Swallowed Pride - 03

Her eyes widened and the soldier jumped backwards in time as an enormous shadow darkened the sky above her and landed plumply on its feet. Scanning the monster, she noticed its enormous jaw and a set of razor-sharp teeth at first sight. A pair of  external, lurid yellowish gills was exposed with the intention of scaring – at least impressing the pink-haired opponent while the forked tail lashed agitatedly above the ground, slashing small rocks in perfect ease. She fought many creatures on Gran Pulse, even this kind – but by now, this was the biggest Ceratoraptor she had seen. It left her in wonder though. Weren't these creatures supposed to lurk in the caves of Sûlyya springs? The teal and yellowish coloured scales glistened matte in dim twilight; they were already covered in blood. The creature's shrill screech of agony and anger set the soldier's teeth on edge as her gaze searched her companion's presence, sprinting down the rest of the pathway with the giant right behind her back.

Fang was out of sight. But the woman didn't have time to think about the Pulsian's whereabouts. The longer she waited, the more energy returned into the amphibian's body as is chased her with giant leaps; it wore the creature out though, each gurgling intake of breath caused blood to splutter out of the gaping wound the lance had caused before. A critical damage. And still, the monster's stamina was impressive enough to take another blow. Lifting and spreading the spikes on his back, it started paddling forwards clumsily; it was obvious that such critters preferred water habitats, dark and moist places. They moved sedately on dry land and went on searching for their natural ground to turn the tables.  Lightning only seemed to wait for this moment. Dashing ahead, she skipped onto a rock and released the lock of her Gun blade, aiming between the monster's eyes.

The bullets slipped off the strong armoured head, hitting the ground instead; it left the soldier baffled. Hastily she changed her stance and leapt into the air once more, pulling the trigger and blasting almost half of the magazine against a body that seemed to be made of steel. The wished effect didn't come to light. Several bullets were blocked and crashed into every other obstacle next to the beast while it croaked and came closer. Sooner or later the monster would choke on it's own sanguine. Wasting ammo was useless at this stage already. But she didn't want to stand still and be the dumb one, leaving the whole victory to the Oerban huntress.

Furrowing her brows Lightning dashed into the air, transforming her weapon as she landed onto the Ceratoraptor's back and buried the blade into the external gills. The scaled back was slippery and coated in slime, hard to keep her balance on it; the blank steel carved its way deeper into the sensitive organs, hitting the bones and muscles which protected the vitals from being harmed. Bucking underneath its enemy the monster tried hard to get the female soldier off its back, hopping helplessly to the edge of the cliff. Lightning had a faint idea where this was leading to and with a choked hiss she twisted and rotated her weapon, shutting her eyes tightly as she felt the heat building up inside her chest – snaking through her veins to the hands that held the weapon in a firm grip. The soldier could feel the flaring energy materializing in her fingertips, seeking the easiest way to escape and cause heavy damage through the blade. A rumble went through her body as her lips formed a barely audible command.

Firega!

With a loud growling sound the fireball imploded right in the Ceratoraptor's weakest spot, for a moment Lightning could smell the burnt flesh, feel the painful quivers and tremors underneath. The monster reared and managed to throw the woman off, causing her body to make a heavy impact with the earth underneath where stones scraped her skin and cut it open.

Scorched from the inside an upset cry escaped the creature's mighty vocal chords; a  fountain of red covered the way it had been dragging itself along, instinctively searching for water to ease the unbearable pain that kept building inside its bowels. It barely made it to its natural habitat and collapsed on the rocks with a distorted croak as the last breath escaped its system, the blackened smoke emerging from the external respiratory organs.

The woman on the ground clutched the Gun Blade's hilt until her knuckles went white, inhaling deeply as the defeated monster didn't move any longer.  Hazily she kept watching the embers floating through the air, carried away by a breeze that told her of well known safety. Her legs trembled lightly as Lightning finally got on her feet again, securing the blade and transforming it back into the usual form to store it in the holster. She tipped her head back, feeling dirty and disgusted by the mess in front of her. Probably Fang would sit somewhere and laugh at her dilettantish attempt of hunting their food. And indeed there was a faint laugh in the distance.

"I thought you'd kill it faster than this! Poor thing. I rather should have finished it by myself!"

The huntress hopped down the path in ease, tucking chaotic fringes of hair behind her ear while the braid swung playfully with each step.

"Yeah. You should have. Bullets didn't work on these scales, just to state the obvious..." Lightning frowned and approached the beast again, pulling violently at one of the scales to remove it, hissing at it still glowed in heat that radiated from the corpse. This material was alien indeed as she turned it between her fingers to examine it. They appeared to be light but seemed to be as hard as Mithril. No... guns couldn't affect it in the slightest.

"Of course they don't work, silly! You could have used Deprotes instead~"

Fang cackled and moved to the gigantic Ceratoraptor, lifting a brow.

"Heh, that's one huge bugger. That should do for at least a few days!", she hummed happily and pulled a dagger out of her boot, making a first long cut starting from the gills along its side. She clearly knew the weak points of this creature, cutting through the scales smoothly to reveal the flesh underneath the natural armour – only to knit her brows in disapproval when a stale and charred scent greeted her bluntly. Most of the flesh reminded more of coal than actual food itself. Geez! What a waste! The huntress didn't notice Lightning stalking back and forth, anger all too apparent and written over her face as she gritted her jaw in agitation.

"Aren't we funny,"the soldier hissed lowly, "Here is ONE Saboteur and it obviously ain't me."

Fang only turned her head and sneered, pursing her lips in mockery.

"I thought you're a soldier! Then why are you complaining? First you can't even bring yourself up asking me for assistance and now you think you can blame me for your mistakes?"

With a jerky move the Pulsian pulled the sooty, burnt layers of muscled and fat away to expose more of the flesh; a doubtful sigh followed.

"Geez, Light! What have you done? Most of the meat is ruined! This isn't a training dummy but our meal for the next days! It's enough to hit the vitals, not the area around."

Lightning crossed her arms in front of her chest, an annoyed huff followed soon after.

"If my support wasn't good enough then why did you send me in here in the first place??", she snapped coldly, trying to ignore a specific form of guilt dwelling inside her. This was the second time she failed as a leader. It would take her a while to chew on.

"I wonder about that too Lightning. I seriously start wondering."

Fang's voice just sounded as cold, mostly frustrated while her body was shaking in upcoming grief and anger. She tried to focus on dissecting the corpse and tossed the coaled meat almost grumpily onto a pile next to her. It was almost more than the edible parts and she gritted her teeth. What the hell was Lightning thinking?? She always thought that Snow wasn't the brightest bulb in the group but slowly her world view shifted violently.

Lightning on the other hand simply stood there, securing the area while she cleaned her blade and nursed herself. The pain in her shoulder made the woman flinch, she only realized it after the violent pulsation of magic stopped throbbing through her veins.

Steel-blue hues scanned the area, making sure that everything was clear before her silent footsteps closed the distance to the huntress. Fang wiped a hand across her sweaty face, the blood and dark tresses of chaotic hair sticking to her skin and giving her a grim expression.

"You don't have to act up like you are above everything and everyone.", Lightning started lowly, dragging a canine over her lower lip, "I know by myself that I screwed up. No need to twist the knife."

"Screwed. Up." Fang scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I'm not talking about a screw up! This ain't a mission – this is reality we're talking about. Ever heard of that word? Come on, repeat it~ Re...a...li...ty!"

The soldier exhaled noisily and straightened herself, stalking into her counterpart's direction.

" Cut it and stop making a fool out of me! I've seen enough of realityon ba ttlefields! I saw crying children and humans running across the streets in panic! They had no food and no home they could have returned to!"

"No food, eh? No home?? You know what, "sunshine"? I don't give a flying fuck about that. And do you know why?"

The soldier rolled her shoulders as champagne-coloured strands of hair covered her eyes and hid the challenging yet expectant look which resided in her icy, blank features.

Fang grew SO tired of that bullshit. Now, it was HER turn. Tossing a burnt piece of meat in front of Lightning's feet an almost feral growl escaped her lips; her stance changed into something more threatening as the soldier glanced at the mess in disgust.

"You Cocoonians don't know what it means to hunt your own food! You have your damn Fal'Cie who takes CARE of it! None of you would manage to survive here for at least a day on their own! And do you know why you have your fridges full while we never did?"

Viridian coloured eyes darkened as she simply let out whatever pained and bothered her. It was the heat of the moment, but... could you blame her?

Thanks to the Fal'Cie her tribe had to starve, living from one day to the other. They barely managed to cultivate the nutrient-poor earth around Oerba until mighty claws simply ripped out vegetables and trees, capturing domesticated animals to nurture the enemy on the frightening planet in the sky above and leaving fruitless ground behind. Whole tribes simply rot away of hunger – she couldn't describe it differently. The power of each one faded away like the sunlight at this very moment, covering the sky in first shades of purples and blues.

"Your fucking FAL'CIE stole OUR FOOD! OUR HARD WORK! OUR EXISTANCE! Fruits and vegetables were barely ripe – BAM! It was GONE!"

Fang stepped closer, intimidating the soldier's private space as she snapped her fingers in front of the Cocoonian's nose.

"JUST. LIKE. THAT! "

The Pulsian's voice echoed in the silence, almost shaking the ground – at least it complied Lightning's imagination. She could see the fury in her companion's eyes and stepped back instinctively while she tried her best to stay unimpressed. However... it appeared to be really hard to stand her ground, especially with the realization that Fang was right. The people from Pulse weren't the monsters – her own kind was. And she had been a part of it, completely unaware.

"And there was NOTHING we could do! Instead, children and elders died of starvation! There weren't enough hunters in our tribe any more. They got killed. Wiped away. One by another while they tried to defend our supplies!"

Fang lifted her hands and laughed. However... this laugh didn't speak of amusement any longer. It was so shallow, empty. I didn't mean anything nor did it carry a message.

"Vanille and I – we are the only ones left from a once grand population – thanks to you and your kind!"

Her voice was shaking as she continued her speech, allowing everything to spill that was kept hidden for way too long. Biting down the inside of her cheek, she turned on her heels and continued to tear the Ceratoraptor's flesh apart.

"But hey soldier~", the last word had a strange emphasis to it, a mocking one, "I bet that doesn't really bother you, hu? Are you even moved or touched by anything else than your wounded pride??"

Lightning swallowed deeply and chewed on her thumbnail, not really aware of it. Each word had hit her like a bullet, straight into the heart. Just how selfish did she become over the years?

"I had no clue...", she started, her voice low and without any signs of defence.

Fang looked over her shoulder with furrowed brows.

"Liar.", she hissed and sloppily cleaned the dagger on her belt, making another cut into the leather.  "You grew up on Cocoon. YOU should know. You ARE supposed to know." A hoarse laugh followed. "Are you really that blind? Or just that dumb?"

It was enough. Clearly. Lightning stalked behind Fang as she stuffed the dagger back into her boot, gripping her shoulder with almost brutal force.

"Save your breath for later!", she hissed to cut out any complaints, her voice sharp as needles as she turned the woman around to face her.

Just now she saw a betraying wet trail sliding down Fang's cheek. She let go of her in an instant as if she just got burned, taking a few steps back. This was awkward. Really awkward.

Lightning rubbed her face and huffed deeply, slumping her shoulders  before unfolding the bags the huntress had carried with her. Everything around them went eerily silent while the Cocoonian woman packed the bloody, exploitable meat into her bag and slowly, Fang followed her example and did the same – still furious and uneasy, ready to explode like a projectile later.

"Look, Fang...," Lightning started once more, trying to de-escalate the situation somehow, "if you want to blame me for all what has happened, it is your god damn right. Just go ahead."

"Do you really think it is that easy, Light?"

Fang stacked the meat hastily into her container since it got already dark around them and nocturnal critters would smell the corpse from afar.

"I never said it would be.", her counterpart answered and shouldered the bag which seemed to weigh tons by now, dripping sanguine.

"But right now, you were spewing all of your accusations into my face. I am not the Fal'Cie who did this to you."

The huntress snorted and tucked sweaty tresses of dark hair behind her ear.

"But your people never stopped them either..."

"Because we didn't know. They kept us as small as possible, dependent on them. A satisfied human wouldn't even dare or bother to ask the wrong questions."

It was the Pulsian's turn to throw her bag over the shoulder, only stopping what she was about to do in an instant. It confused Lightning but she mimicked the movement, holding her breath. Compared to the skilled huntress her sense of hearing left her right now. She could only hear the blood rushing noisily through her ears. But then.. the sound of grass pressed down by weight.

"Shh... do you hear that?", Fang whispered and froze shortly, focusing on the source of faint noises. Heavy paws toddled above the ground, claws outstretched and working like spikes. Fang would have "loved" to go with her rambling but this wasn't the time to do so. Instead she gestured Lightning to follow her behind a group of rocks to hide and watch. It could have been a single Behemoth strolling through the night, lured by the smelly flesh that was piled on the ground.

It didn't take long until the footsteps, snarls and groans became louder and dark silhouettes appeared into the scenery. One was fairly large with a feline-like build. No behemoth. Thank the gods, Fang thought to herself in relief. The last they could have needed was a moody and territorial King Behemoth who surely didn't feel like sharing food. The female soldier recognized the dominating shape immediately. A Gorgonopsid. It was wasn't alone but led the way for a few cubs – probably a female. Lightning wasn't familiar with several species on Pulse but most of the time females were on their own when they took care of the litter. How bitter. It also happened in her childhood.

The adult creature lifted its head; making sure they were unwatched it started sniffing and probing the air. It smelled weird, a stale scent of fire disturbed the Gorgonopsid as it flared its nostrils to suck in air greedily, pulling the lower lip up to split molecules into their components. Looking over its shoulder it growled and caused the young ones to duck and lower their heads in awareness. The leader prowled forwards, lashing the tail in slight agitation, head up and tendons and muscles tensed. Whatever it was, the feline-like creature couldn't identify that certain component. It was new – that much seemed certain.

Fang watched in awe and was distracted from dark thoughts. How long didn't she observe wildlife on the place she had called her home land? She had to stifle a sound of amusement as the cubs followed their mother, visibly clumsy and carefree, stumbling over their own feet and squeaking as one cub pounced the other. Caution was thrown into the wind as they played and romped around the ground like tiny balls of fur. Lightning didn't seem to be that impressed. She tensed and stayed put, moving her hand to the holster – just in case if the mother would actually spot them. The huntress noticed and frowned. Her own hand crept down and grabbed the soldier's wrist to stop her from what she was doing, earning a look that spoke of confusion and unease. Compared to the Pulsian woman the Cocoonian didn't understand that everything was fine. Every animal act cautious around their litter, and it didn't mean they would attack in an instant. Besides – the pile of flesh just seemed too tempting to care any longer about the strange scent wavering from below the path.

The Gorgonopsid's tone changed. No longer did the creature snarl, but this time there was a chirp, encouraging the litter to come closer. The young ones lifted their head, answering with a similar chirping sound before they started to run, right to what must have been a mountain of delicious treats for them. It didn't even last seconds until the bravest one made the first move, trying to pull a chunk of meat out of the pile.

Using the claws on its hind legs like spikes, the cub pulled with a tiny growl until the piece of flesh ripped and the little critter rolled backwards; pushing the treat down with its big paws, the cub started to chew and gnaw noisily. The rest of the litter watched warily before hunger overtook their fear and they literally ambushed the carcass and charred pieces of meat. The adult sat down on the hind legs, watching the environment with perked ears and excellent night vision. It would be hard to get out of this unnoticed.

Lightning barely managed to breathe, the sound of crunching bones and torn flesh set her slightly at discomposure. She was able to deal with human targets, but a situation like this never had been on her training list. Fang on the other hand watched them as if it was the most natural thing ever. She even chuckled as the tiny cubs tried to steal the food from the adult.  Her expression changed as the soldier cocked her head to gather her attention.

"What is it? You know they can hear us...", Fang murmured, her voice close to her companion's ear.

"I know you would rather watch them all night but we have people waiting for food – in case you've forgotten..."

"I didn't forget. But it's better to wait for a better moment. She could feel threatened if we tried to move now."

Lightning shrugged and stretched her legs.

"Going to be a long night then, right?"

Fang nodded and tugged the little pendant of her necklace which had been shaped like a stylized drum. The soldier always had wondered about the meaning of this jewellery. The rainbow-coloured beads were just an example. Did that mean she was...? Lightning's thoughts trailed off. Maybe the setting of colours had a different meaning on Pulse, maybe it didn't mean anything and just were a coincidental result of a creative crafter. She ruffled her champagne locks and kept a dry laugh to herself. As a soldier she would have never wasted a single thought to such unimportant topics.

Here, on Gran Pulse, everything was supposed to have a certain importance. And the longer she watched the wild yet graceful huntress, more and more of those indifferent thoughts haunted her mind. Her gaze lingered a little too long on luscious and inviting lips, on amygdaline shaped eyes which made her look like a feline herself. What caught her the most was the colour of the Pulsian's eyes – a deep sort of petrol, more of viridian. Nobody on Cocoon had green eyes – or whatever could count as green. It was a trait that distinguished Pulsian beings from Cocoonians. Who knew if they also had blue, brown or grey eyes? With only two survivors, she would never find out.

Why the hell did she waste her time with train of thoughts like these?? Instead, Lightning focused on their rather monosyllabic dialogue.

"... Right."

The dark-skinned woman smirked and ripped her gaze from the Gorgonopsid-family feasting on the rests of the Ceraptoraptor.

"You always say that when you're insecure~"

"Shut up..."

Fang snorted.

"Right."

The female soldier frowned.

"Stop mocking me."

She crossed her arms in defence and curled up against the rock. Fang silenced and chuckled softly.

"Yeah, yeah."

For a while, both would only hear crunching bones and growls, chirps and even a tiny belch that must have come from one of the cubs.

"I wonder if the rest of the group is starving by now...", Lightning started and rested her palms on her kneecaps.

"Prolly not, "Fang answered lowly, "they have Vanille. She's good at improvising."

The pink-haired sighed and rubbed her calves, meeting the Pulsian's gaze.

"She means a lot to you, does she?"

The huntress nodded faintly and lowered her lids.

"Vanille means the world for me. She's all I have you know?"

Lightning lowered her gaze and examined her gloves thoughtfully.

"I understand that. Serah is my world too. I'd do everything to save her, to see her again."

She glanced up into the night sky and watched the stars in silence. They seemed to glow so much brighter here. Cocoon's technology swallowed the lights around, but at this place they offered an intensity she never had seen before.

Lightning didn't notice that Fang watched her the whole time as well, ignoring the Gorgonopsids and the stunning sky. Whatever she had focused right now had offered more beauty than Pulse could ever do...