Sergeant Lightning Farron, icy commander, destroyer of Fal'Cie had never been more scared in her life.
"Claire? Are you ok?"
Ah yes, the entire reason she was in this ridiculous mess in the first place. Lightning squared her shoulders and adopted a fighting stance. Slowly he let out a breath she was not aware she had been holding and opened the door, fearing what was on the other side. She stepped forward, not for herself, but for Serah.
"Maker, Claire!"
"It suits you Sunshine."
"You look beautiful, Light."
Lightning cracked open one eye and looked at the other girls who were openly staring at her. Vanille had little tears building in her eyes and head tilted in that puppy-like way that she did. Fang was leaning against the wall nonchalantly, a small smirk gracing her lips. But she ignored those two, and focused on the entire reason she had been dragged to this torturous hellhole and forced into this situation way too many times.
Lightning's heart soared at the look of pure, unadulterated joy on Serah's face at the sight of her sister. As long as Serah was happy, she was happy. The younger Farron sat on a small stool, hands clasped in front of her face and small tears of joy rolling down her face. Lightning wondered why the others were reacting like this; it was only a stupid dress.
For Serah, a little part of her pointed out.
Fine, she replied to the little voice, still it's only a dress.
\Broken Strings/
Two days later, Lightning found herself staggering in from work completely exhausted. A serial killer was on the loose and she had volunteered to be part of the team catching him. There had been a pay raise and there would be a bonus if they caught him, but it wasn't like she was desperate for money, having saved since she started work in the Guardian Corps.
Serah and Snow, on the other hand, had no money at all. Serah was still in school, doing a degree in History, so that was understandable. Lightning had forced her to stay in school, she didn't want Serah having to try and find work with no qualifications. Not like she had. Snow wasn't over-qualified either, he'd done alright in school, but with the move into Gran Pulse there weren't many jobs hiring and he was struggling. Not that she would admit it, but Lightning was proud of Snow, looking for a job to support Serah, running NORA and using it to help people settle in and aiding in the reconstruction all at the same time. Right now the pair was living in Lightning's house, on her money, as well as Lightning paying for the ceremony, outfits, and honeymoon.
"Hey Claire."
"Serah? What are you doing up, its past midnight."
"I know. I wanted to wait up for you, like I used to before…"
Lightning smiled. Serah had never waited up for her; instead she had waited in the living room, watching out of the window for Lightning to turn up and then falling asleep. Lightning would stagger in, see the sleeping child and carry Serah to her bed and then collapse on her own.
"Do you want a drink, Claire?" Serah smiled at her sister.
"Hot chocolate, the way you normally do it." As Serah bustled about the kitchen preparing two mugs of Hot Chocolate, Serah style, which meant that there was little actual hot chocolate. Instead it was a mountain of whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate chunks in a cup. "It's great that we managed to salvage so much from Cocoon, otherwise most of us would have starved."
Serah nodded in agreement as she laid down the two mugs. "And that they found Fang and Vanille."
"That too, I guess. Who knew you could end the crystal stasis by just breaking the crystal?"
The two sisters sat in comfortable silence, even as Snow opened the front door and made his way up the stairs, not coming into the kitchen. When the two girls heard his slow, mellow thump-thump-thump of his giant feet hitting the carpeted floor, they looked at each other. Normally he would make as little noise as possible, to not wake anyone else up. If he was happy, like a civilian gave him a tip for helping them move into their house, then he would thunder up the stairs to tell them. But these slow, heavy footfalls expressed his state of mind.
"He went out looking for a job." Serah felt the need to explain.
"I see, at least he's trying."
"He hates doing this."
Lightning scoffed. "What, looking for a job?"
Serah giggled slightly. "No," Then she sobered up slightly. "He doesn't like living off you, because he knows you aren't exactly fond of him…"
"I respect him, I just don't like him."
"…And he can't pay you back. You've done so much. For both of us."
"You're family, Serah. And pretty soon, even if I don't like it, so will Snow. I always look after my family."
"Love you Claire." They went back to the comfortable silence, sipping the hot chocolate. After a while, Lightning spoke up hesitantly.
"Serah? What's that on your arm?"
On Serah arm, there was a small patch of colour just above the bandage that had hidden her status as a L'Cie. Before Serah could pull it up Lightning had ripped it off and was now staring openly at what had just been uncovered and read the words.
Serah X Snow forever
The curly black writing was even backed by a bright red heart. It was horrible. It was defiling. It was…quite artistic, even if Lightning wouldn't admit it. But Lightning was filled with anger and rage. Her sister had a tattoo.
"What is this, Serah?" There was no emotion in the way Lightning said those four words. Even though Serah knew full well that Lightning knew full well what this was
"A tat-" She was cut off abruptly.
"It's a brand. Just like the one Anima gave you. Why would you willingly mark yourself like that? Why Serah, would you do something like that?"
"Don't be angry Claire." Serah pleaded.
Lightning took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She could deal with this, it wasn't that bad really. "Sorry Serah. It was just a shock and you didn't tell me you wanted to get one. Not like the piercing thing, where you chickened out after I already paid."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Claire, you were just so tied up in work…"
"It's alright sis, you're nearly eighteen now and about to get married, I think you can make a few decisions for yourself.
"Can I drink?"
"Not on Snow's life." Lightning winked at her sister. "At least, until you hit eighteen."
The L'Cie journey really changed her, thought Serah happily. They went back to the comfortable silence they had previously occupied. In some ways just knowing that they were together was so much better than talking.
"So."
"So, indeed."
"What are you going to do after you get married?" Lightning asked.
Serah giggled slightly. "Well obviously the honey moon and afterwards I was thinking about getting a job of some kind."
"That's great Serah, but you are going to keep up your studies, aren't you?" Lightning saw the uneasy look in Serah's eyes and the way she kept lacing her fingers together and pulling them apart. "You aren't!"
Lightning's face hardened and she pulled Serah's shoulder so that their identical eyes met. "Why not Serah? Why are you just abandoning your studies? Do you want to be like me, to have my lifestyle? You told me yourself that you hate what I do, that every day when I'm late home you think you'll receive a phone call and I won't be home ever again or that I was seriously hurt. Is that what you want? Is it? Answer me Serah!"
"I'm sorry Claire, I didn't mean-"
"I'm sorry Claire," She mocked, her voice high and whiny. "Oh so you don't want to be like me? This is just you turning your back on everything I've done for you, everything I gave up. I didn't want to be a killing machine, I wanted to own my own bar, but I couldn't because I had to look after you."
"Claire I'm-" Serah started.
"-an ungrateful brat? I know! Do you know some of the things I had to do so we had enough money for you to attend that bloody school and not starve at the same time? I'm not proud of a lot of them, but I was damn proud of you until you turn around and threw away everything I did for you. You know what? I think this is all a joke to you, a giant 'fuck you' to me! You may as well spit on my face."
Lightning threw her arms wide and glared right into her younger sister's eyes. "Go on! Do it! You've already done so much worse to me! Spit in my bloody face already."
All through this rant, Serah had been trying to get a word in, but Lightning was having none of it. When she paused to get her breath back, Serah did the only thing she could. The slap echoed in the silence and Serah ran out of the room with tears streaming from her eyes.
In a display of calmness that completely hid her inner turmoil, Lightning finished her hot chocolate, choking down the drink that had been made by her ungrateful sister and washing it out and leaving the mug on the side to drain. Then on unsteady legs she walked up the stairs and opened the door to her Spartan bedroom, ignoring the crying and soothing noises coming from the room across the hall. After stripping and changing into an oversized t-shirt, Lightning fell asleep, eyes resting on the only photo she had of herself and Serah, on a beach a couple of years ago. She had just been made Sergeant at the same time as Serah had been accepted into the school. The teenage Lightning had a mild scowl pointed at the person who took the picture for them, even as the fifteen year old pulled her sister into a hug, the only form of contact she would allow from the only person. Lightning shuddered at the memory of what she said minutes ago.
\Broken Strings/
The next morning she pulled herself out from under the plain white covers and wandered out of her room rubbing her eyes. Bed headed and still drowsy, she made her way down the stairs to the kitchen, where she usually found Serah in the mornings. Slowly she pushed open the pale blue wooden door, an apology for her outburst on her lips.
There was no one there. Everything was as she left it. No smell of bacon, or bread crumbs on the side, or small patch of milk on the side where Snow spilt the milk every morning without fail. Turning quickly, Lightning rushed up the stairs again, and kicked upon Serah's bedroom door, causing the elegant drawing of a horse that Serah had drawn years ago to fall off the door. It landed face down, exposing the blue tack on the back. Lightning sank to her knees as the shock of the completely empty room hit her. Serah's wedding dress, previously hung on the front of the wardrobe, was gone.
\Broken Strings/
Well there's the first chapter of Broken Strings. I'm not really sure how many people have written a story about this subject, but anyway. Unfortunately I'm not that good with what would make a good wedding, and am not very good at dealing with my emotions (except happiness, anger and sarcasm, which I'm not sure is actually an emotion but I'm classing it as one because…this is my Author's Notes). I feel it necessary to point out that I'm a guy and not very good at writing emotional scenes (not saying those are linked!) so if anything seems particularly sappy or stupid…well let's see you write this better.
If you do decide to take up my semi-serious challenge of writing this better, first off: thank you! I love reading, especially the good stuff.
Secondly: could you mention the fact you did take up this challenge from me
Thirdly: I want a parade in my honour, which I march in front of. And you have to build a statue of me in a park somewhere, in one outstretched hand a can of fosters and a platypus tucked under my arm. Those of you who recognise that in any way…well done. Well done, indeed.
Are you all happy now? I have re-redone the confrontation scene with a little inspiration from Divodog. If anyone has a problem with this version (3.1) I offer you a chance to write your own version which can then be sent to me in a private message. I may decide it is better than this version and put it into the story, if it is good enough.