Hunter's Pursuit

Legal Disclaimer: Square Enix owns FF XIII

See end of chapter for notes.

Chapter XVI

Snow groaned and leaned back into his chair as at long last their deliberations finished for the night. Night was a relative term, though, since the sun would be rising in less than an hour. There had been discussion and deliberations for the greater portion of the night since the coup was upended, and they had all centered right here in the Farron manor until they finally ended (at least until daylight) just minutes earlier. Once they rescued the Commander and the other regents from Dysley and Nabaat, things had only grown more hectic instead of calming down. While the majority of Borealis troops had surrendered once the Zephyr forces had retaken the Senatorial district, there was still nearly an entire battalion's worth of unaccounted for watchmen prowling the streets, unaware or uncaring that their coup leaders had been stopped and captured.

Snow would have been more than happy to help with the roundup crews in comparison to what he had been stuck doing, but a meaningful glance and the softest of requests from Commander Raines had sealed his fate for the remainder of the night. Sleep was put on the back burner as the remaining regents, Yaag, Rosch, the high ranking Zephyr officers, and a few of the Oerbans all convened to discuss the state of affairs. Oh, and Lightning and Fang had been present, too. He understood that, but wished to the gods that the regents hadn't wanted his presence, as well; sometimes, being a member of one of the Noble Houses did not have its benefits. He hadn't even gotten to leave early from the meetings like Lightning had either! When they had finished their initial settlements with Sol and the Oerban captains, the Oerbans had, understandably, been allowed to leave and retire for the evening; but then Lightning had been given leave with Fang at the same time, which was hardly fair considering that Snow had been forced to sit through the next endless of hour of debating internal Cocoonian politics with the other officials there.

He wanted to stifle a groan even now. At least they come up with a plan to get them through the rest of the night and into the day. And, truth be told, he supposed that he could understand why they had let Lightning leave. He knew enough from prior experience to tell that when Lightning's tone got that irritated and her eyes flashed cold fire that way, it was best to let her be…and perhaps the other officers and officials knew that, too. Still, he was jealous, and just really, really, tired.

It took effort, but he finally stood up from his chair, though he did groan aloud this time. His muscles were already protesting at the abuse they had received from the midnight battles he had been waging.

"Snow?"

"Serah? You…" he stopped what he was saying as a yawn took over his jaws. After blinking his eyes clear again, he continued. "You're still up? You should go to bed."

She smiled and raised an eyebrow, looking entirely too reminiscent of her older sister for a moment. "I think you need sleep even more than I do right now, Snow."

"Ugh…yeah. I need to get back to my place…" He groaned again. He would be lucky if he didn't fall asleep on the walk back to the Villiers manor. It would be just his luck to pass out on the street, probably when he was barely a block away from his own bed.

Serah offered a different option, though. "Stay here tonight with me, Snow. You're dead on your feet. There's no need to go back to your place."

That woke him back up, and he looked around nervously for a moment. "A-are you sure, Serah?"

In the past, Lightning had been terrifyingly adamant that Snow not stay over in the manor with Serah, at least not under her watchful eye. But this time Serah laughed casually and put a reassuring hand on her fiancé's arm. She thought of how unusually defensive and snarly Claire had been when she at last told off the million and one military personnel trying to talk with her, in favor of guiding an exhausted Fang back toward her own bedroom instead—and Serah had to say that she approved.

"Let's just say that I don't think Lightning's in much of a position to comment anything on it this time, Snow."

Fang blearily opened her eyes. She didn't even need to roll over and look at the window to know that she had slept in far later than what she ever normally would. A few stray rays of sunshine were managing to peak in through the cracks between blinds to let her know that much.

She rolled over to try and get more comfortable, and nearly jerked with surprise at finding herself not alone in bed.

Of course.

It had only been a few hours before dawn when they were finally allowed to retire. Even though they had dealt with the principle instigators of the coup, it had still taken some time to decide amongst the remaining military commanders and Council members what to do. Lightning had been part of the greater discussions, as had Sol, and by de facto Fang had had to sit through all of it with them, until even Lightning had grown too tired to continue any further.

Fang had been nearly delirious with physical exhaustion by that point, barely able to stay on her feet after the endless hours of running around and fighting. She honestly couldn't even remember falling into bed herself, let alone doing so with Lightning at her side. Propping herself up onto an elbow, Fang took the moment to better study the sleeping beauty before her.

It was then that Fang realized she had never seen Lightning asleep before. The woman always held herself so tightly when she was awake; there was something almost enchantingly relaxed about her in a sleeping state. Especially now, with the light filtering over her features, she looked not like a soldier, but like a vision of grace itself. Fang had to choke back a snort when she thought about how Lightning would react if she told her she was "a vision of grace". On second thought, it might be worth it just to see what that reaction was. She grinned, but left well enough alone; the woman was still sleeping, after all.

Instead, Fang further surveyed her surroundings, realizing now, too, that she had not been fully aware last night of just where she had fallen asleep. This was not the same master bedroom that she had been placed in while healing from her wounds, with its impeccable decorations but lack of personal touch-ups. This room was different…cozier. There were hooks by the door where two bright red capes were hung; a mannequin had the familiar feather-mantle placed over it, with pieces of armor discarded to the side; Fang's own lance was carefully placed next to the resting sword. She continued to look around, browsing over the small bookshelf and the bowl of jewelry items, before resting on the small bedside painting of two little strawberry blonde girls in a portrait stance with their obvious mother and father. Though the four family members were seated formally in the painting, the artist had caught the true spirit behind the smiles that they all wore. That, combined with the faint but pervasive smell roses all about told her what she had already guessed. She was in Lightning's room.

Fang studied the picture of Lightning and her family, until a rustling broke her concentration.

"Sleep well?"

Lightning's voice was low and husky, still thick with the sleep that kept her eyes only half-lidded even as she stretched. Fang looked down at her, at first happy to see that she was awake, but growing more upset with thought of actually rolling out of bed. Good sleep or no, she still hadn't had enough of it for her tastes.

"Do we have to get up yet?" She was trying not to whine, but it was difficult. She expected that everyone and their mother was going to want to talk with Lightning—big shot celebrity that she was as a Farron and a counter-coup leader—and knew that there would be more than a few people wanting to sit down and have a chat with her as well; just the thought of it made her want to cringe. It was not an ideal way to start her day.

Lightning glanced at the window, and at the strong sunlight that was sneaking through around the edges.

"Looks to be early afternoon," she commented offhand. "But considering all of the events of last night, I doubt they'll be expecting us for at least another few hours. Even with the upheaval, or maybe because of the upheaval, they'll likely not want to be dealing with us quite yet either."

"Oh, good," huffed Fang, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back onto the pillow with a whoosh. When she cracked open her eyes again, she saw Lightning's now fully alert and azure gaze watching her, the corners of her lips twitching upward in some hidden joke.

"Are you going to be quite alright?" she asked.

Fang exhaled loudly through her nostrils; she really had no desire at all to get up and deal with the real world and its insanity for a while, but a few hours would have to do. "Quite. It's just…Dr. Estheim was right. My injuries are fine, but I feel bloody tired. Laying in sounds great."

It was no lie. Having worn off all of the adrenaline that had fueled her throughout the course of the wild night, she felt like she could go right back to bed with ease. In fact, it was all too simple to feel the allure of sleep as her eyes blinked closed again. But this time they shot back open as Lightning shifted her weight next to Fang and moved over and on top such that she straddled Fang's hips between her legs. The Cocoonian had one eyebrow masterfully raised, and while her smile had grown, it had morphed away from humor and into something else that made Fang's pulse begin to race.

"Mmm. Tired, huh?"

Lightning's eyes were brighter than crystal, and Fang felt a liquid heat surge through her body at the hot gaze that seared into her, burning away all thoughts of sleep. "You know on second thought, I don't really feel that tired after all."

She then eagerly pulled down a laughing Lightning into her waiting arms.

Thankfully, when they did finally emerge from Lightning's chambers, they did not have to worry about any immediate assaults. Instead, though it was only mid afternoon, they were greeted in the main dining room by a long table filled with platters of food and pitchers of juice. Snow and Serah already sat at one end of the table, and Fang recognized two senior Yun hunters—Kaz and Terra—sitting next to her father and Vanille. The casual conversation that had been going on faded as they entered the room, and Fang wanted to grin and make a witty comment at the not-so-subtle looks she was receiving from her fellow hunters, not to mention Serah, Snow, or Vanille. However, considering the rosy tint that was already rapidly adorning Lightning's cheeks, Fang thought the better of it; an itching feeling in the back of her head told her that Lightning might give her a smack for it instead of a kiss.

So instead she wished a healthy good afternoon and began loading a plate with food to feed her empty and crying stomach.

"Sleep well with Fang, then, sis?"

Watching the way that Lightning's eyes narrowed dangerously at Snow's smiling and deliberate question, Fang was now more certain that her choice in not making a quip earlier had been the right one…and that Snow might have a death wish. But before Lightning could either answer or contemplate doing something more unsavory to her future brother-in-law, there was the sound of the front door opening and closing, and then several sets of booted feet marched into the room, Cid at their head. Serah got the first word in.

"Commander Raines, back so soon?"

"Please don't tell me it's time to resume talks yet," bemoaned Snow, sliding back in his chair.

Cid smiled, but the gesture did not reach his eyes. "Not yet, Snow…though I'm afraid more pressing matters have brought me here."

He took a deep breath and then uttered two words.

"Dysley's escaped."

"What?!"

The question echoed loudly, spoken by multiple mouths at the same instance. Fang had fought the urge to jump to her feet, though Snow had clearly not done the same, his chair knocked back as he stood.

"What do you mean, man?" asked Sol, his deep baritone clearly voicing his confusion and apprehension. "I thought we nailed down that snake of yours last night. How have you managed to lose him?"

Cid looked both pained and disgusted as he explained. "Believe me when I say that am equally—if not more—upset by this as all of you. How he managed to get out…well, he always had his connections. What we are sure of is that he is no longer in the city. That old bastard is probably halfway down the mountain by now, and frankly, we don't have the resources right now to go after him."

No one could argue with that.

"Ha," laughed Sol suddenly, a vicious smirk now curling his lips. "Would that I could have seen that viper trying to scuttle his measly way out of here as fast as his traitorous feet could carry him. Where does he think to go, I wonder? Besides, he can only run so far. Once we put the word out in all of the nearby kingdoms…"

Cid inclined his head to Sol, now starting to smile again as well. "That's right. There are important things than him now. We have new friends and new victories to celebrate. And we have much work that needs to be done first."

They were simple words, and simple reassurances, but they struck a chord within Fang, and she felt her shoulders relax. She looked at the table of people around her, and then turned left and looked into Lightning's eyes, and something within her warmed and relaxed even further. She could have nearly jumped when Lightning's hand sneaked under the table to grab hers, but instead she smiled. They would have time to hunt Dysley later. This was what mattered the most: the here and now.

Normally, Lightning would be riding Odin instead of doubling up with her on top of Bahamut; not that there wasn't enough room, or that Fang was by any means complaining, but Odin was "molting feathers" or something equally bizarre, so here they were on Bahamut, Lightning's arms wrapped steadfastly around her middle.

Fang urged her dragon into a slight dive, and then grinned victoriously when she felt the desired result of Lightning squeezing her tighter around her midriff. Armor aside, Fang enjoyed the feeling of Lightning tightly pressed against her back, and she would savor every opportunity she was given.

"…lecher…" chided Light, though there were hints of laughter underneath it.

Fang turned her face ever so slightly and wiggled her eyebrows in the crude mimicry of a leer. "After last night, why would I be anything but?"

Following the leads that they had collected all the way to the Paddra metropolis, they had been invited to stay a night in the city at the generous insistence of the High Priestess Yeul herself before they continued. Both she and Lightning had been more that pleasantly surprised to see the prestige of a Titan had granted them a sumptuous suite complete with lavish silk trappings and a single, massive bed for the two of them. Despite their early start this morning, Fang liked to think that they had made good use of that large bed for a better portion of the evening. At the very least, they both had a few bruises or scratches beneath their clothing and armor to show for it.

Though tired from their travels, they had taken dinner with Yeul and Caius, not wishing to give insult after they had offered them a place to stay for the night on such short notice. Dinner had been sumptuous, and their hosts more than kind, but Fang was more than eager to retire by the end of the meal, fine with wherever they were to be stowed for the night as long as it wasn't on the cold, hard ground. Their guest suite had been anything but that.

Upon stepping foot into their room, Fang stopped short, stunned with both the size and luxury of the space, which seemed more appropriate for a visiting princess, in her opinion. There was even a small, artificial stream that ran through the far side of the room, providing a constant and pleasant background sound of running water. Yes, there were definitely some great perks that came with being Titan, and also possibly as the leading delegate to Cocoon amongst all of the lowland kingdoms. Stealing a quick glance at Lightning, she also conceded that it helped that Light was considered a high ranking emissary from Cocoon, not to mention that the whole shock and awe effect of her being an actual living Zephyr Guardian was still fresh on the minds of most kingdoms.

Either way, it was a very, very nice suite.

There were even two complete bathrooms, both waiting with freshly drawn baths for them. Eager to take advantage of the still steaming water, Fang had very nearly jumped into her bath, letting the scented water soak into her tired muscles even after she had vigorously scrubbed every last speck of dirt from her skin. It was only the vain fear of letting her skin get pruned that finally gave her motivation enough to extricate herself from the tub and don the silken robe that waited for her on a nearby hook. She smirked at the white patterned flowers on the purple garment as she slid it over her shoulders—while she enjoyed the design of her night robe, she couldn't help but wonder what style Lightning had been given. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long to find out.

Upon emerging from the bathroom, she found that Lightning had already finished bathing, her water-darkened hair resting lightly atop her white and black patterned robe. Fang thought off-handedly that robe looked particularly elegant on her, but was noticing more at the moment how Lightning was also currently busied with something on the night table, and had her back and her attention conveniently turned from Fang for a few precious seconds. Fang seized the opportunity before Lightning could even realize what she was up to, and moved in like a hunter about to strike their mark.

"Fang, what are you—oomph!"

She was cut off as she was pushed down onto the bed, pinned in place by Fang's legs even as her both of her wrists were caught above her head by one of Fang's hands. She twisted, trying to reverse positions, but Fang was stronger, and she had been caught good and well before she could raise her guard.

The gleam in Fang's eyes now was downright predatory, and her voice was softly silken. "Your reflexes need some work, Light."

"Let me go." The words were uttered in a low but powerful voice, accompanied with an imperious glare, and for a moment, you could all too easily forget that she was the one caught. This was a look that Fang knew all too well. Anyone else at the receiving end of that glare would cower beneath the perceived anger; but Fang recognized the way Light's eyes had distinctly darkened, now more of a sapphire than an azurite, and instead of feeling fearful, she felt the familiar rush of adrenaline and desire set fire to her blood. This was Lightning's commanding tone, the one that was demanding obedience and submission, and the one that Fang always felt the thrill in deliberately refusing to acknowledge—not all the time, of course, because that would ruffle Light's feathers a bit too much…but every now and then…

She pushed her mouth down to Lightning's, coaxing and teasing her with her lips and tongue and all the tools and experience she had at her disposal until the Zephyr warrior moaned and arched her back such that Fang could feel the press of her hardened nipples through the thin layers of fabric that still separated them.

At that point, Fang pulled back—not all the way, but just enough so that Lightning could see the full grin that she now allowed to decorate her face. She still held Lightning's wrists captive in her hand, and still held her waist captive between her legs, for all that the woman continued trying to writhe and wriggle her way free to get the upper hand.

"I don't think so." Fang exhaled breathily. "Tonight, love, I'm on top."

And with that, Fang had proceeded to thoroughly ravish her woman senseless. Of course, Lightning had returned the favors—though Fang knew there would be further, future payback for her choice in refusing to obey the initial command Lightning had given her. She shivered with pleasure as she contemplated just what that payback might fully entail later tonight.

"Are you alright?" asked Lightning, having felt the full body shiver.

"Oh yes," Fang reassured her. And for that, she got an immediate and severe smack to the back of her head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Keep your mind out of the gutter and on our objective, Fang."

Woman's a damn mind reader!

Fang wanted to argue that she never had any issues in the past on being able to switch over to serious, battle-mode, even when her thoughts had been wandering elsewhere, but she also knew from experience that it would earn her a second smack—regardless of the fact that she was right.

They did have an important task at hand, though. After nearly two months of silence, the leads had finally picked up on Galenth Dysley's whereabouts, and they daren't pass up the moment lest they lose him again. After months of cold, dead end trails, the lead had finally picked back up; word had reached them only two days ago in Oerba of a man who matched Dysley's description that had been moving through the Macalania Forest, leading a group of outlaws and bandits. There had not been a second to spare at the news, even with Odin out of commission. Fang and Lightning had immediately flown off to Paddra on Bahamut, a journey that would have taken at least twice as long even on the fleetest of chocobos. And now here they were, gliding over the tree tops and desperately searching for any sign of the man who would have signed their death warrants had he only been given the chance.

"There!"

Lightning whispered it into her ear, intent and focused as she pointed toward a slight clearing off to their left. Even with her hunter's experience, Fang saw nothing between the branches and leaves, but she had learned from the past month or two to trust in Lightning's keen eyes and senses. So she leaned against Bahamut, and they banked sharply. Then, as they dropped in altitude and approached, she saw the flash of color and movement of humans below them. Needing no further urging, Bahamut dove downward, felling trees under his vast body as they crashed into the clearing.

Lightning leapt off in an instant, sword free and moving even as Fang soon followed behind her, and her dragon roared and thrashed at the bandits they had dropped down on.

Panic ensued, and those bandits who had managed to evade their initial attack quickly fled back into the thick of woods, but that was not of their concern anymore. Outlaws and lackeys could be dealt with at a later time; they were after bigger prey.

Lightning marched forward, her sword pointed forward and her eyes coldly focused on the man they had been scourging the lowlands for during the past few months. "Galenth Dysley.

"Farron," he hissed, positively livid. He held his ground, his voice and eyes spitting fire.

"Did you really think you would manage to get away, Dysley? What did you think you were going to do?" Lightning's voice was perfectly cold and calculating, communicating just the right amount of incredulity.

"I refuse to surrender to the likes of you!"

As if he actually had some choice in the matter?

"Don't be a fool and throw away your life," mimicked Fang, recalling the words that he had told to Lightning herself many months earlier. If the man refused to be taken in, then it would be death, though she honestly didn't think it would come to that. Dysley might venomous, but he loved his life too much to end over something as intangible as "principles" or "honor". They had already seen that.

If looks could kill, she would surely be dead ten times over by now. Instead, Fang smiled back sweetly and twirled her lance around for show; she also chose to say nothing about the way that Lightning's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, though she did notice it.

"This isn't negotiable, Dysley," Lightning intoned. "We're taking you back to face the justice of Cocoon."

At this, Dysley sneered and bared his teeth, looking nearly rabid now. "Oh, I have no doubt that there is no room for negotiation here. Each step of the way, you and your little barbarian friend have thwarted my every move. You've been more than a nuisance, Farron; you've been an absolute curse on all of the greater designs and prosperity that I would have brought to Cocoon. You think you've won now because you have me cornered, but you will take nothing back to that disgrace, Raines, and I'll be sure to leave you with less than what you think you've gained!"

He pulled a short stiletto from the hidden folds of his robes, and then dove surprisingly fast for a man of his age—but he lunged at Fang instead of Light.

Fang swore even as she wrenched her lance up, surprised by the turn of events. She had seen the glistening sheen on Dysley's stiletto, and she didn't even want to guess what manner of poison decorated the blade. But before she could move forward, before even Lightning could try to counterattack, Bahamut struck first. There wasn't even time to react. Dysley had all but a second to form a muted scream as his stiletto bounced harmlessly off of the dragon scales and he was swallowed in a single, quick gulp.

Both huntress and Zephyr guardian stood stock still, completely taken aback until, after a few seconds, Bahamut let out a grossly smoky belch, clearly pleased with himself.

"That…that just really happened, didn't it?" Light sounded unusually unsteady for once.

Fang allowed her mouth to gape for one second longer. Whatever she had expected to happen in that flash of a second as Dysley attacked, it had not been…that. She shook her head and tossed her unruly mane of hair back when Bahamut burped a second time, and then snorted loudly.

"If he gets indigestion…" The huntress was already bemoaning how unpleasant that would be, though her eyes twinkled as threw a hand up melodramatically.

"Fang…" That was accompanied with the rolling of eyes. Taken aback or not, Lightning had clearly recovered from her momentary lapse of composure.

"…just saying now that I called it. That's all." Fang made a placating gesture with her hands now. It would be just her luck as a dragon tamer to have a dragon with an upset stomach; but considering what a metaphorical bad egg Bahamut had just swallowed, she couldn't blame her mount if he ended up sick later.

"Well, with our mission already over, we have plenty of time…" Fang began, then trailed off as she stretched her arms and shoulders. They wouldn't even be expected back in Cocoon until tomorrow evening at the earliest, and with Dysley now…taken care of…Fang had no personal desire to rush back to the aerie city any faster than necessary.

Lightning had already started walking back toward Bahamut, her silver sword again sheathed and at her side. But now she stopped, turning her head back toward Fang.

"Perhaps we could spend more time in Paddra today, since I barely had a chance to see the city proper when we arrived yesterday." The wind lifted a few stray curls of champagne hair, and made her feather-mantle float around her legs and hip, while the sun winked and glittered off of her mirror-finished plate armor. She looked regal to Fang, filled with a poise and refinement that called forth all of her ancient noble bloodlines without even trying. And then she smiled. It was a special smile, one with pressed lips that showed no teeth but lit up her entire face just the same, breaking that untouchable air that the griffin rider so easily wore about her in asingle heartbeat; it was a special, secretive smile, and it was a smile that she reserved just for Fang. "And then maybe we could spend tonight in that same suite, if the High Priestess allows it. I do have some payback to deal to you after all, don't I?"

Then her smile morphed into that certain something more, the same something that made Fang's bones melt with adrenaline-filled anticipation. Fang shook her head and grinned. She was grinning when she jumped back atop her usual perch on Bahamut's back; she was grinning when Lightning took her seat behind her; she was grinning still when the Zephyr Guardian—the legendary warrior of mists and legends—wrapped her arms around her waist as they took flight again; and Fang had a sneaking suspicion as she heard Lightning's clear laugh ring next to her ear that she would be happy and grinning for quite some time yet to come.

~Fin.

Final Notes:

Dear Generous Readers,

Thus ends the tale of Hunter's Pursuit. I have to say, it is very surreal looking back on the first chapter of this story, when I intended it to be nothing more than a one shot based off of a moment of inspiration I had while waiting for my car's oil change and tire rotation. It is, really, thanks to all of you readers that it became a 16-chapter story, so I hope you've enjoyed it just as much as I have. I also do hope that you enjoyed this final chapter, which turned out to be about double the original intended length (also courtesy of you readers)! Due to widespread speculation and comments, I wanted to give a little bit more (vindictive) closure on Dysley, so here it is; a little bit something extra, kind of like how everything beyond chapter one was "a little bit something extra".

Thank you all again for your reviews and support, and especially to you reviewers (you know who you are) who provided me with critical feedback and discussions on my chapters. You all are awesome!

~Logos Minus Pity