Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII and its associated characters are the property of Square-Enix, Ltd., and Nomura Tetsuya. I claim no ownership of them.
A/N: ...so much for my own personal "fandom code", where I refuse to write fanfiction for a game before I finish it. Well, this one hasn't even come out yet. Damn this pairing for making break my own code of ethics...! orz;; (And as for the whole "big sister" deal that's been going around, even a sibling-like relationship between these two makes me unhappy. )):; )
Fresh and un-beta'd, title's a Celine Dion song.
If Walls Could Talk
A Final Fantasy XIII Fanfic
By Pikagalmish
"I am not sharing with him!!"
The pale-haired boy crossed his arms, glaring defiantly at the woman looming over him.
Lightning scowled. "If you think I'm going to let you share with Vanille, you can forget about it," she replied coldly.
"But you're sharing with Sazh!"
"Actually, it's more like I'm outside on a cot--"
"Sazh was only one soldier among many who I shared a room with," Lightning interrupted. "It's purely professional. You, on the other hand, are a hormone-ridden kid not even a complete moron would trust to be alone in a room with a girl."
"What the hell do you think I'm going to do!?" the boy demanded loud enough to make Vanille jump.
"Hope..."
"Alright, break it up, you two," Snow stepped between them, pushing them apart with his hands. He turned his head to the seething woman and said softly, "Look, Lightning, I really don't see any harm in letting him share with Vanille. Can't you cut him some slack, just this once?"
"I don't need your help!" Hope shouted, stamping his foot down childishly.
"Hope, don't be like that...!"
"Stay out of this, Vanille!!"
"Hey, don't you talk that way to a girl!"
TWEEEEEET!!
A piercing whistle blasted the air. The feuding parties whirled around, staring at the oldest of the group.
"Anyone else look at a clock lately?" Sazh tapped his wrist. "It's late, I'm tired, and this is the first actual bed I've had in days, so we're going to solve this right here, right now."
Lightning folded her arms. "And just how do you propose we do that?"
Sazh ignored the biting sarcasm in her voice; He was used to it. "Easy. We have three rooms, right? Hope can't stay with Vanille, so she can get her own room. I'll share with the kid."
"So, what, I get a couch in the lobby?" Snow grimaced.
"No, you'll share with Lightning," the older man replied simply.
Snow's jaw damn near hit the floor.
"I'll– Lightning– share– wait– what!?"
"You okay with this, Commander?" Sazh asked.
Lightning shrugged. "Whatever. Let's just go."
"Hey, wait--"
A set of keys bounced off the blond's head.
"Don't worry, you'll survive," Sazh said, giving him an encouraging slap on the back. "She's not nearly as bad as she looks."
"Easy for you to say..." Snow muttered darkly, taking the keys and following Lightning to their room.
It was going to be a long night...
- - -
The room was small and musty, smelling faintly of perfume and cigarette smoke. When Snow sat down on the old cot (positioned so it was practically out in the hall), a cloud of dust bloomed over the stained canvas. A single fluorescent light lit the room, humming over the quiet din of the shower running in the bathroom.
Snow removed his heavy coat, tossing it carelessly over the bed's railings. He rubbed at his now-bare shoulders; It had been a long day. If it weren't for Lightning and Sazh pulling a few strings, they would have spent yet another night camping out. That meant sleeping in the dirt, staying up to keep watch for fiends, fighting off sleep to take care of said fiends... He was grateful, to say the least; Hanging with two ex-soldiers had its advantages...
The shower suddenly stopped. Snow sat up, watching the bathroom door as the rustling of clothes being picked up and put on could be heard. Soon afterwards, the door creaked open and Lightning stepped out, her vest in one hand and a towel drying her hair in the other.
"I'm done," she said, cocking her head towards the door. "Unless you wanted to do it in the morning...?"
Snow got up.
"No, I'll go right now," he said, grabbing a bag of toiletries the maid had left on the nightstand. He had nearly made it into the bathroom when he heard a hiss of pain from behind, followed by a string of expletives. He rushed back out.
"Hey, everything alright?"
"Just fine," Lightning replied through clenched teeth, gripping her hand. Snow heard her mutter a few more well-chosen curses under her breath.
He hurried over to his companion, taking her hand and examining it in the dim light. It was bleeding freely.
"What the hell did you do!?" he asked in disbelief, pulling the woman into the bathroom. Placing her hand in the sink, he turned on the water.
"A piece of the window frame's broken off. I cut myself on the jagged edge when I tried to open it," she explained, watching her own blood flow down the drain.
He took her hand out of the stream and looked closely at the cut.
"Well, you lucked out," he said. "This isn't too deep. Where's that first-aid kit we got in the last town?"
"You have it."
"...oh." He scratched his head sheepishly. "Alright, uh, go sit down and I'll get it."
Lightning sighed exasperatedly, but obliged nonetheless. Snow went over to the cot and, after a few moments of digging through his bag, managed to procure some ointment and a roll of gauze.
"Let me see that hand," he said, taking a seat beside her on the bed. "This might sting a bit," he warned.
Lightning scoffed. "I fought hundreds of battles in Cocoon's army, and you think I can't take a little pain?"
The man shrugged, concentrating on tending to her wound. He quickly disinfected the area and bandaged it, all with surprising speed and skill.
"...you're good at this."
Snow looked up. "What'd you say?" Had that just been a compliment?
She motioned to her hand. "This. You act like you've done it before."
He chuckled. "Yeah, well, Lebreau made us learn when we were kids. Said she didn't want to come back one day and find Gadot and me dead because we couldn't take care of a little cut or something."
A shadow fell over her face. "It must have been nice, growing up with friends."
"Hey, just because you don't remember them doesn't mean you never had them," Snow pointed out. "For all you know, there are people with fond memories of a strawberry-haired little tomboy beating up all the boys at the park or something. Don't sell yourself short...like...that..."
He stopped. Lightning was looking at him wistfully, her piercing blue eyes softer than he was used to.
"Do you really think that's true?" she asked, almost imploringly.
"...yeah. Yeah, I do. A hundred percent," Snow smiled assuringly, patting her bandaged hand. "Friends, a family...all that's stored somewhere in that head of yours. Give it time, Lightning, and quit writing yourself off as some empty doll just because you can't remember your past."
He stood up.
"I'm going to go and wash up," he said. "Get some sleep, alright?"
Lightning nodded, watching him go. As the door closed behind him, she murmured, almost inaudibly:
"...thank you."
- - -
By the time Snow got out of the shower, Lightning was already asleep. Moving as quietly as he could, he made his way to where his cot was.
...correction: where his cot was supposed to be. Instead of the wiry bedframe, there was nothing but a few of his bags in the space beside the door. Squinting, Snow searched the dark room for his bed. He had nearly given up when he finally spotted it pushed against a back wall.
Right across from Lightning.
A grin split his face.
He was going to have to thank Sazh later.
- FIN -
That was fun to write, although it feels a bit "thin" to me still. )):;; Granted, I wrote this all in one sitting at three in the morning, but still, I wish I had fleshed it out a bit more.
Review if you liked, please.
- SAKU