Lost and Found: Chapter 1


"You wanted to see me sir?" Lightning asked. She looked cautiously to Captain Amodar sitting behind the desk, his face hidden behind the newspaper he was reading. He exhaled slowly before he folded the newspaper on his desk and nodded with a wave of his hand. "Yes I did, sit down." He said solemnly. "Farron, I told you what would happen if Lockhart found you passed out at your desk again."
Lightning nodded. "Yes sir you did but this time I-
"Enough, Farron." Amodar cut her off and shook his head. "I warned you, one-month suspension if you pulled this crap again. Well, Farron, I hate to say but you've earned it."
"But sir-"
"ENOUGH!" Amodar shouted and slammed his fist against his desk, now towering over Lightning as he stood straight. "Farron, you are killing yourself. I'm sorry but she is gone and you can't run from reality any longer. She'd hate to see you do this to yourself. It's affecting you, it's affecting your team and it's affecting your work. You're getting sloppy, careless and worst all Farron you're getting dangerous. Take some time off, get your head in the right place and when you're ready Lightning, come back to work. Not a moment sooner."
"Yes sir." Lightning mumbled, barely able to raise her voice above a whisper.
Amodar fell back into his chair and let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry to do this to you Lightning but it's for your own good. I hope you realise that. Oh and I'm going to need your badge and gun as well."
"Yes sir." Lightning repeated and gently placed them on his desk.
"Get some rest alright."

Lightning shut the door to Amodar's office and hurried through the sea of questioning stares she got from the other officers. Being suspended was definitely a blow for the ace of the Bodhum Police department as she hurried as fast as she could to the locker room and stripped out of her uniform. The usual comfort it gave her was all so suddenly suffocating. Throwing it in her locker, her legs gave out and she collapsed on the bench behind her panting. Her fingers clutched at the pendant underneath her shirt to try and calm herself. It had been her lucky charm and always helped her keep her cool, almost always. Now it only made her feel worse, especially considering that Serah was gone and Lightning knew it was her fault. If only she hadn't pushed so hard on her case. If only she had been more protective of her little sister. Clenching her eyes shut, Lightning cast the 'if only's' out of her mind. It was useless and now it had cost her job, even if only temporarily. Pulling herself to her feet, she silently unbuttoned the rest of her uniform and stored it away, changing into her casual outfit.

Lightning stepped inside the Huntswoman's office and her expression lightened. She'd expected a PI's office to be a dark messy hole reeking of alcohol and regret. So far she was pleasantly wrong, although the sight of a brunette slumped over the desk at the far end of the room by a bottle of alcohol was not very supportive of her judgement. Her boots clicked against the wood floor as she slowly approached the poor excuse of a woman who was presumably the one she was looking for.
"Are you the huntswoman?" Lightning asked, a slurred groan was her only response. "What a waste of time." She mumbled to herself but judging how the brunette quickly straightened up, she had heard her too. With piercing emerald green eyes the brunette looked at Lightning. "Hey, you try drinking two bottles of whiskey and standing straight sunshine. Oh crap, I feel like I just got stampeded by a behemoth. Urggghaaahaa!" The woman rubbed her temples and bumped into her desk when she tried to navigate around it. "Names Fang by the way, now if you could give me a moment I need some bloody painkillers." Fang groaned again as she forced her feet to carry her to the bathroom. Left in the room by herself, Lightning took the chance to look around the office. It was pleasantly decorated with an abundance of flowers and plants, all meticulously cared for in their pots. Even the air in the room was also refreshing, lightly scented by the abundance of flowers.

Stumbling out of the bathroom, Fang moved to the kitchen and poured herself a large glass of water to help down the painkillers. Setting down the glass on her desk, Fang finally redirected her attention back to Lightning. "Sorry about that Sunshine, little sisters are a nightmare. So how can I help, miss?" Fang asked, her voice picking up as she checked Lightning out.
"Lightning. I'm looking for a missing person." Lightning said and reached into her bag for the photo of Serah she kept. "She's my sister." She said and extended the photo to Fang.
The brunette took it and circled back around to her desk. "I can tell. She's cute." Fang chuckled and sat the photo down on the desk. "So did she run away or something?" Fang asked, her eyes watching Lightning's every movement.
"No..." Lightning paused and tried to summon the courage to say the next words. "She was... was taken."
"Kidnapped, how long?" Fang asked.
"A month."
Fang paused and bit her lip. "Hmm, it's a good thing Bodhum works slow then." She smiled, enjoying every curve of Lightning. "So Sunshine let's talk payment shall we."
Lightning nodded and reached into her bag for the cash she'd withdrawn. "Here, I hope this is enough."
"Actually..." Fang snickered and circled around her desk, coming a little closer to Lightning than the woman would have liked. "How about we forget the money and you let me take you to bed instead?" Fang winked as she leant closer, her fingers daring to brush against the jacket Lightning was wearing.
Lightning gulped and bumped against the desk. "I'm sorry?"
"It's simple, you're gorgeous Sunshine, absolutely stunning if I'm being honest and I wanna get underneath those tight jeans of yours, just one night and I'll take the case. Hell, I'll go kick ass and bring the girl to you too."
"You want to have sex with me, for the case?" Lightning said with venom in her voice. Women like this were disgusting, she ran into them enough through her job.
"Well Sunshine I'd want to have sex with you even without the case, I'm betting any girl with tastes would." Fang chuckled and eased off. "Take some time to think about it yeah?"
"No thank you, I'll look elsewhere." Lightning grumbled as she stuffed her things in her bag and stared for the door. Fang stopped her by slamming the door shut before she could step out and taking her wrist.
"Wait a minute Sunshine, how about you leave the photo. I might as well get started seeing as I know you will be coming back." Fang smiled at the look Lightning gave her. It was the kind that said remove your hand or I will. "I'm the huntswoman for a reason and I take it, Officer Claire Farron, who just got suspended for a month because you were obsessing over this, did not just walk into a random PI's office."
Lightning's brows dropped into a glare as her body tensed up. "No I did not, Oerba Yun Fang. How did you know that?" She asked in a low threatening growl.
"Lightning, I have my sources. Sources in places you can't tread." Fang stretched her arms and closed the distance between the two. "Sources that are beneficial in this sort of business." She added in a low whisper.
Lightning huffed and reluctantly reached into her bag. "I'll pay, money not sex." She said, twice as firm on the second part and offered Fang the photo.
The brunette nodded and took the picture from Lightning. "Well you can't blame a girl for trying can you Sunshine. There's just one other thing I'll need, your phone number."
"My phone number?"
"Mhm. How else am I gonna get in contact with you, bat signal? I'll see what I can find and we'll meet up next week, and you can pay me then. Consider it a good looking special. Sound good?"
"You better come through with this Fang." Lightning huffed and handed her phone number over. "Now if there isn't anything else I will be leaving."
Fang nodded and opened the door for her. "Mhm, no problem Sunshine. You take care alright." Shutting the door, Fang waltzed back to her desk and grinned from ear to ear. She cracked her knuckles and reached for her phone as fast as she could. This was going to get interesting.


A/N: Hey it's been a while, or maybe not. I really dunno and I'll get to why in a bit. Firstly a bit of Fang and Lightning goodness before I tackle the final(maybe) chapter of Jihl's side of Brass, especially considering I've been doing lots of other writing lately. Given my wonderful history with coming through with deadlines, it will be soonish at best.

Now if you'll put away the pitchforks, I'll explain. Delays and there's been a few oh like my city turning into the second coming of Atlantis, moving house, organising internet and not having anything set etc etc. So there's that put a dent in things and Secondly well um... Ahem. You know how your favourite writers drop the G word and their updates just die off? Well I'm one of them now! Really the last month has been a blur of just goop but I'll still try to write as much as I can, I promise. After all I can't just leave Brass half finished or Lightning bleeding out and not smooching Fang for all eternity.

Oh right and this? It will get updated just not for a good while considering there are other projects that are long overdue. So sorry if you want to see Fang work her way into Lightning's pants, ya gonna have to wait, Sunshines.