To say she was upset was an understatement.

Lightning. Was. Beyond. Pissed.

It wasn't bad enough that the new recruits had no past experience of combat or training, causing the woman to work overtime for the past two weeks with absolutely no coffee breaks in between, no, the world seemed to hate her at that moment. Her twenty second birthday was around the corner, and has she had a break? Of course not (As if her twenty first birthday went exactly according to plan), her sister also had to go and plan a secret trip with her fiance, Snow.

Now, Snow and herself were on okay terms, with the occasional jibe and joke here and there, and Light knew she could trust him with her sister, but that didn't mean they could up and leave right before her birthday. Or at anytime, for that matter. However, the problem wasn't that the soldier would feel lonely or neglected if they forgot her birthday; the reason was completely unrelated to her own emotions. The crisis to Lightning was leaving them alone for who knows how long. Who knew what they would do-

She'd always have to shake her head and stop her thoughts right there before any images were conjured up.

Today, however, seemed to be the worst out of the past few week. After coming home from a grueling and rather long training session with the new recruits, who seemed to have no idea what they were doing as of yet, the pink-haired woman found Serah packing articles of clothing and several bottles of shampoo and body washes into a light blue suitcase in the living room. Resisting her urge to get straight to the point and ask what exactly the younger thought she was doing, Lightning startled Serah slightly by saying, "I'm home."

Her pale blue eyes met Serah's matching ones, and the younger let a nervous laugh out. "H-Hey, sis, you scared me for a second."

"Packing already?" Easy, keep your cool, it's just a trip, they'll be back in no time.

Serah nodded, turning back to folding a shirt and tucking it into the suitcase. "Yeah, we're leaving tomorrow."

A pang of hurt touched her chest, but she quickly shook it off and extinguished the emotion. Crossing her arms over her chest, still in her uniform, Light replied, "Tomorrow...already?"

Shutting her suitcase, the younger zipped it up after checking for no missing clothes or bottles. Obviously, it seemed that Serah was too absorbed in her relationship to catch the glimpse of hurt that crossed her sibling's features. "Well, yeah, we have to get out of New Bodhum and get to New Palumpolum by Wednesday, so we have to leave tomorrow, Saturday. We'll have more time to do stuff this way."

Do stuff, huh..?

"Serah, I don't think you should go."

The younger froze, her hand hovering over the suitcase handle. It was her turn to be hurt. "Sis, what do you mean-"

"I mean that you're too young to be going on a trip with Snow," It wasn't that Lightning was aiming to be rude or controlling, but her worry for her sister and her own hurt from Serah forgetting her birthday tomorrow was driving her in the wrong direction. It wouldn't be the first time she let her emotions get the better of her, after all, their whole L'cie-saving-the-world fiasco had started because she had let her anger get the better of her. Yet, how could she not? After risking her own life and going through Gran Pulse and almost destroying Eden, not to mention having to face the Sanctum, Fal'cie and Barthandelus, this was the thanks she got? It was not fair to her.

Nothing was ever fair for Lightning, it seemed, as Serah quickly faced her elder sibling with new-found courage. "Lightning, you can't be serious. Snow is my fiance, I have the right to go wherever I please with him."

"The right?" The woman let a bitter chuckle leave her lips, her hands on her hips. "Look where that got you, Serah. Crystallized. Almost dead."

"That was no one's fault, Lightning," Serah shot back, eyes narrowing. Her sister's bitterness towards her was causing her to become angry. Why was she acting like this? She was fine a few days ago, when she had told her of the trip - she already gave her blessing for the wedding, which was in a few months! If she didn't approve, she would have said something about it then, so why exactly was Lightning making this a big deal? "Not Snow's, not anyone's. If you had only been there, none of that would have happened. Instead you were off working-"

"Excuse me for wanting to support you, Serah! You were going off to college, what was I supposed to do, let us starve? You know I had to take on some extra shifts."

"I couldn't live like that anymore, alone and abandoned!"

"You couldn't live like that?" The pink-haired woman nearly blew her top at that statement. For a moment, she couldn't remember why she was upset before, because now she had a new reason to be upset. "Why didn't you leave?"

The younger was taken aback at the question. Her sister was beyond upset with her, and she could tell easily by Lightning was standing - straight military-style, no nonsense form - and by the fierceness in her pale blue eyes. She's seen those kind of eyes too many times before, not always directed towards her. With anger bubbling up in her, Serah balled her hands into tight fists. "I can't wait until I'm married. I can leave, then!"

Light turned on her heel, beginning to leave the room. "You're already packed. No one's stopping you."

Ignoring the several text messages piling up on her phone, no doubt from Snow, Lightning pulled the sheets over her head to block out the fading sunlight streaming through her window. After changing out of her uniform, she went straight to bed to drown herself in warmth and blankets. Even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, the argument had gotten to her. She had her doubts of Serah actually wanting to leave during that time, but her suspicions had been confirmed after all.

And it tore her apart.

Shifting to lie on her side, her eyes peeked out from the pale green sheets to absentmindedly examine the picture on her side table, next to her blinking alarm clock. It was one she salvaged from her childhood, when her parents were still alive and Serah was still very young. No worries back then, it was simply her and her family and no Fal'cie or Sanctum business to worry about.

She turned away from the photo in distaste, instead facing the window. Pulling the sheets over her head once more, she decided to get some sleep for the next few days, ignoring the fact that her birthday will upon her soon and she'd have to get out of bed to answer the texts she'll receive from Sazh and Hope.

"I wish I didn't have a sister..."

chapter one! (≧◡≦) drop a review if you liked (◕‿-)