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Lightning cracks open the bottle and dumps out the two tiny pills it contains; they falls into her hand and feels like nothing, a feather or a mote of dust, and the empty bottle weighs even less. Energy pills, military issue. Almost everyone in Guardian Corps takes them, and most all of them would deny being addicted. Lightning knows better. She curls her fingers around the pills, lets them rattle inside her loose fist. After these, there's one more bottle stuffed in her pack, but when that's gone...
She curses herself for not having a larger supply, for not having stopped to raid every last dispensary from Bodhum to Palumpolum and back, for not keeping a bigger stock with her at all times, ignoring how ridiculous it is for her to blame herself.
How was she supposed to know that the world was going to end?
But that doesn't fly either, not in her heart of hearts. It doesn't matter that buying more than a bottle every few days would have set off red flags in the system, alerted PSICOM to their location. A good soldier should be prepared for every worst-case scenario, and she's screwed this one up on more levels than she cares to remember. Lightning shakes her head with a sigh. She just has to make her supply last until they find a way off Pulse. If she rations herself well enough, takes half the usual dosage or maybe a little less, she can make it work. She drops the pills back in the empty bottle, then leans back, resting on her hands, to look up at Cocoon and consider the millions of souls inside. Just keep going, a little longer. You'll find a way to save them all. And Serah, and Dajh. There's no other choice.
The others have caught up to her, and she feels Snow's approach before she sees him, his shadow blocking the heat of the afternoon sun. She twists herself around to look, and he grins before plopping down on the ground beside her. "Hey, Sis." He looks at her, then up at Cocoon. "Rough day, huh?"
"Yeah." She shifts her hand to hide the bottle, then grips the grass with her fingers. Snow may have noticed her tiredness, but she'll be damned if she lets him know the reason for it. Only Sazh knows, and she's assured him that she has a full supply and a source for more. No need to worry him with the full truth. She's survived partial withdrawal before, and she'll do so again. As long as she keeps her attention focused, she'll be fine.
-x-
By the time they start moving again, the others are already some distance ahead, but maybe that's okay, Lightning thinks; she and Snow complement each other well, though he's never picked up any knack for defensive magic. But that's Snow, all the way through -- he'll knock down whatever enemy pops up in front of him, or he'll stand in their way and take all the damage, but anything tactical and he's at a loss.
Plus, any of the others would probably want to talk. But Snow is keeping his own counsel, for once, and Lightning is grateful. The energy pills would have started kicking in by now, and she's missing the boost -- her thoughts are sluggish, the sunlight too bright. As a result, she doesn't notice the pack of goblins until she's almost on top of them; she just has time to yell for Snow and pull her gunblade before they've bounced in to attack, giant fists flailing.
She shifts into Ravager mode and prepares a series of spells as Snow yells at the creatures, goading them into an attack. Goblins, goblins... are they immune to fire, or is that those wolf-like things they see all over the Steppe? Out of time to decide, she alternates fire and ice and hopes for the best, aiming each blast at a different goblin's back. One falls, another shudders, and she takes a breath to ready the next volley -- but she has forgotten the third until pain explodes in her left temple. Instinctively she turns and fires, but she's already falling and the shot goes wild; she hears Snow's shout and the goblin's return screech, but the noise all seems very far away. The grass is soft, and warm from the sun, and her head is throbbing; it can't hurt if she closes her eyes, just for a minute, just to take everything away for a little while.
-x-
The next thing she knows is the pain, throbbing in time with the ringing in her ears, but it's already receding, replaced by the soft, reassuring tones of Hope's voice and the light, cool touch of his hand on her cheek, his healing magic chasing the ache out of her skull. She sits up, gulping for air, then looks around wildly, unsure of where she is, why she seems to be balanced in someone's arms, why the scenery looks completely different than it had a few seconds ago. The arms are strong, comfortable -- Snow, she realizes, and for once doesn't feel compelled to jerk away; she hardly has the strength to move. Hope moves his hand to her shoulder, his eyes closed, still murmuring, transferring his energy to her.
For another moment she rests, then she looks to Hope and raises her hand to his arm. "Thank you, Hope," she murmurs, then twists her head to look up at Snow. He's staring down at her, eyes filled with fear, and she raises an eyebrow at him; he drops her as if she were on fire, and she lands on the ground with a gasp, the wind knocked out of her. She sits up and watches him stalk off, away from what she's seen is the camp. Hope is kneeling on the ground next to her, and she glances at the boy. "What's with him?" she asks.
"He carried you into camp, by himself." Fang's voice comes from behind them, and she drops into a crouch, cocks her head sideways as she examines Lightning, gently prods the sore left side of Lightning's face. "Whatever happened out there, it scared him half to death. And no wonder, if you ended up with a bruise like that."
Lightning winces. "My own fault," she says, shortly. "I lost concentration. Won't happen again."
Fang looks her over, more closely; Lightning stares back without flinching, and Fang responds with a nod, then a shrug. "Only human to slip up every once in awhile," she says with a quick pat to Lightning's shoulder. "Just, get some rest, will you?" She rises up and goes after Snow, and Lightning looks away.
Hope stands up as well. "You'll be okay if I go help Vanille and Sazh with dinner?" The worry lines in his forehead have smoothed, though she can see the ghost of a furrow remaining. She nods, and he leaves her alone. For a minute she watches him go; as soon as she feels herself unobserved, she pulls out the near empty bottle, dumps the two remaining pills in her hand, and tossed them into the back of her mouth, following them with a swig of water from her canteen. She can't afford to lose her edge, not now. If her supply runs short, she'll just have to think of another way.