Picture:
"Come on, Lightning. Please?" Serah was begging, and she didn't care. This was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. "Just one picture, sis; it isn't like I am asking you to model the thing!"
"No means no, Serah. I will not have photographic evidence of me in this… this monstrosity floating around. Knowing you, all of your friends will see this and somehow it will end up back with my associates." She was scowling, holding her coat closed so she could try and keep what she thought of as dignity.
But the dress was not as bad as Lightning made it out to be. It was a knee length pale pink spaghetti strap dress that Serah had picked out for her when they went out, just the two of them, for her birthday dinner. "It is my eighteenth birthday Lightning. I just want this one picture to remember this by. I hardly see you anymore!"
Lightning was softening, Serah could see it in her eyes and her stance; just a bit more pushing was all it would take. But she had to move carefully and pull out the big guns quickly. "I promise not to show it to any of the gossip mongers. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to summon Lightning's one weakness with her; her tears. She thought of dead puppies and bombs, someone taking her sister and as if almost on cue, the tears came. Opening blue eyes that were not shimmering with tears, she put the full gaze on her sister. "Please Lightning, it would mean so much to me."
Groaning, Lightning slapped her hand against her forehead and then shook it in resignation; score. "Fine, just one picture though, Serah. But if I see it anywhere, and I mean anywhere, you are doomed to a life of misery courtesy of me forcing Sazh to annoy the chocobo feathers out of you."
Smiling widely, Serah just wiped away the tears and pulled out the camera. She then went and hugged her sister. "Thank you, thank you!"
Removing her sister's arms from her neck, Lightning gave Serah a playful scowl. "Yeah, yeah let us just get this over with." Looking around to make sure that there would be no witness'. Lightning slowly removed her jacket. When she saw it, Serah's bright smile toned down a bit. Her sister really was an absolute beauty. Yeah, Lightning always looked good; but when she dressed up like this… She was absolutely stunning. Any sane male and probably the insane ones would have a double take if they knew this woman was the same as the hard ass who used to work for the army.
Placing the camera on a high ledge, Serah set the timer for twenty seconds. Running back over to Lightning, she hugged her sister around the waist and smiled up at her. "Thank you, big sister. You have no idea how much this means to me." Facing towards the camera, she smiled lightly.
"Of course little sister; but do remember, that I will get my revenge for this." She sounded so serious, that Serah couldn't help but laugh loudly. When she heard, and saw, the camera go off, she was positive that he face was all red. But she didn't care. So long as she had this moment where it was just the two of them, no responsibilities and no disagreements, she would take looking like an idiot. Besides, just how often does one get Lightning Farron in a nice and classy dress?
Unwrapping her arms from her sister's waist, she pranced over to the ledge with a smile brighter than almost any she had worn all night. Looking at the picture when she picked up the picture, Serah began laughing again. As she predicted her face was red but there was Lightning, straining a smile and looking at the camera while simultaneously glaring at her. It was a priceless photo.
Looking over at her sister, Serah got a wicked idea. Clicking the digital camera back to its original setting, she aimed the lens at her sister. She was leaning against the wall, still only in the dress, with her hand pushing her hair behind her ear. Despite the fact that Lightning would kill her later, she had to get this picture. Turning off the timer, she snapped the photo right before her sister turned.
Grinning like the cat that got to canary, she moved the camera… only to be faced by an enraged Lightning.
"Delete it. We agreed on one picture." Serah knew a command when she heard it, but for once she was going to be defiant.
"No way, Light." As she said it, her hand reached out lightning quick, pun intended, to try and grab it. But Serah just danced out of the way and started running towards the train station. Behind her, she could hear Lightning growl and she had to double back and get her coat before coming after her. Removing the SD card from the camera as she ran, she stuck it in her pocket so that way if Lightning managed to get the camera, she still had a copy. Thinking quickly, she put the spare chip that she brought in the camera in case she checked.
"Serah!" The yell was closer than she would have liked, but Serah didn't turn to see just how close her sister was; after all, she wasn't suicidal.
When they got to the train, Serah made sure to keep a safe distance between her and Lightning, while still holding the camera like precious cargo. After all, she could not let Lightning know that she swapped the cards. She just had to make it home and then she could download it. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed how Lightning seemed to be sulking and another smile lit up her face. Her sister would not try anything in a public place though, would hate to make a scene and possibly reveal her embarrassment.
But even with that reassurance, Serah refused to sleep on the train ride like she usually would. She wouldn't put it past her sneaky soldier of a sister to reach over and grab the camera. Probably break it just to make sure that it could not take anymore 'incriminating' photos of her.
The signs for different stations passed and as they got closer to home, Serah became more paranoid. Surely Lightning would make a move before they got home? But maybe she would want to change first. The dress as she had learned was not meant for chasing your little sister. There was another announcement, and she realized it was their stop. Looking around, she found Lightning and waved her over. As she walked towards her, she noticed that Lightning's gaze was glued to her right hand; the hand she was holding the camera with. Slipping the wrist band over her wrist, she just gave her sister a large smile.
"Come on!"
The walk home was silent. But Serah skipped the whole way, swinging the camera this way and that way, making sure to keep it out of reach of Lightning's extended hand. When she turned her head, there was a smirk on her face.
"What are you—" Before Serah could even finish her question, there was a crack. Looking down, she saw that the bottom of the camera had impacted with one of the buildings next to her. Quickly pulling it up to her face, Serah cursed her strength; it was smashed. The port where she could hook it up to the computer was damaged and it looked like the spare SD card got jammed to far up in the camera. Trying to get it out, she heard a crack and winced; this was garbage when she got home.
Still smirking, Lightning crossed her arms over her chest. "My revenge has been fulfilled by the universal force called karma."
"You don't even believe in karma!" Serah probably looked frustrated to her sister, who no longer had any mercy for her, but inside she was laughing; she had still won. Her treasure was stashed away in the pocket of her jacket. Lightning just shrugged, looking pleased. How she wished she could tell her that the pictures were actually in her pocket.
Appearing to sulk the rest of the way home, she raced inside when the house came into view. Racing straight to the back of the house, she was closing the door to her room before Lightning had even stepped foot in the house. Booting up her computer, and throwing the broken camera on the bed, she practically flew into the chair while tapping her fingers impatiently for it to come to the main screen. When it did, she felt around the edges for the SD slot. Finding it, she had to restrain a whoop of joy.
Placing the card in the slot, she went through all the necessary pop ups before it started loading. It took a while since there were more than just the two pictures from tonight on here. Pictures of Snow, her friends, and some nice scenery passed by were all uploaded to her computer. When it finished, she had over two hundred photos. Going straight to the bottom, she found the pictures from tonight. Immediately printing both of them, she stared at the picture of the two of them.
Right clicking, she set it as her background, replacing the picture of the two of them from when they were ten and seven. Hearing two papers being ejected from the printer, she grabbed them and got up. Reaching under her bed, she pulled out a shoe box. Opening it, she placed the two new photographs on top of the pile of drawings, photos and seemingly random trinkets already in there. Pushing it back under her bed, she went back to her computer and shut everything down.
Smiling, Serah thought to herself that this was probably her favorite birthday yet.
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A/N:
Word Count: 1685
Genre: Humor and Family.
Well, I actually had a lot of fun writing this. Over one thousand words longer than Betrayl and I thought it emphasized on the sister relationship. This has actually happened to me, which makes it that much more funny. Except I am the younger sister and my older sister was the one who takes the pictures. I know I promised another short story for ItDoN, but it isn't coming as nicely as I would have liked.
Seeing that this is longer than I am used to, it is probably riddled with mistakes. I would love if someone could point them out to me so I could make my writing better. Thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoy this, what other stories I have to offer, and what should (hopefully) come soon after this is the moments shared between sisters.
Maddi.