Disclaimer: Do you really think I would be writing about these people if I owned them? No. -.- FFXIII belongs to Square Enix. I own nothing...cept my AWESOME car Big Bertha! God I love her :D Oh and Ander. Yea. She's mine :]
Songs used: Kingdom Dance from Tangled, Siuil A Run by Celtic Woman
Sorry in advance for spelling mistakes. I wanted to get this up tonight :D
''Ander. What...what are you talking about? You can't leave! You promised that we would see Lightning together! You promised!''
''I know. But I also promised I would protect you first.''
''Good morning early birds! It's a wonderful morning here in Bodhum and the waves are gonna be nonstop all day! So get your surf boards and sun block ready cuz today is going to be a real-!'' The radio alarm clock abruptly stopped when an irritated hand slammed down on the top of it.
''Ugh.'' the owner of the hand mumbled from underneath some dark purple covers. A girl about the age of 14 poked her head out from underneath a cocoon of blankets. She brushed a hand through her chocolate brown locks and cast her emerald gaze at the clock beside her bed to see 6:15 in bright red letters staring back at her.
She groaned and pulled herself out of bed, stretching her arms above her head to get some feeling back in them. She went over to the window and pulled the curtains back, letting the sunlight pour into the room. ''I know Skyler!'' she yelled down from her window when she heard barking from down below. ''I'm coming.''
Skyler's only reply to the girl was a bark and a swish of his white, fluffy tail. He sat down and panted lightly as he watched the back door, patiently awaiting for his master to come out. The huskey quickly jumped up and started pacing back and forth when she finally emerged wearing her work uniform and carrying a box full of different color paints and paper. ''Alright Sky. I only have a few minutes til I have to go. So make it count okay?'' she asked, letting the dog off of his leash.
She sat down on a stool on her back porch and grabbed a piece of paper, getting to work on painting a drawing of her dog, who sat by the big tree in their back yard, posing for his master like he does every morning. His girl's name is Ander and she lives alone with her father in Bodhum after he and her mother got a divorce when she was eight years old.
Ander shook her head at her drawing and bit her tongue lightly as she painted, moving her eyes from her painting to Skyler, who was used to being a model for her. Every single morning she would get up and paint him in some random pose in the back yard. Her room was full of different drawings of him and other random things. At first, Skyler wasn't the best thing to draw because he was so rambuncious, but he dulled down over time and now he was the only thing she really painted any more because her job was so tiring.
After a while, Ander frowned and put her brush down. 'I'm...I can't do this right now.' she thought to herself as a sort of funny feeling settled itself in her chest. She looked back into her house through the screen door to see the clock. She wasn't late, so why was she feeling this way? 'I've never had trouble paiting before..so... why?' It just didn't make any sense to her but she eventually shrugged it off and went inside to get something to eat. Little did she know, though, that today was going to be the start of one of the biggest journeys of her entire life.
''Sky.'' she called when she got her breakfast ready. There was a piece of toast hanging from her mouth as she struggled to get her boots on and keep the door open so that the mutt could come inside. She held the door open with her outstretched leg as Skyler crawled underneath to get inside. ''Now you be good and I'll see you later.'' Ander said, removing the toast from her mouth and patting him on the head. She quickly grabbed her cape off the kitchen table and headed towards the door, stopping dead in her tracks when she heard a bark from behind her.
''What?'' Ander asked, irritated as she turned around. ''Oh..'' she said, feeling mean for shouting at her dog when she saw him holding her gun holster. ''Thanks, Sky.'' she patted him on the head and took her weapon from him, buckling it to her skirt before heading out the door.
''Hey hey! Look who decided to show up.'' One of Ander's coworkers, Rachel, a fourty year old receptionist, teased when said girl walked into the main lobby of the Guardian Corp HQ.
''What are you talking about? I'm not late.'' Ander said in her own defense as she finally snapped her cape into place, completing her Guardian Corp uniform. She smoothed out the fabric as she thought again about the feeling she had this morning. She still had no explanation and it was beginning to really bother her.
''Oh I beg to differ.'' Greg, a team member of Ander's four man squad said as he poked his head from under the desk that Rachel was sitting at, effectively rescuing the younger brunette from her thoughts.
Greg was in his mid twenties himself and had dark brown hair. He often got into trouble because of his tendency to goof off and joke around but he was good at combat and knew when to keep his mouth shut. Ander particularly didn't like him much but she delt with him because she had to.
He shifted his eyes from her to the clock that was hanging on the wall and grinned.
''What in the name of all that is decent are you DOING under my desk, boy?'' Rachel asked, glaring at Greg, who blinked innocently up at her.
''Noooooothin'.'' he said, going under the desk again.
''Bullshit. You were looking for my stash of oreos weren't you?''
''You have a stash of oreos under here?''
Ander frowned as she watched them fight. ''Idiots.'' she said under her breathe and left to go to the training room. Work had been considerably slow lately because of the recent Pulse Fal'Cie that was found near Bodhum. Every one of the city's occupants, except for soldies, had been sent off to be purged for the safety of everyone else on Cocoon. The Bodhum GC and some members of Psicom stayed behind in town to eliminate any lasting threats from Pulse or purge any remaining citizens so that the city could be inhabitable again as quickly as possible. So far everything was quiet and Ander was hating it. Her team was the only one that wasn't out scouting or doing something productive and it was so boring her to no end.
The Guardian Corp usually didn't take on soldiers as young as Ander, because they couldn't go out of dangerous missions until they had nine months of training with a squad, which was why her team was just lazing around while everyone was working. Ander's father was high rank and he begged for them to let her join, and he eventually got them to agree. She's been working here for almost a year and a half now and only had a few weeks to go before she could go out with her team on missions.
''Hey, Sparky!''
''What do you want, Farix?'' the young GC member asked when another member of her squad came up to walk beside her.
Farix was a tall blonde with brown eyes and a cheery personality. He was a lot more mature then Greg and knows full well that the GC isn't a job to be fooling around in. He is very intelligent and is one of the best gunslingers GC has to offer.
''Nothing..nothing.'' the blonde said, holding his hands up infront of him in surrender. ''I was just wondering where Bolt was...''
''I don't know where Lightning is.'' Ander replied back as she opened the door to the GC training courtyard.
''Oh... so I guess it's true then. Hmm..interesting.'' Farix said, tapping his chin with his finger as he pondered.
''What?'' the younger soldier asked, not turning around as she unsheathed her gun from her holster. She knew full well that he wouldn't stop dropping hints that he knew something until she humored him.
''That she quit.''
Ander nearly dropped her gun.
''What?'' she asked, turning around quickly. ''Why?'' The pink haired GC had been absent from work for almost a week but she thought it was an illness or something, not that she would just up and quit.
''Don't look at me.'' Farix said, shaking his head as he leant against one of the walls of the courtyard. ''I just heard a couple of the higher ups talking yesterday. I would have stuck around to hear the whole thing, but I had to go.''
Ander was silent for a moment as she put her gun away. She crossed her arms and frowned at her team mate. ''That...doesn't make any sense.'' Lightning didn't love her job but she didn't hate it either. ''She's been working here for over five years. So..why quit now of all times?'' It wasn't like she got purged or anything. Soldiers were exempt.
''Yea. Sorry, And. I know that you guys wer-''
''Attention GC squad three. Report to briefing room 5. There is a mission waiting for you.''
''What the hell?'' Farix pondered aloud while he listened to Rachel repeat the same statement again over the intercom.
'But..I'm not...' Ander thought to herself before snapping her head to the door to see Greg grinning at them.
''C'mon kiddies. Let's go!'' he said and pumped his fist in the air before heading down the hall. ''Oh yea! A mission! Whoo! I hope we get ta kill something!''
Farix shook his head and opened the door to leave. He stopped and looked back at the younger GC. ''Ander?''
''Huh?'' said girl asked, looking up. She was holding a hand to her stomach as she started to feel the same felling from this morning again, only worse this time.
''We have to go. C'mon.'' Farix said, wincing and staring down the hall when he heard Greg start singing about Mount Smokey being covered in blood.
''..Alright.''
Briefing room five was a small business room with a wood table in the center with about eight chairs surrounding it. The room smelled of lemons and the table shined brightly from the lighting overhead and the atmosphere was very unpleasant to be in.
Ander took a seat inbetween the two older GC's of her squad and frowned when she looked to her left to see Farix sitting there instead of Lightning.
''Hey guys.'' Leiutenant Dover said, giving a friendly smile when all of them were seated.
''Yo.'' Greg said in response and saluted with two fingers.
''Good morning.'' Farix said while Ander just nodded in greeting.
''So. I bet your wondering why I called you.''
''Hell no. I'm just glad you did. I was about to eat my office chair I was so bored.'' Greg said exasperatedly.
''Yes..'' Leiutenant said, raising an eyebrow. ''Well, myself and few others have decided to send you out on a mission firstly because you are the only team available and secondly because it's not that big of a mission and I believe Ander can handle it, even if you've not met 9 months with this team yet.''
''Thank you, sir.'' Ander said, somewhat at war with herself. Part of her was excited to be finally going on a mission but another part reminded her of that feeling she kept getting. ''I will try to uphold that belief.''
Lieutenant Dover smiled at her and picked up a remote that was on the table. He stood up and pressed a button, causing a screen to come down behind him. He stepped out of the way and pressed another button, causing a short clip to show of someone running through the wooded area near to Bohdum.
When it was over, Farix sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. ''So...''
''So what? There's some dude running around? Big deal. He's not even in the city.'' Greg said, sitting back as well and crossing his arms behind his head.
''No but they are still near to the city. Bohdum, the neighboring woods and beaches are all under our jurisdiction and it is our job to make sure everything is vacated as soon as possible so that we can repopulize.''
''So you want us to track this guy down...and then what?'' Farix asked.
''Bring them back here to be purged.'' Lieutenant Dover said, sitting down again but leaving the screen on with a picture of the person on it.
''Aw man! I wanted to kill somethin'!''
''Greg, not everything we do here revolves around mass murder.'' Dover said, frowning.
''Well it should!''
The conversation continued but Ander wasn't listening to the rest. Her eyes were locked on the picture on the screen. It was hazy, the camera only getting a small glimpse because it was hidden within the trees, but there was no mistake in what color hair that person had.
Pink.
EEEEEeeeekkk! Firstly guys, I wanna say that I'm sorry this isn't so detailed and very short. I wanted to just give a short introduction to the idea to see if anyone likes it so that I might continue with this. If anyone does, great! If not, then I won't be hurt.
Secondly, please do not think of Ander as a mini-Lightning. She's not. Believe me -.-
Thirdly, my chaps will be short and frequent instead of long and far between. I don't know how long this will be and I do have a basic plot in mind but nothing set in stone yet.
Lastly, the members of ffxiii will be in shortly. Next chap, promise. :D let me know what you think okay. Reviews= much loves and virtual cookies! :DDDD
See ya guys later!
~Migoto Nami