She was sitting on a barstool, narrowing her eyes on the almost empty glass, which was imprisoned in her tight grip. Some loose strands of the pink hair were hanging down, limiting a bit field of view. She didn't care. The liquid would probably run away from under her angry gaze unless it was poured into her mouth.

"Blind… so blind…." She whispered in unbelieving tone and asked the barman to refill the glass. He was the only one who knew what the woman was drinking because she didn't really care what it was. It was starting to kick in so she wasn't complaining.

The loud music, interrupted with some cheers, loud, animated discussions or screams of dancing people, was thumping in her ears. Blinding lights were swirling around the local. She hated places like these but that day she didn't care.

"Tch… Such an idiot…" Almost continuous drinking resulted in a state in which talking to herself seemed to be a brilliant idea. Her thoughts were all the time clutching around a quarrel she had had with her sister some hours earlier.

„No Obligations, Rules, or Authority…" She scoffed. "Such an irresponsible idiot…The mighty 'Leader' of the bunch of witless kids." Her glass was put down with a loud clunk and threatened to shatter but there wasn't any visible break… at least not that she could see any.

"Hey lassie." She heard the voice of some drunken man behind her but decided to ignore him without sparing a glance at him and continued drinking.

"Hey pretty woman." The sweaty big hand appeared on her shoulder "If you need someone to talk to I'm standing right here." The pinkhead turned around with the bolts of lightning shooting from her eyes. The stocky man, with a hair cut so short he almost looked bald, stood in front of her with a smug smile. She would laugh at his incomplete dentition if she wasn't so angry.

"Take your hand off." Her cold, hostile tone and gaze, which could be described alike, didn't seem to carry any weight to him. He definitely didn't receive the warning.

"Yeah I know something about taking what I want and I also know the better use for your pretty mouths than talking to yourself." His smile widened even further on his reddened from alcohol face when he winked at her. It was simply too much for one day. Thick wall of self-control, she was always so proud of, was shattered in less than a few seconds.

She clenched her fists and planted quick but strong blow on his jaw. Before he could turn his surprised face again towards her, the second punch hit hard his upper lip, and then another one. The sound of cracking bones couldn't be heard because of loud music but she could easily feel it on her knuckles.

The man dropped on the floor clutching hands on his jaw. Blood was streaming down his face and from between his fingers. He spat out a few of his teeth and acknowledged what had happened a few seconds ago.

"Now your smile looks more… regular" She said with still furious but also amused voice and sat down on her stool when small smirk crawled on her face.

The drunkard definitely didn't know when he should back off and rushed forward shouting out a few curses. Her well-trained instincts worked well despite her being tipsy. The man missed badly a few times what made him even angrier but than a well-placed right hook cooled down his fervor and he blacked out.

She saw that people stepped aside during their one sided fight and started watching them closely. Pink-headed woman scanned their frightened faces and immediately regretted coming here tonight. She hated to be in the spotlight so she took the last sip of her drink and turned toward the exit. She made only one step when her hand was tangled in the tight and a little bit achy grip behind her back.

"Sorry miss but I have to walk ya down to exit." Said deep but womanly voice from behind her and she started to be pushed gently towards the exit.

"I can go on my own." Her words came out as a snap despite letting some steam off. Now she was in the spotlight and quite embarrassed by a current situation. She could only hope there won't be any professional consequences because of that incident.

"Anyway I was already on my way out… you can let me go." But she heard only a 'shush' and the grip didn't loosen in a bit. She tried to free herself but there was no way to do anything with this firm grip so she stopped struggling. "Tch…" While ago she gave her younger sister a lecture about dating irresponsible idiot without a proper job, without a future and now she was being dragged towards the exit by a bouncer because she started a fight with a drunkard. Pathetic. They walked through the door and the bouncer let her go.

"That was unnecessary." She turned around massaging her achy arm and taking a look on a one in front of her. In the light of street lamp it was impossible to tell if her long hair was black or dark brown but one thing was certain. It was totally wild. There were strands standing in almost all direction but it still looked amazingly good and there could be seen hints of red on the tips.

"Yeah… sorry I know." She scratched back of her neck a bit nervously which, like all her complexion, was slightly darker than that of most people living on Cocoon." I simply had to show my boss I'm actually workin'." She offered an apologetic smile but she quickly became more vivid as if she remembered something. "And I will NOT carry that sweaty, smelly ogre outside AGAIN. Now Gadot will have to take care of him because I was occupied with ya."

She beamed because of her perfect plan but the pinkhead crossed her arms and narrowed these cerulean blue eyes. She didn't seem so happy about the perfect solution the bouncer had chosen.

"So you are telling me that you have just dragged me out of the club in front of all that people because you wanted to avoid your work?"

"Hey! Ya saw 'im! And don't tell me ya're not a trouble maker. I saw how ya 'corrected my mistake' ". Brunette chuckled quietly but the second woman only rose her brow quizzically. "It was me who made his smile look 'irregular'. Hell! That's even how I've got this job! But now ya've made his smile 'regular' again. That was quite a good punch." She continued to laugh and pinkhead made half amused and half annoyed huff but suddenly something occurred to her.

"That means you were watching. Shouldn't you stop us earlier?"

"But that was soooo fun watchin' him bein' beaten by another one." Her excitation wasn't mirrored by this 'another one' who slowly closed her eyes with disbelieving expression and pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"That's so… unprofessional…"

"Hey that's not the work of my dreams. Don't expect me to be fully engaged." Small smug smile appeared on her face."And ya smell so much better than him". She got only an icy glare followed by an irritated huff for that line.

She didn't even have time to wait for that tiny blush which was slowly nesting on the cheeks of the annoyed woman when the door opened loudly. Brunette startled a bit and glanced on the entrance.

"Gotta go. See ya around!" She winked at the other woman and started to walk back. Her dark hair waving over her muscular shoulders which were clearly visible in a well-fitting tank top.

When her figure disappeared inside the pinkhead let out a quiet chuckle shaking her head in disbelieve. "I'm definitely too drunk…" She started to walk back home and spared one last glance on the door over her shoulder. Or I am going mad if all that day is amusing to me. After a while, the second chuckle could be heard.

She stopped in front of her house and looked at the sky. It was totally blank. No clouds. No stars. There were no stars on Cocoon. One day she saw photos from Pulse. The world wild and untamed. Most People would say that Pulse is a hell but there was something appealing about that wilderness. And the stars. How would it be to look at these small shiny orbs in the sky and hear all the fancy stories about them.

There is no better time for daydreaming than night.

She smiled on her joke-like statement and took a deep breath. That was enough of that foolish wishful thinking. She had both feet on the ground and knew that she couldn't afford it. She was the woman of her word and, after their parents had died, she promised herself to take care of Serah and protect her no matter what. As if it wasn't hard enough, Serah started to make it harder and harder. The sound of the opening door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Light?" Asked quietly a bit troubled, sweet voice.

"Yeah. That's me."

"I was worried…You never come back that late. "

"I'm fine. And remember that I'm the one to worry about you not the other way." She offered her sister reassuring smile and reached out to pat her on the shoulder but then Serah's eyes widened.

"W-What happened to your hand?!" Light looked at her smeared in dried blood hand and scoffed.

"That's… nothing…" Serah narrowed her eyes waiting for her older sister to give up and for a further explanation."You could say that I…" Lightning couldn't help but giggle."I wiped out irregularities from somebody's smug smile."

"What? I don't…" Serah's eyes widened for a while and then narrowed suspiciously."You giggled. You do NOT giggle. EVER." She looked closer at her sister." You are drunk! And you almost never get drunk! OH… Now I AM worried." She opened the front door wide."Claire Farron get yourself inside!" She shouted quietly to not alarm the neighbors and tried to make an angry face but playfulness in her eyes betrayed her.

"Yes mom." Said the older woman obediently before she could think better of it. She stopped in her tracks with slightly opened mouth and looked at smaller pinkhead who was staring a hole in her slippers. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"I know. That's ok." Serah looked up with a tiny smile but the playfulness in her eyes was replaced by sadness. "It's seven years now, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Talking about their parents always seemed too painful for them so they didn't do it even now when Serah turned eighteen and Lightning was about to end twenty-one. They both went into the house and closed the door.

"Do you need tending to this?"

"No thanks. This isn't my blood."

"Light."

"Yeah?"

"I want you know I've made my mind. I know you don't like Snow but coming back late with somebody's blood on hands, getting drunk, and even giggling, what wouldn't be so unpleasant, won't change anything."

"Serah…" Light closed her eyes feeling suddenly too tired for this conversation."I'd like to go to bed. Can we… not talk about it now?"

"Yeah. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She cleaned herself up and took a look on her knuckles. They were heavily reddened and the skin was cracked in some places. It was hurting quite a lot but it wasn't something she hasn't dealt with before. She was glad that she was often wearing her fingerless gloves at work.

She went to bed but despite being tired like hell, she wasn't able to get asleep quickly. Events of that long day were spinning in her head but finally, sleep came to her.

I only wanted to add that this chapter is clearly inspired by stroodlex. Go check Ghost Love Score it's worth it! And have fun with the rest of my fic ;)