Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or FF13.
Life in Academia: a life of training, sleeping, eating, and then training some more. In order for AVALANCHE to attain a level at which they could properly fight against SHINRA's tyranny, they had accepted the help of the Guardian Corps. More specifically, their Special Ops unit. They were top soldiers; literally, the top of the top. Although, Tifa realized that the description was probably born from, and applied to, only one of the soldiers in the unit. Lightning was imposing, strong like steel, but cold like the ice packs Tifa used to soothe any resulting bruises from training.
There were perks in working with Lightning though, and one of them was the fact that Tifa had special privileges. It wasn't anything starkly out of ordinary, but simply that Lightning was marginally nicer to her. As a result, Tifa liked pushing her buttons, just to see when Lightning would snap. Today was special though, and she remembered wondering about this back in Midgar when Lightning had tried using a mallet to cure silence. It was strange that she would insist on calling silence, fog, or how she acted as if there was no such thing as an echo herb, but amidst the slight culture shock for the both of them, this one thing had latched onto Tifa's curiosity and refused to let go. So she decided to test it.
"WHAT THE FRIG IS THIS!" Lightning's yell resounded in the training room, and through the hallways of the Academy.
"L-Light, could you please keep your voice down?" Tifa stammered as she desperately tried to swallow her snickers.
"Keep my-" Her voice choked with anger and indignation, but Lightning's expression was enough to make Tifa laugh even harder. Tifa curled over, clutching her stomach laughing until she almost spilled her gut out. Tears spotted the corners of her eyes, "TIFA!" and at Lightning's second attempt to sound large and imposing, Tifa laughed even harder. "God damn it Tifa, you better know how to fix this."
"Fix this? Why would I-" Tifa tossed her head back to let out a mighty chuckle of triumph before she grinned slyly at Lightning, "You look so cute though."
Her small fists clenched, and Lightning's usual icy cold glare resembled nothing more than a petulant pout on the face of a child. Walking up to Lightning, Tifa marveled at the power dynamics now and patted Lightning's head that barely passed her knee. However, Tifa noticed that the mini spell did look different. Back in Gaia, when the mini spell was cast, the inflicted simply shrunk but kept the same aspect ratios, but maybe because they were on Pulse now, and maybe because it was a spell never known to those from Cocoon or Pulse, there was a slight disfiguration. Rather than a smaller version of her twenty-one year-old self, Tifa thought that Lightning probably looked like her six-year old self. It was a good thing her clothes shrunk with her too. Tifa almost cooed at how cute she looked; a small button nose, big blue eyes that didn't freeze over hell for once, all placed on a round face. Although she looked cute, "Fix this now or you will be in a world of pain once this wears off."
"Haha..." Scratching the back of her head, Tifa collapsed onto the ground and gave Lightning a guilty smile, "Y'see..."
"What?" Lightning would've sounded threatening, if she had actually sounded like she usually does, but the spell had somehow worked its wonders on her voice too.
"I didn't really expect it to work." Tifa started carefully, watching the young blue eyes squint into slits. "I just kinda wondered... Hope said that it would be hard for us to use materia here on Pulse because the Lifestream doesn't reach-"
"I know that!" Lightning interrupted, stomping over to Tifa, "He said that it would be hard. Not impossible. Who in the right mind would-"
"I was curious, a-and we just have to wait until it wears off..." Tifa said, hiding her last few words behind a nervous chuckle, but Lightning had caught it clearly.
"You're telling me that you don't have whatever the hell I need to-"
"Well, we are on Pulse and people don't know what the mini spell is. It's like it doesn't even exist here!" Tifa laughed, fist-pumping the air in hopes to ease away some of Lightning's anger but her enthusiasm seemed to elicit the opposite effect. The soldier was like the literal walking form of doom and gloom, but in petite form. It was almost akin to seeing a child and the dread accompanying them when it was blatantly obvious that a spectacular tantrum was inevitable. "Your mallets here won't do the job, huh, a-and... I don't have one from Gaia either."
"So you cast this spell on me, knowing that you had no way to fix it?"
"I really didn't think that it would work!" Tifa honestly confessed, while wondering how this scene would look to any passerby.
A six-year-old reprimanding someone over a decade older and then, "Damn it." Well, at least Lightning had the decency not to outright swear in this form. "I'm going to find Aerith. Hopefully she can fix this mess." Whipping around, the mini Lightning walked towards the large doors of the training room as fast as her short legs could go.
"I'm sorry!" Tifa pleaded, "Light, I - pfft." Clamping her hand over her mouth, Tifa tried in vain to muffle a laugh again upon realizing why Lightning simply stood at the closed doors and kicked it as if that would magically open it for her. "Here, I-I'll help." The fighter pressed her lips together, desperately trying to stop the corner of her lips from turning upwards as she jogged over to the door. The 'open' button was now clearly too high and out of Lightning's limited reach. With utmost adoration, Tifa swooped her hands underneath mini Lightning's arms and lifted her up like she would a child playing rocket, "Up we go!"
"T-Tifa!"
Grinning, the fighter hummed curiously when the pink haired child simply allowed herself to dangle lifelessly in Tifa's hands despite being held high enough for her to press for the door to open. "Light?" Suddenly, the small elbow dug into Tifa's wrist, making her release her hold. Instead of dropping like a child to the ground and crying over it, Lightning adeptly landed on her feet and whipped around with her open palm held out. Electricity circuited through her arm, building up into a few sparks that spluttered out and died pathetically with a small sizzle. "Oh, right. Uhm... when mini is cast on you, it's nearly impossible for you to do any actual damage." Tifa said, although she now knew Lightning was far from being amused if she was willing to electrify her with a thundaga point range.
"Just open the damn door." Lightning hissed and Tifa swiftly did as told. She followed the mini-fied woman down the Academy hallways before Lightning called her out on it, "Why are you following me?"
"You need me to open doors for you, right?"
Silence. Tifa smiled triumphantly when Lightning had no proper retort. Tifa ambled after her, peeking into Vanille's and Aerith simulation room from the observation windows above because Lightning wasn't tall enough to look through herself and told her that they weren't there. "Go look for her."
"What? Me?"
"Who else!"
With a heavy sigh, Tifa walked off on her search. A part of her didn't want to leave Lightning behind, counting all the missed opportunities to tease the usual serious and stone-faced soldier. There were only a few places Aerith could be, in the mess hall, or in her room, and luckily enough, she came across the Cetra in the first place she visited. The brunette was in the mess hall along with Vanille, Fang, and Cloud. The latter two seemed locked in some heated argument over the fried rice for lunch, while Vanille and Aerith simply smiled and talked to each other amicably. "Aerith?" Tifa greeted, waving at once to everyone else, "I need your help, well, Light needs your help."
"Help? Is something wrong?"
"Uhm... I did a little... experimenting, and uh... she just needs your help."
"What did you do?" Cloud asked, kicking his seat back from the table and crossing his arms over his chest, "If it's not something Lightning can fix then-"
The door slid open behind them, "Let me go! Barret!" Tifa froze before she sighed deeply. She knew she shouldn't have left Lightning alone. All five heads currently in the mess hall turned to see a small girl with a striking resemblance to Lightning kicking her feet furiously as Barret held her off the ground by the back collar of her GC uniform. Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs were with him too, the latter sporting a bruise on his shin and a black scorch mark on his forehead.
"Who let this kid in here?" Barret asked, "What? Is this Lightnin's kid? Why is she dressed like her?"
"Oh... experimenting huh?" Aerith hummed, grinning with delight as she rose from her seat. Even Cloud, who was desperately trying to keep a straight face could hardly stop his lips from quirking into a smirk. Clearly, those two had drew their own conclusions.
"Sheesh, good thing Marlene's not like this kid." Barret said, dropping the 'girl' to the ground before jabbing a thumb at Biggs, "She kicked him in the knee before tasering his forehead before we finally got a hold on her."
"Taser?" Tifa mumbled before remembering the small little thundaga Lightning had been able to conjure up. "Uhm, Barret, that's-"
Fang's chair suddenly screeched against the floor and the spear wielder approached Lightning with seriousness previously unknown to her character. "You're..." Kneeling down beside her, a feral grin suddenly cross Fang's expression before she poked Lightning's gut, "HAHAHAAHAHAA!" Clutching her waist, the Oerban fell back onto her rear and laughed like a madwoman, "That's right! That's Lightnin's kid alright! HAHAHAA!"
"Light has a daughter!" Vanille gasped in all of her oblivious glory and began fretting over everything of little importance.
"Fang, I'm going to kill you." Lightning hissed.
"Like mother like daughter!" Fang yelled in-between laughing fits.
"Really? I would've thought Lightning would raise her kids a little better." Jessie commented innocently, "B-But that's not important, Lightning has a kid?!"
"Of course I don't!" Lightning hollered, making everyone effectively freeze.
"No way." Barret breathed and the realization hit everyone else like a tonne of bricks.
"Y-You're Lightning?" Wedge stammered, eyes wide with shock. Fang laughed even harder, curling onto the ground into a ball before Vanille started fretting over her instead.
"Of course I am! Tifa somehow got this freakin' brilliant idea cast mini on me!"
"MINI?!" Jessie exclaimed and then blushed red, "B-But... why do you look- look so...c-cute...?"
"Like a damn brat?" Barret said loudly, looking down at the small menace glaring daggers up at him.
Aerith knelt on the ground beside Lightning and made an act to examine her, "Hmm... since the mini spell doesn't exist on Pulse and Cocoon, it's possible that, by pure fluke, it somehow... malfunctioned. That's why it made Lightning look so young rather than just her smaller self. I don't think we can apply our usual knowledge about the mini spell to this case. It seems to be a special thing. I mean, we can try it on Fang or Vanille to see if-"
"Ha!" Fang puffed out her chest, "Bring it on!"
All eyes turned to Tifa. Holding her hands up in surrender, the fighter smiled weakly, "I really, really didn't think it would work and... I kind of used up the materia."
"It doesn't matter!" Lightning interrupted, "Aerith, fix me."
"Aw... but you look so cute." The brunette cooed, catching Lightning by surprise and pinched her cheek. Before Lightning could recover, Aerith effortlessly picked her up and held her in her arms. Perhaps Aerith knew that she was the one person Lightning wouldn't hit. "You're all flustered!"
"Damn it-"
"Okay, okay, but Light, I can't help you."
"What?"
"I don't have the materia."
"Then Vanille." Lightning said, twisting in Aerith's arms to look at the orange-head.
"I'm sorry Light, but I don't know what mini is," Vanille said, "but it should wear off right?"
A petulant frown furrowed Lightning's brow, and Tifa nearly fawned over how cute the contemplating six-year-old-looking Lightning looked. Taking responsibility for her own actions, Tifa walked over to Aerith and took Lightning out of her arms. She convinced herself that she was not doing this just so she could get her chance to carry the mini Lightning. "I'll go find Hope. Maybe he'll know how to fix it."
Lightning remained strangely quiet, and her expression remained thoughtful even as they left the mess hall. The soldier's hands were holding onto her black hair before she moved them like the leather reigns on a chocobo. "Put me down." Lightning mumbled stubbornly.
"But you let Aerith hold you." Tifa complained but did what she was told nonetheless.
The pink-haired soldier released her hair and started walking down the hallways, "It's awkward. I don't know where to put my hands," Lightning said, and Tifa learned why she was holding onto her strands of hair, "and you're uncomfortable."
"Hm." Tifa pursed her lips.
Lightning continued mercilessly, "Your breasts are too big, I can't balance when they're in my way," and she sought to repeat her stance, "and it's awkward and uncomfortable."
"Pervert." In all her years though, Tifa had never had anyone complain about her assets other than herself though. Was she offended? Maybe a little.
"I should've waited in the training room until it wore off."
Tifa took her chance and got away with ruffling Lightning's hair, "No, I think it was a good thing that everybody else found out. You're always so cold and aloof, but now they know you're capable of silly things too."
"Right, and that's exactly what I want." Lightning retorted sarcastically.
Tifa gave Lightning an owlish look and hooted sagely, "What I'm trying to say is, it made you more... approachable. It's good for the team. I'm surprised Cloud didn't take the opportunity to mock you."
"Unlike someone else here, he won't resort to underhanded tactics when trying to one-up me. He's an asshole but this is low."
"I-I wasn't trying to one-up you for your information." Tifa huffed indignantly.
"Hmph." Despite her tone of displeasure, Lightning didn't refute her. It was strange that she would find this side of Lightning so endearing. When they arrived in Hope's office, the silver-haired man was already there, busy shuffling around behind his desk with folders in his arms.
"Tifa, what can I help you with today?" Hope asked, smiling kindly at the fighter before his eyes drew downwards and towards the little being standing beside her. His mouth dropped open, closed again, and then he cleared his throat. "I'll figure something out." He said, giving a brief nod to Lightning before averting his eyes. It was barely there, but Tifa had caught the pink tint on his cheeks and a laugh that was creeping on his lips.
"That would be greatly appreciated." Tifa said when it became obvious that Lightning wasn't going to explain the situation or even bother thanking him. It felt as if there was already some sort of unspoken understanding between the two, and somehow Hope could read her mind without her even saying anything.
"It's a good thing I've done some past research on this." Hope started as he moved towards his large shelves lined with countless binders and books. "Spells that exist on Gaia but not anywhere else. Seeing that Lightning looks like that, it appears as if there was a... deformity upon her being inflicted with mini."
Laughing nervously at the dangerous look Lightning gave her, Tifa fiddled where she stood, "Haha... saying that it's a deformity is a bit..."
"You're right, it's not very accurate." Hope laughed, collecting the necessary documents before plunking them down onto his desk, "Most spells that exist on Gaia usually have their counterparts here. For example, silence is what we know as fog here. Mini though, is one of the few spells that does not - is not supposed to exist here. Usually, those spells won't affect us because we're not susceptible. However, there are also spells that effectively inflict the same ailment, but the ailment itself causes a different effect-"
"Hope, we didn't come here for a lesson." Lightning promptly interrupted with a tell-tale scowl.
"Yes, but..." Hope grinned, "You sound just as cute as you look."
Her frown deepened, and out of habit, Lightning crossed her arms petulantly across her chest. That was one way to stop Lightning from complaining. "Anyways, the point is, since it appears as if this infliction of mini isn't like the others, it might take me some time to figure out how to cure it. I don't have a supply of mallets here, and any magic originating from here probably won't do the trick. In fact, I would suggest that you refrain from asking Vanille or myself to try to help you. The spell might rebound because there has never been a spell here tailored to treat mini."
"So you're saying I'm stuck like this." The soldier huffed and rolled her eyes.
"For the time being. You could wait until the spell wears off, although we won't know when that will be." Hope said with an apologetic smile.
"It's not that bad," Tifa started, hoping to lighten Lightning's mood, "Here, I'll stick with you until you change back, hm?"
"I seriously doubt having you, the person responsible for all of this, around me is going to help-"
"Hey, you can't even open doors on your own-"
"And whose fault do you think that is?" Lightning snapped.
"I said I'm sorry!" Tifa sighed, dropping down onto her knees beside the pinkette, "I'm really sorry."
"Tch. Forget it. I'll wait for the spell to wear off." Spinning on her heel, Lightning angrily stalked towards the door while pushing a chair. There was a burst of worry upon seeing Lightning climb onto it and reach for the button to open the door.
"W-Watch out-"
"Tifa," Hope said from behind the desk, "Lightning's still Lightning. You don't need to treat her like a child because she looks like one. I think she'll take greater offense of you start fretting over her as if she's suddenly become someone that's incapable of doing anything by herself. Nothing stings like wounded pride. Besides, she's safe here. What's the worse that could happen?"
Crash. Both head whipped towards the chair that had toppled to the ground, but much to the relief of Tifa's motherly instincts, Lightning coolly stood in front of the door unscathed and waited for it to open fully. "Light! Wait up!" Tifa called after her, turning to give Hope a quick smile and a word of thanks before rushing out after her. "Where are you going?"
"My room." Lightning stated curtly, picking up her speed, but no matter, due to her sudden small stature, it was effortless for Tifa to catch up. The rest of the short journey was in complete silence and Tifa couldn't blame Lightning for being antisocial. That woman was never one for many words.
The fighter opened the door for Lightning, and she went in without leaving Tifa any words of welcome or dismissal so the black-haired woman blindly followed in as well. Watching Lightning maneuver around her room, swiftly adapting to her current state, left Tifa impressed. Although It looked a little silly, seeing a six-year old push a chair around the room in such a concise, well-organized manner, and scaling it to do whatever she needed before moving onto the next task was also a sight she would never imagine seeing. This made her wonder what Lightning had been like when she was young. Even most adults lacked the discipline that was somehow ingrained in every single firm and determined gesture or movement, yet Lightning had attained it at the young age of twenty-one. Tifa couldn't explain why she felt such bitter-sweet emotions well up inside, and she suddenly felt sorry for Lightning. The control she forces onto herself and her life was something that no one should be subjugated to. "Light?" Tifa said airily, hoping to mask her true feelings, "What are you doing?"
The small pinkette was on her large desk, seated cross-legged with papers stacked neatly in front of her, "I'm changing your training regimen."
"Really?" Tifa walked over, peering over Lightning's shoulder, "How so?"
Perhaps she had been leaning too close, but Lightning shied away and abruptly left, jumping off the table, "Actually, there's something I need to check up on with Hope. I've been having him work on this specifically for our training."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"That's fine." Lightning shook her head, allowing Tifa to open the door to her room while she dragged a chair out to leave outside in the hallway, "I'll contact Hope and tell him I'm on my way. You should look over what I have prepared. I want to hear your input."
"Alright then." The door closed behind Lightning, and Tifa made her way back to the desk again. Briefly glancing over the notes, Tifa looked around for a pen but found none in sight. It wouldn't be Lightning to be so disorganized not to have a pen at a work desk though. She shuffled through the drawers, most filled with memory cards and computer chips. Eventually, she came across a pen, but what sat beside it caught Tifa's attention.
Thinking back to that time in Midgar, Tifa remembered Lightning calling floppy disks ancient pieces of junk, then surely the soldier would think writing letters would be medieval. Yet there was a letter, crumpled enough for Tifa to know that it's old, but still well taken care of. Her brow raised at the sloppy handwriting compared to the relatively neat cursive writing that was on the training regimen.
"Serah?" Tifa whispered quietly to herself, hoping that would help jog her memory. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite pin it down. She turned it around, and was tempted seeing the open seal. Curiosity got the better of her, and more than not, Tifa found herself starting to scavenge for information about Lightning. The writing was still messy, making her wonder how old Lightning had been when she wrote this; if she wrote it at all.
'Serah,
I miss you, although I'm sure you know already. Guess what? Things are finally looking up now. Us survivors, we're planning on starting fresh. Y'know, build a new home! I mean, who better than us to pave the way! We're the heroes after all!
Lebreau says hi by the way, she's always asking when you'll come back. Y'know? I might come break you out myself! We'll be together then. We'll get married and live happily ever after! Cause that's what heroes do right?
Just you wait Serah, I'll have everything ready for you here. We'll have a big wedding! Lots of cake, and everyone will be there with us. Just like we imagined. Hang in there for me, and don't forget that I will always love you.'
The name at the bottom was scratched out. Pursing her lips, Tifa carefully folded the letter up again and returned it to its original spot. To say the least, it was a surprise. She did not expect to find a love letter of all things, nor would she imagine Lightning writing something so... intimate yet innocent. What came as a greater surprise though was how the letter blatantly confesses such devotion and love, towards 'Serah,' a female name. It never crossed her mind that Lightning may have a different orientation, although Tifa hesitated to call it 'different', nor was she so arrogant and narrow-minded to suddenly think that Lightning would have any interest in her.
Closing the drawer, Tifa started scribbling down her own thoughts on the training regimen, but her thoughts constantly returned back to the girl the letter was addressed to. "Serah... Serah!" Her mind clicked into the name, rewinding to the time before they had left for the Golden Saucer. In her sleep, Lightning had whispered that name and then got tight-lipped and almost disturbed by Tifa's subsequent questioning. Was Serah a woman Lightning loved then? Of course; she was someone Lightning wanted to marry. Poking her chin with the tip of the pen, Tifa leant back on the chair and stared at the wall. She was even more curious then, what sort of person would turn Lightning's head? Who would draw her attention and hold it to the point that even in her absence, Lightning's devotion would not waver even once despite Hope's obvious infatuation with her?
The door slid open and Tifa nearly jumped from her seat. Twisting around, she watched Lightning walk in, dragging the chair back. "So? What did Hope say?" Tifa started the conversation on another topic rather than the one on her mind.
"He's almost done."
"Done... what?"
"Not something you need to worry about." Lightning replied, "At least, not until he finishes it. Tifa, could you go collect something for me?"
"Hm? Sure, of course." Pushing herself away from the desk, the fighter headed towards the door.
"Could you go around to Sazh, Vanille, and Fang? Get their training schedules for everyone else. I want to know what they have planned. As the one spear-heading this task, it's my responsibility to keep track of everything."
"I'll be back." Tifa left, her pace as she walked down the hallway faltered slightly and she glanced back at Lightning's closed door. Would Lightning somehow know that she had been snooping? Hopefully not.
Returning to her seat on her desk, Lightning shuffled through the papers and froze when she saw the pen Tifa was using. She had many pens in her desk, but that one was different. It was a gift; a present a certain PSICOM had given her knowing of the letters Lightning had written to Serah as Snow. Yanking open the drawer, she narrowed her eyes at the letter sitting there.
In her mind, this had always been a cruel form of punishment. The nightmares she had suffered from PTSD, the restlessness and anxiety, had been harsh. In her cowardness, she would take medication to lessen them, yet she would always keep these trinkets and momentos of the past in order to constantly remind herself of what she had done. Jihl seemed to derive pleasure seeing her guilt, and Lightning wasn't so stupid not to realize that the blonde simply saw this as proof of her power.
If Tifa had read this, what had she thought of it? What would she think if she knew the truth? To Lightning, this letter embodied all of her selfishness and guilt, all of the ugly sides to her that she believed no one else needed to know about. She could simply continue pretending to be the soldier that her cadet self had idealized. Looking at her small hands; hands that appeared to be of a child's, Lightning let out a dry humorless chuckle. She really was hopeless. At what point? Her face remained emotionless. At what point had she taken the wrong turn?
From the beginning.
And thus starts Somnium Innocentiae (Dream of Innocence). I'll most likely switch from writing about the present (takes place during FM) and the past for this fic. I don't want to repeat too much of FM so anything I add here will most likely be new.
The 'mini Lightning' part of this chapter takes place shortly after Lightning starts training Tifa.