It was safe to say that Lightning was not in a good mood. Actually, Lightning was never in a good mood. Let's just say that Lightning was in a worse mood than usual, and the cause of her urge to destroy everything was still babbling on.

Fang on the other hand, was in a fantastic mood. Why wouldn't she be? The sun was beating down on her tanned skin. The grass was gently caressing the sides of her knees as she walked. This patrol was being spent with Lightning and Bahmut, who was currently floating along lazily on the breeze.

"Hey Light? Where's Odin?"

Lightning folded her arms at the latest attempt at raising a conversation. The last ten had been shot down swiftly, and she had been hoping that the last hour or so of this patrol could be passed in silence. Well, as silent as anything could be when Fang was around. "I left him at home. I told him to clean up the living room and he didn't."

Fang was gobsmacked. "You left him home alone?"

Lightning scowled. This conversation was progressing in a way she didn't like: this conversation was progressing at all. "I instructed him to stay in the living room unless he was hungry or needed to use the toilet and left a lunch for him in the kitchen. He'll be fine."

"That's not the point!" Fang shouted. Bahmut pulled out of his dive when he heard his carer shout, belly scraping along the ground. "He's a child! You can't leave him alone."

"Just because you and Bahmut are so chummy doesn't mean you can dictate how I look after Odin." They returned to silence, even if it was a bit stormy. Every so often Lightning would cast a dirty look at Fang, who was now playing with the tiny dragon, swinging a stick very slowly and applauding as the chibi eidolon avoided it with loops and dives.

{Omake…Omake…Omake…Omake…Omake…Omake}

Lightning slipped the key into the lock and twisted her wrist; the satisfying click of the bolt sliding back was music to her ears. She was home. Now to get some much needed…oh Maker.

At least Odin had the decency to stop what he was doing. Lightning's cold eyes narrowed to dangerous levels, and the miniknight dropped the crayon he was holding like a sword. The moment her mouth opened, he flinched, bringing up his shield (made of a crayon box) in an attempt to hide from the inevitable fallout.

What he heard scared the knight more than any screams or threats at Lightning could have made. "Odin. Go to bed." The soldier's voice was perfectly flat, not showing any emotion. Her hand clenched and unclenched rapidly, while the other stayed stock still.

Odin ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him, until he hit the stairs. Normally Lightning would carry the six inch knight up and down the stairs, seeing as he was too small to make his way safely up and down otherwise. But now he had to haul himself up, little arms straining to pull his metal body onto the next step. About halfway up he risked a look behind him, only to see Lightning staring at him. He struggled up the rest of the way in silence, not even making his customary squeaks.

The moment she heard the door of Odin's bedroom, technically it was hers but he slept on her armchair, close gently, she looked at her wall. The little pest had drawn all over her wallpaper and…Lightning leaned to the side…okay, not in the living room, but he had doodled on the walls. A groan escaped her lips and her fingers squeezed the bridge of her nose in an attempt to elevate the headache that was threatening to form. Looking after a child was a lot harder than she remembered. This was all Serah's fault for introducing Odin to drawing.

Her cerulean eyes opened about half way, as if this would lessen the impact of what Odin had done.

They shot open.

They squinted again.

Lightning opened her eyes all the way, having realised what was on the wall. She reached out tenderly, stroking the pictures. In the back of her mind, she wondered how Odin had managed to draw this far up the wall. He was a half foot tall for Makerssake.

"Odin." She whispered, a half smile coming to her face.

{Omake…do dee doo…it's an Omake…do dee doo…I made an Omake…just for you…Omake!}

"Claire?" Serah asked, exercising extreme caution. "What happened to the hall?"

Lightning turned around, a trio of wall paper rolls tucked under her arm, and another dozen at her feet. "Odin drew all over the walls so I took them down."

"You took…why?" Serah cried next to Lightning's head, throwing her arms wide for emphasis. "You're crushing his creativity!" She accused, eyes closing into tight slits. Lightning was taken aback. Was that how she looked when angry? No wonder people moved out of the way.

"I'm not crushing his creativity."

"Yes you are! How are people going to see it and offer him praise for it? How will he grow?"

"Serah…" Lightning began, only to be cut off. Neither of them noticed the door to the living room open and a little head pop out.

"This is me all over again."

Serah slapped her hands over her mouth in shock. Lightning dropped the rolls of wall paper. "What did you say?" She was having trouble controlling her voice.

There was no point hiding what she had said, and Serah knew it. "This is…this is me all over again."

Tears threatened to fall from Serah's eyes, they would have been brimming in Lightning's as well if she hadn't known that her sister couldn't really mean it like that. Lightning put her hands on Serah's shoulders. "This is nothing like you, Ser. I did my best to give you everything, just to make sure you make it to adulthood safe and happy."

"But what about Odin?"

Lightning felt something brush her hand, she closed her fingers around it and unfurled the roll of wallpaper. "This is what Odin did. That's him in his gesalt form, and that's me on his back."

She picked up another. "Me and him meeting for the first time."

Another. "Him and the other Eidolons. All of them are happy."

Another. "A horse."

Another and another and another. Until she reached the last one. "Me and him. A happy family. Now you look at those again and you will see that I'm taking them down for a reason. They are going under my bed with the other stuff."

"Claire…"

"I'll need your help in a bit. I'm converting the guest bedroom into something for him and the others."

Serah rushed forwards and pulled her sister into a hug. "Claire. I'll be back in a bit. Need to get changed into painting gear!"

As she rushed off, Lightning called out softly, not really realising that her sister couldn't hear her. "But I was going to let Odin decorate it…"

After a few seconds of staring at the door, her momentary lapse of concentration was broken by a soft rustling by her feet. He looked down to see Odin crawling out from under the crayon drawings. He waved his stubbly arms at her, his sign for wanting to be picked up. She consented, scooping him and holding him closer than she ever had. "I should have guessed it was you handing me the pictures."

Odin let out a satisfied squeak. Lightning had a feeling she knew what it meant. "Yes, Serah loved your pictures and I do too." Another squeak. "Yes, you can draw some more, but later."

Odin let out a series of squeaks, waving his crayon sword around. Lightning wondered how he had made it when it passed under her chin. "Yes, I kind of did ruin the surprise. Oh well, I'm sure you'll get over it." She held him under the crook of her neck for a tender moment, having finally found the connection with her Eidolon.

"'ning!" Odin cheered, before poking his carer in the throat with his crayon. Lightning's smile deepened at his attempt at saying her name.

fin

This was an Omake, written by me, No1willrememberthisname, and based on the work of the simply stunning Tear of Light (though I'd be worried if you hadn't realised that by now), entitled Etro's Keepers.