Title: Shattered hearts in the sand.
Pairing: pre-ship Lightning/Serah, Serah/Snow
Summary: Serah had been expecting more yelling, maybe a punch or two thrown at Snow, but not Lightning moving out of their home.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII or any of the characters mentioned and no profit is being made from this.
Warning: Contains the barest hint of incest and a lesbian relationship.
Lightning could barely stand to watch him put his big meaty hands all over her little sister. It sickened her to think about all the other possible places he'd touched Serah that she couldn't. Which led to Lightning being further repulsed with herself for wanting those things. She chose to ignore that in favour of glaring at the man that was taking her sister away as he asked once again if she'd bless them getting married.
"No." She kept it short but there was little room for doubt at how displeased she was. They had been asking her, either together or individually, everyday for the last two weeks. And when Serah wasn't asking she was begging or trying to talk Snow up, and when Snow wasn't asking he was trying to bribe or threaten Lightning. She wondered if Serah knew about the sister threatening side of him.
She could see by the clenching of her jaw that Serah was at her boiling point and that there would be an argument this time.
"Lightning, we're getting married with or without your blessing." Serah's voice was harsh and left little room for argument. It caused Lightning to flinch slightly with hurt.
Snow wrapped a possessive arm around Serah and brought her in close. "I'm gonna look after her better than anyone else could ever possibly try to. You can trust me sis."
She was sure he hadn't meant that to sound like Lightning hadn't looked after her sister well enough. She hoped he hadn't anyway. It didn't stop the pain from getting worse at the thought of her little sister not needing her anymore. She hadn't anticipated just how much this particular talk was going to hurt, but she could see Serah was going to stand firm. Serah had never chosen someone else over her.
"So you don't need me anymore?" Lightning's biggest fear was becoming a reality. Serah was going to cast her aside, move on in life.
''I've got it covered sis, don't you worry about a thing." Snow's reply shattered the remaining hope Lightning had of keeping a hold of her sister. She felt numb at the thought of Serah leaving her alone while she went on to better things. Things that cold, distant Lightning could never live up to let alone stand a chance of competing against.
"Not your sister." Lightning mumbled as she pushed up from her chair and away from the table. She didn't look at either of the happy couple as she made her way out of the kitchen.
"..Claire?" Serah's hesitant voice followed Lightning as she made her way to the front door.
Lightning paused with her hand on the door, back turned to Serah in an attempt to hide the emotions that she knew would be evident if she looked at her sister. "I have things to do at home."
"You are home, Light." Serah's voice was closer, right behind her in fact. It wavered as if she was trying to hold in tears. If Lightning turned around she was sure that's exactly what she'd see and her resolve to leave would weaken.
"Oh. Well then, I need to move out so I'll just be doing that."
"But..but why?" Serah laid a hand on Lightning's shoulder. All her confidence from standing up to her older sister about Snow was falling away in the face of Lightning's odd reaction. Serah had been expecting more yelling, maybe a punch or two thrown at Snow, but not Lightning moving out of their home. She had never wanted Claire to leave and to be faced with her sister doing just that shook her to the core. Obviously she had missed just how much her relationship with Snow had affected Lightning, and how much she disliked both the man and the thought of him being Serah's husband.
"I'd just be in the way. You don't need me." Lightning shrugged away Serah's hand and opened the door. "A new family needs a fresh start." Then Lightning was gone, leaving Serah staring after her until she was out of sight. Serah was pretty sure her world just crumbled into millions of tiny little pieces that could never be put together again unless Lightning came back and held her like she used to when they were children.
Snow came up behind Serah and wrapped his arms around her waist. "That went a lot better than last time." He sighed with relief and pulled Serah further into the house and closed the door.
Serah couldn't believe how blind or just plain stupid he was being in that moment. That had not been a good outcome. She felt all her previous anger at her sister redirect itself at Snow and she roughly pulled away from him and glared. "Are you just trying to make me feel better, poorly I might add, or are you really that stupid?"
Snow blinked in shock and looked at Serah with confusion. She had never been anything but gentle and kind with him, always happy and smiling. He wasn't sure what to do with an angry Serah, she had always gone to Lightning for this stuff.
"Do you really not know what just happened?" Serah demanded. She didn't want to know it either. That way she could pretend Claire hadn't just left.
"Ah...Lightning showed that she gave her blessing by offering to move out so we can be alone in our husband and wife time?" Snow really hoped that was the right answer.
Serah stared at him in disbelief. "No. My sister just left me, thinking that I don't need her anymore. She thinks I don't want her in my 'new' family. And it's your fault!"
"What? How is it my fault? And I really don't think she left you Serah. She just realised that she was in the way a bit." Snow couldn't fathom how she got all that from a couple of sentences that Lightning threw their way the same way she always spoke to them now days.
"I'm gonna look after her better than anyone else could ever possibly try to. Don't you worry about a thing sis." Serah mimicked Snow's earlier comments, her voice getting shriller as she uttered each word. "Oh no, I was so harsh to her Snow. I just threw it in her face. And she was NOT in the way." Lightning could never be in the way as far as Serah was concerned. She was the most important person Serah had in her life; there was no way she'd want Lightning out of it in anyway, even if it was just moving to a new house.
Serah's quick mood change left Snow feeling even more confused. "Threw what in her face?" He had a feeling he was quickly losing a hold on the flow of the conversation.
"That I have you now so I don't need her nearly as much as she needs me. I'm all she has, but she thinks I've replaced her." Serah started crying at the thought of what Lightning must have been feeling. "I can't do this."
"Do what?" Snow was really starting to get nervous about what was going on.
Serah waved her hand between the two of them to indicate what she meant. Snow's blank look led her to explain. "This whole getting married thing, well the whole relationship with you thing. I can't do it. I won't lose Claire because I chose you."
Snow was devastated. "You're going to let her dictate who you can love now?"
"No. I'm going to dictate it and when it comes down to it I don't love you enough to lose her." The more Serah thought about it the more she realised that no one could compare to Lightning. She had always thought that when she finally met that special someone they would fill her heart just as much as her sister did, just in a different way. Serah could finally acknowledge that no one ever could because Claire had her full heart in all ways possible.
"What does that mean?" Snow pleaded.
He didn't get an answer other than the front door closing as Serah walked away.
So that's the end of this little one-shot, you should review (that button just down there *points*) and let me know what ya thought. Also to help me decide if I should turn it into a series, no point if no one's going to read it is there?