AN: This fill is dedicated to the anonymous reviewer Zildjian 5A who guessed the movie reference in the first chapter of WLTF. Based off of prompt #107 for Fangrai Forever. I haven't tried anything sisterly between Lightning and Serah so this features a bit of it, hopefully I don't disappoint. Enjoy! ^^
Nearly suffering from a shock induced heart attack when Fang joked about her tattoo saying Titan's tits, had taught Lightning two things. One; never get a tattoo without being a hundred percent certain of what it actually says and that it's spelt correctly, and two; she should learn Pulsian. Fang was always being invited on excavations by historians, scholars and researchers seeing as Vanille was too busy working at the hospital to leave, it made her literally the last available Pulsian they could turn to. Lightning didn't have a problem with Fang's part time line of work, it gave her girlfriend a chance to visit her home and make sure it wasn't being destroyed by their expansion on Gran Pulse after The Fall, but she hated going for days, weeks even, without Fang. Of course Lightning would always send an entire squad with the research team as protection regardless of Fang's fighting abilities much to Fang's annoyance. She figured that if she at least knew how to read Pulsian, she could come along on an excavation as more than a bodyguard, which Admiral Amodar wouldn't allow because it was a "waste of talent".
So that's how Lightning found herself sitting on her living room floor with Fang, Vanille and dusty, crumbling books scattered between them. Fang chuckled as Lightning opened up a book and sneezed. Lightning sniffled and met Fang's eyes with a half-hearted glare. Her girlfriend had some crazy obsession over her sneezes claiming they were cute and hamster-like. Fang winked at Lightning and continued sorting through the pile of text in search of something easier for Lightning to read, satisfied at the blush she received in return.
"This is impossible." Lightning closed her book and sneezed again at the dust that flew up. The Cocoonian alphabet had only 26 letters but Pulsian had over a hundred. Why couldn't Pulse have been as lazy as Lindzei when creating the Pulsian language? Cursed Fal'Cie.
"But your goal is to make the impossible, possible yah?" Fang quoted with a smirk. "What? Your words, not mine Lightbug."
"How did you and Vanille learn English anyway?" It had never occurred to her that the Pulsians were perfectly fluent in her native tongue, albeit with the addition of the sexy accent.
"Ugh, well we just sorta woke up and… learned it?" Vanille stumbled over her words trying to explain the occurance. Lightning stared at her, not quite believing.
"What Van means is that we were fluent from the time we woke from stasis on Cocoon. It must've been Anima's doing… y'know, making it easier for us to blend in and kill you all." Fang stated blankly.
"Yup. It was weird feeling like you've known something forever but not remembering ever learning it."
"Maybe I'll ask a Pulse Fal'Cie to knock me out and implant the Pulsian language into my head." Lightning wagged her eyebrows at Fang who glared back. After the fall of Cocoon and the death of its Fal'Cie, the Pulse Fal'Cie shared the land of Gran Pulse with the new inhabitants peacefully, but the former l'Cie were adamant in keeping their distance, especially Fang.
"Not funny. It took a Maker-damned miracle to get to where we are today and I'm not letting some dumb Fal'Cie knock out my girlfriend and brainwash her." Fang huffed.
"Relax, I'm just kidding. The last thing I want is for you to piss off a Fal'Cie and get branded again." Lightning shuddered at the thought. They've had the adventure to last a lifetime but one can never predict when Lady Luck chooses to give the finger and more importantly, to whom.
"It's not that hard, Light. Here," Vanille leaned over and placed a smaller book in Lightning's hands. "Maybe you should try and read something a little more interesting. This one's a story about two warriors. It was written by one of my favourite authors." Fang's head snapped up.
"That's a great idea, Vanille! Ol' Sunshine over here's been reading this gibberish for hours," Fang tossed her history book aside. "Of course she hasn't learned anything. I can actually read the text and I don't think I've learned anything." Fang got up from her spot on the floor and disappeared down the hall. Lightning could hear rummaging in their shared office. When Fang returned, she was holding a notebook and a pen. The notebook was roughly an inch think, bound and hard covered. Lightning had bought it for Fang to take on her explorations but Fang loved it too much to use it as a research journal. She wanted to save it for something special, something personal, but diaries weren't up her alley so the notebook had sat in the drawer for nearly a year. Lightning and Vanille shared a look as Fang opened up to the first page and starting scribbling relentlessly. With a shrug, Lightning opened up her book and began to read.
It's been three weeks since Lightning started reading the book but she was barely three quarters of the way through. Of all the books she had read back on Cocoon – but to be fair it wasn't that many – this book earned its place as one of her favourites. Lightning loved everything about the story; its setting, character development and interactions between characters and their environment were brilliant. The author was a literary genius. She would have finished the book weeks ago if she didn't need to hunt down Fang or Vanille every other sentence. Her reading had improved a lot but wasn't quite where she would like it to be since Vanille had banned her from the hospital, leaving her to figure it out on her own. Fang had left for another excavation a few days earlier and was expected to be back the next day. She was hoping to have the book finished by then.
Lightning scowled at her sister hidden behind the stack of books and text. Once Serah had heard that Lightning was learning Pulsian, she asked Vanille to teach her too. In the weeks that Lightning had struggled to read her book, Serah had already read seven. The size of each Pulsian book was enough to put their Cocoonian encyclopedias and textbooks to shame. Her younger sister had always been the academic one while Lightning was the more athletic one like their father – or so she her mother would always tell her. Her father died when she was three in an accident, right after Serah was born. He was on his way to the hospital after work when he was hit by a drunk driver.
Serah's grades were always top of her year while Lightning maintained a mediocre average – enough to not get her kicked off the school teams. She was even offered a partial athletic scholarship to Nautilus College three years prior to actually graduating high school. Had it not been for their mother's illness that left them orphaned at ages twelve and fifteen, Lightning might have finished school and accepted but she had to support Serah financially if she ever wanted her sister to continue her education. Serah's grades were barely impressive by the time she entered high school. Serah claimed it was due to the grief of losing their mother but a part of Lightning knew that she was mostly to blame. After the accident, Lightning became more of a parent than a sister; they fought over anything and everything and their relationship became almost nonexistent after Lightning enlisted in the Guardian Corps on her eighteenth birthday. She knew Serah resented her for not being around but she didn't have a choice. She was juggling three jobs under the watchful eyes of social workers trying to prove to Child Services that she could raise Serah on her own and keep them out of foster care. Serah had always wanted to be an elementary school teacher, one of multiple reasons why they used to fight. Lightning knew Serah was more than capable of teaching at the University of Eden, Cocoon's highest ranked university, so why Serah was limiting herself was beyond Lightning. Lightning only wanted the best for her sister but Serah had taken it as ignorance.
Lightning's expression softened as she remembered the time Serah showed up at Bodhum GC headquarters in tears. Lightning had been assigned a joint mission with the Palumpolum GC which would only last approximately five days, however Serah was under the impression that she was being relocated permanently. Lightning had left the barracks to find a crowd snickering at the dripping wet, sobbing fifteen year old girl who was frantically pleading for her sister back. Though Lieutenant Amodar at the time never had any intentions of relocating Lightning, from that day on she was taken under his wing as he limited her to boring – but safe – beach patrols.
"Claire? Claire! Anybody home?" Lightning snapped out of her reverie and pushed Serah's waving hand away from her face. "Thinking about Fang?" Serah smiled sympathetically.
"Actually, I was thinking about you." Lightning whispered. Serah didn't need any further explanation. Though they had spent the last seven years reconciling their relationship, there was no denying their past ever happened. They weren't able to fully close the gap that had been created, but the important thing was they were able to bridge their relationship. Serah pulled her sister into a hug and smiled when her gesture was returned. Lightning had changed a lot since Fang and Vanille came into their lives and for that she was forever grateful. Lightning would never truly cease to exist – she was too much a part of their lives now – but she finally got Claire back.
Lightning stirred when the beam of sunlight finally made its way to her eyes. Lifting her covers over her head, Lightning rolled to the side only to come face to face with a grinning Pulsian. Fang snickered when Lightning gave an uncharacteristic yelp.
"Fang! When did you get back?" Lightning was pleasantly surprised. She wasn't expecting Fang until late that afternoon.
"Last night. It was really late, I didn't want to wake you. Did ya miss me?" Lightning placed her hand on Fang's and led it up to her face. Her silence was enough of an answer for Fang. With a grunt, Fang leaned over the bed and reached for the notebook she had placed on Lightning's bedside table.
"This is for you." Fang placed the book in Lightning's hands. "Back in Oerba, all the good stories were passed on verbally so all the books are filled with boring stuff. Figured if you had something more interesting to read, you'd learn a lot faster so I wrote this for ya, Light."
Fang had a great way with words but her naturally flippant disposition made it hard for her to get her feelings across. Though Fang was sure Lightning knew how much she loved her, Fang knew some things were not better left unsaid and used the book as a way to share her feelings without having to embarrass herself. Besides, she was a tease, not a love struck teen stuttering and tripping over words, however she found it hard not to be the latter around Lightning and would often cover it up with excessive teasing. Lightning flipped through the book. It was filled from cover to cover with Fang's handwriting. Fang must have been writing in it every day if she managed to finish it in mere weeks.
"Fang this is… it's lovely. Thank you." Fang could count the number of times she'd seen Lightning tear up on one hand and still have plenty of fingers leftover. She didn't know if she should be touched or scared but her fears left her when she felt Lightning's arms wrap around her neck and pulled her down into a kiss. Fang felt Lightning's walls crumble into ashes as all the feelings she had poured into the book was reciprocated by Lightning through their kiss alone. They were vulnerable in each other's affectionate embrace but their love was pure and evident. Lightning broke their kiss after a minute and smiled at the dazed look on her girlfriend's face. She took as much pride in rendering Fang speechless as the other woman did in making her walls crumble. Fang took her place on the bed beside Lightning and caught up on some well-deserved sleep as the other woman opened the book and started to read.
To my ray of sunshine (get it? Sunshine? Hah!)…
The book recalled their adventure as l'Cie, every single little moment they've spent together since Fang woke from her crystal sleep and how she felt each second they were together or apart. Lightning read about herself through Fang's eyes. It was sweet, really. They didn't have a verbal relationship where they would share everything through words. They knew each other well enough not to and in all honesty, Lightning knew she was taciturn, reserved and uncomfortable with verbal affection so she never once blamed Fang for doing any less. She couldn't think of anything Fang could have given her that would be anywhere near as thoughtful. Lightning ran her fingers through Fang's wild mane while the Pulsian slept as she finished the last chapter. Fang was right. All she had needed was something interesting to read to help her learning along. It was as if the moment Lightning cracked open the book, she had been gifted with the same language Gran Pulse natives were given by Pulse so many years ago. Reading had never been so easy and Lightning found new respect for the ancient language as her mind danced with each character, word and sentence. Never had she read something so deep and meaningful before. She was just about to read the last sentence of the book when Fang's voice rang through the quiet bedroom, finishing it for her.
From Fang, with Love.
AN: My best friend really doesn't like to read but its mostly because there's nothing that interests her so I'm currently working on putting a mini collection of stories for her to read. It's a four year project because I'm hoping to give it to her as a graduation present so that's why this prompt fill headed in a more serious direction than what I was originally going for.