Chapter 11: Times-a-wasting.

((Lightning's P.O.V))

I walked to my room, sitting on my bed and polishing my gunblade. Thoughts ran through my head about today and how it was a close call. I really needed to focus more and be prepared, but how can you really be prepared in a world like this?

Knock-knock

"Come in" I called, unwilling for a moment. Just then, the door opened and Serah came in. "Serah?" I looked up with surprised, jumping to my feet.

"I heard about your mission" She said quietly, playing with her skirt. "I'm just...really glad you're okay"

"Serah.." I began, but she cut me off.

"I know you were really angry before, but sis, please don't do this. I was so worried that you were gone and the last conversation we had was..." She lowered her head, unable to finish her sentence.

"I know.." I reassured her. "..and I'm sorry." She looked up at me again, a little surprised. "I'm not ever going to get along with or like that idiot, but I'm not going to let that tear us apart...especially in these times" I nodded.

"Sis.." Serah smiled, tears brimming at her eyes as she ran to me and hugged me. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer. "Thank you"

"No..thank you" If it wasn't for Serah, I'd be dead by now. If it wasn't for the drive to find Serah and protect her, I would've lost my means to survive long ago. Serah was the only thing keeping me alive.

"Come on...lets go see everyone. They're serving food" Serah pulled away, wiping her tears and smiling. She gently took my hand and pulled me along with her, leading me back down into the hall.

"Hey, sis!" Snow cheered as he saw this.

"I'm not your sister" I scolded, folding my arms with a scowl.

"Come on, sis" Serah giggled, pulling me over with everyone. She sat me down next to her and Hope as we all sat round a small table. The hall was full of them, everyone eating happily. Not a care in the world, like what was going on wasn't happening.

"I'm glad you came around, Light." Hope whispered to me and I looked at him for a moment. Between him and Serah, I felt like I'd never have a reason to die.

"Me too.." I whispered back before Serah came back with a plate of food for me. "Thanks"

"Eat up, sis" She smiled, sitting back down next to me and eating her food. I guess in a way it made sense. If people thought about what was going on too much, they'd be driven mad. Or maybe they were all just idiots like Snow. I chuckled to myself before I started eating my food.

It wasn't long before Fang and Vanille joined us, the chatter around the table becoming a lot more hyper.

"So, Light. How did you enjoy your first time with us?" Fang began, leaning back in her seat more. "It'll get a lot more hectic than that, mind you"

"Yeah, well I'm prepared" I replied calmly. "It's not like it's going to be easy to build ourself back up from this. We have to start somewhere. "

"You seem confident, but I wouldn't get too far ahead of yourself. We still have a long way to go."

"Then we better stop wasting time" I glanced at her. "We're sitting around, waiting for a cure until we can fully start taking back our home...but what if we can't find a cure? We need a back-up plan and we need to start taking action now."

Fang was silent for a moment before moving forward in her chair, her eyes glued to me with a firm authority.

"Listen here, girly. If you thought today was tough, you have no idea. It can and will get a lot worse. We need to be prepared. We need to have well-mmade plans ahead of it and we need to be ready for when those plans backfire in our faces. If we constantly went down there without any planning, we wouldn't have any men left to spare for the mission at all." Fang's eyes stayed linked with mine, sending a cold shiver down my spine. Never had anyone made me feel such an overwhelming feeling inside, but it was at that moment I felt this woman wasn't one to be messed around with.

"Now!" She smiled again, tapping her hand down on the table as she leaned back. "It's been lovely chatting with you all, but I have to go give in some papers to Cid for our next mission. Be ready, Farron. It's not going to be easy." With that, she got up and made her way off.

I sat in silence for a moment while the lively chatter continued on around me. That woman was a puzzle to me. What exactly had she seen out there? What did she know? But then it dawned on me; how did she even know my last name? I don't recall telling her. But then...Serah. Serah doesn't hide behind fake names like I do. She knows Serah is my sister...and she knows Serah's last name, probably. Maybe I'm just being too paranoid with these people.

"Hey, Lightning" I glanced up to see the redhead smiling. "Don't worry about Fang too much. She can be hotheaded sometimes, but she's a good person." Vanille reassured me before standing up and heading off as well. Those two...I wonder what their story is?

It was some time later and I decided to take a shower and an early night, but my brain just kept whirling with thought. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. All I could think was the 'what if's' that consumed this world now. Even if we came up with a cure, it's stupid to think we can just take them all out. Those things can tear off a chunk of us without any trouble at all. All they have to do is bite us in the wrong place and we're done for either way. This cure? It'll only be usefull to those harmless bites on the arms or any other non-vital spot. These people really didn't fully understand it, did they?

They needed a back-up plan...something solid to rebuild our lives. Taking back our home was going to take more than a couple years. But in the meantime, we should at least have somewhere to call home...somewhere where we don't have to worry and can go on like normal. But can we ever go on like normal now? We've all lost so much. We'd have to overcome the loss of our loved ones before we could adjust to living normal again.

I sat up in my bed, unable to sleep and decided to take a walk. Stepping out, the dim floor lights lit up the hallway. I gotta admit, this place seemed kinda strange at night. It was quiet and no one in sight.

I walked down the hall quietly and headed into the hall. The moonlight seeped in through the large windows on the ship, luminating the room in it's gentle glow. I sat on one of the plastic chairs, sighing.

"This all feels like one big nightmare" I mumbled, running a hand through my pink locks. "But this...is our new reality."

"You never hit me as the poetic type, Farron" I jumped at the sound of a voice, turning to see Fang with her hands on her hips. "What are you doing wondering around at this hour?"

"I was just...taking a walk. I can't sleep" I replied. Nevermind me, what was she doing? At least I was still in my PJ's, so it was obvious. She was still in her usual outfit and that alone was suspicious.

"Is that right?" She smirked as I gave a nod in reponse. "Well, I don't blame you. Last couple days have been insane." She came over and sat beside me. "Sometimes it's hard to forget. Even when our bodies are exhausted, our minds won't let us rest. We close our eyes only to see the the horrors of what we've experienced." She looked at me slowly "But that's how it is now. "

"Yeah, but it's not something I plan to get used to." I replied. "I have Serah and I plan to keep it that way."

"I don't just mean the loss of family" Fang went on, crossing her leg over the other as she leaned back into her chair. "Even just a comrade who's fallen and you could've protected them, but failed. Those feelings of guilt never leave, you know. The sight of seeing your whole teamed whiped out in one instant because you wanted to take on a suicide mission..." I lowered my head at her words, thoughts of Maqui racing back. Yes, his death was all my fault. I could've saved him if- "But there's nothing we can do now. We have to move on and fight. We have to live and take back our home for them"

"Is that...what drives you?" I asked, glancing at her. "Taking back our home for those you've let die?"

"You could say that." She nodded. "I need to make their deaths worth it by taking back our home and succeeding in everything we've set out to do. I can't fail because if I do, they die for nothing." Reasonable, but unrealistic.

"So you're going to carry that weight? What if failing is unavoidable? You're just going to let that guilt consume you?"

"No" She stood up again. "I'm going to keep fighting and finding new ways to keep going. I'm gonna succeed eventually. It doesn't matter how I do it as long as there is success in the end." With that, she began walking off with her words lingering on me.

"Farron!" She called back to me. "Since you can't sleep, come with me. I want to show you something." With that, I got up and followed her through the docking bay, passed the control rooms and into a training hall. It was quiet, yet there was a lot of equipment out.

"You've been training here?" I asked, finally understanding why she was up.

"Yeah. I don't usually have time in the day and since sleeping isn't always an option for me, I take myself out of it all and train here." She smirked, taking out her lance. "I heard you were going to join the army after graduating, right? So how about it? Lets test your skills and see if you're good enough" She readied her weapon.

"You want to battle me?" I walked over to the equipment, picking out a blade. It wasn't my gunblade, but it'll do perfectly for now. "You're on!" I called, taking my stance.

With a smirk and a chuckle, Fang launched forward, her lance heading right for me. I dodged as she swung it at me, kicking the back of her leg as I did. She was quick to recover, throwing another hit at me with it. Again, I was able to dodge, but only just. The blade of her lance, just scrapped me, leaving a small cut on my arm.

"Tch.." I winced, but was quick to dodge her next attack until her weapon did the unexpected and divided into three parts. I'd seen her do this move before though, so I was just able to just barely dodge again, taking two hits from her before her weapon went back to it's original form.

"Come on, Farron" She mocked. "Give me your best shot" She took a defensive stance, letting me know it was my turn to throw in some attacks at last.

I sprinted forward, swinging my blade, but her defence was too high. Realising I wasn't going to do much damage like this, I decided to throw her off guard, jumping back again. I narrowed my eyes before running towards her again, her grin smug. But this time, I dove away, sliding behind her and hitting her with my blade three times before jumping back again.

"Gah!" She took the damage this time and slowly regained her stance with a groan. "Not bad, but you're gonna need to be better than that!" With that, she charged at me again, but I was quick to defend.

The fight went on with us exchanging blows and defending until the sun began to rose and we both became exhausted. Fang and I jumped back form each other, taking deep breathes.

"Damn, girl." Fang huffed, leaning on her lance. "You're not bad" She complimented.

"Thanks.." I replied, also trying to catch my breath desperately. It was a fight neither of us could seem to end or were willing to back down from.

"I think we can call this a tie" She slowly bagan to stand up straight. "You really are cut out for Gardian Corpse"

"How did you know..?" I huffed, looking over at her. I never mentioned which division I wanted to work in.

"We have your files, just like we do for everyone else on this ship." She informed me. "I even know your real name" She smirked. "Claire..."

"Why?.." I frowned, feeling my whole body cringe as she said my name.

"For security and protection reasons" Fang informed. "But don't worry, I'll keep it a secret" She walked passed me, patting my shoulder. "And by the way, it was nice to have a challenge for a change. We should do it again some time, Lightning." She began heading off, but before she could.

"Call me Light." I said quickly, putting the sword I used back and heading off to my room to take a shower.

/AN: It has been a really long time since I updated this fic. I don't want to discontinue it at all- I'd really like to finish it and I will do. It may take me some time to get some updates up, though. But I've got a lot of time to kill for the next couple weeks, so I'm really excited to be able to update more. Thank you to whoever has stuck through despite my horrible pasting in earlier chapter AND the awful punctuation and grammer. You guys are stars/