This is a 1x1 based on ffxiii. We will start at the beqininq of our story which is were the civilians are boardinq the train to be purqed.

 

"Alriqht, keep movinq!" The soldier yelled out to the line. Airra stood there hooded and keepinq quiet. She kept her winqs tucked into her cloak and qot to the soldier. They inspected her then motioned her onto the train. Airra boarded and sat in a chair. ("Gettinq purqed wasnt the plan! Uqh! How could i mees up!") She thouqht as she clenched her fists.

Sarmen gave Raines a detailed report of what happened when he started the mission he had been on when he got branded to boarding the Lindblum. Raines listened intently and nodded a few times. After Sarmen was done, both men remained silent for a few minutes.

"Have you gotten any more insight into your focus?" Raines asked as last.

Sarmen shook his head.

"No more idea than before." he reported. "All I know is that Airra is a part of it. She said she saw me, so I any doubt that we have to get something done together is gone."

Raines nodded. He took in a deep breath and got up.

"I had best let you rest, Sarmen." he said.

He walked to the door and left.

Sarmen sat and thought a moment. He wished he knew more about Airra. She seemed to have a hard time letting in. He hoped he could get her to trust him. They would need it to get through what lay ahead. Sarmen got his armor off and flopped on his bed and fell asleep.

Fang nodded and looked at Raines who was walking by.

"What is going on here?" He asked stopping and looking at the two. Fang looked at Snow and back to Raines.

"We were talking about Airra, sir." Fang said as she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Raines narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Why? Did she do something?" Raines asked scratching his head. Snow shook his head.

"No, sir. We were trying to figure out a way for Airra to open up to us. We want to know about her origin but she wont answer. We've only got bits and pieces." Fang admitted. Raines eyes widened.

"What have you two found out?" Raines asked sitting down on the bench in the hall.

"Well when Fang was inspecting Airra's wings she found stitches where the wings came out from." Snow said.

"So someone was trying to hide her wings?" Raines asked scratching his chin. Fang shook her head.

"Not exactly sir. She told me when she was younger that her brother, who happened to be a good magic user, put a spell on her wings that would seal them behind the stitches. But she said overtime the stitches undid and they appeared once more." Fang explained. Raines nodded.

"I have to see this for myself." Raines announced as he looked at Fangs door.

"Shes sleeping so she wont hassle, but if we touch her wings she will most likely wake up and start making a fuss about us touching her wings. Raines nodded.

"We will have to take her into the infirmary, there we can giver her some medicine to stay asleep while we do this, Snow can you carry her there?" Raines asked. Snow nodded and they all entered Fangs room. Snow picked up Airra and they headed towards the infirmary.

Sarmen snapped awake from a dream.

"But how could I?" He thought. "I've only been asleep a few minutes."

He tried to remember the dream. It felt...familiar.

He had been standing in a city somewhere. There was...something else. Was the city burning? Was it a ruin of a city? He couldn't remember. He did rmember looking around. Then something raised itself from the flaming or ruined buildings. Sarmen had felt himself tense up. Then he yelled. Now awake, his throat felt sore. Maybe he had actually yelled. After he yelled, someone appeared beside him. Who was it?

He then stood straight up. Wings. The person in the dreams had wings.

"Airra." He said aloud.

Now that he realized who it was, his memory sharped. It was most definitely Airra. He could remember her face. Then she changed. He couldn't remember how, but he did know she changed.

It clicked then what he saw. It was the vision he received when he was branded a l'Cie. He felt a little better, but the vision was still vague. Were he and Airra to fight the thing?

He shook his head. He didn't want to try to figure this out on his own. He needed some input. Airra should know about this and Fang seemed to know a bit about l'Cie, so they seemed the best confidants for this.

Sarmen got dressed in a simple uniform and headed toward Fang's and Airra's room.

Snow gently layed Airra in the infirmary bed. She rolled over to her side and Raines called for a nurse.

"Get me the vacine, to make her sleep through this." Raines said as the nurse nodded and left the room. Fang, Raines, and Snow circled the bed around Airra. The nurse then returned with needles in her hand, the vacine. She went over to Airra and injected it into her arm. Airra flinched then returned deeper into her sleep.

"Thank you very much nurse." Raines said as the nurse nodded and exited the infirmary.

"Now, lets see to this."

Sarmen made it to Fang's room, but found no one there. Odd. He went over to a intercom set in the wall of the corridor and called the Operations booth.

"Ops." a female voice came over the com.

"I need to know the location of the civilians on board. Name Airra." Sarmen asked.

He heard some clicking of computer keys.

"Sorry, sir." the ops officer said at last. "She hasn't issued a communicator yet, so I can't track her on the ship."

Sarmen grimaced. He should have figured.

"How about Fang?" he asked.

Another minute of computer keys.

"Yes, sir. She is in the infirmary." came the answer.

"Got it." Sarmen said. "Thank you, Corporeal."

He shut down the com and walked toward the infirmary. He was a little worried, but not too badly. They had all been through a fight. Hopefully Airra was with Fang.

Raines looked closely at Airras stitches. Snow and Fang stood outside the room amd waited for Raines to tell them something about Airra. They sat on the bench against the wall. They Sarmen walking up and he had a worries look on his face. The sighed. Snow looked at his brand and turned to Fang.

"How can you tell when your on the verge to becoming a cieth?" Snow asked looking intently at his mark. Fang sighed.

"You get more arrows on your brand." Fang said. Snow nodded.

"I get it."

"I've been wondering about that, myself." he said.

He looked at the door of the infirmary.

"Is Airra in there?" he asked.

He figured what the answer was going to be, but better to ask than assume.

Fang nodded.

"Raines and Airra are in there. We cant go in though. He doesnt want anyone in there. I dont know what hes doing to her or anything but he will find out the truth, about Airra." Fang said as she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Snow shrugged.

"Well he didnt say we couldnt go in. Fangs just being Fang is all." Snow said as Fang rolled her eyes.

 

~~~~~

"Why cant i wake up? It feels like ive been living in the same replaying dream. Whats going on?" Airra asked as she looked around the dark background. She wantdd to wake up, but for some reason, couldnt.

"What are they doing to me? I can feel it, its painful, but i cant open my eyes. Why not?!" She yelled in her dark dream. She was now afraid...

Sarmen drew in a deep breath. He wanted to talk to Airra now, but he had to wait. Best collect information of the situation first before barging in on the General.

"Are you talking about Airra's wings?" He asked.

Snow nodded.

"Alright, what have you found out already?" Sarmen asked.

Fang took in a deep breath and exhaled softly.

"Well, we know shes had then when she was young. She wouldnt say exactly how old she was when she got them, but we did find out that supposedly her brother, if she does have one, is really good with magic. Maybe he gave her the anility to have wings? I dont know. Raines can probably tell by the stitches and cuts, and bruses she has, she was probably cursed with those damn things. I mean we dont want to hurt her, but she hasnt yet trusted us yet. So were just gonna go ahead and take a look while we have her drugged or something like that." Fang said hoping Sarmen would understand. Snow looked at Sarmen, he didnt really have an expression upon his face he just looked serious.

"Are you thinking about just barging in there?" Snow asked.

Sarmen considered Snow's question for a moment.

"I've worked with Raines for a long time." he said, to himself as well as the others. "If he's got a reason to keep us out, I'll let him."

He then furrowed his brow. Could he just wait?

"But," he added after a moment, "Airra isn't going to be comfortable with this. I will give Raines some time alone, but then I'm going in."

He was silent for a moment.

"If we are connected, somehow, I can't stand by and not help her if I'm needed." he thought.

Fang and Snow nodded.

 

~~~~

Raines scratched his head.

"This is weird indeed." Raines said to himself as he sighed. He had managed to push Airras wings out of the way. Behind the stitches he could see that there was a chain inside but he couldnt quiet see anything else. Je had opened the stitches up more and saw a but of the wings inside. He decided to clpse the stitches back up and let her awaken when the drug wore off.

"Nurse, stitch her back up, and how long does that drug wear off?" Raines asked. The nurse sighed.

"A couple weeks maybe a month." The nurse said. Raines sighed then nodded.

Sarmen tried to remain calm and sit like Fang and Snow, but he was feeling restless. He stood still for a few minutes, then the pacing started. He paced back and forth in front of the door. He didn't like this, but he had to trust Raines on this. He need something to distract him. Maybe some conversation.

"So, Fang," he said in a voice calmer than he felt, "Where did Raines take you on?"

Fang looked up at him and rubbed her eyes. She hadnt got any sleep. She shrugged. Then saw the door open and Raines step out.

"I have learned nothing of her. The only thing i could see that would be possible is if we talk to the one who put those stitches on her. But she wont be awake for a while, so we will wait." Raines said as he looked at th three.

"You can go in if you wish. But she is deep in sleep. The nurse said the drug wont wear off for weeks maybe." Raines said as he walked for his room.

Sarmen nodded and went in. He thought the time for the drug to wear off a little odd, but these were special circumstances. He walked in and snagged a stool used by the infirmary staff when they needed to stay up with a patient. He placed it beside Airra's bed and sat, his back leaning up against the wall at the head of her bed.

"I'm not getting in sleep anyway." He mused to himself.

He sat there for a moment, then realized this was helping nothing, but he didn't feel like he should go. He should do something. An idea struck him. He sat up and flexed his back.

"Nurse." he called.

"Yes, sir?" she asked as she came up to him.

"Could you get me a mobile computer that's connected to the ship's database?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." she said then moved away.

Sarmen leaned back against the wall. It wasn't much, but if he could maybe find where he had been standing in the vision, maybe he'd have an idea of what he and AIrra were suppose to do.

Airra layed still.

'Why didnt Raines give me the damn antidote to the drug? I wont wake up without it. Didnt he tell the others? Ugh !' She said in her head and she turned her hand into a fist.

'if i could move i would! But i just cant!' she yelled inside her head.

' why did Raines just walk away? I thought he was here to help me!'

Sarmen got the mobile computer and started cross-referencing known locations with the hazy images in his head. He didn't have much hope of finding anything he would recognize 100% as what he had seen, but it was still something. Fortune sometimes gave out bonuses after dealing someone a bad hand. The cards Sarmen had been getting lately should earn him some sort of bonus.

As he did his search, he glanced over at Airra. Something seemed...wrong. He couldn't tell what. The length of time for the drugs to wear off still bothered him. The drugs he knew about didn't have that kind of effect time. He stopped his work and stared at Airra. She looked ill at ease. Maybe she was having nightmares.

"Oy, Airra." Sarmen said to her. "Calm down. You're fine. I'm here, Fang and Snow aren't far off."

Airras body eased at hearing Sarmens voice.

'Sarmen... if only he knew about what Raines did! Well i wouldnt blame him for not helping me but, when he figure out when i dont wake up, he'll probably realise somethings going on! Thats it! I just have to wait...' Airra though in her head as she exhaled deeply.

'i cant sleep, i want to wake up so badly...

Sarmen watched Airra for a minute. She looked a little calmer. At least that was something, though that made the type of drug used on her more interesting. He looked over to a nurse and beckon her over.

"What kind of meds were used on this patient?" he asked in a professional tone.

The nurse exhaled. She handed him the bottle which held the medicine.

"I really dont know what it is actually. Comander Raines said to use this on her, he also gave me this one. I dont think he used it." She said as she handed him a bottle with a label "ANTIDOTE" The nurse turned to jer records and let Sarmen look at the meds.

Sarmen blinked a few times at the Antidote label. Why hadn't Raines used it? Several possible answers popped up in his mind, but none that seemed right. He checked the back for dosage. Sarmen had some medic training, so he felt sure he wouldn't screw the medicine up. He pulled out a syringe from a medic tray. The nurse arch an eyebrow.

"I'll fill out the paper work and take responsibility." He said.

The nurse nodded reluctantly. Sarmen filled the syringe to the recommended low dose and gave it to Airra through the I.V.

He didn't like doing this behind Raines back, but he felt it was important.

'Yes! Thank you! I wont have to stuck like this foreber. Now i can get sleep." she said in her head as her body was now less tense. She was glad Sarmen was there to help her. She then found herself deep in her sleep. She wasnt worries about not waking up the next morning, she was greatful, the next morning she'd get to open her eyes once more.

Sarmen grimly noted how much Airra relaxed when the antidote hit her system. He could see from the monitors she was hooked up to she was fine, so the antidote didn't harm her. There was something else going on. He considered possibilities of what when he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Sarmen looked up to see Snow.

"You look beat." Snow said, a knowing smile on his lips. "I'd suggest you go to bed, but you don't seem the type to leave a comrade in a bad way."

Sarmen could see Snow didn't think Airra was in a bad way, but still liked what Sarmen was doing. Sarmen's liking for the big l'Cie increased as well.

"Figured I should be around when she came to." he answered, then yawned.

Snow laughed.

"How about this, you sleep here for a bit and I'll keep an eye on Airra." Snow suggested. "She wakes, I'll wake you."

Sarmen nodded.

"Thanks, Snow." he said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

He faintly heard Snow say "Your welcome" as he started to drift to sleep. While he was tired, he forced himself to do a few mental exercises in his head to keep his brain active. He had always been a light sleeper and was trained to sleep even lighter. If something happened with Airra, he would know.

"Night, Airra." he thought, then allowed himself to fall asleep.

Airra grunted and rubbed her eyes. She opened them slowly and saw the bluriness of the infirmary room. Her eyes then focused on the ceiling. She couldnt quiet roll to her side. There was a sharp pain in her back that warned her not to but she urged to sit up. She winced in pain and finally got herself leaning against the head rest. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze.

'Feels like forever since id woken up.' She thought as she took a deep breath, eyes still closed.

Snow grinned at Airra's movements. He moved over to give Sarmen a shake.

"Look's like she's coming around." Snow said.

Sarmen opened his eyes wide to make sure they stayed open. He then blinked a few times to clear his vision. He stretched and yawned.

"Thanks." he told Snow.

Sarmen then turned to look at Airra.

"You okay, Airra?" he asked.