Work Text:
Fang had never been a morning person.
It had been no secret, back in Oerba, that Fang had been a night person. After all, she'd been among the best of the town's night-hunters, her senses sharp as a razor in the pitch black of midnight as she and the other hunters had stalked prey across the slopes of the Tsubaddran Highlands. It was simple, really. Fang just functioned far better in the late afternoon and onwards - she'd shaped her life to best benefit her unique circadian rhythm, and that had been the way her life had worked before she and Vanille had been forcibly drafted to war by Anima.
Lightning, Fang had realised somewhere during that first week they'd spent on Gran Pulse, before she'd followed Lightning out onto the Steppe and kissed her, was unfortunately Fang's polar opposite when it came to morning rises. Sure, Lightning wasn't like Vanille, who was a ball of energy and ready to bounce off the walls at the crack of dawn every single bloody morning. Lightning certainly didn't shy away from an early rise though, and unfortunately seemed rather pragmatic about the whole thing.
In the week they'd spent together since Lightning, Serah and Snow had returned from their travels around Gran Pulse, the vast difference between Fang and Lightning's sleeping habits could not have become more apparent.
Every morning, without fail, Lightning had risen with the sun. For the first few days, Fang had sleepily attempted to convince Lightning to remain in bed a bit longer, but the attempts had always failed. Fang had let Lightning slide out of her feeble, sleepy grasp, and then she had simply rolled over and continued to sleep in to a far more reasonable hour.
So really, it was a measure of Fang's love and devotion that she had agreed to accompany Lightning on an early morning hike. Admittedly, Fang had some reservations about the idea when Lightning had initially broached the topic with her the day before. The brilliant smile that Lightning had offered her when Fang had eventually agreed, though, had given Fang a quiet thrill and made it all seem worth while. Being alive and conscious to see and enjoy that smile - and knowing that she was the cause of it - was still mind-blowing, and Fang had slung an arm about Lightning's shoulders and pulled her close.
Second chances were everything, and Fang was not about to waste even a second of this new freedom.
Just how bad could one early morning hike be, anyway?
Plenty bad, Fang decided groggily as the digital alarm on their bedside table went off, jolting her from her hazy dreams. Blindly, she lashed out to hit the snooze button to shut the damn thing up, and as the bedroom she'd been sharing with Lightning fell blessedly silent again, she flopped back onto the mattress with a low groan. She felt Lightning - warm and pressed up delightfully against Fang's back and side - stir immediately, and Fang let another hoarse groan escape her lips. Her eyes felt like they were gummed shut, and every time she tried to open them to take a look at the digital clock on their bedside, the brightness of the numbers was bloody painful.
Acting entirely on instinct, Fang rolled over, sleepily pinning Lightning under her just as the other woman began to push away the bed covers. Fang buried her face in the crook of Lightning's neck, inhaling deeply. Maybe Fang could dissuade Lightning from her awful plans - preferably in favour of catching a few more hours of sleep. Lightning ran her fingers through the wild tangle of Fang's hair, her lips brushing Fang's forehead in a kiss - but her free hand was already fumbling for the light on her own bedside table.
"Can't you let me distract you for just once?" Fang grumbled, nuzzling into the side of Lightning's neck a little harder as Lightning hit the switch. Her eyes stung horribly, and she let her body slump into a dead weight.
Lightning didn't see fit to respond to Fang's half-hearted complaint, easily sliding out from under Fang's sleepy weight and rising easily to her feet. Fang burrowed into her blankets again, pulling them stubbornly over her head and letting herself doze off again as Lightning dressed.
The reprieve did not last nearly long enough - Fang groggily jerked to awareness as the bed jostled, and Lightning sat down on the bed at her side. Still blinking blearily, she slowly pushed herself up, draped herself all over Lightning's shoulders and back and tried to tug Lightning back to the mattress. The air was cool on her naked body, and Fang shivered a little and pressed closer to take advantage of Lightning's body warmth.
With all the hard travelling Lightning, Serah and Snow had done over the past few years, Lightning's body had become even leaner in a different way than Fang had recalled from Oerba. Fang had shown her appreciation of that fact a good number of times that week. As she trailed her hand up the inside of Lightning's thigh, Fang wondered if she could tempt Lightning to stay in bed in another way entirely.
"Fang," Lightning said as she grabbed Fang's hand before it could wander any higher. Her voice held a hint of amused exasperation, and she lazily buried her hand in Fang's hair before pressing a warm kiss against Fang's cheek. "You promised me a hike."
Fang grumbled under her breath for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts enough to form an intelligent response. "Can I tell you to go take a hike?"
Lightning's answering laugh was soft and almost reluctant. "There is something I want to show you."
An ulterior motive? That piqued Fang's curiosity, sleepy as she was. She could certainly get out of bed for an ulterior motive. Lightning seemed to know it, too, because she pressed another kiss against Fang's cheek and carefully pulled away from Fang's grasp.
"Come on," Lightning said, rising to her feet and offering Fang a hand up. It reminded Fang of all those times that Lightning had hauled her to her feet during the chaos of the Focus. Fear, pain, wonder - Fang shook head with a sigh.
Lightning had been her rock during those times - what was a little morning hike, if that was what Lightning wanted to do?
"Fine."
Fang accepted Lightning's hand, letting the other woman tug her to her feet. She stumbled, resisting the urge to flop back onto the mattress and bracing herself on Lightning's chest. She took a moment to savour the feel the steadiness of Lightning’s body, before using the momentum to propel herself towards the sari she'd dumped into an untidy pile on the floor the night before.
She dressed herself in a haze of sleep, barely registering the fact that Lightning left at some point after Fang had tugged on her black top and started to wind her sari around her waist and shoulders. Heaving a sigh and running a quick hand through her hair to tame it as best as she was able, she wandered down the passageway to the kitchen of the house she'd been sharing with Vanille - and for the last week, with Lightning too - and slumped at the table with her head on her arms.
Determined to go along with this charade or not, Etro she was tired...
Wordlessly, Lightning set a mug of coffee in front of her face, and the liquid had already cooled off in the time Fang had taken to pull her clothes on. Fang downed the liquid in a few huge gulps, offering Lightning a reluctant smile as she slammed the ceramic mug back to the wooden table top.
Still feeling groggy but better, Fang rose and grabbed a couple of pieces of fruit from the stack on the countertop, biting into one as she went. She tossed the other over her shoulder to where she estimated Lightning was, knowing without looking that the other woman would catch it.
Fang exhaled sharply, finally looking over her shoulder at Lightning.
"We gonna get this show on the road, or are you waiting for a formal invite to leave?" Fang asked, letting her tone slip into something light, teasing and not grudgy at all about the early morning wake-up.
Lightning shook her head, looking mildly amused, before moving past Fang and out the front door of the cabin. Fang followed after her just a pace behind, and noted with a hint of mild irritation as she stepped outside that it was still bloody dark.
Early morning hike? Fang silently grumbled as she doggedly followed Lightning over to the velocycle that Lightning had borrowed from Snow and Team NORA. Yeah right.
Fang watched, still a little dazed, as Lightning vaulted onto the machine and accepted the offered hand to help her up. She wrapped her arms around Lightning's waist and buried her face in the woman's shoulder, inhaling deeply and trying not to let the scent lull her back to sleep.
They took off across the Pulsian landscape in the pale light of new morning, and Fang began to wonder what it was that Lightning had in mind.
###
They arrived at the Haerii Archaeopolis in what Fang felt had to be record time. Still feeling horribly groggy, Fang had reluctantly removed her arms from about Lightning's waist and removed her chin from that warm place it had been resting on Lightning's shoulder. Taking a moment to crack her back, Fang then allowed herself to slide off of the velocycle.
Even operating at half capacity, Fang's landing was still flawless, and she turned to Lightning with a small smirk.
"Where to now?" Fang asked, crossing her arms against her chest and tilting her head. Lightning landed next to her, her lips tugging upwards in a smile as she nodded to the ruins ahead of them.
"Up."
Fang didn't think anyone could blame her for feeling a little put out at that answer, but she followed Lightning's lead without further complaint.
Lightning wanted to show her something, Fang told herself as they began to pick their way up the ruins and cliffs of Haerii, but she could be damned if she could guess at what. She'd rather thought they'd covered this part of the Steppe thoroughly enough during the Focus.
Whatever it was, it was new, and Fang allowed that thought to spur her forwards.
Lightning set a cracking pace, and they reached a plateau in the cliffs quickly. The ledge was set high above the ruins of Haerii and overlooked the Steppe and onwards, and from here, Fang could see the crystal pillar holding up Cocoon. The monument to the Focus and Ragnarok seemed almost grey in the pale morning light, and as she waited for her breath to ease, she leaned against the rocky cliff behind her and cast Lightning a sideways glance.
Lightning shot her a smile. She looked a little out of breath herself, and Fang could just barely pick out the flush in Lightning's cheeks as she looked out over the Steppe and onwards.
"Watch," Lightning said simply, nodding to the view.
Fang crossed her arms against her chest and let herself relax, and simply waited for the sun to rise. It felt like it was a slow beginning, as the sun began to crack over the horizon and set the cloud-streaked sky ablaze with colour, but as it went, the crystal pillar...
The pillar, so intricately formed from glass-clear crystal, took on all the colours of a wildfire - deep reds and brilliant golds. It was absolutely awe-inspiring, and Fang hadn't realised that she'd been holding her breath. She hadn't ever risen early enough to see anything like this, and it was -
"It's beautiful," Fang said aloud, and she shot Lightning a warm smile. "Hell of some handy-work involved in that thing."
Lightning sighed. "Yeah."
Lightning was quiet, though, seeming lost in her own thoughts for the time being. Fang stole another sideways glance at her, admiring the way the dawn lit up Lightning's features in red and gold. Fang's heart ached in an odd way at the sight, and she reached out impulsively to wrap her arm around Lightning's shoulders.
Fang quite liked the way Lightning relaxed into her grasp now - she remembered the woman's cagey reluctance all too clearly. She was still thankful that things had changed for the better between them, and moments like that really drove it home.
"I used to hate it." Lightning's voice was quiet and taut with emotion. "So much."
Fang looked down at her questioningly, suddenly a little concerned. What was wrong? This had been Lightning's idea after all, if it was going to upset her, then -
"Sure, it's beautiful, especially like this. But it was more than that. It was a reminder of you - of the fact that you were gone. That you left us. That you walked away from that future we wanted." Lightning didn't look at her, and Fang watched Lightning's jaw clench and her lips form a hard, stubborn line. "You might as well have been dead, for all the good it did me."
"We've discussed this." Fang frowned, that pit of worry in her stomach that had been so blessedly absent in the past week starting up as if it'd never left at all.
"I know." Lightning took a breath, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, and was it Fang's imagination, or did that long breath shake a little towards the end?
"It... wasn't an easy choice," Fang said slowly, looking down at the ruins of the Haerii Archaeopolis before them. Easier to focus on that, than on Lightning at the moment. "I knew what I was doing, and what I was giving up. If I felt there'd been any alternative, I would've taken it with my whole heart."
"Yeah." Lightning exhaled sharply, and Fang heard the buckles on Lightning's clothing clink as she shifted positions, as if restless. "But every day, I had to look at that thing, and know that you were in there. That was the worst part. I didn't know if I was meant to wait for you, save you, or if I was meant to move on-"
"Light," Fang cut in gently. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to make it better, but this topic was clearly a painful one for Lightning. Fang hadn't realised. Lightning had just been so happy to see Fang when she'd returned from her travels with Snow and Serah. Sure, she'd mentioned it briefly before moving on, but Fang hadn't even noticed that Lightning had been affected so badly, that she was still holding the pain so close to her chest.
"Now you're free. You and Vanille, you saved the world." Lightning's words sounded rehearsed, like they had been something she'd told herself repeatedly. "You aren't locked in a pillar, you aren't trapped in stasis, you're here and whole and ready to take that future we paid the price for."
Fang watched Lightning struggle with her thoughts, and even if her heart ached at the sight, she stayed quiet. It was Lightning's issue to resolve, and her own feelings to determine. Fang turned her gaze to the crystal pillar, sighing softly. She knew that from experience, after all.
"I was hoping that seeing the pillar with you, maybe I'd hate it less," Lightning said, finally. "Maybe I'd see it as less of a sacrifice and loss, and more of a monument to life itself."
Fang made a small noise in her throat as she crossed her arms against her chest. "Do you?"
"Not even a little." Lightning's lips quirked into a tiny, tired smile. "It still stole four years from us, and that's not going to change."
"That's awfully cynical of you," Fang said dryly, nudging Lightning with her elbow gently. "And here I thought you were meant to be the optimist of us two."
"I have my moments." Lightning scoffed quietly, shaking her head before adding, "I suppose that it was a sore spot for a very long time."
Lightning still looked so bitter about those lost years, in spite of her poor attempts at lightening the whole conversation. Fang wanted to help her, to make things seem a little better - just the way that Lightning had helped her, all those other times.
Fang wasn't like Lightning though - she wasn't good at holding steady and being the rock that others needed. She felt like she needed to try, though.
"You know," Fang ventured, smiling across at Lightning. "Maybe, you could try sticking it to the crystal pillar. Right here, right now. I'm here, and I want you to kiss me."
Lightning arched an eyebrow at her, frowning as if she believed that Fang was joking.
Fang just waited.
"You really are ridiculous," Lightning said, her lips finally curling into a reluctant, genuine smile, and Fang returned it two-fold.
"And don't you know it," Fang replied with a chuckle. "I still want that kiss."
Lightning laughed then, and reached out to tangle a hand in Fang's sari. Fang allowed herself to get dragged in, so close that she could feel Lightning's breath hot on her slightly chilled skin and Fang's own breath grew a little unsteady at the sudden closeness. Lightning didn't miss a beat as she pressed her lips against Fang's, and the touch was soft but subtly demanding. Fang let herself get lost in the sensation of Lightning's mouth against her own, focusing on the languid heat and the fact that she was awake to enjoy this.
Lightning pulled back after a long moment, breathless. She tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of Fang's neck, and leaning forward she rested their foreheads together. Lightning's eyes were still closed, and there was a good deal of colour to her cheeks that had not been there before.
"Better?" Fang asked softly, still rather liking how breathless Lightning had rendered herself.
"Much," Lightning murmured, her eyes still closed and her body relaxed.
Maybe Fang was better at this whole 'rock' business than she'd first believed - and maybe Lightning needed the same support that she'd given Fang so many times before.
Tucking that piece of information securely away, Fang pulled Lightning closer, smiling to herself and looking out at the crystal pillar and the Archaeopolis stretching out before them.