Final Fantasy XIII 1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Broken Genesis**

_We'd always wondered if we were alone. When the answer came, it didn't come from the stars. It came from the ocean – from the depths of the Vestige._

_Some said the fal'Cie were gods from the Old Days come to punish us for our sins._

_Maybe they're right._

_The first fal'Cie made landfall at Nautilus. It levelled the city._

_But we learned something._

_It might have taken us five days, tens of thousands dead, and a city in ruins, but we learned something._

_We learned that these gods could bleed. And they could be killed._

_To fight the fal'Cie we made gods of our own, gods of steel powered by nuclear fire. If the fal'Cie truly were the gods of the Old Days, then we should show them what humanity could do._

_The Eidolon program united the nations around the Vestige into a single force with a single purpose._

_The word Eidolon… it can mean a lot of things. It can mean an apparition or ghost. But it can also mean an ideal._

_The Eidolons became our ideal. They were our hate and rage given form, our sorrow and loss forged into a weapon. They became the hulking ghosts of our regret, the metal apparitions that stood unflinchingly against our titan enemies. _

_But all gods demand sacrifice, and our Eidolons are no different. No one understands that better than my sister. No one._

Excerpt from an interview with Sergeant Serah Farron conducted one year after the Battle of Bodhum

X X X

A blow from the fal'Cie's tail tore open the top of the Conn-Pod. Suddenly, the monster's jaws were only feet away. It lunged forward, driving Odin back into the shallows as its jaws clamped down around the Eidolon's head. The Eidolon fought to keep its balance, lost, and then toppled to the ground beneath the fal'Cie's weight. Jagged claws carved slabs of metal armour off Odin's arms and chest.

The screech of straining metal filled the air as Odin drove one enormous fist up into the fal'Cie's gut. The beast's teeth skittered off Odin's head, and it staggered back. Odin lurched to its feet only to run right into the armoured tip of the fal'Cie's tail. The battered armour on the Eidolon's chest crumpled before a second blow shattered it like so much kindling. Odin's nuclear heart was exposed now, a blue star glittering in the middle of its chest. Bereft of the plating that would normally have insulated the core, radiation poured into the rest of the Eidolon.

Odin was more than wounded now. Its pilots were running out of time.

Odin charged again. The Eidolon smashed into the fal'Cie shoulder first and then hammered it with punch after punch, but the monster refused to fall. A swipe of its claws caved in the right side of the Conn-Podd, and Serah screamed. The twisted metal had crushed her right leg. Odin dropped to its knees.

The fal'Cie loomed over her. Odin was done for. They had lost. But she could still save her sister. Ignoring her sister's frantic cries – No! Don't! Stop! – she started the co-pilot eject sequence. She would die, but her sister would live. Even if the fal'Cie killed her, she was certain she could last long enough for her sister to get away. At least that way, she could die without breaking her promise.

Her sister hurtled out of Odin's back in her escape pod, and Serah forced the pain in her ruined leg aside. She didn't have time to hurt. The fal'Cie lunged for the escape pod, but Odin was there to meet it. The Eidolon surged forward, and the machine and the monster tumbled into the water off the coast of Bodhum.

For a split-second, Serah was drowning, cold sea water surging into the punctured Conn-Pod. Then Odin was on its feet again as she grit her teeth and forced her right leg to move – Move damn it! – for a little bit longer.

But she had hardly found her feet before the fal'Cie was hitting her, its claws tearing off one of Odin's arms as its tail pulverised the Eidolon's right knee. She was going to die here, alone, but behind her, she could hear the helicopters closing in. Her sister would be safe. In front of her, the fal'Cie roared again, and she grabbed its tail and wrenched the monster toward her. If Odin couldn't walk, then she would have to even the odds.

She shoved Odin's metal fingers into one of the fal'Cie's eyes and then grabbed it by the throat. The fal'Cie's tail speared toward her again, but this time, she was ready. She ducked beneath it and threw her Eidolon's weight on top of the fal'Cie. Her lone fist rose into the air and came down with all the force of an avalanche. She hit the fal'Cie again and again and again. She hit it so many times the armour around Odin's fist cracked. The fal'Cie's blue blood splattered all over the Eidolon and still, it refused to die.

With a howl, the beast flipped them over, and she was drowning again, its claws trying to tear Odin's head off, to rip her right out of the Conn-Pod and –

"Serah!"

Serah woke with a scream and tumbled off her chair.

"Are you all right there?"

The pink haired woman looked around and sighed. This wasn't a Conn-Pod. This was Vanille's lab. She must have fallen asleep in it again after agreeing to help the scientist with a few of her experiments. It was the third time she'd done that this month, but she'd never had dreams before.

No, they weren't dreams. They were memories, but not her memories. They belonged to Lightning, the last few they'd shared in the Drift. Her sister had ejected her from Odin and fought a fal'Cie alone. Serah had lived, but the cost was almost more than she could bear. And there wasn't a single day now when she wasn't reminded of it.

"I'm fine." Serah shook her head and tried to will the memories away. She tried to think of better times: training with Lightning for the first time, their first neural handshake, and the smile on her sister's face when she'd learned that Serah would be her co-pilot. "It was just a dream."

"It must have been some dream then." Vanille emptied her can of energy drink then added it to the top of a pyramid of empty cans on her desk. "Come on, it's almost time for breakfast. If we're late, there won't be anymore pancakes left."

"You and your pancakes. Wait… were you up all night again?"

"Well, you know what they say: the fal'cie never sleep, so neither should we. They've been getting better, adapting to our technology and tactics. If we don't do our best to keep up, they'll win."

"And then we'll all be dead."

"Yep, got it in one." Vanille grinned and opened the door of the lab. "Now, come on – oops!"

Vanille screeched to a halt and just barely managed to avoid running straight into the commanding officer of the Eden City Ark.

"Why am I not surprised to find my sister here, Dr Dia?" Marshal Claire 'Lightning' Farron hobbled into the lab, her cane beating out a steady drumbeat on the metal floor. "Have you forgotten what's happening today?"

"Uh… maybe?" Vanille tried to hide some of the mess in her lab by standing in front of it. It was a wasted effort. The whole lab apart from Serah was one big mess.

"Of course you have. You probably don't even know what day of the week it is." Lightning's right hand tightened on her cane. "Serah, your new co-pilot will be arriving today. You should make sure that you're ready to greet her." Lightning fixed Vanille with a glare. "And you, Dr Katzroy has informed me that you are not sleeping again. Energy drinks are not a substitute for regular sleep, and you are of no use to me, or this program, if you cannot perform at your best. You will resume regular sleeping hours, or I will have you medicated."

"Uh, sure." Another glare. "Uh, sure… ma'am?"

Lightning's lips curled, and she turned to limp out the door. "Tidy this place up. You may also want to be present when Serah's new co-pilot arrives. I think you know her."

Serah listened as her sister made her way down the corridor. The sound of the cane striking metal was as loud as thunder. Lightning had never fully recovered from that battle. Three operations had failed to fix her crippled leg, and the radiation from Odin's nuclear reactor had left her hospitalised for more than a year.

When Lightning had finally recovered – as much as she ever would – there was no longer a place for her in the Conn-Pod of an Eidolon. Cripples couldn't pilot Eidolons, and Odin had been in no condition to resume duty after the fight. Unable to pilot, most people, even Serah, had thought that Lightning would give up.

Not one person in the world would have blamed her. And it wasn't like she needed the money. There was a sizeable pension waiting for arguably the greatest Eidolon pilot who'd ever lived. Serah and Lightning had ten fal'Cie kills to their name, but Serah wasn't stupid. Lightning had been the driving force behind those kills. Serah's role had been to try and keep up.

But instead of walking away, Lightning had hit the books. She'd learned everything she could about the technology behind the Eidolons, and she'd delved deep in the strategy and tactics used to combat the fal'Cie. She started out training pilots, and after that she moved into a command role, rising year after year until finally, she'd become marshal of Eden City's Ark. It was one of the largest Arks in the world with a complement of five Eidolons.

Lightning would never pilot again, but she could still fight.

Yet where many saw a legend, Serah saw only tragedy. Her sister had lost something in the Conn-Pod that day, and it wasn't just her leg. The coldness that had risen every day since they'd lost their parents to one of the fal'Cie had almost completely consumed Lightning. Wars needed soldiers, and soldiers needed generals. Lightning was perhaps the finest general they had, but that was all she was now. She'd killed everything else to get that way.

"You're doing it again," Vanille said. "You're thinking too hard. I can tell by the frown on your face." She poked Serah's cheek. "I bet it's about your sister. She sure is… interesting."

"You had better make sure that she doesn't hear you say that. She will have you locked up." Serah forced a smile. "Come on, let's go. We can still fit breakfast in."

"By the way, who is your new co-pilot? I've been asking around, but everyone keeps telling me that it's classified. How can it be classified from me? I'm like the second highest ranking scientist here."

"And that still puts you pretty far down on the chain of command." This time Serah's smile was real. "But I guess I can tell you since she'll be arriving today. It's your sister, Oerba Yun Fang."

X X X

Fang looked out the window as the helicopter approached Eden City's Ark. It was one of the largest Arks in the world, positioned to provide protection to many of the nations east of the Vestige. Below her, the Ark was a sprawling, uninterrupted mass of steel. There were countless helicopter platforms, landing strips, and larger spaces that had to be reserved for Eidolons.

As the helicopter angled in to land, she gave a slow shake of her head. She wasn't even supposed to be here. She was supposed to be stationed at the Paddra Ark. But one month ago, everything had changed. Her Eidolon, Bahamut, had run into a Category IV fal'Cie named Behemoth. The beast had carved through her Eidolon's armour and almost killed her and her co-pilot.

Jihl Nabaat was a horrible human being, and Fang hated her guts, but the other woman was a damn good pilot, and for some reason they were compatible. They'd managed to kill the fal'Cie, but the damage to the Conn-Pod had left Jihl nursing injuries that would take at least half a year to heal. With things as bad as they were, they couldn't afford to leave an Eidolon idle that long.

Their attempts to find a suitable co-pilot amongst the Paddra candidates had failed miserably. Eventually, another Eidolon had been brought in to replace Bahamut, and Fang and her Eidolon had been shipped off to Eden City. There was supposed to be someone here who could match her. She wasn't sure about that, but it had to better than sitting around and doing nothing.

It didn't hurt either that she'd get to be with Vanille again. They'd gone into this together, but their different career paths had separated them. It had taken every ounce of will power she had not to spill the news to the red head over the phone, but classified was classified. She had enough citations for poor behaviour on her record. Another one might cost her dearly.

"We'll be touching down in a second, ma'am." The helicopter pilot settled the craft over the landing pad. "Watch your step and stay put. There should be someone here to meet you."

"All right, thanks."

The helicopter eased to a stop on the landing pad, but there wasn't anyone there to meet her. Rather than stick around, Fang decided to adopt a more active approach. There was nothing quite as informative as watching people when they didn't know they were being observed. She already knew who her co-pilot was supposed to be, but maybe she could catch them by surprise and see what they were really made of rather than having to put up with some carefully prepared façade.

Following a few engineers into one of the main elevators, she was forced to show her identification to one of the soldiers.

"Captain Yun? It's good to have you here, ma'am, but if you can wait a few moments, there will be someone here to meet you." The soldier sighed. "It's not exactly easy finding your way around here the first time."

"I'll be fine." Fang flashed him a grin. The soldier continued to grimace, and she sighed. "Trust me, corporal, I can manage."

The casual mention of his rank did wonders. Corporal wasn't exactly nothing, but Fang was a captain who'd earned her rank the hard way – killing fal'Cie.

"Yes, ma'am." He paused. "Uh, can I tell Lieutenant Farrron where to find you?"

"I'll be in the hangar." Fang grinned. "I'd like to see everything for myself if that's okay."

"Right, ma'am. Just follow the signs. I'll let Lieutenant Farron know where you are."

Fang followed the signs all the way to the Eidolon hangar. She was pleased to see that the whole Ark was a hive of activity. Every man and woman moved with brisk, sure purpose. There was no mucking around here, only the calm, clinical efficiency that this Ark's marshal was known for.

Finally, she reached the hangar. It was beyond enormous, a metal cavern large enough to hold half a dozen Eidolon and still have room to spare. Normally, she would have gone straight to her Eidolon – Bahamut had arrived about an hour ahead of her – but she couldn't ignore the fully restored Eidolon that stood proudly against the back wall of the hangar. She moved toward it and stopped at the feet of this most revered of Eidolons.

The armour was unmistakable.

Odin.

Odin had fallen in battle more than five years ago, but they'd never taken it apart. After its last fight, it had been little better than scrap, but no one had the heart to destroy it, not after everything it had been through. Instead, it had been repaired. It was a symbol now, a reminder of everything the Eidolon program stood for. It was a testament to their sacrifice and pain, and its continued existence was a tribute to the resilience of the Eidolons and their pilots.

She could still remember what had happened perfectly. There had been complete, utter silence in the Paddra Ark as everyone watched a tragedy unfold on the shores of Bodhum. Odin had been built to run like the wind. Instead, it had been hobbled by one of the mightiest fal'Cie ever encountered, a Category IV – the very first – named Sin.

Odin had taken a position on the beach, ready and waiting to engage. It didn't work out that way. Sin unleashed some kind of energy blast. The attack annihilated a good portion of the city and wreaked havoc with Odin's armour and electrical systems. The fal'Cie had closed the gap then while the Eidolon fought to recover. A single strike of its tail was enough to carve open Odin's Conn-Pod. A few, horrible moments later, and Odin had been laid bare, its chest armour ripped off, and its nuclear core spewing deadly radiation.

Everyone in Paddra had been convinced that the pilots of Odin would die. Then one of them had been ejected, and the remaining pilot had sought to do the impossible: pilot an Eidolon alone and win against a fal'Cie.

Fang could scarcely imagine what that must have been like. The neural overload from trying to pilot solo should have reduced the pilot's brain to mush. If that wasn't enough, Odin quickly lost one of its arm and suffered severe damage to one of its legs. But somehow, Odin had driven Sin back, had fought the fal'Cie to a terrible standstill in the waters off Bodhum's most famous beach.

A lone news helicopter in clear breach of the exclusion zone had caught a glimpse of the pilot through the gashes in the Conn-Pod. The pilot had been a pink haired woman, her blue eyes flashing with all the fury of a wounded lioness as she roared her hate and rage at the fal'Cie. Her right leg was crushed in the ruins of the Conn-Pod, but she never stopped fighting.

It was the most horrible thing that Fang had ever seen, but one of the most magnificent as well. She'd never seen any Eidolon fight like Odin had. Odin had fought like it was alive; the howl and screech of its battered metal limbs a perfect counterpoint to its pilot's screams of anger and despair. Again and again, Odin had hammered away with its one remaining fist until even that could barely work.

In the end, Odin had stomped one foot down on Sin's head and then reached over to tear off its bottom jaw. Blue fal'Cie blood had spurted everywhere, and Odin had finally bought itself enough time to draw the sword on its back. That sword rose and fell like a butcher's knife, once, twice, and then a third time before Sin finally went still, cut almost in half.

Then Odin's mangled right leg had given way beneath it. The Eidolon had fallen, but it refused to stop. The news helicopter held a steady shot of the pilot. She was beyond exhausted, her blue eyes glazed, broken, and empty as she forced Odin to crawl through the water, its one working hand dragging it up onto the beach.

The last shot the news crew had taken was of Odin reach up at the sky. It was reaching for the helicopters, the ones taking the other pilot away. And then, at last, the pilot had lost consciousness, and Odin had slumped into the sand, a cold, dead slab of metal.

Lightning Farron had almost lost a leg that day, but she'd gained a legend.

Fang knew all about her. How couldn't she? She'd seen something in those blue eyes, something proud and fierce, and she hadn't been able to look away. So she'd asked around, and she'd learned a thing or two about Lightning's injuries: the radiation poisoning that left her in hospital for more than a year, the neural damage that meant trying to pilot again would probably kill her, and the crushed right leg that even three operations and the world's finest doctors couldn't fix. Lightning Farron walked with a limp now, but there wasn't an Eidolon pilot in the world that wouldn't salute when she hobbled past.

Just like Odin, Lightning had become a symbol, a symbol of everything the Eidolon pilots sacrificed to keep the world safe. She was one of them, and now she was the marshal of Eden City's Ark. Fang wasn't sure whether she should be honoured or terrified about serving under someone so distinguished. Even worse, her new co-pilot was Lightning's little sister, the same one she'd crippled herself to save.

If something happened to Serah Farron, Fang wasn't worried about the fal'Cie so much as she was worried about what Lightning would do to her. Looking at Odin, it was hard not to feel the weight of expectation upon her shoulders. But looking at the Eidolon also gave her hope. They'd fixed Odin up, a reminder that victory was possible even against impossible odds.

Eidolon pilots lived to make the impossible possible.

"My sister has been looking for you. You were supposed to wait at the landing pad."

Fang flinched and jerked herself up into a hasty salute.

Lightning Farron came forward, and Fang had to fight the urge to stare at the other woman's cane. It was one thing to hear about it, quite another to see it. The cane's colours matched Odin's perfectly. At the same time, she couldn't help but examine her new commanding officer. A lot of people referred to Lightning Farron as a cripple, but that wasn't what Fang saw.

The marshal might have walked with a cane, and her right leg was definitely damaged, but the rest of her seemed lithe and toned beneath the uniform she wore. And those blue eyes… those were every bit as hard and unyielding as Fang remembered from that news broadcast five years ago. Fire stirred in those blue depths, the same fire that had burnt a fal'Cie to nothing, and Fang swallowed thickly. Lightning had stopped right in front of her. The marshal was sizing her up.

"I thought it would be best to look around first, ma'am." Fang's mouth went dry. Lightning's eyes had narrowed, and everything, from the tightening of her full lips to the way she leaned forward on her cane, spoke of quickly building displeasure. The way the marshal had her pink hair pulled back away from her face only added to the impression of sure, certain authority.

"Did you? You had orders to wait at the landing pad. Your co-pilot was supposed to meet you and escort you around this facility for a tour. Tell me, do you make it your business to ignore orders?" Lightning glanced past Fang, and for a moment, her gaze softened as she laid eyes on Odin. Then her eyes were hard again. "I've read your service records, captain. Your skill in battle is impressive."

"Thank you, ma'am." Fang grinned. A compliment from Lightning meant a lot. "I do my best."

"But your reckless decision making outside of direct combat is deplorable. Your last co-pilot was almost killed when you decided to engage the fal'Cie named Behemoth in the water rather than waiting for it to make land."

Fang bristled. "With all due respect, ma'am, I had a city of ten million people to protect."

"Yes, you did. And what would have happened if your Eidolon had fallen? They would all be dead, captain. That is what would have happened. I helped design the upgrades that have kept Bahamut in service. I know exactly what your Eidolon is capable of. Bahamut is not optimised for deep water combat. Had you been even a few moments slower in getting the battle to the shallows off the coast, both you and your co-pilot would have drowned. As it, Captain Nabaat should consider herself lucky that her injuries can be rehabilitated. Not all pilots are so fortunate."

The words cut deeply especially since they were true. Fang had known Paddra all her life. After Oerba was destroyed by one of the fal'Cie, Paddra had become a second home to her. She hadn't been able to bear the thought of Paddra sharing Oerba's fate. So she'd disobeyed orders and engaged Behemoth in deep water. After Bahamut's armour had been punctured, she and Jihl had managed to drag the fal'Cie into shallow water and finish the fight. But it had cost them dearly. Jihl would need at least half a year to recover, and the fragile trust they'd managed to build was probably gone for good.

"Thank you for your analysis, ma'am." Fang had to force the words out. It looked like some of the other stories about Lightning were true as well. The woman had left something behind in the Conn-Pod against Sin, maybe her heart. "I won't make that mistake again. I will do better. I have to do better."

"Good, because I expect nothing but the best from you. Your decision making aside, your in-combat performance is truly exceptional, which is fortunate because I would never allow my sister to pilot with someone who wasn't good enough." Lightning stepped forward, and despite the fact that she was taller, Fang found herself stumbling back until she almost tripped over Odin's foot. "My sister is the only family that I have left, captain. She is the single most important thing in my life. She was also my co-pilot for a reason. She is very, very good. If I leave her in your hands, you will look after her. If you can learn to work with her, you will win. "

"Yes, ma'am."

"Just so that we are clear." Lightning's eyes flicked to the right. "Serah, there you are. Perhaps you would like to introduce yourself to Captain Yun." She paused and caught Fang's gaze one more time. "You made a mistake, Captain Yun. Never forget that mistake. Instead, learn from it. Be glad that you have a second chance and do not waste it." She turned, but her voice when she spoke, was a shade softer. "Remember, everything I do, I do for a reason. I wouldn't have asked for you to come here if I didn't think you could do better."

Fang barely noticed Serah approach. Instead, her gaze remained locked onto Lightning. The marshal walked out of the hangar, her back ramrod straight despite her limp, every second step punctuated by the rap of her cane on the metal floor of the hangar. She was something, all right.

"So, you met my sister." Serah grinned and waved one hand in front of Fang's face to get her attention. "And you still want to pilot with me?"

Fang's blinked and then began to chuckle. The two Farrons couldn't have been more different. "Well, yeah."

"That's good. If you had to leave, Vanille would have thrown another tantrum, and she's already on thin ice with my sister."

"Is that so?" Fang had a feeling that she could get to like Serah. "I guess we should introduce ourselves properly." She smirked. "I wouldn't want to get into trouble with the marshal."

Serah laughed. It was a pleasant sound, but it made Fang wonder if Lightning's laugh sounded the same. Or had Lightning stopped laughing? "I'm Lieutenant Serah Farron. Nice to meet you."

Fang shook Serah's hand. "Captain Oerba Yun Fang at your service."

"Okay, now, I'm supposed to show you around, but you must be hungry from the flight in. It's almost lunch time, and they'll be serving spaghetti today."

"And?" Fang failed to grasp the significance of spaghetti.

"I thought you might want to meet up with Vanille. I know she's your sister, and spaghetti is one of the few things that can lure her out of her lab."

"Ah, she hasn't changed then. Lead the way, little Farron."

"Little?" To Fang's relief, Serah chuckled at the nickname and rolled her eyes. It would be nice having a co-pilot with a sense of humour. "I'm hardly little although I suppose I am compared to Lightning. Come on, it's this way."

X X X

**Author's Notes**

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

This is based on Fangrai Forever Prompt #178: Pacific Rim fusion/crossover. Fang and Lightning end up piloting jaegers, either together or separately.

As soon as I watched Pacific Rim, I knew I had to do something FLight related with it. Now, this probably isn't the direction most of you were expecting, but perhaps that's for the best.

In this story, the fal'Cie are replacements for the Kaijuu while the Eidolons serve as replacements for the Jaegers. I had considered having Lightning as Fang's co-pilot, but I wanted to try something different. In this story, Lightning isn't a superbly gifted pilot in need of a co-pilot. On the contrary, she was a superb pilot who had a co-pilot. But all of that was taken from her on the shores of Bodhum.

The change in Lightning should make for an interesting dynamic with Fang. Fang might be in the Conn-Pod with Serah, but that doesn't mean she won't learn a lot about Lightning. After all, co-pilots share memories, and even if Fang and Lightning aren't co-pilots, Serah used to be Lightning's co-pilot. In much the same way that Fang learned a lot about Lightning second hand, she can learn even more through what's in Serah's head.

Likewise, Lightning is going to have to approach things a little differently with Fang than other pilots. She is trusting Fang with the only precious thing she has left her in life, and she's doing that knowing full well the mistakes that Fang has made in the past.

In any case, I plan on continuing this (i.e., this won't be a one shot). I should also say here that the opening sequence of this chapter (the interview with Serah and Serah's flashback) are a direct nod at Pacific Rim's opening sequence.

Finally, I should point out that Sin is from FF X, and Behemoth makes an appearance, in some form of another, in most FF games. Lightning, Fang, Serah, Vanille, Sazh (i.e., Dr Katzroy), Jihl, Odin, and Bahamut are all taken from FF XIII.

Also, my second original short story "The Gunslinger and the Necromancer" is now out on Amazon – you can find a link to it in my profile. It runs to roughly 13,000 words. If you like Westerns with a paranormal twist, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Here's the blurb (you can find a link to a longer preview in my profile):

When the Church needs someone to send the denizens of Hell back to where they belong, they go looking for Lizzy Stanton.

As gunslingers go, Lizzy's right up there with the best of them. No matter what kind of evil she's up against, she knows exactly how to handle things – put a holy bullet right between the eyes. But when she takes a job to go after a necromancer over in Pine Creek, she might just have bitten off more than she can chew.

With zombies, demons, and one tricky necromancer to worry about, Lizzy's going to have to be real quick on the trigger. In the gunfight between good and evil, she's the gunslinger who always delivers.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Compatibility Issues**

_Almost all of the early fal'Cie attacks occurred on cities east of the vestige. The first major attack on a city west of the Vestige came at the hands of the fal'Cie codenamed "Transgressor." This attack resulted in the near complete obliteration of Oerba._

_Prior to the Transgressor's attack, Oerba was a thriving coastal city of roughly two million people. Situated on the edge of a fertile flood plain and with ample access to rich coastal waters, Oerba had long served as an agricultural and commercial hub. As one of the oldest cities on Gran Pulse, it was also a site of tremendous historical and cultural significance. Two clans, the Yun and the Dia, had particularly close ties to the city, having occupied Oerba and its surrounds for the better part of fifteen hundred years._

_However, those centuries of history and prosperity would count for little in the face of the Transgressor's overwhelming might. What had taken the Yun and the Dia more than a millennium to build would be destroyed in less than one day._

_Shortly after midnight Oerban time, the dimensional breach located in the Vestige experienced a large-scale dilation. At the time, no system existed for properly classifying the fal'Cie. Based on the recently developed category system, however, the Transgressor would likely be classified as a high end Category II or a low end Category III. Given this classification, it is highly likely that a modern Eidolon would be able to intercept the Transgressor before it could cause significant loss of life._

_Critically, however, the Eidolon program was still in its infancy at the time of the attack. The first Mark I Eidolon, Alexander, had only been completed two weeks prior and was awaiting deployment at the Eden City Ark. To further compound the crisis, an error in communication resulted in a delay of approximately two hours before the Oerban Defence Forces were notified of the Transgressor's imminent arrival. _

_The Transgressor made landfall at Oerba at roughly 4:05 AM. With only two hours to prepare, a full-scale evacuation of the city prior to the fal'Cie's arrival was deemed impossible. Instead, the city was to be evacuated sector-by-sector to avoid a complete collapse of the transport system. In the meantime, civilians were asked to seek shelter within a handful of newly completed anti-fal'Cie shelters while the military engaged in a delaying action._

_The initial confrontation took place in the port area of Oerba. The Oerban Defence Forces adopted a series of fortified defensive positions around the port and opened fire with a combination of artillery, tanks, aircraft, and small-scale personal munitions. All proved ineffective._

_Within thirty minutes, all but a handful of the soldiers deployed to the port area were dead. The Transgressor then attempted to advance further into the city but was met with furious resistance upon entering the affluent seaside residential district. Well aware of the impossibility of actually killing the creature with the weaponry available to them, the Oerban Defence Forces instead sought to delay it as long as possible, thereby ensuring sufficient time for the city's civilians to evacuate._

_Over the course of the next three hours, the entire waterfront area of Oerba was destroyed. A series of attack runs by high-altitude bombers succeeded in slowing the Transgressor's advance at the cost of setting almost a quarter of the city ablaze. Unable to slow the fal'Cie by any other means, the commanding officer of the Oerban Defence Forces, General Oerba Yun Talon, ordered a continuation of the bombing._

_Although repeated bombing proved unable to kill the Transgressor, it was sufficient to confine the fal'Cie to the waterfront area for just over an hour. However, despite the injuries it had sustained, the Transgressor continued its assault, pushing the Oerban Defence Forces farther back into the city._

_While the Oerban Defence Forces were confronting the Transgressor, steps were already being taken to relocate the first operational combat Eidolon, Alexander, to Oerba. The pilots, Captains Amodar and Estheim, personally supervised the transportation process. Despite their best efforts, it would take another ten long hours for Alexander to reach Oerba._

_It is a testament to the skill and bravery of the Oerban Defence Forces that they were able to evacuate approximately half of the city's population. Critics of General Yun's tactics fail to properly comprehend the logistics of trying to evacuate two million people while under attack by a fal'Cie. Of the remaining population, substantial numbers were able to find refuge in the city's anti-fal'Cie shelters while others fled on foot, bypassing the city's evacuation program._

_The final hours leading up to the arrival of Alexander rank amongst the most tragic and heroic in Oerba's long, storied history. Pitted against a foe all but impervious to their weaponry, the soldiers of Oerba did not flinch from their duty. Nor did they abandon their posts and seek safety at the cost of the civilian population. Instead they fought – and they died. Almost to a man, they died._

_In the ruins of Oerba, the soldiers used whatever weapons they had – guns, grenades, rockets, and even flares – to try and draw the Transgressor's attention away from the civilian shelters. Casualties amongst those frontline soldiers, almost all of them members of the Yun clan, have been estimated at roughly 95%. Similar casualty rates have also been estimated for the medical personnel and evacuation specialists tasked with providing support throughout the confrontation. These personnel were drawn almost exclusively from the Dia clan._

_General Yun lost his life in the closing stages of the battle, mere moments before Alexander's arrival. The general personally led an attack on the Transgressor that distracted it long enough for the Eidolon to be safely deployed. The loss of the general is notable, not only because he chose to stay and lead the city's doomed defence but also because he was one of only two individuals able to trace their ancestry back to the ruling chieftains of the Yun clan's past. He was, in effect, the closest thing to royalty that the Yun had. And much like the Yun chieftains of old, he chose to die in service to his people rather than abandon them._

_With Oerba little more than rubble, Alexander arrived. Engaging the Transgressor, the Eidolon swiftly demonstrated the effectiveness of large-scale combat robots in killing fal'Cie through hand-to-hand combat. The killing blow was struck by the Eidolon's right fist – Alexander completely crushed the Transgressor's cranial cavity._

_Although Alexander emerged victorious against the Transgressor, their battle had flattened what little of Oerba remained standing. The ruins were also heavily contaminated by the substance now colloquially referred to as "fal'Cie Blue." This contamination has rendered Oerba almost uninhabitable._

_With the fal'Cie dead, the evacuation continued. The majority of the evacuees would later find shelter in a series of refugee camps built around Paddra._

_The loss of Oerba marked a turning point in the war against the fal'Cie. It became clear that no city that shared a coast with the Vestige was safe. Anti-fal'Cie shelters were established in cities all around the Vestige. The decision was also made to vastly upgrade the network of equipment monitoring the Vestige and the surrounding waters._

_Perhaps the largest change was the enormous increase in funding given to the fledgling Eidolon program. Prior to Alexander's success, there had been only two confirmed methods of killing a fal'Cie: full-scale nuclear attack and days of sustained conventional bombing. An Eidolon was considered to be a far superior option, and within weeks, construction had begun on other Eidolons and the Arks needed to maintain them._

_From one of the greatest tragedies of our time came one of ours greatest victories – the realisation that we now possessed a weapon capable of fighting the fal'Cie on even terms._

_In the aftermath of the Oerban tragedy, the fate of the Yun and Dia clans remains uncertain. Both clans have sustained enormous casualties. Some estimates put the number of remaining Yun and Dia as low as several hundred. More optimistic reports suggest that several thousand may remain._

_Notably, General Yun is survived by his daughter, Oerba Yun Fang. Ms Yun has already indicated her plans to join the Eidolon program although in what capacity remains unclear. Less unclear is the determination of her clansmen – almost all of the surviving members of the Yun clan old enough to serve have already enlisted to the Eidolon program. Likewise, most adult survivors of the Dia clan have also committed to the Eidolon program. _

_The Yun and the Dia are unlikely to ever forget the Transgressor's attack. It seems unlikely that they will ever forgive it either._

- Excerpt from "The Fall of Oerba – The Rise of the Eidolon."

X X X

_You think we've won? Take a look around you. Does this look like winning? If it does, then we can't afford to win too many more battles like this._

- Excerpt from an interview with Captain Amodar following the Battle of Oerba

X X X

Fang followed Serah into the mess hall. Along the way, she took note of all the stares she got. They probably knew who she was. Back in Paddra, there had always been a lot of gossip about the Eidolon pilots. Most of it was harmless. Fang didn't care if people wanted to know what her favourite colour was or what kind of food she liked. But she drew the line at people asking about her sex life. She'd lost count of the number of times people had asked her if she and Jihl were having an affair. Hell, half the base had been convinced they were having hate sex after every mission.

She could kind of understand it. Jihl might not be the most pleasant person to be around, but the woman was definitely not bad looking. And the Conn-Pod had a way of bringing pilots together. It was kind of hard not be close after getting buried in each other's heads. But none of that meant she liked Jihl. Oh, she trusted the other woman in combat. Jihl was good – damn good – but that woman's head was not a good place to be. Drifting didn't leave room for secrets, and Jihl had a whole closet full of skeletons.

But Serah likely had something to do with it too. Fang hadn't been here long, but she already got the feeling Serah was popular around the Ark. Everywhere they went, the pink haired woman got smiles and nods, and she never failed to return them. It was a strange contrast to Lightning. People hadn't smiled and nodded when the marshal had walked past; they'd snapped to attention.

So if Serah was popular, then it was no surprise that people were wondering about who her new co-pilot would be. Well, they wouldn't have to wonder too hard. There was plenty of footage of Bahamut in action, most of it complimentary. Inside the mess hall, Fang gave all the gawkers a jaunty wave and then followed Serah over to a table near the middle. They were almost there, when Fang caught a blur of movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Fang!"

Vanille slammed into her with enough force to knock her right off her feet. But before she could tumble to the ground, Serah was there, one foot braced against the table and both hands flat against Fang's back to hold her up.

Serah grinned. "I thought you could use the assist."

Fang grinned back, but her reply was lost in Vanille's excited chatter.

"It's so good to see you again! Oh, the marshal is such a jerk for not telling me earlier. I had to find out from Serah and that was only this morning!"

Fang laughed and threw her arms around Vanille. The younger woman burrowed into her embrace. "It's good to see you too. But did you have to jump on me like that? You're not a little kid anymore."

Vanille pulled back. "Of course I had to! And I might not be a little kid anymore, but I'm still your little sister and that means I can do what I want." She winked at Serah. "Ignore everything Fang tells you about being tough with me when we were little – she used to spoil me rotten."

"That would explain a lot." Serah pointed at the table. "You two sit down and talk. I'll go grab the food."

"Do you think that –"

Serah rolled her eyes. "Yes, Vanille, I'll make sure that I get you an extra serving of spaghetti."

As Serah went off to get their food, Fang took a few moments to look Vanille over. Her little sister had grown since they'd last met and not just vertically. There were calluses on Vanille's hands that hadn't been there before, and she held herself with all the confidence of someone good at their job and proud of it. But there were things that hadn't changed. Vanille's smile was as warm as ever, and her green eyes were still bright with good cheer and mischief. Vanille looked as hyper as ever too… in fact, she looked more hyper than ever.

"So… I hear you're a big shot scientist now."

"Yep. I'm number two on the base behind old Dr Katzroy." Vanille glared at a dark-skinned man eating lunch with a little boy on the opposite side of the mess hall. The man in question responded by rolling his eyes as the boy waved back at Vanille. "That grouch thinks he can tell me what to do."

"Does he now?" If Fang knew Vanille – and really, she did – then Vanille was probably the one picking a fight here. Certainly, the red head had never liked taking orders. "Well, at least you seem happy here. How is it working for the marshal? I met her before and…"

"Oh…" Vanile giggled. "She made an impression did she?"

"You could say that."

"She's scary, isn't she?"

"A little. But mostly… sad, I guess." Fang shook her head. "She should be in an Eidolon not limping around giving us orders."

Vanille sobered. "Yeah, but she's good, Fang, really good at what she does. And don't worry, she might seem scary, but if you do your job, you won't have any problems with her. You know me, I've worked at a few of the other Arks, and I never got on well with any of the commanders. Apparently, I'm weird. Well, Lightning doesn't care too much if I'm weird as long as I get the job done."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're more than a little weird?"

"Perhaps because she is." Serah put three trays of food on the table. "I wasn't sure what you wanted, Fang, so I got you a bit of everything."

"Right."

Fang's eyes widened. The fal'Cie had devastated some of the richest farmland on the planet. Good food was not only increasingly rare; it was also increasingly expensive. Even Paddra had gone through the occasional shortage. But the food on the tray in front of her… this was the good stuff: real spaghetti with real sauce and everything. Even the bread was freshly baked, and the vegetables on the side of the tray had to be freshest she'd seen in months.

"Wow." Fang reached for her fork. "And they serve this kind of thing every day?"

Serah smirked. "My sister expects the best out of everyone in this Ark. In return, she makes sure we get the best. Now, eat up."

"I will." Fang turned to Vanille only to find the younger woman in the midst of inhaling her lunch. She tossed a glance at the extra serving of spaghetti on Vanille's tray.

"Mine!" Vanille jabbed her fork at Fang.

Serah sighed and gave Vanille an affectionate whack over the back of the head. The gesture was so smoothly done that Fang had a sneaking suspicion it was a daily routine. "I know she's your sister, Fang, but I feel like I have to apologise for her anyway. She gets like this whenever she hasn't slept a lot, and all the energy drinks she's been having are only making it worse."

"Really? Do tell."

Vanille tried to clamp one hand over Serah's mouth, but with the practiced ease that came to most skilled pilots, Serah ducked under the clumsy attempted and pinned Vanille face down against the table with one hand.

"She spends most of her day in her lab, and because she think sleeping is too much trouble, she guzzles down enough energy drinks to kill a full grown cow. The only reason my sister puts up with it is because Vanille does some of her best work like that. Lately, however, Dr Katzroy has noticed her getting a little too weird."

"I am not." Vanille tried to wriggle free. A half-hearted punch only resulted in Serah taking a slow, deliberate forkful of Vanille's spaghetti.

"He caught you talking to a room full of fal'Cie brain specimens like they were people."

"Well…"

"Vanille." Fang sighed and gave Serah a meaningful look and the other woman finally let Vanille go. "You need to mention things like this when we talk over the phone. Heck, you need to actually sleep. Talking to fal'Cie brain specimens is not normal."

"Don't you want to know what they think about?"

"Not really." Fang's expression darkened for a moment. "I just want them dead."

Vanille's eyes flashed. "That's where you're wrong! True, the Eidolons are our best way of fighting the fal'Cie, but there's more to it than that. Wouldn't Eidolons do better if we could understand how the fal'Cie thought? And imagine if we could use their own weaponry against them. Some of the fal'Cie had remarkable powers that –"

"Vanille, not here. You're going to get yourself into trouble again."

Fang glanced around. Some of the people nearby were giving Vanille openly hostile looks. She was disturbed to realise that some of them were fellow Yun and even other Dia. Well, they should all know who she was. A solid glare was enough to discourage them. Nobody looked at her sister like that.

"What was that all about?" Fang asked. She had her suspicions, but it was always better to be sure.

"There are people who think Vanille is a little too interested in the fal'Cie." Serah frowned. "You probably know about some of the cults that have sprung up – some people actually think the fal'Cie are messengers from the Maker or something come to punish us for our sins."

"That's crap, and anyone who thinks Vanille is like those people is nuts."

Vanille put one hand on Fang's arm. "They can think what they want, Fang. There isn't a person on this base that the fal'Cie haven't hurt. And I agree – the fal'Cie do need to die – but they're fascinating. Take away the part where they try and kill all of us, and you have to admit, there's a lot about them worth studying." Her voice hardened. "I haven't forgotten what happened to Oerba, Fang."

"Good." Fang patted Vanille's hand. Her sister had always liked puzzles, and the fal'Cie were the biggest puzzle of all. But Fang hadn't been the only one to lose everything that day. Vanille had lost everything as well, and behind the sunny exterior, Fang could see that it still hurt. From the troubled look on Serah's face, it was clear the other woman could see too.

"Anyway," Serah said. "Why don't you finish eating and then I'll take you back to the hangar? I'd like to introduce you to everyone."

"And I can explain all the improvements we're making to Bahamut." Vanille grinned.

"What?" Fang screeched. "You are not touching my Bahamut!"

"The work has already started." Vanille squirmed away before Fang could grab her. "He'll be stronger and faster than ever. And don't worry. I've tested pretty much everything we're going to do already. That's what Odin is for."

That was enough to stop Fang in her tracks. "Odin?"

"My sister doesn't believe in wasted resources. Vanille is, amongst many other things, an expert in Eidolon weapons development. My sister has Vanille try everything out on Odin first to see if it will work."

"But who pilots Odin?"

Serah shrugged. "Me."

"On your own?"

"Yes. I can manage if it's only a couple of simple test for a few minutes. It's not like…" Serah grimaced and looked away. "It's not like actual fighting."

There was silence for a few moments after that, and Fang felt like biting her tongue. She hadn't meant to bring up what was clearly still a sore point for Serah. And for a second there, just before Serah's fake smile had come up, there had been something very much like Lightning in her eyes: all steel with no trace of emotion.

"Come on," Serah said. "Eat."

Lunch passed in a haze of good food and happy talk. Fang's attempts to ascertain the status of Vanille's love life – was there anyone she needed to kill? – ran into a brick wall, and Vanille's attempts to pry into Fang's relationships ran into similar difficulties. Once they were done, they headed back to the hangar. This time, Fang wanted to see everything, not simply lose herself in the faded glory of Odin and his pilot.

"Watch your step," Serah warned as she led them through a crowd of engineers and mechanics. Fang had to dodge out of the way of a forklift carrying a box of parts, and she had to clamp down on the urge to lash out when the man driving it rolled his eyes at her. Not far off, Vanille was utterly at home, threading through the crowd with ease. "My sister runs a tight ship. Anyone standing in the way is going to get run over."

"I'll say." Fang looked around. No matter how many times she'd been inside an Ark, the sheer size of the place never failed to impress her. "Where do we start?"

"Over here."

Serah led them to the first of the Eidolons. It was a towering machine, painted in a mix of icy blues and whites. Unlike most Eidolons Fang had seen, this one seemed almost slender, the graceful curves of its arms and legs coming together to meet a torso than was unexpectedly thin compared to the armoured bulk of Bahamut. Splashed across the chest plate was a giant image of two women – almost certainly sisters – tangled in an extremely inappropriate embrace.

"That's Shiva."

Fang tilted her head to one side. It looks fast enough but… "Isn't it a little thin?"

"She might be thin." The voice was warm and deep, and Fang was suddenly face-to-face with one of the largest men she'd ever seen. "But believe me, she's got plenty of strength, and she's faster than almost anything." The man's blue eyes sparkled with mirth, and his blonde hair was only barely restrained by a bandana. He extended one hand to Fang. "I'm Captain Snow Villiers, and I'm guessing you're Serah's new co-pilot."

"That's right. Captain Oerba Yun Fang." Fang gave the man's hand a squeeze, and he squeezed back. He was strong. "So that's your lady, right? Can she take a hit?"

"Don't let looks fool you, she can handle a hit or two. Most Eidolons rely on metal for armour, but Shiva uses an exotic ceramic metal composite. It makes her lighter – and faster – than anything not named Odin." He gave the white Eidolon standing at the far end of the hangar a quick nod. "It's still experimental though – we're the only ones who've got it. By the way… Hope, get down here!"

There was a creak as an elevator carried someone down from the catwalk high above. A young man, almost a boy really, wiped his hands on an oily cloth and then tossed it at Snow's face. The big man caught the rag and chuckled. It was quite a contrast, but the way they stood, stances almost perfect mirror images of each other said it all. This must be Snow's co-pilot.

"I'm Hope Estheim." The young man's lips twitched, and he flicked his gaze over to Snow. "And you've already met this big lug. He's probably told you that Shiva is the best there is. Well, he might be right about that."

"Estheim?" Fang's brows furrowed. "Your father wouldn't be –"

"Bartholomew Estheim."

"I see." Fang inclined her head a fraction. "You have my condolences then. He was a good man. I… I'm Oerba Yun Fang."

Hope's eyes widened a fraction, and then he smiled. It made him seem even younger. "Thanks. I… he was a good father when he had the chance." He bit his lip. "We need to get up there, Snow. The mechanics are running a few checks on her hydraulic systems, and you know what'll happen if we're not up there. They'll fiddle around with everything, and we'll only find out when we're getting our heads kicked in."

Snow sighed dramatically. "You worry too much, kid." He waved at Fang. "We'll see you around then. If you've got the time, you might want to drop by the training session this afternoon. You'll see all the cadets, and the marshal always runs this one."

Wasn't that interesting. Fang looked at Serah.

"After we're done here."

Fang followed Serah further down the hangar. She'd heard a few things about Shiva before. It was a Mark IV, one of the newest actually. She'd always wondered how the damn thing could move so fast, and now she knew. Maybe she'd ask Vanille to look into the ceramic armour. If she could make Bahamut faster without compromising his strength, she'd be more than happy to give something new a try.

Still, such a swift, agile Eidolon seemed like a strange fit for a man mountain and young man, but given their success with it – she remembered them having four or five kills – they had to be doing something right.

Serah must have guessed what was on her mind. "Don't worry about them. Hope might look young, but this is something he's wanted to do ever since his father became a pilot. He always thought he'd pilot with his father but…"

Fang nodded. She knew the story. Bartholomew Estheim had been gravely wounded in the attack that devastated Lake Bresha. He had never piloted again, and radiation poisoning had killed him a few years later. Every single Yun and Dia had sent their condolences to his family to honour what he'd done for Oerba. The other pilot of Alexander, Amodar, was still alive although he had retired from active duty. Radiation poisoning was killing him too, albeit more slowly.

"I know. Let's take a look at the next one. I want to know who I'll be working with."

"Oh!" Vanille grabbed Fang's hand and pulled her along. "I'll do the introductions for this one."

Fang let Vanille pull her along and then stopped to stare at the next Eidolon. "Well, it's something, all right."

It definitely was. This Eidolon was almost entirely black. The only scraps of colour were the red, crown-like extensions on the head and the red stripes painted along the protrusions on the Eidolon's back. They were probably boosters of some kind although Fang couldn't remember the last time she'd seen an Eidolon with boosters that large. She doubted the thing could fly – the news would have been all over that – but those boosters probably allowed for quite a bit of acrobatics. More than any other Eidolon she'd seen, however, this one seemed to radiate menace. The lines and angles of its frame gave it an almost demonic appearance, and its left hand was sheathed in a golden gauntlet that ended in wickedly sharp claws.

"That's Chaos," Vanille said. "The first of the Mark Vs."

"Mark V? The last time I checked, Chaos was a Mark III. It didn't look like this either."

"That's because the old Chaos got blown up." Vanille chuckled. "Actually, that's not quite right. You might remember the Fifth Battle of Wutai? Well, it took so much damage winning the fight that they had to scrap it. They let us supervise the construction of the new one, which is what you're looking at."

"He's a beauty, isn't he?" The voice came from the catwalk above them. Fang had to squint to see the petite teenager in scandalously short shorts that leapt off the railing, slid down one of the many chains nearby, and landed in front of them with a flourish. The whole thing seemed to give some of the nearby personnel heart attacks and with good reason. Eidolon pilots were rare. It could take months, maybe years, to find another compatible pilot if she got injured.

"I am Yuffie Kisaragi!" The girl puffed out her somewhat less than impressive chest. "Chief Pilot of Chaos and Princess of Wutai." She paused. "I'm also a ninja."

Fang blinked. What the… Before she could stop herself, she started to laugh. "Seriously? You're a ninja princess?"

"Hey!" Yuffie scowled and then lashed out at Fang with surprising speed.

Fang grinned and let the teenager charge, content to deflect each blow until she finally spotted a hole in Yuffie's offence. A split-second later, Yuffie found herself trying to match Fang's strength – a battle she had no hope of winning. The fight ended with the younger woman's arms pinned firmly to her side.

"Are you going to calm down now?"

Yuffie smirked. "You're Serah's new co-pilot, right? No wonder you're so tough. But…" Suddenly Fang was holding nothing but Yuffie's jacket. "You're no match for a ninja."

"You're being foolish again, aren't you?" A dark haired man with crimson eyes grabbed Yuffie by the back of her shirt collar and lifted her off the ground. "And what were you doing jumping down here like that? We were in the middle of a discussion, Yuffie." He gave a beleaguered sigh and then nodded at Fang. "I am Vincent Valentine. My apologies, Captain Yun, but my co-pilot and I have a discussion to finish."

Fang watched the pair disappear into one of the elevators, Yuffie thrashing about like a fish caught on a line. For his part, Vincent seemed utterly unaffected, moving only when Yuffie aimed a particularly vicious looking kick at his groin.

"Okay… that was weird." Fang was starting to wonder what sort of place she'd walked into. Did Lightning make a habit of collecting the weirdest people she could find? And if she did, what did that say about Fang?

"Not really. Yuffie's just like that, and Vincent, well, he didn't try to shoot your or glare, so I guess he likes you." Serah's lips twitched. "But I should warn you, Yuffie actually is a princess. Her father is the ruler of Wutai, and it gave him fits when she snuck into the Eidolon Program. Appearances aside, she and Vincent are pretty close."

Vanille nodded. "There's a betting pool going on about those two. Personally, I think they're sleeping with each other."

"Being co-pilots does not mean they are sleeping with each other." Serah gave Vanille a pointed look. "Or did you think my sister and I did that?" What she didn't add was that based on some of the things she'd seen, Yuffie and Vincent probably would end up sleeping together – once Yuffie was old enough that Vincent didn't feel like a cradle snatcher.

"Well…" Vanille trailed off and Fang had to fight off the mental image Serah's words invoked. Both Serah and Lightning were very attractive women. "You two were sisters. But maybe…" Vanille looked meaningfully at Fang. "What do you think?"

"Oh no. Jihl and I did not sleep together." Well, technically they had a few times, but not in a sexual way. But there were certain times – especially after a close call – when co-pilots just needed to be close to each other, even if one of them was a jerk.

"Oh, you're holding out on me, I can tell." Vanille chuckled. "But we've got one more to go, and these two are definitely sleeping together."

The Eidolon they led Fang to this time was mostly dark blue with strips of white and yellow on the upper body. Rather than the threatening appearance of Chaos or the slender look of Shiva, this Eidolon was built solidly without seeming too bulky. It was a balanced configuration, Fang thought, one that was likely to combine reasonable amounts of speed with reasonable amounts of strength.

"This is Spira." Serah nodded at the two people, a man and woman eating lunch together against the feet of the massive Eidolon. Not far away, a dark haired woman and a blonde Al Bhed were in the midst of an argument although their words were tinged with amusement more than genuine anger.

"Yuna, Tidus," Serah shouted. "Come meet my new co-pilot."

Fang greeted the pair. "Nice to meet you. I'm Oerba Yun Fang."

Tidus gave her a sunny smile, and she couldn't help but smile back. He seemed like an open book, but there was confidence in his eyes that could only have come from success in battle. "Nice to meet you two. It'll be nice to have Serah in the field again, and I'll never say no to some more help."

Yuna nodded. "We have been a little shorthanded lately. If you want, the pilots usually meet up on Fridays for drinks and dinner. I'm sure you'd be welcome."

"Thanks." Fang grinned. "I'll keep my schedule clear." Not that she had anything on her schedule at the moment anyway.

"Still, you must have some pretty awesome moves, right?" Tidus asked. "Because the marshal would never pick anything but the best for her little sister."

Serah flushed, but Yuna simply chuckled. "We all know it's true." Her gaze sharpened a fraction. "And I have heard of you, Fang. Most of it has been good too."

Fang's lips curled. Yuna might look nice on the outside, but there was some steel inside her, all right. "Look, I've already talked with the marshal. I know where I stand. If I'm not good enough yet, you can bet I'll work my ass off until I am. That's a promise."

The smile returned to Yuna's face. "Good. Oh, and you might want to talk to those two before you leave. You'll probably be seeing more of them."

The Al Bhed didn't wait to be greeted. Instead, she turned her back on the dark haired woman, earning an angry scowl, and grabbed Fang's hand in a firm handshake. "Rikku – chief mechanic." She slipped something out of her pocket and tossed it to Vanille, only for Serah to catch it out of mid-air. "What?"

Serah tightened her hold around the can of energy drink. "She's had enough for today."

Vanille gave Serah the most pathetic look imaginable – the same one that Fang had learned to avoid meeting at all costs – and the pink haired woman folded like a paper bag.

"Fine, but this is your last one."

The dark haired woman gave Rikku another faint glare then nodded at Fang. "Forgive Rikku, I believe that, as with Vanille, excessive energy drink consumption may have damaged her brain."

"No harm done. And you are?"

"Lulu. I'm a scientist here. I work with both Sazh and Vanille although my speciality is Eidolon weaponry. Advanced weaponry."

"Basically," Rikku said. "If you need anything that shoots electricity, plasma, fire, or anything else crazy, Lulu is your woman." Lulu frowned. "What? It's true."

"You make me sound like some kind of wizard." Lulu folded her arms over her chest – quite a nice chest, Fang noted – and pinned Rikku with another harsh look. "You need to get back to work. I've already drawn up the plans for Spira's new energy cannon, and you haven't even started the modifications yet."

Leaving the squabbling pair behind, Fang bit back a grin. Now that they'd seen all of the other Eidolons, it was time to meet her baby.

Ah, there he was.

Bahamut.

Magnificent.

Bahamut wasn't the newest Eidolon. In fact he was a Mark III, the same generation as Odin, but what he lacked in modernity, he made up for in raw power. Few Eidolons could match Bahamut's strength due to the recent changes toward more mobile, agile Eidolon designs. Bahamut, however, was built strong and solid, a tower of strength. But that didn't mean he was slow. Oh no, her baby wasn't slow at all.

Two years ago, Bahamut had gone through an almost complete overhaul after years of simple repairs to the damage he'd sustained during combat. Fang had never learned who was responsible, but someone had studied the weaknesses of the Mark IIIs and devised a drastic set of redesigns to address them. Bahamut had received stronger but lighter armour, tweaking to the knees, hips, and ankles to improve speed and stability, and a new balance system that had since become standard in the newer models. A bit of digging had revealed that almost all of these changes had been based on lessons learned from Odin's demise.

But what a sight he was. Bahamut was black all over with purple highlights along the back, ribs, and shoulders. Unlike the smaller back mounted stabilisers built into the Mark IV and Mark V Eidolons, Bahamut's more closely resembled wings. During combat, they would move and flex to provide the Eidolon with added power and stability. He hadn't started off with those, but they had come part and parcel with the overhaul. Bahamut could throw every punch in the book at full speed and power without ever worrying about falling over.

Bahamut had started off really damn dangerous. He was deadly now.

Well, maybe not right now. It was hard for the Eidolon to look that deadly with his chest wide open.

"What are they doing?" Fang screeched. She rounded on Serah and Vanille. "Get those people off my Eidolon!"

"That old core of yours was a health hazard," Vanille said. In the span of a heartbeat, she'd gone from glowering back at Fang to using Serah as a human shield. "Do you have any idea how badly you damaged it during your last few fights? It's a miracle you don't have radiation poisoning." Vanille jabbed one finger at Fang. "Don't even try and make excuses. I've had a newer core put in. It's going to give you more power and reliability, and it won't fry your ovaries in case you ever decided to pop out any mini-Fangs."

"Oh." When Vanille put it like that it did sound like a good idea. "Thanks."

Serah gave both of them a fond look and glanced over at one of the nearby elevators. "Do you want to go up there and take a closer look?"

"Definitely."

As they walked along the catwalk around Bahamut, the mechanics and engineers gave Fang a polite berth. They understood how much an Eidolon meant to its pilot, and they were smart enough not to intrude. The glare Fang was giving all of them probably had something to do with it too. Logical or not, she didn't like the thought of anyone opening Bahamut up.

"Tell me about him." Serah's eyes remained fixed on Bahamut. "I've read all the files, and I've watched your fights, but those can only tell me so much."

Fang felt a surge of pride. She remembered the fall of Oerba well. How could she forget her father shoving her into one of the transports and telling her to get out while he went off to fight a battle they both knew he couldn't win? Every battle she fought was for him and the people of Oerba. They had never forgotten, and they would never forgive. Bahamut might have been built somewhere else, but he was Oerba's Eidolon, their vengeance and fury given form. He was perfect.

"I don't even know where to start. The Conn-Pod shouldn't be too different. Even after the overhaul, they kept it pretty much the same, and I've heard almost all the Mark IIIs are similar inside."

"Odin was a Mark III."

"You'll be on the left side, I guess. That's what you used to pilot, and I've always been on the right side. You might need to fix a few of the settings there. You're about an inch shorter, I think, and Jihl was probably a bit stronger than you too." Fang chuckled. "At least, she always used to go on about how strong she was. She used to complain about some of the switches on her side sticking too, but the techs could never find anything, and they always seemed fine to me. She did like to grumble."

Serah's eyes twinkled. "I'll try to keep all of that in mind."

"You'll want to give the claws a try to. The one on the left comes out a little bit slower than the one on the right unless they've fixed it. I'd blame Jihl for it, but it's probably my fault."

"No biggie," Vanille chimed in. "We can have that fixed in a jiffy."

"And he handles differently too. I can't say anything for sure about Odin, but a lot of these newer Eidolons… those stabilisers they've got have people saying its almost like dancing. Maybe it is for them, but not for Bahamut. When you're in Bahamut, you know you're in a fight. It's like riding a dragon – you can't hold anything back. You've got to show him who is boss."

"You really do love him, don't you?"

Fang shook her head slowly. "I suppose I do. It's hard not to after everything we've been through together." She gazed over at Odin. "How can you do it, I mean, how did you deal with not piloting for so long?"

"I spent my time learning other things, and I had a feeling I'd be back in the Conn-Pod someday." Serah glanced at her watch. "I still need to show you to your room, and we'll need to hurry if you want to make that training session."

"We'd better hurry then." Fang gave Bahamut one last smile. "See you later, buddy."

X X X

Fang had seen her fair share of training centres before – every Ark had them – but she'd never seen one quite this nice before. The training centre had room for a dozen sparring areas along with exercise equipment and everything else members of the Ark needed to stay fit. There were also side rooms attached to the training centre, each of them suited for a different purpose. It was to one of these side rooms – a conference room – that Serah led her. Vanille tagged along too, but Fang had the feeling that was more out of a desire to avoid Dr Katzroy and his totally unreasonable demands that she get regular sleep than any feeling of sisterly duty.

Inside, two dozen cadets stared at a large data display. The contents of the display were quite familiar to her – it showed the start of her battle with a fal'Cie codenamed "Gorgonopsid." But the display didn't hold her attention for long. Instead, her eyes went to the person leading the discussion, to Marshal Claire "Lightning" Farron.

The marshal stood beside the display at a lectern, the wooden stand bearing most of her weight as she analysed the battle on the display. The cadets seemed to hang on her every word, and Fang couldn't blame them. Lightning spoke with a quiet intensity, her slightly husky voice lending a certain weight to each word as she gave a precise, ruthless analysis of each combatant's actions. Most of the cadets took notes at a feverish pace while others seemed content to savour the marshal's explanations.

If Fang's instructors during training had been more like Lightning, she might have paid more attention. As it was, she'd developed a better grasp of combat than most of them within a year, and she'd ended up topping the program. It was yet another thing that Jihl hated about her since she'd come in a close second.

And then Lightning stopped the presentation. The lights came back on, and those cool, regal eyes turned on Fang once again. However, her first words weren't to Fang but the cadets.

"I would like to think that after an hour of analysis, my point would have become quite clear." Lightning's gaze raked over the cadets. A few noticeably squirmed. "Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to what my point was?"

"Uh… don't get hit?"

There was a rush of laughter before Lightning cut it off with a single sharp rap of her cane against the lectern.

"Very funny, Vaan. I'm sure it will remain funny when your Eidolon is being torn to pieces." Lightning's glare had the cadet doing his best to hide behind his notepad. "That wasn't my point at all. Anyone else?"

"Begging your pardon, ma'am," one of the other cadets said. "But all of those fights had people getting hit. Some of them died. Vaan might have been joking, but not getting hit sounds like a good idea. Ma'am."

Lightning limped from the lectern, and the cadets on either side of the middle aisle leaned away as she paced back and forth. "There is a single, fundamental truth in combat with a fal'Cie." The words hung on the air, Lightning's voice electric as she continued. "Everybody gets hit. No matter how fast you are, or how agile, you are going to get hit. No Eidolon has every managed to defeat a fal'Cie without engaging in at least some hand-to-hand combat. The key to survival is not avoiding being hit – that is impossible – it is choosing the circumstances under which you are hit."

Complete silence had fallen over the conference room, and Fang found herself leaning forward just a little. Lightning's presence filled the room, the marshal standing ten feet tall in the eyes of the cadets despite her infirmity.

"You cannot be afraid to trade an arm for a killing blow. Trade your leg if you must so long as it guarantees a strike that will finish the fight in your favour. If you are afraid of getting hit, you have no place at all in an Eidolon."

Lightning waited for the words to sink in. No wonder all the cadets showed up to these training sessions, Fang thought. Most instructors liked to pretty things up, talk about all the things an Eidolon could do, and all the victories they'd had. Lightning refused to sugar coat anything for them.

"But ma'am, couldn't we just increase the armour on the Eidolons or maybe up their speed?" The question came from a pretty blonde. "I've been studying the recent design changes, and there have been substantial increases in both areas. Surely we've got to the point where we can dodge everything."

"A fine question, Penelo. It's nice to see that some of you have been studying." Lightning's lips twitched. "I've marked your assignments. Almost to a cadet, they are appalling. But to answer your question, no, I do not think we will ever reach a point where an Eidolon will be fast enough to completely evade a determined fal'Cie. Odin was perhaps the fastest Eidolon ever built, and you should all know what happened to him." Lightning smiled coldly. "And despite the advances we have made in Eidolon armour, the fal'Cie have made corresponding advances in the deadliness of their weaponry."

"So, it's an arms race?"

"Precisely. And that is why every battle involves a precise combination of strength, speed, and a willingness to engage. A broken arm can be fixed. A ruptured knee joint can be repaired. If it means killing the fal'Cie, you must be prepared to accept almost any level of damage. But do not think I am saying you should wade carelessly into battle. There are going to be attacks you can dodge, harmful situations you can avoid. Deal with those accordingly, but never forget that you at some point, you are going to get hit. Plan for that moment and turn it to your advantage."

Lightning fell silent and Fang released a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. If the marshal gave speeches like that on a regular basis, she wasn't the least bit surprised that people requested to train here.

"Ah, Captain Yun." Lightning's eyes found hers and held them. The intensity was back in them now, cold fire burning right through to Fang's gut. "I was in the middle of showing one of your fights. Perhaps you would care to offer your own analysis."

"Uh…" Fang nodded. "Sure. I'd be happy to, ma'am."

But as the display started again, Fang found herself drifting back to her own, more personal, memories of the battle. That had been her and Jihl's first real kill as a team, the first time they'd truly clicked instead of trying to fight each other and the fal'Cie at the same time.

X X X

"Initiating neural handshake." Rygdea made a disgusted sound. "Try to play nicely this time, ladies."

Fang's chuckle turned into a wince as Jihl's mind slammed into hers. Neither of them was about to compromise, and neither of them saw the point in holding back. They were both big girls. They could take all the horror and ugliness that lurked in each other's minds, and even if this was their third deployment together and the link still felt like it was made of broken glass and barbed wire that was okay – they could still fight. In fact, that was probably the only thing they could do together.

All the same, she found herself lost in Jihl's memories for a split-second. She saw a house on a hill, the city before it aflame, the titan form of a fal'Cie rising over it all. No control. No control over anything. And then there was control. Grades. School. Training. She had control again. It didn't matter if she had to lie and manipulate and hate till her insides felt like they were on fire – she had control again and that was all that mattered until –

"Stay out of my head, Yun." Jihl snarled and leaned toward Fang in the Conn-Pod. "Or do you want me poking through your memories?"

Fang grit her teeth. She hadn't meant to do that. "Sure thing, Nabaat." She shook her head and lifted her right arm. "Calibrating right side."

Rygdea's reply came over the com. "Right side calibrated. Neural handshake is strong and holding steady somehow. I swear you two are a disaster waiting to happen."

"Rygdea." That was Cid Raines, commander of the Paddra Ark. "Stay focused. Jihl, calibrate the left side."

Jihl moved her left arm. "Left side calibrated. Can't we skip this? We all know we're the best you've got."

"Left side calibrated." Rygdea's voice hardened. "Watch how you speak to your commanding officer, Nabaat."

"Enough." Cid's voice cut through the dispute like a knife. He might not be the friendliest guy, but he was a good leader. He also knew when to give people slack and when to tighten the noose. "We have a Category IV fal'Cie headed toward Taejin's Tower, codename 'Gorgonopsid.' Your objective is to intercept it on the shore before it can head any further inland. Any questions?"

"How many pieces do you want it in?" Fang bared her teeth. "Don't worry, sir. We've got this."

"Indeed." Jihl gave Fang a haughty look. "It hasn't got a chance. Make sure you don't hold me back, Yun."

"All jokes aside, it is a Category IV. Be careful. I'm counting on you."

Fang nodded. "Like I said, sir. We've got this." She looked at Jihl for confirmation and the other woman nodded. "Requesting a release on all restraints and full clearance for deployment."

"Restraints have been released," Rygdea said as the surrounding catwalks and supports around Bahamut moved away. "You are clear for deployment. Good luck and happy hunting."

The worst part of piloting with Jihl wasn't the fighting. No, that was the easy part. The other woman was a hell of a fighter, and Fang knew her style like the back of her hand. The hard part was all the walking. Sure, they could have tried to make conversation, but that seemed kind of pointless when they wired into each other's heads. The Drift also made sure they knew how little affection there was between them. Most co-pilots were family, lovers, or close friends. She and Jihl were barely able to tolerate one another. Probably the only things they shared were a love of battle and a driving need to wipe out the fal'Cie.

So, it was silence all the way. And it was a long way to Taejin's Tower even considering how quickly an Eidolon could cover ground.

Fang breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached Taejin's Tower, a massive pinnacle of rock on the coast. There were half a dozen large towns nearby along with a reasonably large city. The shallow bay in front of them was also home to a handful of oilrigs as well.

"We're here, sir." Fang peered out at the bay. "But I don't see anything. It should be here by now, shouldn't it?"

"Is that worry I hear in your voice, Yun?" Jihl's voice was saccharine. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Rygdea frowned. "Look sharp. We're getting a reading. It's close. You should see – look out!"

The water in front of them churned, and Fang barely had time to blink before something huge surged out of the water toward them.

"Damn it, Yun! Move!" Jihl bellowed.

Fang jerked to the side and Bahamut lurched out of the way as the fal'Cie shot out of the water. It struck the base of Taejin's Tower with enough force to rock the mountain down to its foundations. Bits of rock tumbled down onto the beach, and Fang eased Bahamut away to get a better look at what they were up against.

The fal'Cie was aptly named. Apart from a vaguely aquatic look, it bore a more than passing resemblance to a gorgonopsid. As the fal'Cie rounded on them again, Fang's mind slipped into analysis mode. Gorgonopsid moved about on four legs, and there were jagged claws on each foot. Its body was whipcord lean, almost certainly built more for speed than raw strength. Blue veins ran up and down its body, and half a dozen eyes blinked back at her from on top of its head. But the biggest danger was its mouth. The teeth were enormous – at least three times the length of a car. The teeth were also serrated and backward facing. Whatever Gorgonopsid grabbed in its mouth, it would rip off.

As it lunged again, Fang realised how right her analysis had been. It was fast. Damn fast.

"Let's kill this thing!" Fang growled.

Jihl's lips curled. "We will need to slow it down first."

Bahamut strode forward, the Eidolon shaking the beach as it closed the gap. The fal'Cie raced to meet it, and the two met with a world-shaking thump. Gorgonopsid's claws carved gashes into Bahamut's outstretched right arm before the left arm came down like the biggest hammer in the world. A great shudder ripped through the monster's frame and it smashed into the ground. Sand flew everywhere, kicked up by the force of the impact.

"What are you waiting for?" Jihl grit her teeth as she used Bahamut's left arm to pin the fal'Cie down. "Hit it!"

Fang reared back, and Bahamut's titanic frame rose to its full height before it drove its right fist into the middle of the fal'Cie's back. Bone crunched and the creature's ribs trembled. Mouth drawn into a snarl, Jihl fought to hold Gorgonopsid down as Fang landed another blow and then another.

"You hit like a girl, Yun!"

"Shut up!"

And then the fal'Cie was squirming free, its claws scrabbling off Bahamut's left arm as it darted behind them with unbelievable speed.

"The son of a bitch is fast," Jihl spat. "It's behind us!"

Sparks flew as the fal'Cie leapt onto Bahamut's back. Its jaws snapped for the Conn-Pod and Fang just barely managed to wedge Bahamut's right forearm between the Conn-Pod and certain death. Stumbling, the Eidolon staggered into the shallows until Jihl finally managed to bring the left arm around to rip the fal'Cie off. It didn't go without a fight – it took several tonnes of the armour on Bahamut's right arm with it.

"That damn thing is tough." Fang glanced at the readouts. "It severed some of the servos and hydraulics on my side. We're looking at maybe 75% effectiveness in the right arm. We're getting warnings on some of the back and upper leg stabilisers too. Those claws are a damn nuisance."

"Stop talking and fight." Jihl glared at the oncoming fal'Cie. "Here it comes again." She clenched her fist. "Engaging dragon claws on the left arm."

On Bahamut's left wrist, the armour opened up, unleashing a massive blade that protruded a good ten metres past the end of Bahamut's fist.

"Grab it!" Jihl said.

As Gorgonopsid leapt again, Fang brought Bahamut's right arm up to catch it. The black Eidolon stumbled back, almost driven off its feet by the force of the fal'Cie's charge. A roar from the monster shook the bay, and Bahamut toppled back. It didn't matter. Jihl was already striking, her shouts filling the Conn-Pod as she drove the wrist blade up and into the fal'Cie's gut again and again. The fal'Cie shrieked and locked its jaws around Bahamut's right arm.

"Don't you dare let go!" Jihl strained against the controls. "Hold him still, damn it!"

Ignoring the momentary flash of pain in her right arm – stupid neural bridge – Fang grabbed hold of as much of Gorgonpsid as she could. Bahamut's arm trembled under the strain, a hideous klaxon blaring from her display as system after system wailed its distress from the battered limb. Finally, with a horrible screech, Gorgonopsid wrenched its head back tearing a good-sized chunk of Bahamut's right arm off. By some miracle, the limb remained attached, and the fal'Cie circled them warily, blue blood oozing from its wounds. Dimly, Fang was aware of the oilrigs nearby – somehow they'd ended up several hundred feet from shore.

"I must have stabbed that thing a dozen times. I could have sworn I hit its heart."

"Well, you didn't." Fang flexed her right arm. "The right arm is down to 35% functionality. I can barely make a fist."

"Stop whining. It's headed our way again."

Gorgonopsid attacked again and again. It sent a spray of water up with each pass, but rather than commit to a single deadly attack, it seemed content to pick them apart a little bit at a time. It was too fast for them to land a solid hit, and each pass left them with another injury. A few more, and they wouldn't even be able to stand.

"Damn it." Jihl cursed as Bahamut tried to turn fast enough to connect, but the Eidolon's feet remained bogged in the ocean sand. "We need to slow it down some more."

"We can't." Fang's smirked. "But I've got an idea. A really stupid idea."

"Of course you do since you're always coming up with stupid ideas." Jihl glared. "So, spit it out. What are you thinking?"

"It's been going for our left arm a lot too, hasn't it?" The idea was only half-formed in Fang's mind, but already, she could see Jihl's eyes widen as the impression of it began to sink in.

"Yes, because we've been doing almost all of our fighting with it. Your arm isn't much good."

"Give it the left arm." Fang's eyes gleamed. "I can take it with my right."

The other woman stared. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But fine, I suppose we can try. It's not like we've got a better option. But if we die, I'll be sure to send you a letter from heaven when you end up in hell."

As the fal'Cie moved in for its next charge, Jihl dangled Bahamut's left arm in front of it. The monster took the bait and seized the limb in its jaws. For a heartbeat, Fang watched it dangle off Bahamut's left arm. Then she drew her right arm back – Bahamut followed, the motion punctuated by the clatter of broken machinery, mangled hydraulics, and shorted circuits.

"Take this!"

Fang activated the blade on Bahamut's right arm. It didn't extended all the way – the arm was too badly damaged – but it extended far enough. With a roar matched only by the metallic groan from Bahamut's battered frame, Fang jammed the blade through the fal'Cie's eye socket and into its brain. The Eidolon's left arm came off in a shower of sparks as Gorgonopsid flailed about in its death throes, but Fang wasn't done yet, and neither was JIhl.

"Hurry up and die!" Jihl stomped down on the fal'Cie with Bahamut's left foot. The fal'Cie bucked in a desperate bid to break free, and the Eidolon nearly lost its balance again. Fang snarled and grabbed hold of a nearby oilrig. Gorgonopsid's last charge had already damaged it beyond repair, so they shouldn't mind too much if she borrowed it. Wielding the metal frame like a spear, she drove it down into the fal'Cies throat. A quick jerk up and across, and she'd all but beheaded the beast.

Finally, it lay still.

Jihl began to laugh. "Are you crazy Yun? You used an oilrig as a spear. I guess it makes sense. The old stories always said your clan liked spears."

Right at that moment, Fang could almost have kissed Jihl. But then it passed, so she did the next thing that came to mind. She threw an insult.

"Funny how that works, huh? I did better with a mangled arm than you did with a working one."

X X X

Fang had a feeling that her analysis wasn't anywhere near as inspiring as Lightning's. It was, however, concise, to the point, and given with the benefit of extensive firsthand experience. It could also be summarised in a few words: work with what you've got, and hit the fal'Cie until it's dead.

"That was quite an analysis." Fang couldn't be sure if Lightning was being sincere or sarcastic. "But an accurate one nonetheless." She paused. "What would you have done if your right hand had failed to kill the fal'Cie?"

"Stomp it to death. Either that or die." Fang shrugged. The question didn't offend her, but she curious to see how Lightning interpreted her response. "That's sounds about right, doesn't it?"

"Yes." Something that could almost have been a smile tugged at the corner of Lightning's lips. Fang bit back a grin. Lightning understood what it was like in the Conn-Pod. You either learned to improvise or you ended up dead. "Still, you made the right decision. Can anyone tell me why Captain Yun's decision was correct?"

"It wasn't," one of the cadets argued. "Couldn't they have avoided taking damage to the right arm in the first place by being more careful?"

"Perhaps. But it is almost impossible to ascertain a fal'Cie's abilities prior to combat. Almost 50% of all pilot fatalities occur during the opening exchange. It is much better to lose an arm than to lose a life. And once a decision has been made, all subsequent decision must be made with the first decision in mind. Factoring in the initial damage to the right arm, Captain Yun's decisions were correct."

Fang felt a small swell of pride hearing that Lightning agreed with her. "Look, kid, in combat, you don't always know what you're up against. Picking a fight is the only way to be sure. The trick is to never risk too much. Bahamut took a lot of damage to one arm. Big deal. We found out everything we needed to know, and we won."

The class continued in this fashion for another hour, and Fang was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. She'd never been big on reviewing footage – her memory was usually good enough for that – but Lightning had a way of explaining things that made the whole discussion interesting. And it was a discussion, not simply Lightning giving her opinion as fact. The marshal invited comments, and although she often tore strips out of them, it was never without a great deal of sound reasoning, reasoning that she explained at length to the class. Lightning could be harsh, but she was never malicious. Students were corrected without being humiliated, and well-reasoned responses, even ones that turned out to be wrong, received grudging praise.

Finally, the training session was over. Fang turned to leave, but Lightning stopped her with a look.

"Captain Yun, Lieutenant Farron, we're going to be moving onto sparring. Perhaps you could give us a demonstration?"

A demonstration? Fang grinned. This wasn't a demonstration. This was an old-fashioned compatibility test, one she'd been dying to get out of the way since she'd met Serah. The cadets accompanied them over to one of the sparring areas, and Fang shrugged off her coat and shoes. Rather than accept the sword-like stave Serah held, Fang opted for something longer, something closer to a spear.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that the other Eidolon pilots had arrived. Good. She wanted to make an impression.

"Try not to kill each other," Vanille said.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Fang turned to Serah with a smirk. Fang was in her element now, all fun and games. She wanted to see what her new co-pilot was made of. "Are you ready for this?"

Serah matched her smirk. "Are you?"

Lightning stood at the edge of the sparring area. "First to four points. Begin!"

Fang lashed out with a strike straight at Serah's nose. The other woman didn't move so much as a muscle, and Fang's staff screeched to a halt a hair's breadth from her face.

"One." Fang chuckled. "Too slow to dodge?"

"No. I knew you wouldn't hit." Serah darted forward and her sword planted a mockingly gentle kiss on Fang's collarbone. "And who said I was slow?"

Fang's eyes widened. Oh, this would be fun. "Are you sure you shouldn't be the one they call Lightning?" Her remark was met by a few chuckles as she and Serah circled each other. Serah was fast, much faster than anyone she'd fought before.

"Less talk, more fight."

Serah breezed forward again, pink hair flying, as her sword whistled through the air. Fang parried each blow and then struck out with her spear, intent on driving Serah back out of range. The other woman might be fast, but Fang was no slowpoke, and she was far, far stronger. But rather than block, Serah ghosted through each of Fang's attacks, parrying now and then, until Fang finally locked their weapons together and shoved her back.

The shove lifted Serah clean off the ground, and she twisted, landing easily on her feet, only to find Fang's spear against her side.

"That makes it two to one."

"Nice." Serah tilted her head to one side. "But you're still holding back. You'd better start taking me seriously, or you will get hurt."

This time, Serah was even faster. Fang dodged back and forth. Etro! Serah had almost caught her with that last one. And the scariest thing was that for all their speed, Serah's strikes weren't wild. Each attack led flawlessly into another and another until the pink haired woman was a wave driving Fang back to the edge of the sparring area. But the Yun knew how to endure, and Fang was Yun right down to the soles of her feet. She held her ground only to find Serah crouched and spinning, one leg sweeping out to knock Fang off her feet.

"No one said it was weapons only." Serah extended a hand and helped Fang up. "Two all."

Fang was hard-pressed not to laugh. Serah had a sense of humour, all right. "So, that's how you want to play it? Let's go, Farron."

When they met again, Fang mixed her spear strikes with kicks, punches, and a whole bag of tricks. Serah met her in the middle of the sparring area, using the open space around them to dart in and out of range. The shorter woman was a blur of motion. The next time their weapons crossed, Fang abandoned her spear and tackled Serah to the ground.

"Three to two."

Serah didn't even bother to pick up her sword. Instead, she launched herself at Fang barehanded. Most pilots developed a preference for the side they piloted. Fang had carefully trained that weakness out of herself, and whoever had trained Serah had clearly done the same. She couldn't be sure, but she had a feeling it was the marshal's doing.

It was a joy to fight Serah. The pink haired woman might have lacked Fang's strength, but she was damn fast, and she knew how to use that speed. Serah would dart in with all the speed of a striking cobra, throwing a few strikes and then ghosting back, inviting Fang to come forward, only to suddenly plant her feet and meet Fang with a solid punch or kick that used Fang's forward momentum to amplify the force of the blow.

But more than simply enjoying the exchange, Fang was getting to know Serah. She was finally getting a solid grasp of how the younger Farron thought, a feel for the ebb and flow of her attack and defence. It was like fighting a whirlwind – or a bolt of lighting – and all it took was one moment's inattention as she admired a particularly acrobatic move, and Serah was there, a hand at her throat.

"Three to three."

"Next point wins then." Fang picked up her spear and tossed Serah her sword. "Let's see what you've got."

They met for the last time, and this time, rather than try a score a point, Fang fought to convey her intentions. She wanted to set a pace, a rhythm, and she wanted to know if Serah could follow it. For a heartbeat, Serah wavered, and then she was there, their weapons beating out a harmony only they could hear. Or perhaps not, for out of the corner of her eye, in one of those fleeting moments that were so often burned into her mind during battle, Fang thought she saw Lightning, the fingers of the marshal's right hand tapping out their rhythm on the top of her cane.

The rhythm was something Fang had always known, one she'd always felt inside herself, and already Serah was matching it almost perfectly. With a smirk, Serah upped the tempo, and Fang allowed herself a laugh before she followed. They picked up the pace, spinning and striking around each other in a blur of motion. Serah's eyes locked onto hers as their feet almost tangled, their backs almost touching on the next exchange before they went faster still. A missed step now would mean a broken bone or worse.

And then…

Serah grinned, nodded, and relinquished the lead.

Fang's spear came to rest on Serah's shoulder.

"You let me win." Fang couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Cheeky."

A shrug was Serah's response. "We'd be here all day if I didn't."

Then they were silent, sharing their camaraderie.

It was Lightning who broke the silence. "That is what compatibility looks like. It is not a competition, not a battle to decide who is best. It is acknowledgement. It is respect. Above all things, it is trust." She glanced at the cadets. "Get into pairs and start practicing. You could all use some more work on your form."

Afterwards, Fang stayed behind to help Serah instruct the cadets while Vanille headed back to her lab. At the end of the training session, Fang watched Serah head off to her room for a shower. There was someone she needed to talk to.

"Ma'am, how did you know that Serah and I would be so compatible?" Fang still couldn't get their little sparring session out of her mind. Serah fit with her in a way that Jihl never had.

Lightning's eyes betrayed nothing. Instead, she seemed more concerned with some of the equipment that had been left out. "I read your reports and files, captain. I watched footage."

"With all due respect, ma'am, that's a load of crap." Fang braced herself for a rebuke, but none came. Lightning merely narrowed her eyes, full lips firmed into a thin line. Suddenly, Fang felt very much like one of the cadets. Softening her voice, she continued. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I know how they pick co-pilots. Even after reviewing all the files, the reports, the personality tests, the footage, and all the rest, it still normally takes at least a week of in-person tryouts to be sure. I've never seen anyone pick a match this well without a tryout. So, how did you do it? I think I deserve to know."

"I suppose you do." The marshal looked around. They were alone. "Tell me, Fang, did Serah's fighting style remind you of anyone else?"

Fang's brows furrowed. She hadn't thought about it too much at the time, but now… "You," she said at last. "Everything I've heard, all the footage I've seen – she fights like you do."

"She fights that way because she was my partner and because I helped train her. It isn't exactly the same, but it is very close."

"What's your point?"

"I know myself very well, captain. When you're in hospital, there really isn't much else to do but think. I might have hoped for a while that I would pilot again, but deep down inside, I knew the truth. My injuries mean that I will never set foot in an Eidolon again. But Serah is different. She can still pilot. When I realised that, I realised I had to find her another co-pilot, someone who could fit her almost as well as I did."

"And you chose me? Why?"

"I told you, I know myself better than anyone. And I know Serah better than anyone. I asked myself a very simple question: if I was still piloting but Serah wasn't, who would be my partner? The answer was: you. I knew then that you'd be the best match for Serah, and she saw it too when she watched footage of you. She said that you reminded her of me. That was when I was sure."

Fang wasn't sure what to say. It made sense. Serah and Lightning had such a similar fighting style that any pilot who suited Lightning would almost certainly suit Serah as well. And Serah herself had agreed. But despite the esteem she'd already developed for the younger Farron, Fang couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to pilot with Lightning. By all accounts, Lightning had been even faster than her sister, and more skilled to boot. Fang's fists clenched.

In one smooth motion, Fang knelt, swept a wooden sword off the training mat and flung it at Lightning. The marshal caught the weapon in her left hand. Never breaking Fang's gaze, she slowly transferred her cane into her left hand as she took the sword up in her right hand. The marshal's weight shifted almost completely onto her left leg. Then the wooden sword came up, and those blue eyes flashed a challenge, one that Fang could not ignore.

Fang's wooden spear lanced out in five swift strikes. Lightning barely moved, and she wasn't graceful the way Serah was – she couldn't be with her crippled leg – but she caught every single blow with her sword, and then Fang was gaping in disbelief, her spear tumbling end over end through the air until it clattered to the ground some fifteen feet away.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Lightning's lips as she dropped the sword and took hold of her cane with her right hand. "I told you, I know you, Fang. And I thought Serah told you to stop holding back. I might be crippled but I'm not dead. If you ever treat me like an invalid again, I'll break your wrist and demote you to private. Are we clear?"

Fang stared. Then she began to smile. "Yes, ma'am. Crystal clear."

Lightning was about to turn and walk away when she stopped. "And in case, I haven't made my point yet, who do you think designed Bahamut's overhaul?"

"That was you?"

"I had a lot of spare time at the hospital." Lightning's lips curled. "And I learned a lot from what happened to Odin. I wouldn't wish my fate on anyone else."

Fang watched Lightning go, her heart hammering in her chest. Five strikes. They'd only exchanged five strikes, but she knew, she knew that Lightning understood her. Serah would make an excellent co-pilot, but Lightning was something else. For a split-second there, just before Lightning had twisted the spear out of her hands, their eyes had met. Blue on green. Fang swallowed thickly. Lightning was in her head now, and they hadn't even Drifted together.

With a sigh, Fang turned. She needed to ask Serah what her sister had been like as a pilot.

X X X

"You said you were going back to your room for a shower."

Serah studied her sister's face closely. Lightning had never been one to show much emotion, but she'd learned to read the signs. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That you're not the one in the Conn-Pod with Fang." Serah smiled sadly. "We match, but we both know, you'd match her better than me."

"That might have been true once." Lightning stepped around Serah. "But there's no point in wondering about what could have been. The only thing we can afford to worry about is what is. And right now, we have a war to win." Her voice softened. "And don't you dare apologise for what I chose to do. I was the one who chose to eject you, and if I had the choice again, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I said I'd take care of you, and I meant it. If I can't be there with you in the Conn-Pod, Captain Yun is the next best thing."

"You called her Fang back there."

"A slip of the tongue."

Serah watched her sister go and pretended not to notice the way Lightning stopped, right arm trembling as she reached down to clutch at her right leg. No matter what Lightning said, Serah knew what she still dreamed of.

They'd built Odin to run like the wind, and Lightning had been born to fly. Now Odin was nothing more than a museum piece, and Lightning would never run again. Serah closed her eyes against the pain, and when they opened again, they were as hard as her sister's.

If Odin couldn't run, then Bahamut would run instead. And if Lightning couldn't fly, Serah would do that for her.

"Because you always looked after me," Serah whispered as she finally turned to go to her room. "Just once, I'd like to look after you."

X X X

**Author's Notes**

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

So, I had this funny idea that this chapter would be shorter than the first. Oops. Oh well, sometimes things just don't go to plan. This was something of an awkward chapter to write since Fang has to be introduced to the rest of the "team" and that isn't exactly the most exciting thing in the world. I tried to spice it up, so hopefully it wasn't too bad.

In case you missed them, here are the Eidolon pilots:

Bahamut = Serah and Fang

Shiva = Snow and Hope

Chaos = Yuffie and Vincent

Spira = Yuna and Tidus

The previous chapter was split fairly evenly between Fang and Serah's points of view, but this chapter is written almost entirely from Fang's point of view. This was a deliberate decision – Fang is new to Eden City's Ark. She is the one meeting everyone for the first time, and she is the one trying to adjust to everything. Serah's snippet at the end was added because Serah is the only one, at this point, who actually understands Lightning properly.

The two parts at the beginning (the two excerpts) are attempts to try and build a richer world for the story. Fang and the other characters can only see so much, but these little excerpts provide a way of expanding the readers' knowledge of the world this story is set in. It's like how flicking through a newspaper can give us some understanding of what's going on in the world, whereas our own experiences are often limited to our immediate vicinity.

The fight scenes toward the end were perhaps my favourite part of the chapter to write. There's nothing quite like a giant robot picking a fight with what is essentially a giant gorgonopsid (I was unbelievably tempted to name the fal'Cie Gary and make him fluoro orange in homage to Gary the Gorgonopsid, but that would have been ridiculous). Jihl and Fang work as a team, but it's in the most dysfunctional of ways.

Fang's fight with Serah was… interesting to write. I wanted to try and convey the same sense of learning about someone through fighting that I felt occurred during the fight between Mako and Raleigh in Pacific Rim. I think it's true that once you know someone well enough, sparring can be quite an enjoyable experience, closer to a dance than a fight.

For those of you who aren't aware, Lightning, Serah, Fang, Vanille, Sazh, Dajh, Hope, Snow, Amodar, Bartholomew, Jihl, Cid, and Rygdea all come from Final Fantasy XIII. Yuffie and Vincent are from Final Fantasy VII. Tidus, Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu are from Final Fantasy X. Penelo and Vaan are from Final Fantasy XII.

I would also like to mention that I now have two short stories up on Amazon. If you're interested in a paranormal Western, "The Gunslinger and the Necromancer" may be what you're looking for. However, if you enjoy fantasy, you might like "The Last Huntress." There are links to both stories in my profile. Give them a try – you won't be disappointed!

Oh, and I finally achieved one of my sillier long-term goals – I managed to get Vanille, Rikku, Yuffie, and Penelo all in the same chapter.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Of One Mind**

_Are you seriously asking me why I wanted to join the Eidolon program?_

_You're kidding, right?_

_Who wouldn't want to be in charge of two thousand tonnes of robot awesomeness? If I'm going to have to put with the fal'Cie, I'd rather be in the Conn-Pod of an Eidolon than anywhere else. At least I get to hit them back that way._

_But I guess I've got another reason._

_You probably know all about my parents. They are kind of famous. My stupid old man got it into his head that since he was the Emperor of Wutai, he needed to pilot our Eidolon too. And wouldn't you know it, my mom was the only one who could pilot with him. There's brave, and then there's stupid. Guess which one my old man is._

_So, we threw together our own Eidolon. It was Leviathan, remember, one of the old Mark IIs. My old man and my mom did pretty well for a while. He's not perfect, but he knows how to fight. My mom does too, so put the two of them together, and you've got something special._

_I don't remember a lot about the missions they won. I do remember them coming home all tired but happy, and my old man would pick me up like I weighed nothing at all and swing me around and around. That was kind of cool. Then we'd eat dinner together before he and mom went off to… you know how it is with married couples that co-pilot. I try not to think about it too much. They are my parents. _

_I guess that's why my old man always looks like he wants to kill Vinnie whenever we visit. He doesn't have anything to worry about though. Vinnie is… Vinnie is kind of a stupid jerk. He still treats me like a kid no matter what I do. I blame Lucrecia for that. I can't believe she'd leave him to go back to her damn research. Everyone knows that co-pilots don't leave each other, not unless they're injured or dead._

_Anyway, I remember the day everything went wrong. I woke up in the middle of the night to all these sirens. Believe me, I can still hear those sirens. There was another fal'Cie coming and that meant everybody had to get to shelter in case my parents didn't win. You know what's funny? I wasn't worried about them losing. I was a dumb kid. I couldn't even imagine them losing. I was more worried they might be too tired to take me to the zoo the next day. Shows what I know, doesn't it?_

_The zoo. What a stupid thing to worry about. I didn't find out until later but that night was the first double event. We got a Category II, Grand Horn, and a Category III, Shred. My parents fought so hard - I could hear their Eidolon from the palace – but it wasn't enough. I saw Leviathan smash into the buildings next to the palace, and Staniv grabbed me and ran for one of the shelters._

_But I could still see what was happening – the wall was broken. Grand Horn tore one of Leviathan's arms right off. It broke a few buildings on the way down. Then it threw Leviathan at the palace. Everything shook. I could hear all these people screaming, but I couldn't understand it. Didn't they get it? My parents were in Leviathan. There was no way they could lose._

_Leviathan was all banged up, and Shred didn't even bother to look at it. That Category III turned its back like Leviathan was nothing and started ripping Wutai apart. But Grand Horn stayed. It stayed, and it started hitting Leviathan over and over again. The… the metal was screaming and it was flying everywhere, and then one of Leviathan's legs came off and then its other arm came off too and… and I realised for the first time that I was going to see my parents die. The fal'Cie reached for the Conn-Pod._

_It was going to kill my parents._

_And that's when I heard it._

_It was the sound of something big, something huge hitting the ground. It made the whole city shake, and when I looked over at the other side of the city, there it was. Odin. I might have been a kid back then, but everybody knew Odin. I've still got my Odin action figure and my Farron sisters action figures too._

_I'll never forget what happened next. In the middle of all these flames, Odin got up from its knees, an angry god in white armour. Odin was like something out of a legend, the biggest, stronger thing in the whole world. And I knew, somehow, I knew that everything would be okay. Because Odin had never lost, and each time it won, it looked so easy. Odin was the first Mark III, the best damn Eidolon in the world, piloted by the best damn pilots in the world. And they were there in the middle of Wutai, that invincible Eidolon and its pilots._

_Grand Horn didn't stop. It looked at Odin and then went back to trying to kill my parents. So Odin ran. Let me tell you something: most Eidolons are like trains. They start slow, but once they get going there's no stopping them. Odin wasn't like that. No, Odin was almost alive with a first step so fast you almost believed there was a giant beneath all that armour. Then Odin would glide, so smooth and quick you'd swear it was flying if it weren't for the thunder of its footsteps, the crunch of eighteen hundred tonnes of pure speed and power._

_I've looked at the other Mark IIIs. They're all built around the same kind of frame as Odin, but none of them could ever run like that. It was the pilots, I think. They were so quick, so in tune with each other. Odin wasn't a machine in their hands. It was a god._

_They ran right up to Grand Horn, and then Odin was jumping, jumping higher than any Eidolon I've ever seen. It came down with this huge, huge punch, right on Grand Horn's jaw. There was a flash and then a boom, and it was like a thousands bolts of lightning hitting at once._

_I didn't know what it was then, but I do now. It was Odin's Thunder Knuckle. The techs call it an "Ultra High Capacity Electrical Energy Discharge Array." It's basically what you get when you hook up the world's biggest pair of brass knuckles to the world's biggest Taser. That punch hit so hard I could feel it from the palace. Odin must have knocked half of Grand Horn's teeth out with that first shot. The fal'Cie tumbled back, and Odin was right there with another Thunder Knuckle._

_BOOM._

_Grand Horn went down like a sack of bricks. Then Odin pulled the sword off it back. The whole thing unfolded. Damn, it was beautiful, a sword as big as a ship. One strike was all they needed to cut Grand Horn's head right off. It couldn't have taken more than a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime to me. My parents were going to live. _

_But Odin wasn't done yet. They still had that Category III to worry about. Odin and Shred ran right at each other. The whole waterfront was a wreck by then, so there wasn't anything else to break when they slammed into each other and rolled around. Somehow, Odin held onto that sword, and when they got up again, it took a swing at Shred's head._

_The fal'Cie ducked, and its tail whipped around. But Odin was ready for it. It caught the tail with its left and shoved it at the ground. Then it stomped down – hard – and cut it off with the sword. Shred made this… this shriek after that. It was horrible._

_Shred wasn't done though. It went after Odin with its claws, hacking and slashing away. But Odin was too fast, and when Shred ducked under another slash of Odin's sword, it ran head first into a Thunder Knuckle. The whole of Shred's head lit up as the punch hit, and then it charged. It knocked the sword of out Odin's hand and tried to rip the Conn-Pod apart with its teeth._

_So Odin hit it again and then again and again. Shred fell back, and Odin was right on top of it, swinging away with the kind of punches that could break mountains. I still don't know how Shred's head stayed in one piece. Finally, it went limp, and Odin went for its sword to cut off Shred's head. The fal'Cie dodged – it must have been going on nothing but instinct by then – but it lost an arm anyway, and the second slash did the trick._

_Odin's armour was more blue than white when it stood up, but it was something… it was really something. That's when I knew I had to be an Eidolon pilot. It's why I did everything I could to get myself under Marshal Farron's command._

_You want to know something really funny? The day after the attack, the Farrons – Serah and Claire – came to the palace and signed my Odin action figure. It still keep it in my room to remind me of why I'm here. They're real heroes, not the kind you see in movies or read about in books. They're the kind that bleeds for you, the kind that will die for you if that's it takes._

_I hope I get to fight next to them one day._

- Excerpt from an interview with Her Royal Highness Princess Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai

X X X

Fang opened her eyes and glared at the clock on her bedside table. Crap. 5:00 AM. Damn it, she wasn't some rookie fresh out of the academy. The activation test for Bahamut wasn't until 15:00, and she had no reason to be nervous. She'd already done this before and so had Serah. She was supposed to be sleeping in, not tossing and turning.

It was strange. She'd never gotten this nervous piloting with Jihl. Maybe it was because she actually liked Serah. She'd only known the younger Farron for a day, but they were already getting along fine. Serah knew her stuff, and she was a damn good pilot too. If something went wrong, it wouldn't be Serah's fault. And if Serah got hurt, Fang had a feeling the marshal wouldn't be too pleased. Given how popular Serah seemed around the Ark, Fang might also find herself on the wrong end of a lynch mob.

There was no way she'd be getting any sleep now. She needed to go blow off some steam. And what better place to do that than the training centre? Piloting an Eidolon was some of the most physically demanding work on the planet. Even with the Drift, pilots still needed to be able to move around in the harness. In the middle of battle, with all the adrenaline blasting through her veins, it wasn't too bad. But once the thrill of battle faded, it was like slogging through neck high mud. Eidolon pilots were in peak physical condition for a reason.

"I hope I don't get lost." Fang changed into some shorts and a tank top and headed for the training centre. Whenever she needed to clear her mind, exercise always helped. Besides, she could use the chance to hit something. It might take some of the edge off and let her get back to sleep.

The training centre was deserted. She picked one of the heavy bags hanging near the corner and slipped on a pair of gloves. After a quick warm up, she got to work. It was so easy to forget everything when she was hitting something but that never lasted. The rhythm of her breathing, the steady crunch of fist and shin against the bag, each brought back memories of another time, a time when she'd had a father and a city to call her own.

Her punches picked up steam, hooks and uppercuts digging into the bag with almost brutal force. And when those weren't enough, she lined up kicks and knees until her whole body ached and she could barely breathe. Her chest heaved, and she made a disgusted sound. She'd forgotten to bring some water. But there were water dispensers around – she'd seen them yesterday. All she had to do was find one and –

Wait.

There was someone else here in one of the other rooms. More than a little curious – who exercised at 5:30 in the morning? – she crept toward one of the smaller side rooms. Careful not to make a sound, she peeked through a gap in the doors and had to fight to stay silent when she saw who it was.

The marshal was there. Claire Farron was out of her uniform, hobbling through what had to be rehabilitation exercises on her own. Something flared in Fang's chest, hot and painful. This was the first time she'd ever seen the marshal's wounded leg. At first glance, it didn't look that bad. But as the light caught it, Fang could make out dozens of tiny scars and several much larger ones that ran from above the knee to about halfway down the calf.

Unbidden, the contents of the marshal's medical report came back to her. It had cost Fang an arm and a leg in favours to get it. Lightning had almost lost the leg. In fact, the first two surgeons had recommended its removal. They'd managed to save it in the end, but the damage was irreparable. It would never be able to take her full weight again, and what little functionality it had was the result of years of painful rehabilitation. Fate had clipped Lightning's wings but that hadn't stopped the marshal from trying to fly.

As Fang watched, Lightning moved back and forth across the room next to a handrail. Her movements were stiff and jerky as she stumbled from her normal left leg to her ruined right leg. Her face was a mask of grim determination, lips set into a thin line and eyes flashing with defiance. But Fang could see how much it hurt. Now and then, a low hiss forced its way from between the marshal's lips, and she would stop and sag against the handrail like a puppet with its strings cut.

Worst of all was the look Lightning gave her right leg sometimes. Her will was an almost physical force, unbreakable and proud, but even it couldn't make her leg work the way she wanted it to. Instead, she was forced to stagger back and forth until finally, the leg gave way, and she fell. Without thinking, Fang pushed into the room and reached down to help her up.

"Don't touch me!" Lightning shoved Fang's hands away and glared up at her. Slowly, painfully, she reached for the handrail, her eyes never leaving Fang's. "Don't you dare touch me!"

Fang jerked away. After Oerba fell, she'd lived in the refugee camps around Paddra. There had been a cat there with the same look in its eyes as Lightning. It had been a mangy, starving little thing, but it had refused her help all the same. It would rather die than admit weakness. "Look… I…"

"I don't want your pity, Yun. And if you give it to me, so help me, I'll bust you down to private." Lightning was up again. "Stop staring. I can handle this."

Once again, Lightning was moving back and forth, a thin sheen of sweat covering her toned frame as she forced herself to take one unsteady step after another.

Fang glanced back at the door. She could leave. No one would blame her. But how could she? She had a feeling that this was something Lightning did a lot. Lightning had already given so much to the Eidolon program. It wasn't fair to ask her to go through this as well.

"Look, you've read my file. So you know that I used to help some of the doctors in Paddra provide physical therapy for wounded soldiers." Fang paused. "After Oerba, there were a lot of wounded soldiers."

Lightning stopped for a moment. Her eyes narrowed. "Then you have to understand that you can't help me. This is something I have to do myself."

"Why?" Fang winced as Lightning's scowl deepened, but she refused to step back. Instead, she moved forward until she was only a step away from the marshal. They were actually fairly similar in height, but the way Lightning was leaning against the handrail made her almost a head shorter. For a moment, she almost looked fragile, and then she was straightening, forcing herself to stand as tall as she could.

"Because I am the marshal." Lightning shoved Fang back with one hand, and Fang's eyes widened as Lightning eased away from the handrail. Her right leg trembled beneath her. "I am the one everyone looks to for direction. Do you know how hard it is for me to walk even with a cane? If I don't do these exercises, if I don't get used to this pain, then I won't even be able to manage that. And I have to. This Ark and all of the people in it rely on me for strength and direction. When I give orders they obey because they believe that my orders are the right orders. When I tell them to go out there and risk death, they don't hesitate because they believe in me. I have to be the calm in the eye of the storm. I have to be the one thing that never changes, that never breaks, that never fails. And above all, I cannot afford weakness, not in front of them, not in front of anyone. And that is why none of this leaves this room. Are we clear, captain?"

Fang's fists clenched. Lightning's right leg twitched, and the marshal tumbled back against the handrail. Fang took a step forward to help her, but Lightning's gaze pinned her where she stood. She should go. She'd been ordered to go. But she'd never been good at taking orders. "You have my word, ma'am. Nothing leaves this room. But at least let me help you."

"I can manage."

"You fell. Do it again, and you might hurt your leg. What would the others think then?" Fang shivered as Lightning gave her a vicious, vicious glare. "I've seen people do these exercises before. They don't normally do them alone."

Lightning sighed. "Dr Estheim normally supervises."

"Dr Estheim?"

"Hope's mother. She's our resident specialist in Eidolon pilot care. He's been going through some… issues recently, so she's been occupied with him. I can manage on my own."

"What about your sister?" Fang wanted to take the question back as soon as she'd said it. Lightning would never allow her sister to see her like this if she could help it.

"Go back to your workout, captain." The marshal turned her back. The message was clear: leave. "And I will get back to mine."

Fang headed for the door. Then she stopped. "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but I'm about done with my workout. I wouldn't mind helping you with yours."

"If this is pity –"

"It's not pity. I… I don't know what it is. I'm not sure what I'd do if I were in your shoes, ma'am. But I'd like to think I wouldn't quit. I'd like to think that I'd do what you did, what you're still doing." Fang fought to find the right words. She couldn't afford to hurt Lightning's pride, but she needed to make the other woman understand. "I respect you and everything you've done. It's a lot, more than almost anybody in the Eidolon program. But with all due respect, you shouldn't be doing these exercises alone. You can bust me down to private if you want, but I'll still be the only other pilot you have for Bahamut."

Lightning's eyes narrowed for a moment, and then her lips curled up at the edges. "Insubordination, captain? Never mind. You can watch if you like but don't come near me unless I ask."

Fang watched as Lightning completed her walking exercises and then moved on to some other exercises. The marshal definitely took her physical fitness seriously.

"I've been meaning to ask," Fang murmured as Lightning breezed through a set of chin-ups. Maker, the woman was in good shape. She could definitely still be a pilot if it wasn't for her leg. Despite the situation, Fang found herself staring, and she was inordinately glad that Lightning was too focused on her workout to notice. "But why is Serah only a lieutenant? She shares the record for most fal'Cie kills with you. Shouldn't she be Major Serah Farron?"

Lightning eased herself down from the bar. She stumbled a fraction, and Fang reached out to steady her. It was a small thing, just a hand on Lightning's side, but the marshal jerked away so fast that she nearly tripped.

"Sorry." Fang winced. That hadn't gone well at all.

"It's nothing." Lightning sat down on a bench. "You startled me, that's all." Her eyes drifted to a poster of Odin that hung on the wall. "When they got me to the hospital, they wanted to take my leg. But Serah wouldn't let them. She demanded they call in every expert in the country, and she wouldn't stop complaining until they did. She may also have pulled a gun. One of the generals told her to stand down. He said there wasn't a point in making such a big fuss since I couldn't be part of the program anymore. She broke his jaw and knocked four of his teeth out."

"Wow. Remind me never to get her mad. And they didn't court-martial her for that?"

"She doesn't get mad very often, but you don't have to worry. I think she likes you."

Lightning massaged her right knee with both hands, and Fang had to beat back the sudden urge to shove the marshal's hands away and replace them with her own. Fang could still feel her hand against the marshal's side. Lightning had been warm, very warm, and the play of muscle beneath smooth skin had been almost maddening.

"They would have kicked her out," Lightning said. "But Marshal Amodar intervened. He made it very, very clear that we were both too valuable to get rid of. Even so, they busted her down a few ranks. It's taken her years to make it back to lieutenant."

"I don't think it matters." Fang shrugged and folded her hands in her lap before they could wander. "I've seen the way people look at her here. It's like she's your second-in-command."

"In practice, she is. There isn't a single Eidolon pilot alive except me with more experience." Lightning stood and grabbed her cane. "I am going to shower and change, captain. I suggest you return to your quarters and do the same. You have an activation test later, and I expect your best."

"Do you do this everyday?"

"I have to."

"Will Dr Estheim be around tomorrow?"

The marshal's eyes widened a fraction before she could clamp down on her surprise. "No."

"I see. In that case, I'll see you tomorrow, ma'am."

Fang was aware of Lightning's gaze right up until she reached the door. It burned. She'd seen the other woman's weakness, but her opinion of Lightning had only grown. As she reached for the door, the marshal called out.

"Captain, you said you weren't sure what you'd do if you were in my shoes." Lightning was smiling the very faintest of smiles. "But I know what I'd do if I were in yours. If you were the one sitting here with a bad leg, I would have stayed to help you too."

Fang grinned. "I thought so. See you this afternoon, ma'am."

Despite what time it was, Fang had a spring in her step. Waking up early wasn't all that bad.

X X X

Fang ate a light breakfast in the mess hall with a few of the techs. Some of them had helped Vanille put in Bahamut's new reactor, and they couldn't wait to see the Eidolon in action. On her way back to her room, she ran into Serah. The pink haired woman was carrying two trays with breakfast on them.

"Don't like eating in the mess hall? That's a lot of food too."

"It's not all for me." Serah grinned and nodded in the direction of Vanille's lab. "Half of it is for your sister. Want to come watch her morning feeding?"

"You make her sound like some kind of animal."

"She can be if you try to wake her up too early, but I'm trying to get her back onto a regular sleeping schedule – my sister's orders. We've also got a big investor coming in today, and my sister needs Vanille to be on point for him."

Fang chuckled. She knew what Vanille could be like in the morning. It was a good thing that she was strong enough to fend the younger woman off – she could be that cranky. But something Serah had said didn't sit right with her. "A big investor? I thought we'd get all the money we need since we've, you know… saved the world about fifty times."

Serah sighed. Apparently, this was something she'd thought about a lot. "You'd think so, but no. The Eidolon program is only one branch of the Pan-Vestige Protection Initiative. We do get the lion's share of the funding, but there's always someone trying to cut it back." She made a disgusted sound. "We've done such a good job of protecting everyone that some of them have forgotten what it was like at the start. Some of them have forgotten how dangerous this is."

And Serah, Fang knew, would never forget, could never forget with Lightning as her sister. "What do they want to do?"

Serah looked around as they walked toward Vanille's lab. When she saw they were alone, she spoke, "It was never widely publicised, but there was a strong push to replace the Eidolon program with a Pan-Vestige wall. My sister ensured the defeat of that proposal, but they still haven't given up. Supposedly, it's cheaper."

"A wall? A Maker damned wall?" Fang wasn't sure if she should laugh, cry, or hit something. "That's never going to work."

"Which is why we're fighting it."

They reached the lab, and Fang watched as Serah typed the password into the keypad and swiped her security pass all while balancing both trays. It was an impressive display of agility, but Fang couldn't help but wonder how close Serah and Vanille must be for the Farron to have complete access to the lab.

The pink haired woman noticed her stare. "Someone has to look after Vanille, and we're friends." She paused as the door opened. "Watch your step."

Fang took one step and almost tripped over what appeared to be a piece of Drift equipment. However, her eyes were quickly drawn to all of the fal'Cie specimens kept in labelled containers along the walls. Vanille really needed to get out more. As for the red head, she was slumped over her desk, a can of energy drink beside her head. The data display in front of her was still on, covered by an assortment of figures, numbers, and text.

"What are those?" Fang cleared some space on a nearby table so that Serah could put down the trays. "They look kind of like Bahamut."

"Vanille's been working on some improvements." Serah glanced over the display. "She's got some good ideas, but look at the dates. They won't be doing any further modifications until after the test today. The only thing they've changed is the reactor."

"I can't believe they got that done so fast."

"My sister made it a priority, and there isn't a mechanic on base that doesn't owe Vanille at least one favour." Serah grinned evilly. "Now, let's go wake up sleeping beauty."

Fang rolled her eyes. With her face flat on her desk and surrounded by energy drink cans, Vanille was the very opposite of sleeping beauty. She was, however, kind of adorable.

Serah patched into the announcement system for Vanille's room. Smirking, she put on her most Lightning-like voice. "Attention! Movement had been detected in the Vestige. A Category 100 fal'Cie has been detected. All pilots are to report to their Eidolons immediately."

"Ah!" Vanille shot to her feet, tripped, and then dragged herself toward her computer. "That can't be right! Sazh said we had more time and –" She trailed off as she finally noticed Serah and Fang laughing at her. "You are a horrible human being, Serah Farron. If it weren't for the fact that you're way better at fighting than me, I would punch you right in the face."

"Yeah, yeah." Serah leaned over to pat Vanille on the head before she leaned back to dodge a haymaker from the red head. "Now, be a good girl and eat your breakfast. You have a meeting with my sister today. There's a big investor coming in, so she needs you around to brief them on a few things."

"Fine, fine." Vanille's glare vanished when she spotted the pancakes on her tray. "For me?"

"Yes, for you."

"I take back everything I said. You are the best friend ever." Vanille shot Fang a hopeful look. "Did you bring me any?"

"What? Uh. No."

"Meanie."

Fang laughed. "Come on, I only got here yesterday. I'll bring you some tomorrow."

"Make sure you do." Vanille brandished her fork. "Don't forget, I'm the one in charge of upgrading your Eidolon."

Vanille scarfed her food down with impressive speed and then turned to Fang again. "So, are you nervous? If you mess up, the marshal is going to kill you."

"Please, I'll be fine. I piloted with Jihl, and we hated each other's guts. I actually like Serah. Plus, we did some sparring yesterday. Trust me, we'll be fine."

Serah smiled. "We'll be fine, Vanille. Stop worrying."

"By the way, Serah, is there anything I need to watch out for? In the Drift, I mean."

"You've read my file, right?"

"Of course. I read it last night." It was standard protocol, and although Fang was willing to skirt protocol at times, she never took any chances when it came to her co-pilot. They needed to have complete trust in each other to make things work in the Conn-Pod.

"There are things the file doesn't get across, things that… well, words don't do a good job of saying. Just be careful. I've got a few bad things in my head. If you don't follow them too closely, you'll be okay." Serah sighed and fiddled with her fork. "And there's one other thing, something that isn't even on the file."

"Oh?" This was interesting. The files handed to co-pilots were extensive and unnervingly thorough. Heck, Fang even knew how good a student Serah had been in primary school along with the names of her best friends in second grade. "You're not secretly a serial killer are you? That would be so funny. You know, with your sister and the Eidolon program covering things up and…"

Dead silence.

"No way." Fang shook her head. "No freaking way."

Serah giggled. "No, I'm not a serial killer, but I am something else. Actually, it's not only me. Lightning and I, we ghost Drift. Even now."

Fang stared. She'd head of ghost Drifting, everyone had. It was the idea that some people could Drift together even when they weren't hooked up to all the equipment. But nobody really believed in it. Sure, there was cross-pilot transfer. More than once, she'd caught herself wanting to rub her glass clean even though she didn't have any. And sometimes, she'd noticed Jihl's accent thickening into something approaching hers. Transfer was why most Eidolon pilots picked up similar habits and hobbies, and why siblings who co-piloted grew even more similar.

But ghost Drifting was supposed to be an urban legend. How could two people stay connected without the equipment? There was no way that could happen. But the look in Serah's eyes was deadly serious. This was no joke.

"What do you mean and why wasn't this in the file?"

"Genuine ghost Drifting is so rare that most researchers still consider it a myth. Lightning and I still hold the record for highest synchronisation score. Since after our first Drift, we've been able to connect without the equipment. It isn't as strong or as clear, but it's there."

"What do you get?"

"Mostly emotions. But depending on how vivid they are, I can get images, words, bits and pieces." Serah shrugged. "It got stronger the more we piloted, and when Lightning was hurt…"

Fang grimaced. "Oh."

"I felt every moment of it. I can still feel it. There are days when I wake up in the morning and my right leg hurts so much I can barely stand. And then I remember that it wasn't my leg that got hurt. So when we Drift, it won't be just me in your head. Lightning will be there too, at least a little. She won't have access to much, not like me, but I thought you should know."

"I appreciate it." Fang tried to keep the eagerness out of her voice. "What about her memories? Are those in your head too?"

"Some of them. But keep away from those." Serah's voice hardened. "They're not all pleasant, believe me." She smiled. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm going to take some of the cadets through their morning exercises. I don't have to do much, but it is fun to order them around."

Serah was about to leave when Fang stopped her. "When you slugged that general, how did it feel?"

"Lightning told you? If you must know it, it felt great. But damn, my hand hurt a lot afterward."

Alone with Vanille, Fang mulled over Serah's words. The red head was busy eating the Farron's leftover pancake.

"She's not lying about the ghost Drifting."

"I never said she was. It's a little hard to believe, that's all."

"I had a chance to run some tests last year. They still have a link. It's actually kind of cool." Vanille turned to her computer and started to leaf through a few schematics. "There are a few other cases, but they're the best examples. We'd know more, but the marshal's injuries mean we can't do too much testing. We might melt her brain."

"Say, Vanille, how did you and Serah become friends?"

Vanille paused and reached for a can of energy drink, but Fang's pointed look was enough to convince her to opt for a bottle of water instead. Even so, Fang made a mental note to check the water in the bottle for added sugar.

"When I first got here, I didn't know anyone. There were a few other Dia and Yun on base, and they were pretty nice to me. But you know they've never liked me as much as they like you. You're your father's daughter. I'm some street kid he picked up somewhere along the way to keep his daughter company."

"Vanille." Fang tugged her sister into her arms. "You know he never felt that way. I never felt that way."

"I know, and he'll always be my father just like you'll always be my sister. But remember the newspapers, Fang? They always talked about how he left one daughter behind – one daughter. I know that's not your fault or his, but it still hurts." Vanille burrowed into Fang's arms. It had been so long since she'd been able to do this. "When Oerba fell, it must have been hard for everyone else to see some kid like me get treated like she was special."

"You were special. You're a damn genius, that's why they had to rush your through the science program."

"Maybe, but that doesn't make it any easier for people to accept. When I got here, I was pretty lonely. Sazh – Dr Katzroy – was pretty nice to me. He nags a lot, but only because he cares. He's like… I don't know, a grandpa to most of the tech staff, and his son Dajh is really cute and cuddly."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Sure, but it was lonely. Rikku is really nice and we're good friends, but she has to spend most of her time in the hangar while I spend most of my time in my lab. I have other friends from the techs and mechanics, but Serah was my first real friend out of all the pilots and combat staff."

"How did you two meet?" Fang needed to pay Serah back for this somehow. Anyone who took such good care of Vanille deserved the best.

"I was proposing some changes to the Eidolons at a meeting, and some of the others made fun of me. They weren't even pilots." Vanille smiled softly. "Lightning didn't even have to get up or raise her voice. Serah did. She told them all to shut up unless they'd ever actually been in a Conn-Pod and to stop being rude. If they had a problem with my ideas, then they needed to point out what was wrong with them instead of making fun of me. Then she asked Vincent for his opinion. He didn't say much, he never does, but he agreed that the proposed changes were 'acceptable.' After the meeting, she asked me to show her a few more of my ideas, and we've been friends ever since." Vanille's gaze burned into Fang. "Please look after her."

"Don't worry, I will. Don't forget, I'll be in that Conn-Pod with her." Fang looked around at the rest of the lab. "What is all of this? It can't all be fal'Cie related. And is that a wheelchair you have over there? Please tell me there isn't some disabled person on base wondering where their wheelchair is."

"Don't be silly. I wouldn't steal someone's wheelchair. I asked the medical staff if I could borrow it. Here, come take a look."

Fang followed Vanille through a menagerie of parts and papers. Up close, the wheelchair resembled a motorised one, but there was a helmet attached to it. "What is this?"

"Eidolons aren't cheap. It costs about 120 billion gil to build a mark V, and upgrading your Bahamut to meet current combat standards will probably end up costing around a third of that. So yeah, building giant robots to save the world is expensive. To help with some of the costs and give the Eidolon program an extra source of funding in case our investors ever get cold feet, the marshal instituted the Eidolon Technology Refitting Initiative. Basically, we look for places where Eidolon technology could come in handy, and we make a pile of cash. You know the stabilisers on the newest generation of commercial jetliners? They're based on the stabilisers we fit onto Bahamut a few years back."

"And this wheelchair is a part of that?" Fang tried to wrap her head around it all. Did Lightning have a plan for everything?

"Oh yeah. See that helmet? We're working on applying Drift technology to smaller machinery."

"And this won't make anybody's brains melt?"

"Technically, Drift technology has never made anyone's brain melt. It's more like massive, widespread haemorrhaging across all parts of the brain and nervous system."

"That sounds worse."

"It probably is. But to answer you question, no, nobody's brain is going to melt or haemorrhage because of it. Eidolons need two pilots to share the load because of how big and complex an Eidolon is. In theory, one person would be enough to run this wheelchair. Imagine it, Fang, a wheelchair run by a person's mind."

Fang gave a low whistle. "I am. It sounds like it'll be worth a pile of money."

"Definitely. All we have to do now is work out the kinks."

Fang's thoughts drifted to Lightning. Could this technology help her? Maybe, but it clearly wasn't ready yet if Vanille had it hidden in her lab. "Do you mind if I hang around here for a while? You can tell me more about what you've got planned for Bahamut."

"Sure. Pull up a chair."

Fang reached for a chair in the middle of a pile of papers.

"Not that one! That's a load bearing chair."

X X X

As Lightning's unofficial second-in-command, Serah was used to putting out the proverbial fire or two. It helped that she was quite popular around the Ark, and her time in the Conn-Pod had turned her into something of a guru to the cadets and newer pilots. Yuffie, in particular, had absolutely no qualms about latching onto her. In return, Serah continued to pretend that she hadn't noticed the action figures of Odin, her, and Lightning in the girl's room.

"Serah, you need to get over here."

She looked up. It was Rikku. The chief mechanic had smudges of oil and grease on her face, and her unusual eyes were filled with worry. "Is something wrong? I know you've been working on Spira –"

"It's Yuffie! Dr Crescent is here with one of the investors."

Lucrecia Crescent was one of the single most brilliant individuals Serah knew. She was match for even Vanille and Sazh in terms of intellect, and unlike the other two, she had also served as an Eidolon pilot before retiring to work for one of the Eidolon program's largest backers, the Shinra Corporation. Shinra had helped pioneer the Eidolons' power systems and had been extensively involved in weapons development and Drift research as well. Lightning had a healthy dose of respect for their political and business acumen along with a healthy dose of scorn for their conduct in other areas. Some of their staff was also extremely unpleasant. Serah could still remember how upset Vanille had been about having to work with Dr Hojo, Shinra's chief fal'Cie biologist, for even a few days.

More importantly, Lucrecia had been Vincent's original co-pilot for Chaos. She was Vincent's co-pilot, and she'd left him. Vincent had never been a loud man, but after that he'd become an almost silent one. Yuffie, of course, knew all about it, and the girl hated Lucrecia with a passion. Ignoring the strange looks she received, Serah left Rikku in her wake and broke into a run. She needed to stop Yuffie before she did something stupid.

Serah got to the hangar in time to see Yuffie take a swing at Lucrecia. The young pilot moved too quickly for any of the gawkers – and there were plenty of gawkers – to stop her.

"You think you can waltz in here and hurt him again?" Lucrecia ducked under another wild swing. Yuffie was so angry that she'd lost any semblance of technique. "I was a kid when you walked out on him, but I'm big enough now to knock your teeth in."

Yuffie drew her arm back for another punch, but Serah was there to stop her. She grabbed Yuffie around the waist and took a quick look around. Good, Fang and Vanille were there, the Yun pushing her way through the crowd. She tossed the girl at Fang.

"Let me go, damn it!" Yuffie flailed, but Fang refused to budge. Instead, the older woman braced one arm under Yuffie's chin and applied enough pressure to make her point clear. With another low growl, Yuffie went still.

"Not until you calm down," Fang whispered. "Don't be stupid. Even I know who that is. She's important. You can't screw this up. If you hit her, you'll be suspended – the marshal won't have a choice. Who's going to pilot with Vincent then?"

Yuffie snarled, and Serah winced. Yuffie was doing her best to hide it, but she was close to tears. She pointed at Lucrecia. "She's the one who hurt Vinnie! She's the reason he's such a closed up jerk! Let me go and –"

"Yuffie." Serah didn't turn, but her voice had taken on that slightly lower register it always did when she channelled her sister's poise. "I know, but now isn't the time. Go with Fang. I'll speak to Lucrecia."

"But –"

"That's an order."

Behind her, Serah heard Fang fidget. Technically, Serah wasn't the highest-ranking officer present. Fang was. But everyone knew Serah was her sister's closest advisor.

"Come on, kid." Fang hefted Yuffie over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Let's go talk to Vinne. Leave this to Serah."

Yuffie sighed. "Fine. But if she even thinks about talking to Vinnie, I'm kicking her ass."

Serah waited until Yuffie was out of earshot. "Why weren't we informed of your arrival?"

"I… I was a late addition to Shinra's contingent." Lucrecia looked close to tears herself. "I want to…"

"To what?" Serah shook her head. This anger wasn't helping anyone. "Look, it doesn't matter. While you're here, you will respect my sister's authority, and I know exactly what she'd say to you right now. What happened between you and Vincent is your business. But the second it becomes a problem, it becomes our business." Serah could feel Lightning's presence at the edges of her awareness, her anger gathering like a storm on the horizon.

"I didn't mean to hurt him."

"You left, Lucrecia. Do you know how many co-pilots have retired voluntarily? Almost none. Co-pilots die together, retire together, or are separated by death or injury. No one ever retires. No one ever leaves their co-pilot by choice."

"Serah –"

"Lieutenant."

"Lieutenant." Lucrecia dragged in a deep breath. "I apologise for any disruption I might have caused. It wasn't my intention to cause any trouble." Her fists clenched. "I… you know me. I would never hurt Vincent unless I had to."

Serah's eyes softened for a moment. "You still hurt him, Dr Crescent. If you're part of Shinra's contingent, you should hurry. You've got a meeting to attend." She nodded at one of the nearby personnel. "Please escort the doctor to her meeting."

When Lucrecia was gone, Serah head for Chaos. If there was one place Vincent would go when he was in trouble, it was his Eidolon. She'd done the same thing too when she'd been a pilot.

Vincent and Yuffie were talking quietly amongst themselves when she got there. The crimson-eyed man was doing his best to look aloof, but it was obvious to Serah that he was pleased Yuffie had stuck up for him. Fang and Vanille weren't there. They'd probably gone to have a look at Bahamut before the test. Serah would join them later, but right now she needed to make sure that Yuffie was all right.

"Yuffie?"

"Hey." The girl sat on the catwalk next to Vincent. She patted the ground beside her. "Sit?"

"Sure."

"I'm sorry about earlier. She just pisses me off so much."

"I understand. I once broke a general's jaw for something he said about my sister." Serah put one arm around Yuffie. Yuffie curled up against her, and Vincent gave her a small nod of gratitude. "So believe me, I get it. But you need to keep it together. This is a big day."

"Aren't you nervous? I would be."

"Not really. Fang is a great pilot. We'll get along fine."

"It makes me so mad." Yuffie scowled. "You don't leave. You can't leave, not if you can still pilot and your co-pilot needs you. But she left."

"I know, and I don't understand it either."

"She had her own dreams," Vincent said. "And they didn't include me. But we built Chaos together. It was ours."

"Maybe the old one was," Yuffie said. "But this one is ours, yours and mine. I'm never going to leave you, not unless I'm dead or you are. That's a promise."

Vincent's lips twitched. "What if we win the war and there are no more fal'Cie to fight?"

"You'll be stuck with me anyway. Once a co-pilot, always a co-pilot."

"That is a terrifying thought."

"Shut up, Vinne. You know you love me."

Vincent rolled his eyes but didn't disagree. "I admit, you have grown on me – much like a barnacle."

"Good." Serah grinned as Yuffie shot Vincent an outraged glare. "I'm going to take a quick look at Bahamut and then have a nap. Are you guys going to the activation test?"

"Of course we are. You were an awesome pilot! You'll be awesome again, I know you will."

"I hope so. See you at the test then."

X X X

Lightning was not overly fond of Rufus Shinra. The man had the business sense of a shark. Any weakness, no matter how small or insignificant, was exploited with ruthless efficiency. Once the threat posed by the fal'Cie had become apparent, he had moved quickly to buy up construction companies all along the Vestige. He'd also taken steps – some of dubious legality – to acquire the clean up and restoration rights to many of the areas damaged by the fal'Cie. Many businesses had floundered in the wake of the fal'Cie. But thanks to a combination of intelligence, cunning, trickery, money, and political force, Rufus had guided Shinra to even greater success.

Rufus would have been a fearsome opponent, but he had also proven to be a most useful ally. Neither of them had any illusions as to the nature of their relationship. They weren't friends. They could barely even call themselves acquaintances. However, Rufus happened to enjoy living, and the fal'Cie presented a threat to his continued existence that no amount of money or political influence could handle.

The Eidolon program, however, did offer a means of dealing with the fal'Cie, and Lightning was one of the most important parts of the program. Rufus was nothing if not pragmatic. If it cost him billions of gil to fund the only program capable of keeping him and the rest of the world alive, then he'd pay billions of gil. Still, he was also businessman, which was why he was here today.

"Mr Shinra." Lightning didn't bother to stand from her seat at the head of the conference table, and Rufus didn't seem the least bit bothered. They were past caring about pointless formalities. As long as she did her job and he did his, banal pleasantries didn't matter.

"Marshal." He sat on the opposite end of the table. Apart from Dr Crescent, he'd also brought several of his Turks – trusted bodyguards that also served as his advisors. Lightning was familiar with all of them. Tseng was an experienced ex-military man, who had taken a keen interest in the Eidolon program from the start. Elena was Rufus's financial advisor and the public face of Shinra's charity programs. Rounding out Rufus's entourage were Reno and Rude. Reno was Rufus's connection to the less than legal side of things, and Rude served as the head of his security, a no-nonsense man that Lightning would have been happy to have on staff.

"I think we can skip the pleasantries." Lightning nodded at each of the people on her side of the table. "Dr Sazh Katzroy, head of the mathematical analysis and simulation division and Dr Oerba Dia Vanille, head of our fal'Cie research and Eidolon weapons development program." There were a few others there as well, but Sazh and Vanille would be the ones doing most of the talking.

Despite Lightning's words, the two sides did exchange a few more pleasantries before they moved on to business. It was a welcome distraction. Although she would never admit it, her encounter with Fang earlier that morning had left her… uncertain, which wasn't something she'd felt in a very long time. She'd almost forgotten that understanding went both ways. She and Fang would have been extremely Drift compatible, so it was no surprise that Lightning understood her. It shouldn't have surprised Lightning then to find that Fang understood her too.

Her lips thinned. She could think about that later. Right now, she needed to focus. Even so, she couldn't stop herself from reaching down to touch her side. She could still feel the touch of long, slender fingers against her side.

"I've heard that some of the larger nations are pushing for a reduction in funding," Rufus said.

"It is understandable," Lightning replied. "The larger nations have been forced to shoulder almost all of the cost. The smaller nations have essentially received protection for free. However, any reduction in funding would still be foolish, especially when you consider the alternative they have proposed."

"The wall, you mean?" Rufus laughed. "Idiots. Have they already forgotten the results of your little wager? A wall would buy us a few more hours at most, and I plan on living much longer than that. However, not even my pockets are bottomless." He glanced at Sazh and Vanille. "I appear before one of the funding committees next week. Give me something I can work with. I will sell it, marshal, you can be sure of that."

"Dr Katzroy, if you would be so kind as to explain your findings to Mr Shinra and his staff."

Sazh got to his feet. They were friends of a sort. She'd known him from her days as a pilot, and he was brilliant at what he did. He'd lost his wife to one of the fal'Cie and that loss had sharpened his already impressive intellect even further. He wanted nothing more than to help create a safer world for his son.

The dark-skinned man activated a display unit at the centre of the table, and an image appeared in the centre of the room. "These are the locations of all the fal'Cie attacks that occurred in the first two years. As you can see, there's a lot of dispersion. It almost looks random."

"A scouting routine?" Tseng asked.

"I believe so. Look at the next year and the year after that. Each year, the fal'Cie become better at focusing their attacks on our major population centres and military assets. This isn't dumb luck. They're learning." Sazh paused. He'd recently tried to present some of these findings to a host of politicians and dignitaries and had almost been laughed out of the room. Lightning had quietly used her influence to remove at least a few of those individuals from power. Sazh had saved millions of lives with his research. Anyone who laughed at him was either stupid or suicidal. "We've learned a lot about the fal'Cie, but they've learned a lot about us too." He pulled up more data. "These are from the past two years. Look."

"Smart, aren't they? They're trying to stretch our defences and pick Eidolons off one at a time. And once our Eidolons are gone, we're all dead." Rufus scowled. "But they don't seem smart. Dr Katzroy, the fal'Cie we've encountered so far don't appear to put much stock in complex thought."

That was Vanille's cue to cut in. "You're correct, Mr Shinra. The fal'Cie's brains appear to be almost completely devoted to combat. However, we still don't know what's on the other side of the dimensional breach. It's possible there are others in control."

"That is a possibility. I'm assuming you have at least some evidence."

"Here are the combat-relevant statistics for each of the fal'Cie we've encountered. I also have the data for when each attack occurred and how many fal'Cie were involved. As you can see, the fal'Cie have been increasing their combat effectiveness far too rapidly for it to be evolution. We've also seen the consistent addition of weaponry specifically designed for fighting Eidolons. Combined with their increased numbers and the increasing frequency of their attacks…"

"They plan to exterminate us." Rufus's eyes narrowed. "What do you need, marshal?"

"There are two things I need: time and money. Not even you can give me the former, but the latter is well within your reach. Each year, the fal'Cie grow stronger and more numerous. Yet each year it gets harder to ask for more money."

"You are a victim of your own success. True, several Eidolons have been lost, but the Eidolon program has managed to prevent the occurrence of further catastrophes. They believe you have enough money. They want to believe that because they are stupid and scared. But fear and stupidity will be of little use to us in the future." Rufus folded his hands on the table. "Have you considered staging a controlled failure?"

"What are you suggesting?" Had she been able to, Lightning would have shot to her feet. As it was, she tightened her hold on her cane until her hands hurt.

"You know exactly what I am suggesting. You wouldn't have to lose one of the larger cities – one of the smaller island nations would do. It would be a reminder that the world could always use another Eidolon or two."

"No." Lightning would do almost anything for the Eidolon program but not that. "Absolutely not."

"A pity."

"What about a grass roots campaign?" Reno asked. "I'm sure we could get our hands on the transcripts for those meetings. I bet the public will love to know that their leaders aren't coughing up the money their heroes need."

"You sound like you're looking forward to it," Rufus said.

"Hey, it beats letting a whole bunch of innocent people die."

"If you think you can manage it," Lightning said.

"We can discuss the details later." Rufus smiled thinly. "Believe me, Reno is very good at what he does."

"I like to keep an ear to the ground. Give me an hour – two at the most – and it'll be viral. Anyone who doesn't pony up some cash can look forward to a long time out of office."

"Leave the more blatant display of political force to me. It's been a while since I've had the chance to intimidate a president. However, I do expect some compensation for my efforts."

"Dr Dia, tell Mr Shinra what we have for him."

Vanille perked up. She might not like Rufus all that much, but she loved talking about her work. "As you know, there's a thriving business in cleaning up after fal'Cie attacks."

"Yes. I own most of it."

"What you might not be aware of is the size of the black market in fal'Cie body parts. A pound of fal'Cie bone powder can sell for thousands of gil. As a result, the operators of this black market have become incredibly skilled. Haven't you ever wondered why there's hardly any of the fal'Cie left by the time your clean up crews get there? Anyway, thanks to a certain… contact I have, the Eidolon program has access to a steady supply of fal'Cie body parts."

"Remind me why you and Hojo don't get along," Reno muttered.

"Because he's a creep. The fal'Cie are wonderful examples of biological engineering. Their bones are as hard – if not harder – than anything we've come up with, and their muscles can generate a tremendous amount of force." Vanille tapped the display unit. "We've been working on cables based on fal'Cie tendons. They're at least 25% better than anything currently available, and they're only going to get better as we work all the kinks out. Once we've done some more field testing, we plan on incorporating them into our Eidolons."

"That is interesting." Rufus's lips curled. "And you led this research, Dr Dia?" He nodded at Elena who pulled out a small tablet. "Along with the Eidolon program's current research into better armour, stabilisers, and power cores?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to work for me?"

"You will not be poaching any of my staff." Lightning scowled. "Dr Dia, continue."

"Field testing should be done within the next month, so we can send that data to you. If it goes well, you should be able to move into full production within six months."

"What sort of field test did you have in mind?"

"It's going into an anti-fal'Cie weapon."

"That should make for excellent press. What else do you have?"

"We've been incorporating Drift technology into smaller-scale machinery. At the moment, it's still in testing. It's not easy – we're basically stuck working with cadets and retired Eidolon pilots since we can't risk any of our current pilots."

"But your results so far…"

"Promising." Vanille shrugged. "Give me a few more months and I'll have a Drift controlled wheelchair for you."

"Excellent."

"The stabilisers we use in the Mark V Eidolons should also be ready for commercial purposes soon. We've also developed a variant of the ceramic-metal composite used in Shiva's armour that is perfect for cars, planes, and ships."

Rufus smiled. "Your people do good work, marshal. We're all going to be very wealthy. Can I assume that the standard agreement is in place?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll get your funding increase, and I'll deal with some of the more obnoxious political elements as well. Games are all well and good, but not when the stakes are this high." Rufus smirked. "It's a pity we can't do away with the politicians entirely. I think you'd make a wonderful warlord."

Lightning didn't dignify his comment with a reply.

"Serah will be piloting today, won't she?" Lucrecia asked. She hadn't said a word until then, but Lightning had a feeling she'd be spending a lot of time with Vanille and Sazh.

"Yes. I believe you ran into her earlier."

Lucrecia flushed, drawing interested stares from the Turks. "I did."

"Naturally, you're all invited to attend the activation test. You will, of course, have to stay out of the command centre – it's procedure – but I have had a specially fitted observation post prepared for you."

"How kind of you." Rufus stood. "I'll be here for the next week, so we can iron out more of the details later. Right now, I could use something to eat."

"I have standing reservations at several of Eden City's best restaurants," Lightning said. "You are more than welcome to use them."

Once Rufus and his entourage had filed out, Sazh fixed Lightning with a pointed look. "I don't trust him."

"Rufus doesn't give his word easily, but he does keep it. It's how he's survived this long. And we need his help. He was right – our success has made people complacent. But he has enough money and influence to remove our political opponents and provide a sizeable increase in our funding."

"I don't know why we can't just go into business ourselves." Vanille huffed. "But at least he's not asking for the weapons."

"The Eidolon program isn't properly equipped to commercialise most of its discoveries. And he isn't asking for our weapons because he hasn't got a use for them yet. Once this is over – if it's ever over – he'll come knocking on our door."

"That might be sooner than you think." Sazh shook his head. "If I'm right, and I think I am, then based on our current fighting capacity we have somewhere between a year to six months before we're overwhelmed. The attacks have been getting stronger and more frequent, and we're only just keeping on top of them."

"Then we'll have to work harder and fight harder." Lightning hobbled toward the door. "Sazh, you're on leave for the next two weeks. You've been pulling double shifts for the past month, and I know that Dajh's school holidays are coming up."

"I've still got work to do –"

"And you've still got a son to look after." Lightning stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "You've done the work of ten men, Sazh. But you'll be of no use to me, or anyone, if you burn out now. Be with your son. Get some rest. I have a feeling I'll be needing you soon enough."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Well, that was touching and everything, so I think I'll be heading back to me lab now and – gah!" Vanille tried to sneak off, but Sazh grabbed her by the scruff of her lab coat. "Let go of me!"

"Not a chance. Serah told me to watch out for you. You're coming with me to the mess hall. You're getting some real food into that bottomless pit you call a stomach, not that instant garbage you've been living off."

X X X

There was nothing quite like getting prepped for an Eidolon. A lot of civilians thought that pilots could simply strap themselves into an Eidolon and march into battle. That couldn't be further from the truth. Piloting an Eidolon required an intimate connection to the massive robot's control systems along protection from the incredible physical demands of the task.

To meet these needs, the Eidolon program had developed the Drivesuit, a two-layered form of body armour. The first layer, the circuitry suit, was designed to improve the neural feedback between pilot and Eidolon. Essentially, it allowed the pilots to feel what the Eidolon did. The second layer was the body armour, which was composed of an exotic ceramic-metal blend that was designed to protect the pilot from the rigours of combat.

Fang wasn't normally too appreciative of people poking and prodding her, but there was no helping it. The Drivesuit wasn't something she could put on herself, but at least the techs here knew their stuff. They had her Drivesuit on in record time, and she let them escort her to Bahamut's Conn-Pod. The only difference this time was that her suit was black instead of white.

As soon as she stepped inside the Conn-Pod, she had to stop. The sight and smell of it was so familiar. She was home. But this time it wasn't Jihl waiting for her, it was Serah. The younger Farron was already there, looking over the controls and checking the adjustments that had been made to her harness.

"Looking good there, little Farron." Fang waggled her eyebrows, prompting an amused chuckle from her co-pilot and the techs. She wasn't lying though. Serah looked good in the form-fitting suit, very good. A thought came unbidden: what would Lightning look like in one of those suits?

Fang's mind put the details together before she could stop it. The suit's dark colour would accentuate the paleness of Lightning's skin and the blue of her eyes. And those eyes would be something to behold, shimmering with all the confidence and fury that Fang had glimpsed in the snippets of footage she'd seen.

"You should have seen what my sister looked like in one of these."

Fang goggled. "What?"

Serah grinned. "Oh, nothing." She pointed at the screens hanging in front of the harnesses. "By the way, they can hear us now."

"Already?"

"Yep." Serah smirked and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I promise I won't tell anyone what you were thinking, but you need to be less obvious. We haven't even Drifted, and I could guess what you're thinking about. And for the record, yes, my sister does look amazing in one of these."

Fang flushed. "Thanks." She lowered her voice too. "Really?"

X X X

"Both pilots have been secured in their harnesses, and their helmets are in place."

Lightning nodded at Lebreau. The upbeat woman was one of the best techs in the business. Very, very few people knew more about Eidolon Drift technology and pilot management than Lebreau. She'd been Lightning and Serah's head tech during their time as pilots, and she'd been one of the first people Lightning had asked for when she became a marshal.

"Are we a go to commence connection, ma'am?"

"We are. Proceed."

Lightning's eyes narrowed as she watched the Conn-Pod – Bahamut's head – drop down into place before being screwed into position.

"Initial connections are stable." Lebreau flipped a few switches. "Core is coming online now… and we've got power. Core output is looking good. All readings are green."

"Give me an audio-visual feed of the Conn-Pod. I want it on screen now. Give them an audio-visual feed of command. I want them to see and hear us."

"Will do. It's in place now."

Lightning leaned toward the screen. "How are you two feeling?"

"Fine, ma'am." Fang grinned. "I can't wait to start."

Serah nodded. "We'll be fine. It's like riding a bike."

"If a bike was a two thousand tonne war machine with the world's most advanced weaponry."

"A really awesome bike then."

"Lebreau, initiate neural bridge."

"All right, ladies, get ready. Brace yourselves. Initiating neural bridge in three, two, one… initiate!"

X X X

Fang winced as the neural bridge snapped into place. It was never a pleasant experience. It felt a lot like having a burning hot needle shoved through the back of her skull. But as quickly as the pain came, it faded. And after years of piloting with Jihl, Serah's mind was a welcome change. There had been so much anger and rage in Jihl's mind. Fang understood why, but the other woman had never kept as tight a leash on it as she would have liked.

Serah had to be angry too, but she had much better control over it. There were hints of rage bubbling beneath the surface, but they were nothing more than the small, surface currents of a vast ocean. They were out of sight and, for the most part, out of mind. And although Serah was careful to keep her darker emotions under control, she had no qualms about letting her warmth and affection flood through the link. In a heartbeat, Fang understood: Serah liked, trusted, and respected her. All she wanted from Fang was the same. Fang didn't even need to think about it.

"How are you feeling?" Fang asked. Serah's mind was a whisper of silk against her own, smooth and soothing. She could get used to this.

"Good. It's not the same as with Lightning, but it's nice. You feel… warm."

"I could say the same."

"Good, everyone seems to have their brain intact." Lebreau laughed. "All right, Fang. I need you to calibrate the right side."

Fang lifted her right arm and made a fist. Bahamut mirrored the action perfectly.

"Good. I'm getting a clean read on the right side. Serah, give the left side a go." Serah lifted her left arm, and they drove Bahamut's right fist into its open palm. "Nice. The left side is looking good too. Marshal, I think it's safe to say they're synchronised."

"Excellent. Now sever their connection to Bahamut's control systems."

"Ma'am?" Fang shook her head. Small patches of colour shimmered at the edges of her vision.

"Relax, captain." Lebreau pointed at something off-screen. "We're picking up some activity in the memory centres of your brain. It happens whenever two new pilots link up. Cutting your connections to Bahamut's control systems is a safety precaution, that's all. We've cut Serah's connections too."

"It became standard protocol after you first piloted with Captain Nabaat." Lightning paused. "You will almost certainly be seeing some of Serah's memories. Be careful, and don't go in too deep."

"Understood." The flashes of colour were getting brighter now, and the room was suddenly filled with a kaleidoscope of multi-coloured shadows. Fang blinked. She remembered this. It had happened the first time she'd Drifted with Jihl. She was falling into Serah's memories –

X X X

Fang blinked and suddenly the Conn-Pod was gone. Instead, she was in a bedroom. The sound of raucous singing filled the air as two bodies thumped into the door. There was a great dealing of giggling, swearing, and teasing before the door finally opened.

"You're a stupid head." Serah Farron was undeniably drunk, her eyes glazed as she half-carried, half-dragged Vanille to her bed.

"I'm not stupid. I have a P… h… D in… stuff… you're the stupid one." Vanille collapsed on top of Serah. "And I'm tired."

"Idiot." Serah whined as Vanille's body pinned her to the bed. "Get… off…" She trailed off, her eyes fluttering closed as she threw her arms about Vanille and shifted into a more comfortable position. "Stupid, crazy scientist."

Fang bit back a chuckle. She had to tease Vanille and Serah about this later. Then the world around her was changing again. She wasn't in Vanille's bedroom anymore. She was in the middle of a hospital, the smell of disinfectant and death hanging over everything like a funeral shroud.

"It should be obvious by now that Major Farron will not be of any further use to the Eidolon program. She should be moved to a civilian hospital. We cannot afford to spend our resources on a cripple."

The older man who'd spoken tumbled to the ground. Serah was on top of him a moment later, and the only thing that kept her from possibly killing the general with her bare hands was the intervention of Marshal Amodar.

"Shut up!" Serah screamed. "You pencil pushing jerk! She's done more for the Eidolon program than you ever will. When was the last time you even fired a gun?"

The general tried to give an order, but his jaw was too broken for him to speak.

Fang shook her head in disbelief. Serah's file didn't do her nearly enough justice. That had been one hell of a punch. The scene shifted again.

"Lightning…" Serah sat in a chair beside a hospital bed, eyes downcast. Fear and shame filled her.

"I can't pilot anymore, Serah." Lightning was there, the hospital blanket clenched in her fists. Fang felt sick looking at all the equipment she was hooked up to, not to mention the elaborate machinery connected to her right leg. "They say I'll be lucky to ever walk again."

Serah choked back a sob. "I…"

"Don't you dare give up!" Lightning spat the words out like a curse and fumbled to grab Serah's hands. "Look at me, Serah! Look at me!"

Serah looked and, for perhaps the first time since Odin had fallen, she saw her sister and not all the mistakes she'd made. "How can I pilot without you? It's always been the two of us. We're sisters. I can't do it without you."

"There are other ways we can fight – this war is far from over. As long as they're still around, we have to keep on fighting. You've got more experience than almost anyone else in the program. You can teach. You might even find another co-pilot."

"Lightning –"

"You can't give up, Serah."

Serah swallowed thickly. Fang could feel the pink haired woman's resolve taking shape. Lightning had sacrificed so much for her, how could Serah give up now? "All right. I'll do it. I'll keep fighting… for both of us. And maybe you'll get better one day, and we can pilot again."

"Maybe."

Fang blinked back tears. She could see it in both Lightning and Serah's eyes. They both knew that Lightning would never pilot again, but neither of them could bear to give up hope. And already, she could see it: the plan forming in Lightning's mind, the cold, pitiless acceptance of her fate that would one day turn the Eidolon program's finest pilot into perhaps its finest marshal. And there was nothing Serah could do about it because they'd both given too much to turn back now and because the world needed Lightning more than Serah needed Claire.

It was too much. Fang needed to turn back now, but she couldn't stop herself. The world vanished again, and then everything was screaming metal, blood, pain, and sparks.

Fang knew what this was.

The right side of the Conn-Pod crumpled, and Lightning screamed. The bestial howls of Sin filled the air before there was another crunch, and the world twisted, turned, and fell away as Odin crashed to the ground. Fang was in one of Lightning's memories. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the twisted ruin of Lightning's leg caught in the mangled remains of the Conn-Pod and nearly threw up.

The sounds coming out of Lightning's mouth were a hundred times worse than they'd sounded on television. A wave of panic, fury, and pain rippled through her – a snapshot of Lightning's emotions. Maker, how had the marshal managed to stay conscious, never mind fight.

Tears and blood mingled on Lightning's cheeks as she forced Odin back onto its feet. All around her, the Eidolon's controls wailed out a wild staccato of multiple system failure. The Eidolon shouldn't even be moving. But move it did, but whether it was through some miracle of engineering or its pilot's sheer force of will, Fang wasn't sure.

"Fang, you have to stop." Serah was there in her black Drivesuit. "I warned you about this. You've gone too far."

"Is this what she had to fight through?" Fang realised she was weeping. Sin knocked Odin down again, and Lightning let loose a hideous shriek of pain as the already battered Conn-Pod clamped down harder on her leg. Her already pale skin was deathly white, and her body had begun to tremble. She had to be in shock. "I had no idea it was this bad… no…"

The world changed again.

Fang wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked around. They were in a city beside the sea. But instead of the cool, salty ocean breeze, the air was filled with smoke and ash. Civilians ran everywhere. Ahead of her were three people. One was a man and the other two were girls, the oldest perhaps in her mid-teens.

"You have to run," the man said. Fang stared. His face was covered in dust and pinched into an expression of agony, but there was something familiar about his features. His left leg dragged behind him. "You two need to leave me."

"No!" The older of the two girls threw her arms around him. To her horror, Fang realised it was Lightning – a young Lighting. "We're not going to leave you, dad! It already got mom. It's not going to get you too –"

"You have to leave me." The man, Lightning's father, pushed her away. "You saw that thing. You saw what it did. I can't go much farther. But you two can still make it to the shelter. Go now. Go while you still can!"

BOOM.

The building at the far end of the street came apart in a shower of concrete and brick. The titanic form a fal'Cie appeared. Step by thundering step it closed the distance.

"Run, Claire!" the man pushed Lightning away as rubble rained down on them. "Take Serah and run!"

Lightning covered a young Serah's eyes. Behind them, their father vanished beneath an avalanche of debris. Then Lightning was running, half-carrying and half-dragging Serah behind her. They hid in a small alleyway, but the fal'Cie wasn't done with them yet. It stopped beside the alley and ripped apart the buildings on either side until the two girls were revealed. Serah huddled behind her sister.

"Get away!" Lightning stood in front of Serah, a broken pipe clutched in her hands. Tears poured down her cheeks. "You already took my mom and my dad, but you're not taking her!" She bared her teeth. "You'll have to kill me first!"

Fang laughed brokenly. What sort of teenager grabbed a pipe and tried to fight a fal'Cie? The answer was terrible in its simplicity: a teenager with nothing left to lose except for the sister behind her. Despite the fact that it was only a memory, Fang was about to take a step forward when a familiar Eidolon arrived on the scene.

Alexander.

For a few moments, there was nothing but the chaos of battle. The howl of the Eidolon's mechanical muscles was matched only by the shriek of the fal'Cie as Alexander hammered away at its head and body. At last, the fal'Cie lay still and broken. And then Alexander stood silent sentry over the two pink haired girls, Serah weeping quietly in Lightning's arms.

Lightning waited until Serah had gone quiet before she looked away from her sister to the manmade giant above them. Her eyes hardened and in that instant, Fang knew she'd made her choice. She hadn't been strong enough to protect her family. But one day she would be, and the only way to do that was to get an Eidolon of her own, a monster strong enough to fight the real monsters.

"You aren't good at following instructions, are you?" Serah appeared again, and this time she grabbed Fang's arm. "My file did say that I'd come into close contact with a fal'Cie when I was younger. That's putting it nicely."

"I'm sorry." Fang shook her head. "I should have listened to you. But I wanted to know more."

"It's okay. I'm not angry, but I am worried. What happened to me and Lightning was terrible. I don't want anyone else to go through that again. That's why I fight."

"I won't tell anyone else." These memories belonged to the Farron sisters. "I mean… I was in Oerba, but I never saw a fal'Cie that close before until I was in an Eidolon. And your sister…"

"Lightning has always been something else." Serah grinned. "Come on, let's get out of here. We've got an activation test to finish."

And then they were moving forward in time again, and Serah and Lightning's memories washed over Fang like fresh spring rain.

Lightning in training camp.

Serah in training camp.

Their first mission.

Their first kill.

A thousand more bits and pieces until finally…

X X X

"Wow." Fang shook her head. She was back in the Conn-Pod. "Wow."

"I'll say." Serah slanted her a worried look. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Everything is under control now." Fang blinked. She'd seen so much. She'd have to parse through it all later before it got mixed up in her head and gave her a migraine. "I'm good to go."

"In that case, I'll be reconnecting you to Bahamut's control systems." Lebreau smirked. "Requesting permission to remove the primary and secondary restraints, ma'am."

"Permission granted," Lightning said. "Captain, lieutenant, we need you to put on a show. Go outside and put Bahamut through his paces."

"Can do, ma'am." Fang smiled at Serah. "Let's do this."

Serah smiled back. "Whenever you're ready."

And then, as one, they began to walk.

"All personnel must vacate the hangar floor. I repeat, all personnel must vacate the hangar floor."

The warning rang out as Bahamut strode toward the massive doors at the opposite end of the hangar. All around them, the catwalks were filled with cheering personnel as the Eidolon took its first steps in its new home. The doors slid open, and beyond them was the endless blue of Eden City's famous harbour.

"We've got a little training course set up," Lebreau said.

"I see it." Fang eased Bahamut down into the shallow waters of the harbour. Ahead of them was a makeshift obstacle course with a large concrete model of a fal'Cie at the end. A big billboard had been secured onto the fal'Cie's head: kick me.

"You know the drill. Get through the course and take the target down."

"Understood."

Serah snickered. "This feels a little silly."

"I'm guessing they didn't make you and your sister do one of these the first time around." Fang still hadn't sorted through all of the memories yet, but she had a feeling she was right.

"Nope. They threw us right into the deep end." Serah's lips twitched. "But this looks like fun, and they do want us to put on a show." She glanced toward the shore and the Eidolon's sensors came alive. There were thousands of people along the shoreline watching the activation test. "So let's give them one."

"You should have been there when they made me and Jihl do one of these. They almost kicked us out of the Conn-Pod for arguing." Fang tensed. "So, it's nice to not get into a screaming match on my first day with another pilot. Just remember though, Bahamut wasn't built for speed the way Odin was. He's no slowpoke though."

"Really? Let's see what he can do."

Fang shifted in the harness, one foot moving in front of the other, and Serah instantly copied the motion. "Let's go!"

They eased the Eidolon into a walk. There were large concrete pillars sunk into the harbour. They needed to weave around all of them before reaching the fake fal'Cie. Slowly, Bahamut picked up speed.

"You call this running?" Serah laughed. "It feels more like a crawl."

"Hey, we're not going that slow."

"But we could be going faster." Serah's brows furrowed, and a one of her memories flashed through Fang's mind. She saw Lightning as she'd been during her days as a pilot, her whole body primed and ready on the starting blocks at the athletics track before the starter's gun fired, and she exploded into motion. Another image followed on the heels of the first: Serah and Lightning running together in Odin, their movements perfectly synchronised as they drove the Eidolon to a speed few others had ever come close to matching. Other Eidolons ran, but with Lightning and Serah at the helm, Odin had flown.

"You saw that, right?" Serah shifted in her harness, dug her feet into its boots, and clenched her fists. "My sister said you'd be a perfect match for her in the Conn-Pod if she could still pilot. How about your prove it!"

Fang laughed. "All right, little Farron. You're on. Let's run!"

It was strange at first, but the images Serah had sent refused to leave Fang's mind. She saw herself running alongside Lightning at the track and moving in a harness in Odin's Conn-Pod. Bahamut's huge frame shuddered, thousands of pistons and gears activating as the big Eidolon began to move with a speed that Fang had never known it possessed.

Each step sent up a spray of water, and the stabilisers on Bahamut's back sprang to life as the Eidolon weaved through the pillars at a sprint. Almost without thinking, Fang extended her right arm to help the Eidolon's balance and when they went the other way, she didn't even need to say a word for Serah to do the same. They were running, all but flying through the water.

And then the target was in front of them.

"Jump!" Fang growled.

They leapt, and Bahamut was airborne. It came down on the concrete fal'Cie with all the force of an avalanche. Its fist smashed right through the fal'Cie's jaw in a spray of shattered concrete. It wasn't a move Fang had ever used before – but she'd seen the Farrons use it in Wutai. Then they were pivoting, bringing Bahamut around so that Serah could ram its left fist into the target's chest. More concrete came loose, and the target all but exploded when Fang's next punch hit it.

"Nice." Lebreau smirked. "That fal'Cie is definitely dead. Now, Bahamut is supposed to be strong. Care to give us a demonstration?"

Fang chuckled. "No problem." An old tanker had been left near the target. "I'm guessing you want us to lift that."

"Whenever you're ready."

"You heard the lady, Serah."

They took two steps and hooked their hands underneath the ship. A deep groan filled the air as they hoisted the tanker up over their head. Water poured off the vessel and sluiced off Bahamut's armour as the Eidolon's mechanical muscles roared to life.

"He's strong." Serah's eyes widened. "Very strong."

"Of course he is. How heavy is this tanker anyway?"

Lebreau gave them a thumbs up. "Three thousand five hundred tonnes."

"You don't need it anymore, do you?"

"No," Lightning cut in. "We intend to scrap it after this test."

"Good." Fang grit her teeth. "Let's tear it apart, Serah!"

Bahamut dug both of its hands into the hull of the tanker, and there was an enormous shriek as they ripped it in half. They tossed the two halves in opposite directions and basked in the spray of water the wreckage kicked up upon impact.

"I could definitely get used to this," Serah said. She flexed her hands. "Definitely."

"Don't get too used to it yet. You've got a few more exercises to go through."

They got through the rest of the exercises without a hitch until an alarm echoed through the Conn-Pod. It wasn't coming from their Eidolon's systems. It was coming from the command centre.

"What's going on?" Fang asked.

"We've got movement in the Vestige – three fal'Cie incoming. Probably two Category IVs and a Category III."

"What do you want us to do?" Serah asked.

Lightning folded her hands together, eyes narrowed. "Can you continue piloting?"

"Yes, we can." Serah frowned. "Where are they headed, and how much time do we have?"

"Lebreau?"

"Ma'am, their readings are holding steady. They're still good to pilot. As for the fal'Cie, it looks like they're headed here. Estimated time of arrival is less than an hour."

"I see." Lightning nodded. "Very well then." She switched the communications channel to broadcast to the entire base. "All Eidolon pilots are to report to their Eidolons immediately to prepare for launch. All other personnel are to report to battle stations." She looked back at Fang and Serah. "I want you two in position to provide backup."

"Yes, ma'am." Fang glanced at Serah. "Looks like we'll be getting some action after all."

X X X

**Author's Notes**

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

Some of you may have marked the distinct lack of updates earlier this week, which is something of a break in routine when considering the past two months. However, nature, and what I am almost certain was a case of food poisoning, decided to intervene. I spent most of this week in bed feeling rather miserable and with a large yellow bucket close at hand. What the bucket was for should not need saying – when one can scarcely stand without feeling queasy, one cannot expect to get to the bathroom before emptying one's stomach.

As an aside, I was somewhat sad to see one of my more amusing personal records come to an end. I had gone more than a decade without losing control over my stomach. Alas, that streak came to a most unpleasant end early on Monday morning and was under dire threat for most of the early part of this week. In any case, I am alive, and I come bearing updates along with a pleasant announcement/surprise (read through to the end of the author's notes and you shall see what it is).

Now moving onto the chapter at hand, I had originally intended to include the fight between the Eden City Eidolons and the fal'Cie. However, this chapter is already absurdly long and adding that would have necessitated a substantial, and I think detrimental, increase in length. Rest assure, though, that the Eidolons will most certainly be fighting a large-scale engagement against multiple fal'Cie in the next chapter. There may even be cake.

My principal objectives in this chapter were to further ingratiate Fang into the fabric of the Eden City Ark and to establish more meaningful relationships between her and the Farron sisters. I must admit to a certain degree of glee when writing the opening section involving Fang and Lightning. I do not wish to rush things between them, and as that section shows, Lightning is a prideful creature, one that must be handled with consummate care and no small amount of daring. Fang, fortunately, is equal to the task. At the very least, however, Lightning is now most certainly thinking about Fang. Understanding cuts both ways, and Fang is starting to read Lightning almost as well as Lightning has been reading her.

Serah presents an altogether different proposition to her sister. In many stories, Serah is confined to supporting role (this is something that I am guilty of doing as much as anyone), but I wanted her to take on a much more active role in this story. She might not have started with Lightning's almost reckless courage (honestly, Lightning, what were you going to do with that pipe against a fal'Cie?), but she has grown to become the leader her sister and the Eidolon program requires. Lightning might provide the steely spine and ruthless mind behind the Eden City Ark, but Serah is its warm heart, at once kind but also fierce when necessary.

This chapter also presented another challenge: how to properly depict Fang and Serah in the Conn-Pod together. Obviously, they get along rather well, so I'm not going to have them screaming at each other like Fang and Jihl did. Instead, I decided to have Serah provide a steadying influence, for the most part, with Fang providing more of the 'oomph,' so to speak. But I also wanted to have Lightning there with them in the Conn-Pod, at least in some way. I decided to do that by having Serah use her memories of her time with Lightning – memories that she knows Fang is very interested in – to help ease their transition and guide them in combat. In a way, Fang is very lucky. She doesn't have one co-pilot. She almost has two. Lightning was Odin's leading pilot, and Fang is Bahamut's. Serah's strength as a pilot comes from her ability to adapt and to bring out the best in her co-pilots, something she is already doing with Fang. It doesn't hurt that Fang is also fascinated by Lightning.

I would also like to mention some fanart by Wolfie1991. They've drawn a picture of Marshal Claire 'Lightning' Farron. You can find a link to it in my profile or look them up on deviant art under the name PhantomFeline.

Now, let's move onto the pleasant surprise. If you read my author's notes, you are almost certainly aware that I have original short stories available for purchase on Amazon (the term short story is deceptive as they average ~20,000 words). To everyone who has supported those thus far, I would like to say thank you. It means a lot to me. Two of those stories, _The Last Huntress_ and _The Lord of Dark Waters_ are related to each other, with _The Lord of Dark Waters_ being the sequel to _The Last Huntress_ (they are both part of what I have chosen to call the _Last Huntress Series_).

As someone with an avid interest in books, I am well aware of how difficult it is to get into a series. The second story, in particular, is plagued by a simple problem: how can anyone like it if they haven't read the first one? So this weekend, I'll be making things a little easier for you.

This Sunday 15th of September, _The Last Huntress_ will be available for free. That's right, from 12:00 AM midnight 15th September to 11:59 PM that same day (Pacific Standard Time), you can get _The Last Huntress_ for free (there may be some delay at the start due to Amazon's occasional scheduling issues). I know that it's tough to give something new a go, but if you've enjoyed my fan fiction, I think you'll enjoy my original fiction too. And remember, it's free this Sunday. And if you do enjoy _The Last Huntress_, please leave a review and consider picking up the sequel to it _The Lord of Dark Waters_. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think it's even better.

I already have a link to _The Last Huntress_ in my profile, but I will be updating it to be more visible once the free promotion starts on Sunday (both my deviant art and tumblr will be similarly updated – there are links to both in my profile). If you don't have a Kindle, don't worry. You can still get _The Last Huntress_ for free – all you have to do is download a completely free Kindle app from Amazon (link in my profile) so that you can use your PC, Mac, laptop, or iPhone/iPad instead.

Now that I've gotten this chapter out of the way, I can start focusing my efforts on a certain other story with rather lengthy chapters that has gone quite a few months without an update.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.


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Final Fantasy XIII, Adventure, Sci-Fi