg, it's amazing."

Lightning pushed back from her seat, face beet red and looking away with a huff. "I am not feeling your damn leg, Fang."

Fang moved her leg and rubbed it along Lightning's arm as she pulled it off the bench. "Go onnnn everything feels so silky it's great!" She replied, relentless.

"F-Fang! Must you?" The pinkette spluttered, completely exasperated. She was right though, her leg did feel beyond smooth, and she hushed the thoughts that she'd like to feel them again. The brunette bounced around on her feet, feeling giddy with her discovery.

"What would my sari feel like? What does linen feel like? What does grass? Oh my God I'm going to go roll on the lawn." She said, taking off like a shot from the kitchen and running outside.

"Fang you are not rolling about on the lawn like a dog... Wait! Fang!" Lightning called out as she chased after the Pulsian, leaving their respective sisters staring after them. They remained silent as the redhead quietly sipped her tea, staring straight ahead.

"So... The entire time?" Serah queried as Vanille hummed into her mug.

"The. Entire. Time."

Fang and Vanille had been staying with her sister and Snow as they had space for the two of them… They were also collectively worried that the elder Farron would have murdered Fang within the week.

Lightning hadn't seen much of the two Pulsians over the last couple of weeks and was hoping they were settling in alright. She'd been dragged off on assignment on the Steppe meaning long days, longer nights and staying at the barracks instead of heading home. At least, that's what she was convincing herself she was doing and not deliberately avoiding an empty house. She was on patrol when she had swung past the Nora café for lunch and found Fang sitting at a table on the outside deck. She was staring blankly out to sea while trailing a finger around the edges of a glass.

For someone that constantly reminded her about her sharp senses and keen hunter skills, Lightning was surprised that she managed to get to the table and pull a chair out before the Pulsian even noticed her presence. "Jeez Light! Gotta put a bell around your neck!" Fang exclaimed with a start.

"Sorry, you looked pretty deep in thought there." Lightning signalled Yuj for her usual lunch, who nodded and jogged off to the kitchen.

"Yeah? I mean yeah. Sorry. Was just thinking about... Everything really." The brunette replied, her voice a little muted and dull. "It's weird to just be sitting here, you know? On one hand, I'm home but... With all this springing up around the lands, it feels like I've woken up to another world all over again. I guess I have in a way, haven't I?"

The pinkette was prepared for a lot of things where Fang was concerned, but a reflective and introspective Fang was not one of them. She watched her friend carefully, and noticed that her finger hadn't stopped circling the lip of the glass.

"How have you been adjusting to the peace?"

Fang snorted and rolled her eyes. "Adjusting isn't the word I'd use darlin'. It's all too bloody loud. And there's nothing to do! Your mates at the corps make sure of that. Can't hunt shit out here..."

Yuj appeared again with a small toasted sandwich and a cold water, placing them on the table with a wave. Lightning nodded in thanks and turned back to Fang with a hum. "You're welcome to put in an application to join you know. The GC could use someone of your skills and expertise."

Fang rolled her eyes and fiddled with the edge of her glass. "Please. You think I'm going to fare any better answering to any of these pompous jackarses who haven't seen what I've seen? I barely listened to you when our lives depended on it for Etro's sake."

Lighting had to concede that point. With the number of times Fang's brash behaviour and reckless need to dive in without assessing a situation while they were on the run, she was surprised she hadn't ground her teeth into a fine powder.

"What if you came on board as a consultant? There's plenty to keep you busy without having to answer to anyone... Well technically answer to me but you know. You never listened to begin with so it won't really impact."

Fang laughed at the memory of Lightning's aggravated expressions as she whooped and hollered her way into the fracas with little regard for her own personal safety. Lightning struggled to suppress a smile at the sound. She had to admit to herself that despite the endless frustration she had missed Fang's antics that kept her grounded in the moment yet on her toes at the same time.

A clatter from the kitchen startled both of them, the noise followed closely by Lebreau yelling about broken glass. What hadn't escaped Lightning's notice was the fact that Fang's right hand was now white-knuckling the knife on the table from pure reflex, her pupils dilated to pinpoints. The pinkette slowly and gently placed her hand on her arm and felt how tense the muscles were, like a tension spring ready to snap. "Hey… You ok, Fang?"

The Pulsian flinched at the sound of her name and visibly forced herself to relax. "Sorry Light. Guess I'm more wound up than I realised. Might have to take you up on that offer for consulting work, just to loosen me up a bit yeah?"

Internally, Fang was struggling to remain calm. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline flooding her system, and she found herself suddenly in two places. She was sitting at the table, watching Lightning's lips move as the pinkette spoke about work that needed to be done. She was also back on the Palamecia, ducking from a metal shard flying past her head as she frantically searched the airship for her adoptive sister.

Gotta find Vanille. Gotta find her and get off this floating hunk of metal, get out of this hell.

"So what do you say, Fang? Meet me at the office tomorrow?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah sure sounds good." Fang quickly scanned her surroundings and reminded herself she was sitting in a cafe with her friend, not fighting for her life. Not anymore. They spent the remainder of Lightning's lunch between idle chatting and silence. All the while the pinkette watched Fang with a concerned gaze as the brunette continued to trail a finger around the edge of her glass.