Fic: Do I Dare Disturb the Universe: Chapter 15 Time to Murder & Create III: Pinned & Wriggling pt 2

[frkmgnt1]

Chapter 15 Continued
Time to Murder & Create
Part III: Pinned & Wriggling

Chapter 15 Part I

His lady lay wounded on the field, and still she does not call him to her aid! This is unbearable. Odin can wait no longer. The sky rains down bullets and hellfire around her. Her Lord is pinned down while that Trickster Snake makes of their lady a bloody lure.

It's intolerable.

Forgive me, Lady. Odin whispers before roaring his frustration.

"No! Lightning!" Snow shouts, charging towards her.

"Stay in there," Lightning yells at Snow. She looks through the smoke to see if she made her shot, but there's too much smoke, fire and debris on the field for her to see if she managed to hit the target before the sniper hit her. She turns back to Snow and can see his intentions clear as day. "Damn it! Don't break cover, Snow!"

"You come to me, then!" Snow reaches a hand out and a bullet tears into the snowpack right in front of him, kicking up a shower of ice and dirt. "Fuck!" He punches the wall. "Come on, Light! Come to me!"

Lightning presses herself up onto hands and knees, and the sniper fires three rounds around her. She squeals in frustrated terror and curls up on the ground again, desperate to make herself as small a target as possible.

"Light!" Snow sounds desperate.

"If you step out of cover, we're both dead!" Lightning tells him, knowing it to be true. Another bullet grazes her, tearing a bloody gouge in her side. She screams, "Stay there!" as he screams out a "NO!"

"Goddamn it!" He kicks the wall hard enough to rattle the rack.

Lightning takes the opportunity to survey the field. There are a half dozen structural fires inside the camp, and none of them could possibly have been caused by the small explosives she planted outside. The wind blasts downward at her, and Lightning glances upward to see a large - something - flying overhead. Its wingspan easily matches The Oerban Lady. She has no idea what the hell she's looking at, but if she were to guess, she'd say 'Holy Shit, it's a Fucking Dragon.'

There are no dragons on Gran Pulse, so that doesn't make any sense.

Just then, the Not-a-Dragon-thank-you-very-much, spits out a fireball, proving that it is, in fact, a Dragon. There's a Goddamn Motherfucking Dragon spitting hellfire at this camp and everyone and everything in it! What the fuck!

She needs to get inside before she's incinerated.

She starts belly crawling only to be reminded of the sniper who, for some reason, doesn't seem fazed by the giant fucking dragon flying overhead and setting the world on fire.

Seriously? These guys have a Havoc Skytank and a dragon? That's just overkill.

How did Sazh not mention the dragon? For that matter, how did she miss the dragon when she was following the caravan? A giant, fire-breathing dragon seems hard to miss, no matter how hypothermic she may have been at the time.

And what about Snow, for that matter? How did he miss that these guys had a giant pet dragon? Seems like the sort of thing they'd brag about while they were torturing him.

She and Snow need to do something, now. The dragon isn't targeting her, but the sniper sure as hell is, and he's not going to toy with her forever. If Snow doesn't show himself soon, the sniper will just kill her and then wait until Snow makes whatever move he will make. He can't stay in the garage forever.

Especially with a dragon raining down hellfire on the place. Or maybe the sniper will switch out his rifle for rockets. Either way, they need to get out of this clusterfuck right now.

Her head starts spinning. Another couple of minutes, and she's not going to have to worry about much of anything. The wounds in her side and shoulder hurt like a bitch, but they're superficial. The one in her thigh is bleeding far too heavily. The round likely nicked the artery. She's got both hands applying as much pressure as possible, but both her hands, her pants and the ground around her are all saturated in her blood.

Her strength is waning and her vision is going fuzzy.

"Don't you fucking dare even think about it, Lightning!" Snow yells. "I swear to God, I will be right behind you just so I can drive you insane forever. Don't test me!"

Lightning feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Her mind clears enough for her to realize what's about to happen a second before she hears Odin's roar announce his presence on the battlefield.

"Finally! What took you so long, you creep!" Snow yells, before something hits the snow beside her. A mix of ice and snow splashes her face and neck, but she doesn't have time to complain. She hears Snow repeating the words, "Grab it," over and over.

Lightning peels her eyes open in an attempt to figure out what the hell Snow is talking about. Odin is kneeling in the snow beside her, shield held aloft between her and sniper nest above. As long as she remains where she is, she should be safe.

Unless the sniper changes position. Damn it.

"Grab. The Fucking. Chain. Lightning!" She reaches out, wraps the loop of chain around her wrist and immediately is yanked into cover by Snow.

Snow wastes no time wrapping his scarf around her thigh as a tourniquet.

"This is gonna hurt," he says as he pulls the knot tight. She screams in pain, ears full of his tender apologies and angry invectives. Snow's hands are on her face, cold and comforting, and his lips are on her lips, warm and wonderful. "You're going to be okay, Light," he promises as her vision grays out. A sharp sting on her cheek drags her back to full consciousness. "Stay awake!" He orders, voice shaking with terror.

"Did you just slap me?"

"You deserved it. Getting yourself fucking shot. Goddamn it! You knew there might be a sniper up there!"

"Is this seriously the time for a lecture?"

"No time like the present, since it doesn't look like we have a whole lot of future to look forward to," he says. "What the fuck is pissing fire down on us, by the way?"

A Dragon. "I don't know." Liar! "Something big and deadly. And it's spitting fire, not pissing it."

He raises a questioning eyebrow at her, and she nods in acknowledgment of her distinction without a difference.

"Fanfuckingtastic," he grumbles. "You're losing too much blood!" Snow looks over at Odin and yells, "Hey! Get over here and heal her!"

Odin has Zantetsuken in his hand, and looks ready to clear the field by himself, but one glance towards Snow and her, and he's sheathing his sword and dropping beside them.

Lightning wants to send him after the one that escaped, but her head is spinning, and she knows that it would be foolish - not to mention suicidal - to refuse healing right now.

Odin places his hand on her chest and pours healing magic through her body. It's nothing like the last time he touched her like this. There's no pain, only the cool relief of open wounds knitting together again. Her thigh still throbs, and she wonders if the bullet is still inside her, before realizing that her leggings have two gaping holes in them: one entrance wound, and one exit wound.

"You all right?" Snow asks before unwrapping the scarf to see for himself. His fingers touch the newly healed skin of her leg and she shivers. A slow smirk spreads across his lips before he glances up and winks at her. He wraps his scarf around her leg again to cover up the holes in her pants. "All better."

He stands up, grabs her beneath her arms and lifts her to her feet. Her leg buckles beneath her, and it's only his arms around her that save her from falling flat on her ass again.

"Not quite yet." She tests her leg again, favoring it enough to keep her feet. "But I'll be okay."

"Go get that fucking sniper," Snow says, and Lightning can't help but wonder how the hell he expects her to do that when she's dizzy from blood loss, and her leg is still weakened from having two holes torn through the muscles.

Then Odin disappears out the door of the garage, and Lightning is torn between feeling stupid and confused. "Since when does he listen to you?"

"Don't know. Don't care," Snow murmurs before his mouth descends on hers. Their teeth clack together once, before he cups her jaw and turns her head, then it's all perfect. "Don't do that again," he whispers against her lips, before slipping his tongue into her mouth. She moans around his tongue, and melts into his embrace for long moments.

Another explosion outside reminds her that they're about to burn to death if they don't escape this garage. What the hell is she doing standing here making out with Snow while the world is ending around them? She pulls away from the kiss and her leg almost folds beneath her again, only this time, it's not because of the bullet wound. Both knees have turned to water, and her whole body is hot and tingly.

"You okay?" Snow asks through a shit-eating grin. He knows exactly what he just did. Bastard!

"Don't look at me like that!" She turns away from him to try and pull herself together again.

"Like what?" She can hear his smug grin. She knew it! Whether it's a word or not, Snow is somehow smugger. She whips around and there it is! His smug-ass grin is definitely smugger.

"Like you're just so pleased with yourself." Snow laughs at her then reaches up to trace his thumb over her bottom lip, drawing a small, involuntary gasp from her. He grunts out a tiny, pleased sound, and she feels a sudden, overwhelming urge to plant her fist right in his stupid, sexy smirk.

Jerk.

She bats his hand away and glares at him. He leans down again-

A loud bang on the roof of the garage destroys the mood.

When his Warrior Lord issues the command to retrieve the Trickster Snake, Odin feels a deep satisfaction. It has been too long since Zantetsuken dispatched the wicked; too long since Odin faced down an enemy on the field of battle.

The Sniper nest looms high above. The distance separating Odin from his quarry is peppered with a variety of enemies.

Odin smiles as he brings Zantetsuken to bear. One swipe and the long barrel of the turret clatters to the ground. Odin raises his hand and calls forth Thundaga, sending the spell into everything - man and machine - within his range.

Odin's range is vast indeed.

Odin's spellcasting does its job. The delicate circuitry within the complex machines ceases functioning, scorched by the powerful electrical charge. The central nervous systems of the men operating the machines fair no better.

Machines. Always humans and their machines of death.

Humans build machines to deliver death, and so Odin grants them their hearts' desire. If death is what they seek, then death is what they shall have.

Hellfire incinerates the building that had served as the prison. Odin considers the source of the fire, making long, languorous sweeps high above the camp, determines that it presents no immediate threat, and then turns his attention back to the raging inferno of the prison. For a moment, Odin laments its destruction, for he longed to unleash his own rage upon it. It is a blight upon this world, and must be destroyed utterly to prevent its poison spreading.

Something strikes Odin's helmet with a surprising amount of force. Odin reaches up and pulls the offending object from where it embedded in his armor.

The small lump of metal looks so innocuous in Odin's massive hand, but Odin felt his Lady's pain as ones just like it tore a hole through her leg, and ripped furrows across her hip and shoulder.

Odin turns his gaze upward, concentrates all his loathing on his prey. Odin runs for the cliff face, stopping only briefly at the bottom to map the fastest path up the side. He leaps, grabs an outcropping about a quarter of the way up the cliff to the sniper nest.

It is a matter of moments before he pulls himself over the ledge, and he's immediately inundated with a bullet storm. The sniper - the Trickster Snake - has dropped his rifle in favor of a shotgun. It's no matter; this weapon may be ideal for dealing with threats at close range, but no human firearm will penetrate the armor gifted to Odin by Etro herself. This Trickster Snake lost the moment he dared strike Odin's Lady, and sealed his fate the moment he squeezed his rifle's trigger, for even if Odin could forgive his transgression, Odin's Warrior Lord never would.

"What the hell are you?" The Trickster Snake yells. He quakes in terror.

Oh, how Odin yearns for the lifeblood of this Trickster Snake, but his Lord ordered him to 'get' the Sniper. As Odin is oath bound to follow the commands of his Lady's Lord, he must obey.

No matter how disappointing Odin finds his task.

"Don't fucking touch me, you freak," yells the Snake, before hurling itself at Odin in an attempt to strike a blow with its daggers.

Odin snatches the Trickster from the ground before it can land a blow.

Odin will never understand humans. Ever.

Snow grabs Lightning and drags her against the wall, pressing down on her shoulder until she kneels. "Get under the tank, Light."

"What?"

"Don't argue with me! Just get under there!"

She slaps his hand away and rises to her full height. Grabbing a machete from where it hangs on the wall, Lightning readies herself to face the new threat.

Odin drops down from the roof, sniper squirming in his grip.

"Oh, for-!" Snow throws his hands up and shakes his head before turning to her and muttering, "I told you he was a creep." Louder, he says, "Good job. You brought him back alive." Cracking his knuckles, Snow steps closer to Odin's defiant prisoner. He's all menace when he leans in and says, "Now I can kill him."

"Snow-"

"Forget it, Light. This guy's done."

"We need information."

"This guy shot you! I don't care what he has to say."

"We need to know about that dragon, Snow!"

"Dragon?" Snow looks up at the roof of the garage. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" He shakes his head and shouts, "No! I don't care about the fucking dragon. This guy is done. He shot you. Three times!"

"Tie him up," Lightning orders, though she's not sure who she's ordering. Odin? The idea of him tying up a prisoner is ridiculous. She can't believe he's actually taken a prisoner instead of just slicing him to pieces or frying him with magic. And Snow has made his position clear: he's not interested in taking prisoners. He wants payback.

She wants payback too, but she's not going to murder an unarmed, kneeling man, and she's not going to let Snow do it, either. That's not who they are.

She stalks over to the wall and pulls a rope off of it, intent on tying up their prisoner herself. "That's Jace's coat, and I can only assume that was his rifle," the prisoner says. "What a jackass he was. Didn't even bother securing his weapon, or you, before he tried to ride your ride, am I right?"

Lightning freezes, eyes wide and Snow plucks the rope out of her hand, stepping between her and the kneeling prisoner. "Don't fucking talk to her. On second thought, don't even look at her." Snow ties a slipknot then pulls both the prisoner's hands behind his back and binds them, and begins wrapping the rope around his upper body.

"Unbelievable! I mean, you were unconscious, and he still couldn't manage not to fuck up. That idiot never could control himself."

Snow kicks the guy onto his stomach. "I told you to shut up! Do you think I'm playing?"

"I think you're an idiot," their prisoner tells Snow. "She's who you took that beating for? I don't get it. What is it? A trick pelvis?"

Snow lifts the guy up and shoves him back onto his face. Hard. Hard enough that Lightning hears his nose break from fifteen feet away.

"I told you not to talk to her. I told you not to look at her. Did you think I was kidding?" Snow pulls the guy back up to his knees and ties his feet as well. "Now I'm telling you not to talk about her. As far you're concerned, she doesn't exist."

"Snow-"

"Fuck this guy. You don't want him dead. Fine. But he better shut the fuck up, or I'm going to shut him up."

"So, what did you do to Jace?" The prisoner says, as if he isn't tied up, bleeding, and being threatened with severe bodily injury by a very large, pissed off Snow.

"I choked him out and then bashed his brains in. Want a demonstration?" She really doesn't want Snow to hit him again right now. Anger rolls off Snow in waves, and she's afraid he's going to lose it completely and break the guy's neck. Not that their prisoner doesn't deserve to die, but the scumbag who tortured Snow got away, and Lightning has a sneaking suspicion both that he was the asshole in charge, and that this guy knows where he went. She steps over to the tool bench and snatches a rag off it.

"So, it is a trick pelvis," the guy says, obviously enjoying riling Snow up. It's clear he'd rather be dead than captured, but Lightning doesn't care. He's got information and she wants it. Then, Sazh and the colonists can have him. Someone ought to answer to them for the atrocities of this group.

"That's it!" Snow reaches for the prisoner's throat, but Lightning steps between Snow and his would-be victim. She kneels down and gets right up in the guy's face. Zantetsuken moves ever so slightly - a warning and threat - coming to rest against the nape of the prisoner's neck.

"Don't think I forgot that you're the one who knocked me out and left me there for your rapist buddy-"

"Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"So you're going to do what he says, and shut up, before he kills you."

"No, he's done. What did he hit you with?" She hears Snow rifling through the tools. "How about a hammer?"

"It was the butt of my rifle." The guy says it like he's proud. "Right in the temple. She dropped like a stone. Didn't you, honey pot?"

"You motherf-"

Lightning cuts Snow off with a wave of her hand, ignores the bait, and leans in close enough that even Odin has to strain himself to hear her words. "That man who you're goading doesn't kill unarmed prisoners. He's better than that, and he's going to stay that way." She whispers directly into his ear, "You're not worth the filth he scrapes off his boots, and that's how he's going to stay: a good man."

She pulls on the lapels of the prisoner's jacket under the pretense of straightening it out, knowing that the coat and ropes are pressing on fresh bruises in the worst possible ways. Then she brushes imaginary lint off his shoulders, rubbing more injuries. "But let me just clue you in here: I have no problem killing you, stepping over your dead body, and going on my merry way. And when I close my eyes at night, I'll sleep like a baby and never give you a second thought. Except maybe to feel that warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I know the world has just one less monster around to prey on innocent people. You get me?"

She shoves a dirty rag into his mouth, then coils a length of rope around his head and ties it off. "So shut up!" She claps him on the back hard enough to send him face first to the floor. She grabs onto the rope to stop him breaking his nose all over again.

"That's better!" She says in the fakest, bright, cheery voice she's ever mustered. Then she whispers into his ear: "Welcome to your nightmare. I think I'm going to like it."

She stands up straight, looks at Odin and says, "Clear the field and cut us a path. We're getting out of here."

Snow hooks her arm, pulls her to the far side of the garage and says, "Now what? We can't exactly stroll out of here, especially since you want a prisoner."

"Snow, that guy who got away-"

"I know, Light. All right? I know that he's the 'Boss.' I ought to."

"I'm sorry." She hates that she's hurting him even though she's trying so hard to be careful with him.

"Don't…don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong," Snow insists. That's not even remotely true, but Lightning doesn't want to argue against herself right now. She has a feeling they're going to fight about her breaking her word to him at some point later on, and she'd rather wait until then to deal with this issue.

"Well, we have to figure out where he went," Lightning insists.

"I told you before we left that we'd settle our scores after we got out of here. Did you think I was kidding?"

"How are we going to do that if we don't know where to find him? I don't want to give him a chance to hurt more people!"

"I know. I don't either. You're right. That doesn't mean I have to like the fact that we're taking this guy with us. He shot you! He hit you! He helped someone else hurt you!"

"I'm fine." Even to her, that answer sounds pale.

"Thanks to the creep, you're fine. But if he weren't here, you'd have bled to death out there!"

"Snow-"

"I just want to get the fuck out of here!" He explodes. She can see that he's on the edge, and she doesn't want to push him anymore. "So, what's the plan now? Did you plant the bombs?"

She heaves a sigh bigger than her. "I got-"

"Captured?"

She tries for diplomacy. "Sidetracked."

"That fucker!" So much for diplomacy. "Did he hurt you?"

"No." Snow cups her jaw and runs his finger along the fresh bruise on her cheek. "Nothing worse than a few bruises, Snow. I stabbed and shot him."

Snow snorts a laugh, shakes his head and says, "That's my girl," with such fondness that she can't help but lean in for a quick kiss.

The building shakes as a fireball hits far too close. Outside, they can hear screaming and someone yells, "Get the Skytank and shoot that thing out of the air!"

Are they talking about the Oerban Lady or the dragon?

Scrambling for her pack, Lightning gropes for the bombs inside it. Snow stills her hand and points to the Havoc Skytank. "Oh, I hate this idea!"

"What idea?" But she picks up on his train of thought before she finishes the question. "Oh!"

"Yeah," Snow sounds dejected.

"Hell yeah!"

"This is gonna suck," Snow says with finality.

Snow drags the prisoner up into the Skytank and drops him on the floor. The guy yells 'ouch' from behind his gag and Snow smiles at him. "Oops! I'm sorry. Let me help you up."

He pulls the guy up only to drop him again.

"Snow!" she scolds. She doesn't really care. The guy isn't going to die from getting bumped around a bit. Snow just shrugs at her and takes the gunner seat.

"Did you plant the bombs?"

"Yeah. They're on the fuel reserve," she answers, fingers running over the controls to expedite a startup. "This place is going to explode like a volcano."

"Great," Snow says with fake enthusiasm. "Let's just make sure we're long gone before that happens, okay?"

"Get your communicator out of my pack and buckle yourself in. This is gonna be bumpy." She doesn't mention the fact that she has no idea what the hell she's doing. He's already unhappy about this new plan of action.

"Who am I calling?"

Seriously?

"Who do you think? Call Sazh!"

"All right! No need to be grumpy! Sheesh!" Then he looks at the communicator, and says, "Am I supposed to have any idea what Sazh's number is?"

"Give that to me," she snaps, snatching the communicator out of his hand and dialing the code for the Oerban Lady.

She throws the communicator back at Snow, only to have him squawk out an, "easy on the merchandise!" Then: "Hope? Yeah, it's me. Who the hell else would it be? All right! Don't be bitchy." He mumbles, "Teenagers!" before saying, "Hope wants to talk to you."

"Are you kidding me right now?" She finishes running through the preflight checks and grabs the tank controls.

She hates tank controls. They are the fucking worst.

"She's busy right now, Hope." She can hear Hope bitching at Snow, and she just knows what's coming: "He really wants to talk to you."

Yep. That's about exactly what she figured he'd say.

"Fine. Gimme that," she snaps, yanking the communicator out of Snow's hand. "Hold on one second, Hope. Hit that button over there, Snow. No, not that one. Don't touch that one!"

"Which button?" She knows what he's doing, but she's not interested in arguing with him. He's in a better mood right now, and she'd like to keep him that way. She has a feeling his mood is going to sour once he realizes exactly how bad she is at flying.

Plus, they may die at any minute. There's still a dragon out there, after all.

"Never mind." She stretches across Snow's lap and he makes a pleased sound and runs his hand over her rear end. She raises an eyebrow at him and whispers, "For real?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm just a man. I can only take so much."

"Uh huh. You're not 'just' an anything, Hero. You're not fooling me."

'Mm," he hums, before sliding his hand down the back of her thigh and letting his fingers slip into the hole in her pants. His calluses scratch over the soft skin of her inner thigh, raising goosebumps all over her body. "What was that?"

"Stop it," she orders and shifts over to unlock the controls for the targeting computer and scope. "The cannon is being primed."

"It sure is," he says, leaning in and planting a soft kiss on the nape of her neck. She huffs out a laugh but shrugs him off.

God, he feels good. He needs to stop if he wants to get out of this place. She sits back in her seat and buckles herself in. "Put Sazh on the phone, Hope."

"Are you okay, Light?" What did he hear? "Is Snow really okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay. A little beat up, maybe, but we're both okay and are looking forward to getting out of this barbecue."

"I can't believe you guys are still in there!"

"Well, we're about to leave, but I need to make sure you guys don't shoot us as we're leaving."

"What's this nonsense about us shooting you, Soldier?"

"I'm bringing you a present, Sazh!"

"No thanks! I don't think I can handle any more surprises today. Keep your present, Soldier!"

"Oh, so you don't want this Havoc Skytank, then?"

"…Oh, hell yeah, I want that Skytank!"

"Okay, well just make sure you don't shoot us, okay. Don't bomb anything until we get out of here!"

"Did you actually think I was going to bomb anything before you were clear?"

"That was the plan!"

"That was your plan. My plan involved not being a crazy person."

"Everything bad I said about you: I take it all back, Sazh," Snow says.

"Good!" Sazh mumbles. Then: "Hey, wait a minute! What the hell were you saying about me?"

"Um. Nothing?"

"Dumbass," Sazh mumbles. "Here. Talk to the Soldier."

"Here. Talk to Hope," Lightning says, holding the communicator out towards Snow. Snow snatches the communicator and puts it down between them, leaving the line open.

"Sorry, Kid, but we don't have time to chat right now. We're a little busy trying not to die."

"Just…be careful."

"You got it. Take it easy, Kid. We'll see you in a few minutes."

Lightning pulls back on the yoke and the tank lifts off the landing gear to hover. She hits the button to retract the landing gear, pleased that she didn't forget that little detail like she did that one time that she'll never mention to anyone ever. She would never hear the end of it from any of them if she crashed before she even got out of the garage.

She gives it some throttle and they shoot out of the garage with enough speed to reach the perimeter fence in seconds. Turret fire pelts them as they break through the fence, and hellfire rains down from above.

"Rocket fire! Rocket fire!" Snow babbles. "Light, that guy has a rocket launcher!"

"I see him," Lightning says and manages to pull out of the path of the rocket before it hits the windscreen. They're going to get killed if she doesn't put some distance between them and the firepower in the camp.

She crashes through a snowbank, rocking the tank and sending their prisoner flying into the starboard bulkhead. Snow sounds nervous when he asks, "Um, are you sure you can pilot this beast, Light?"

Just figured that out, did he? "No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean, when have you ever seen me pilot anything, Snow?"

"Uh. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all."

"Shut up!"

"Want me to try?"

"Sure. I'll just put this Pig in park while the turrets and rockets are firing at us. Not to mention, the fucking Dragon!"

"Okay. Point taken."

"Maybe you could, I don't know, fire one of our weapons at some of these guys? That might help!"

"I don't know what I'm looking at."

"See the scope?" She points at the scope that she set up for him while he was grabbing her ass. "Look through it."

"Yeah, yeah," he gripes. "No need to get all snippy with me."

"Now line the crosshairs up with something-"

"I know how to aim-"

"Preferably a turret. Or the dragon."

"Don't shoot the dragon," Sazh insists. "The dragon is on our side."

"What?" Lightning asks, completely befuddled.

"Where'd you get a dragon, Sazh?" Snow asks. "Why didn't you mention that you had a pet dragon to Lightning before you sent her into this camp without any backup except for a bomb strapped to her body?"

"…The dragon is a new addition to the crew," Sazh says.

"How'd you get a dragon to join your crew, Sazh?" Snow asks, undoubtedly just to piss off Sazh.

"You really are a dumbass, aren't you, Hero?"

"Will you two shut up?! I'm trying to concentrate here. Piloting is your thing, Sazh. My thing is killing things with a gun or blade, or preferably, a gunblade!"

She wishes she was fighting alongside Odin, Edged Carbine in hand, instead of flying - scratch that: just barely not crashing - this Skytank.

Hope chimes in with: "I have your Edged Carbine here, Light!"

"Yeah? Thanks, Hope!" Finally, some good news. Lightning swerves the tank to avoid another Velocycle and nearly smashes into the cliffs again.

"Can we all concentrate, here? So, I'm going to shoot this thing."

"Just point at anything but the Oerban Lady and apparently, the dragon, and hit the big red button, Snow."

"You know what? Just try not to fly us into a cliff, please!"

"Just worry about yourself!" she yells, and pulls out of the spin just before the tank scrapes the cliff face. Snow manages to blow the Velocycle right off the face of Gran Pulse. "Nice shot!"

"Hey, I'm more than just a pretty face," he boasts. She turns to him to find him beaming at her from the other seat. Her heart trips over itself on its way up to her throat, and she can feel the blush spread from her face down her body. The smirk on his face and sparkle in his blue eyes drives her crazy.

God, she loves him, and she has no idea what to do with this feeling now that they're out of that camp. Nothing has changed and yet, everything is different.

"Hey, Soldier? Are you and that dumbass hero clear yet?"

"Real nice, Sazh!"

"All clear," she assures him, feeling much more confident now that she can hold a straight course and not crash into any cliffs or settlements for miles and miles and miles.

"Alright, keep moving away from the camp. Operation BoomsDay is a go."

"Wait! Operation what?" Lightning squeaks, and Snow guffaws at the ridiculous name.

Lightning hears the explosions start up, and can see the blast from the fuel tank erupting high into the sky, sending up a plume of fire, smoke and ash. Just like the volcano she'd promised Snow.

A new voice breaks in on the line. "Aw. And I was just getting started."

Lightning and Snow look at each other with confusion.

"Who said that?" Snow asks her.

Lightning shakes her head and the voice on the communicator starts laughing.

Lightning grabs the communicator and snaps: "Is this some sort of sick joke?"

"What's a matter, sunshine? Don't tell me you forgot me already? And here I was thinking we were friends."

"Look out!" Snow yells, pointing out the front of the Skytank. Lightning curses herself, then banks hard to port and brakes, hitting the landing gear to avoid crashing into the ground. The tank turns just in time to avoid crashing into the giant beast that chose to land directly in front of them.

The prisoner hits the back of Lightning's seat hard enough to make her grunt. She hopes the guy isn't dead, but there's nothing to be done for it now. Lightning gets up and the Skytank shifts on the snow, pitching her forward. Snow reaches out and grabs her, pulling her onto his lap to wait for the vehicle to settle.

"Nice flying, Girl," he whispers to her, and she shakes her head. "No, seriously. We're still alive. We didn't crash. And the Skytank is in one piece. I call that a total win."

She looks at him and he brushes a kiss over her lips when something starts banging on the hatch.

"Oi! Hero? Sunshine? You two still alive in there? Want to open this beast up and let us in? It's a bit nippy out here."

"Maybe you should've worn some pants. And sleeves," Snow says, standing up to open the hatch. "See? What do you expect, wearing those outfits in the middle of a goddamn blizzard? Get in here before you two freeze to death!"

Two ghosts walk onto the Havoc Skytank, and for the first time since before the Purge, Lightning feels like maybe she could fit into this new world that she helped save, after all.

Time to Murder and Create
Coda: Operation BoomsDay

Original Time: T minus 6 hours 26 minutes
New Time: T minus 11 minutes

Hope struggles against the arm across his body, fingers prying at the hand over his mouth as he hears the word, "Gotcha" whispered in his ear. Then, "Guess who?"

Hope has heard this sweet voice in his dreams so often over the past year that Hope can't bring himself to believe that it's real.

"Ah, Vanille, give the kid a break. He looks like he's seen a ghost." Hope spins around and there they are. "Oi! Funny Man! Get your ass down here! We have some planning to do."

There's a racket from the cockpit as Sazh comes barreling down the ladder. Hope almost chuckles when Sazh slips on the top rung. Fang and Vanille both panic and grab him before he hits the ground. "Well, I never thought I'd say this, you crazy woman, but I've sure missed the hell out of you!"

"Aw! Ain't that sweet, Vanille? I always said you were my very favorite, Sazh!"

That's all it takes for Sazh to open his arms wide and let Fang and Vanille step into the circle of his embrace.

Fang reaches out and catches Hope by the collar and drags him over. "Get your ass over here, Kid! Don't you know a group hug when you see one?"

That's all the invitation Hope needs before he grabs onto his long lost friends and holds on for dear life.

Original Time: T minus 6 hours 24 minutes
New Time: T minus 9 minutes

"I don't want to seem ungrateful and all, but how the hell did you two get here?" Sazh asks.

"That's way too long a story to get into right now. Let's just concentrate on saving the Hero and our resident Martyr, shall we? Once we have them back, the six of us can have a nice, long cry over how happy we are to be together again!"

"Fang," Vanille chides.

"What, Vanille? I'm just saying, is all!"

"You're impossible."

"Goddamn, but I missed you, Woman!"

"Yeah, well, we missed you all too," Fang replies, and she sounds completely sincere. "It wasn't the same as last time."

"What do you mean?" Hope asks.

"The last time when we went into crystal stasis, it felt like it was over. Like we were done," Vanille explains. She takes Hope's hand and laces their fingers together, and Hope feels his heart swell at the sweet gesture. God but he missed this woman! "This time…I don't know."

Hope finds himself wondering if maybe this time, things might be different for him and Vanille. She'd only been back for ten minutes, but he cannot imagine losing her again.

"It felt like we'd left something behind," Fang supplies.

"Yeah, we all missed you guys, too!" Hope says. "Even Snow missed you!"

"Speaking of the Hero, are we sure he's okay? I have a bad feeling. Like someone was screaming for help, but it doesn't seem to be you two."

"It was Lightning," Vanille says. "She woke us up, begging for help."

"Oh, yeah. Remind me to tell her to keep it down next time. She can't go screaming into the abyss like that without expecting the abyss to scream right back at her. Wake the dead she will, making that bloody racket."

"Fang!"

"What? I'm just saying, is all!"

"Crazy woman!" Sazh mumbles. "Well, we're heading to rescue the Soldier right now."

"And Snow," Hope insists. "I told you: Snow is not dead."

"Dead?" Fang and Vanille share a look, before Fang continues: "Looks like we really were needed, love. What's the plan, then?" Fang asks.

Original Time: T minus 6 hours, 17 minutes
New Time: T minus 2 minutes.

"Right, so Vanille and I will come in from the North, and you'll head south to pick up our resident martyr and the Hero."

"How are you planning to draw their attention?"

"Leave that to me," Fang says, a slow smirk spreading across her face. "I have an old friend who's gonna give us a ride." She turns to Vanille, raises her eyebrow and asks, "You in, love?"

T minus 6 hours 15 minutes
Time = 0 minutes to Launch

Operation BoomsDay is a Go

TBC...
Feedback is love
Upcoming Chapter 16: Do I Dare to Eat a Peach? (Adult Content Ahoy)

If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating Steak - Jayne, Firefly
Tank Controls are the worst - Me, every time I play Silent Hill 2 or any other video game masterpiece that is sullied by the continued existence of tank controls.