Here's one of my first fics on here in awhile. I used to write on here but I decided to make a new account. Anywho, the plot of this story: Serah is worried about Lightning and decides to ask Fang to check on her. Of course, it turns into LightningxFang goodness, just with more of a dramatic plot going on. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do no own Final Fantasy or any whatnot associated. I'm just a fan.
-Chapter One-
Fang had sunk into the shade of a sofa in the Villier's living room. She was soon heading out with Snow for another sparring match, but he wasn't exactly always on time. He always had to 'trim his beard' or 'go empty his mailbox of fanmail' , even though he didn't have either of them. She stretched across the loveseat and rested her arms across the back. If she had other options for a sparring partner, she probably wouldn't have chosen Snow. Their fighting styles didn't mix as well in practice. Ideally, she would like to have asked Lightning, but the woman was so hard to catch these days. The clock on the wall appeared to stand still.
Snow came crashing into the room, clumsily stopping before the coffee table next to her. "I'll be back in ten, alright? Serah wants me to drop this off at the neighbors." He motioned a box he was holding in his hands. Fang's mouth became drawn. "What's that?"
"It's a cake for some new family across the street. Ya know, a welcoming gift." He flashed a grin and headed for the door. "Don't worry, it won't take long!" Fang sat up in her chair to shout to him, but fell silent. She heard the front door close. For a few moments the room was soundless. Her eyes remained closed, unearthed by approaching footsteps.
"Fang, can I talk to you for a minute?" Fang blinked out of her trance and looked up to see a familiar strawberry-blonde girl. She stared at her for a moment before leaning forward curiously. "You want to talk to me? What's it about?"
She spoke softly. "It's about... sis."
"Lighting?"
"I'm not sure if you've noticed, she hasn't been herself lately. I haven't even seen her in two days and she's not answering my calls."
"Yeah, she has been acting weird lately. But I doubt there's anything wrong if that's what you're worried about."
" Well, we had a fight over the phone yesterday. We were both pretty angry. She hung up on me and I've been trying to call her back but she won't answer, and now her phone's out of service. It's not like her to be like this… I dropped by her house earlier and it was locked. I'm not sure if she even wants to talk to me right now."
"I see." Fang knew what she'd ask next.
"Could you go over to her place and see how she's doing? Just act like you're dropping by for a visit or something. You're the only one around right now she might talk to."
"Me? I don't think she's a fan."
"She told me once that when you both first met you both had a long talk, even though you barely knew each other. She said it was easy to trust you and… well, she said some other things. " She bit her lip. "Just trust me."
"…You sure we're talking about the same Lightning here?"
"She does have a soft side." Serah giggled "Um, don't tell her I said that. Actually, don't tell her about any of this. "
"Well, alright. I'll drop by her place after I'm done thrashing Snow around."
"Really? Thanks so much." She pulled a piece of paper from an end table and placed it on the surface. Then grabbing a pen, she scribbled down something on the page "I'll give you the address."
"What other things did she say?"
"What?" Serah looked up.
"What else did she say about me?" A mischievous grin crept upon her face.
"Maybe she'll tell you herself. She's just stubborn." She handed the Oerban the slip of paper. "And a little reckless… I just hope she's okay." Fang glanced away and smiled. "She will be."
"I'm heading out now. And Fang, let me know what happens when you get there."
She nodded back at the girl before she hurried off to the door. Fang's eyes found the clock on the wall. Serah's oaf still wasn't back. Had no time passed at all? She uttered a curse under her breath. The damned thing's battery was dead.
Elsewhere, namely some house across the street, Snow strolled up the driveway of his neighbor's yard. But he noticed something was off when he got a little closer. The house was blandly decorated. Actually, it wasn't even furnished. Snow paused before glared down at the box he held. "The cake is a lie!"
The sun had just sunken behind the horizon and darkness was beginning to settle into the atmosphere for another night. Fang was pretty tired from her sparring match. Snow was awfully hyper for some reason. Even the way he talked was quick and brash. Just like some kid on sugar.
She took a quick shower at her place before heading over to see Lighting. She had spent the whole evening thinking about her and what could be wrong. The thoughts ranged from optimistic to pessimistic. It wasn't long before she found herself on the woman's doorstep. She knocked on the door aggressively. Fang wasn't going to let her ignore it. There was no sign of movement.
After a few more moments of silence, Fang knocked heavily on the door for a second time. She folded her arms. There still was no answer. It wasn't until now that she began to worry.
'No one has heard from her in days. And now she's not home? I need to make sure.'
She swung a swift kick at the door close to the frame in an attempt to break it, but her efforts merely dented the metal. Quickly she swung her staff from behind her back at the door's security panel. It sparked furiously as a jolt zapped Fang's finger tips. She moved away and watched as it quieted, the door coming unlocked like magic. With a final kick, the door crashed in. She stepped into the glow of the dark light coming from inside.
As her sight relaxed in the dark, the first thing that caught her attention was Lightning's phone. It rested on the floor in front of her in a battered state. Her jaw clenched tightly. She looked around the place for any signs of life. The faint sound of music droning from a stereo out of sight was all that could be heard. The open room led her to the source, a dim lit area. Fang turned the corner and looked into what appeared to be the living room. There she was. Fang held her breath. Lighting appeared lifeless, lying in an armchair surrounded by shattered pieces of bottles and glasses. The room had been wrecked. Even the light fixtures had been slashed, leaving the faint light of the moon to bring clarity to the scene. It made the glass shattered along the floor glisten like the sea.
Fang's steps thrashed over the mess that separated them. "Lightning!" She gripped her arms. Her eyes opened slowly, glossy but vibrant. "Are you alright?" A familiar aroma drifted strongly from her "…are you drunk?"
"Shut up." She avoided eye contact with her, still half-conscious to reality. "What are you doing here?"
"I dropped by to visit." She brushed the loose hair away from her weary gaze. "Is this what you've been up to?"
"It's none of your business, Fang. Go away…"
"Why is there broken glass all over the floor?"
"Did you break into my house?"
"Yeah, I saved you the trouble of letting me in."
Lightning wasn't too thrilled, but could do nothing more. The alcohol had taken its toll. It was then that Fang noticed the woman's hand was stained with red trails. "You're bleeding!"
Lightning glanced down at her hand indifferently. Fang was quick to search for something to cover the wound. Using a towel from a closet she wrapped Lightning's hand. "Do you have a med kit around here or something?"
"Fang, please just go."
"No."
"Fang!"
"I'm not leaving 'till you tell me what's going on."
Lighting groaned and brushed the pulsian's hands off her. "Why do you have to be so damn s-stubborn…"
"Me the stubborn one? "
"I don't want anyone to see me like this, alright."
"Hey, come on now. It's obvious that something's up. You can trust me, alright?" She got closer to the disoriented blonde "I won't tell anyone about what's going on. You can trust me, I'm not gonna hurt you or do whatever it is to you that makes you afraid to open up a little. Alright?"
Lightning looked up to her eyes. It felt strange at that moment, like she was being pulled in. Had they always been so haunting? Maybe it was the alcohol, or the foreign feeling stirring in her chest, but she decided to give in.
"The med kit is in the bathroom. And if you're going to sti-stick around, you'd better stick to your word and not tell anyone about this!" Her sentence was heavily slurred. Fang smiled. By any chance, Lighting wouldn't remember much the next morning. She knew the woman was saving up a nice left hook for her.
Fang wandered toward the bathroom and searched for the kit. After a few minutes of digging around she stopped. The thing was nowhere to be seen. It suddenly clicked into her mind that Lightning did have a big house. There was probably another bathroom. She decided to take a quick look around.
Sure enough, there was a second one. Fang was haste to begin searching. This room was bigger than the last. She got lucky and found it right away in the bottom drawer. She took the entire kit and headed back downstairs to Lightning. By now, she had drifted back into unconsciousness. Her search did take a little longer than expected. "Lightning?" Fang called to her to see if she was still awake. She responded with a moan, which made a shiver run down Fang's spine. She looked peaceful, innocent, opposite to her usual fiery self. Regardless, there was no denying that Lighting was a beautiful woman, she just knew better than to act on those feelings. Her body had slid down in the chair. Her legs were sprawled over one of the arms. Fang knelt next to her and lifted her wrist. She remained still.
The cut was a long gash across her palm. It still brimmed with blood but wouldn't need stitches. She carefully cleaned and bandaged it. The sting of the potion stirred her but she kept still with her eyes closed. "Don't tell Serah about any of this."
"Maybe if you tell me the truth about what's going on here. "
"…I'm the one who wrecked the place. I was having a bad night. I had a few drinks, felt worse, drank more."
"Let's not worry about the mess. Did something happen?"
Lightning sighed. "Serah and Snow bought a house in Palumpolum together. They're moving there in two months. And then…"
"Then what?"
"Then they live happily ever after."
"Lightning, I don't understand. Aren't you happy for her?"
"Eversince our parents died, all I ever focused on was making sure Serah was okay. Everything I did was for her. I had built my life around hers, and now she's leaving. I was a top ranking soldier and I even threw all of that away for her sake." She grinned, almost laughing "You know, I tried to rejoin Guardian Corps and they rejected me? They said I was highly skilled, but too wreckless. But it's true, I acted by my own judgment and not by the rules too much and it got me into trouble. They gave me a lot of chances, but I had to try and save Serah… No, I'm not blaming her. I'm not blaming anyone. Once she leaves here, what then?"
"Is that why you both had a fight last night?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Serah asked me check on you. She was worried. "
"Great. Just great." She tensed.
"Well, I've got you all fixed up." Fang stood up and placed her hands of the arms of the chair. She leaned in close to her, stopping inches from her face this time. "Lighting, is that really the reason you're upset?"
Lightning was silent.
"Lightning?"
"Maybe not, but I don't wanna talk anymore!"
"Whatever. You're way too drunk anyway."
"I don't have a future, Fang!"
"Poor soldier girl, always needs a target to chase after. I'm putting you to bed now."
"I'm fine right here."
"Sorry sunshine, but I'm not gonna just leave you here like this."
Fang leaned in and slid her arms around her. She lifted Lighting into her arms, slowly to gage her reaction. Lightning locked herself loosely around Fang's neck. She kept her eyes shut as she sunk into Fang's hold. Lighting felt that feeling in her chest drumming again. The weight of the world dropped around her. Fang held her tighter as she carried her off to her bed. Her emotions started to run a little too close to the surface. So lost and confused by her drunken hurricane of thoughts, she pressed into Fang so tightly that the oerban could feel her short breaths on her neck.
"Lightning…" She didn't know what to say. Lightning was crying.
So Lightning's a mess, something really has her upset. But what? If you like, review, and I'll probably be more encouraged to get the next chapter up =D