A/N: This is the prequel to the FF VI/FF XIII crossover story "A Shot of Courage" – if I keep up with the writing bug that is in me once again, I might do a sequel to this as well as A Shot of Courage, but I cannot promise you anything. Unlike A Shot of Courage, this has original characters. Rated T for language, alcohol usage/reference and references to domestic voilence. As always, all characters here are owned by Square Enix and I write these just for fun. I'm not a fan of making money off characters who are owned by a noted video game company. Make sure to leave a review. One shot & complete.
Will You be Mine?
Lightning sits at her usual spot in the break room at the Library of Ancient History on an early Wednesday afternoon, releasing a sigh as she's looking at her small journal, frustrated as she's stuck on the next line to write in a poem she's been working on for the last few days. She pencils a line to see how it would flow with the rest of the poem, only to growl in anger as when she said the piece in progress along with the new line, it didn't feel right with the poem. "What the fucking fuck?! I can't get this shit to flow right! How the fuck will I EVER get this done for Fang?" Lightning yells out loud, which catches the attention of Celes, Light's good friend and colleague at the library, as she walks into the break room to take her lunch.
"Liiiggghhhttt…" Celes starts, sensing the frustrated look on her friend's face, only to be cut off by Lightning's angry outburst.
"GOD DAMN IT! Why can't I get this poem done for Fang?!"
"Are you alright there, Lightning?"
"Fucking shit! Celes, you scared the living daylights out of me…I'm so sorry, can you forgive me on my verbal outbursts?'
"It's okay; after all, this isn't the first time I've seen you like this. What's giving you trouble?" Celes asks her in the way that instantly calms the security officer down.
Lightning immediately shows the librarian what's really been bothering her – a poem she's been working on to help her express the feelings she's had for her good friend Oerba Yun Fang. A gleeful smile emerged from Celes' face once she was done with what she read so far. It was Celes who knew that Lightning liked women and her crush on Fang, she was very supportive of Light's sexuality, despite the library being less supportive on things like that. It's a key reason why they've been close friends for the past three years, almost as long Lightning has known Fang.
XXX
Oerba Yun Fang is a noted martial arts instructor, with her Yun style of self-defense being one that is very highly sought out by everyone and their mothers. It was in one of her classes for law enforcement, security and military personnel that she met Lightning for the first time, as the pinkette needed to take special training as a requirement for her line of work, especially when she had to deal with unruly people wherever she was placed at. Fang was instantly smitten with everything about Lightning; however, that wasn't the case for the pinkette. It took Lightning six months to even start a friendship with the Oerban – why it took them both that long just to exchange numbers, that is a mystery to this day.
It was when Lightning got permanently placed as security at the Library of Ancient History three months later that they got the courage to exchange phone numbers. Fang had an interesting connection that got Lightning her current placement – her fellow instructor Sabin Figaro knew Locke Cole, who's married to Celes, which helped Lightning secure the placement, as it's a few blocks away from the martial arts studio Fang and Sabin work at. In a way, Lightning owed Fang a great deal for this hookup – doing what she loves at a library helped the pinkette rediscover her creative side, especially with poetry writing…along with an excellent way to blow off some steam by a sparring session with either Sabin or Fang. The fact that Celes also has a creative side, although with the blonde it's singing, helped their friendship along with Lightning's friendship with the brunette.
Lightning didn't develop feelings for Fang until just over a year ago, as she comforted the brunette from a nasty break up with Cassandra. Although Cassandra knew of Fang's friendship with the pinkette she was beyond jealous and made threats of varying kinds to the brunette, which was terrifying to say the least as it almost severed the relationships Fang had with everyone, even her younger sister Vanille & her friendship with Lightning. The way Fang was dumped was a move of cowardice in everyone's eyes – Cassandra was cheating on her with a male. A short video of Cassandra having sex with the unknown male, along with a text of "We're finished Fang, have a nice life" was on her phone out of the blue and came from nowhere. Fang fell to her knees and cried loud enough to wake her neighbors up.
Being the good friend, Light offered Fang a temporary place to stay until Fang found a place of her own upon finding out what happened. It was one evening that both women were off that Fang told Lightning of the true nature of her relationship with Cassandra, how verbally abusive she was to her and how Fang was unable to show how frightened she was of her in front of others. Lightning's facial expression was one that Fang will never forget, the look that had Fang falling madly in love with her: it was a mixture of rage and a determination to make sure that the brunette will not get hurt like this by anyone again. It was also one that was determined to make Fang laugh and smile once more, no matter what.
Light herself was fresh out of a relationship – however, her late girlfriend Jean lost her battle to Kidney Cancer a month before Fang's break up with Cassandra. In an interesting twist, Fang never opted to look for a place of her own when she first lived with the pinkette – Lightning also never pushed Fang to look for her own place, as she felt that when the opportunity showed itself she would be ready to move out. It was because of that trait about the pinkette which Fang felt that she belonged with the pinkette, at her home. However, neither woman had the courage to express the feelings they had for each other for one reason or another. That would take time before one of them would make a move.
XXX
The next day but the same time, Lightning takes another look at her poem in progress. Upon her talk with Celes from yesterday, she took a break from the piece for the rest of the day, as ideas will emerge in time. For reasons unknown, the rest of the poem comes out, which the pinkette was able to write in her journal. She reads the poem to herself first, quietly. A wide grin came to her face as the piece was perfect, as the words and flow of the poem blended well. Lightning was so into the poem she didn't notice Celes coming into the break room. "Well, well, well…what do we have here…" Celes teases in her humorous manner, catching the pinkette by surprise.
"What the fuck, Celes? I told you not to do that!" Lightning replied with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Let's look at your "love letter" to Fang…" Celes begins in her teasing but friendly manner.
Lightning surrenders her finished work to the blonde, just before giving Celes her famous glare as her blush was matching her hair color. The teasing didn't last as Celes gasped at how well the piece was written to where her eyes welled up. Celes gives the pinkette the hug she gives to those whenever the recipient is about to do something huge. In this case, Lightning confessing her feelings for Fang. This would be a huge step for both women – they've been friends for some time and had to go through quite a few hurdles. Before parting ways to go back to work, Celes gives the pinkette words of encouragement and stashed in her locker two bottles of red wine that's both Lightning and Fang's favorite.
XXX
It would be Saturday evening that Lightning would finally have the courage to tell Fang how she felt about her, as Friday was a very busy evening at the martial arts studio and Fang was beyond tired. Miraculously she convinced the Oerban to have a quiet dinner at home. The pinkette pulled out all the stops to make sure the dinner was cooked to perfection and the setting was romantic. The poem that the pinkette wrote was typed up since Fang always had difficulty reading Lightning's chicken scratch. While eating, and taking sips of the wine, Fang noticed how nervous the usually stoic pinkette was around her. "Light…Sunshine…are you okay?" the brunette asked, concern clearly shown on her face.
"I-I-I'm okay. Why are you asking?" Lightning responded, although her stammer gave away to Fang that she was hiding something from her.
"Sunshine, you're hiding something from me…I can see it in your eyes and your response. Talk to me…whatever it is you should tell me, it'll be okay. I promise." Fang replies, assuring that she'll be okay with whatever the pinkette is hiding from her.
Once she hears that, Lightning downs the remainder of her glass of wine, suddenly giving her the courage to make the move she was afraid to make last year. She gets out of her chair and moves, along with the chair, towards the other side of the table where the brunette is seated and pulls out a piece of paper that she had in her pocket. "Fang…uh…I…uh…I wrote something that I want you to hear. If anything, please don't freak out or think of me differently after I'm done saying what I need to say here, okay?" Lightning asked in a pleading tone. It was Fang and her winning smile that gave her the okay to continue. The pinkette begins to read the poem she was working on for the last few days:
Will You be Mine?
Your smile, the very smile that
brings me pure comfort and joy,
during all the times, in which
you and I both had hardships
that would destroy anyone else.
Your love would really complete me
if you were mine…but only if
I was given a chance to be yours…
but…sadly, we're just friends.
It is you who gives me strength
when I feel that I can't go on living anymore
and it is the mere thought of you
who gives me many more reasons to love
with all of me and the best of me…
to love another being as if it's the last
person on this world to truly love.
I am forever grateful for you
being in my life as a friend now…
but I want us to be more than that,
to be more than just friends.
I cannot hide these feelings
that I have for you any longer…
It would tear me apart if I kept them
hidden deep inside of me any longer.
Will you be mine and go out with me?
Fang stayed seated in her chair, unable to move as she processed the entire piece that was written for her, which conveyed Lightning's feelings for her dear friend. Noticing the expression on the brunette's face, the pinkette immediately became worried and started to cry. "Fang, are you okay? Did I say or do something to bother you or push you away?" Lightning asked with a sad look on her face as the tears fell down her face.
Instead of saying anything, the brunette cupped her face, wiping the tears that have fallen down her face as she pressed their lips together in a kiss so sincere it gave both women butterflies in their stomachs. They stayed like this until there was a need to breathe. Once they parted Fang kept her hands to Lightning's face, this time with a smile on her face despite her eyes being very watery. "Sunshine…I-I-I would love to be yours. I wanted you to be mine as well, but I was too scared that you didn't feel the same way, especially after…well, you know. Thank you for making this easier on me…on us."
"Do you mean that…" Lightning started to ask before she was silenced with another kiss, this time with more confidence but just as sincere. After they parted again, they went to clean the dishes together before going to bed, both of whom having a smile on their face – the very smile that would never go away, as if they were meant to be together to the end.
FIN
A/N #2: Giving shout outs to the following for their influence in the prequel: Azursa for her positive energy (I'm patiently waiting for the next chapter of TINSOC, young lady) and encouragement to keep on writing, Raziel12 for the Ordinary Heroes works, especially the tale "Not Your Ordinary Heroes" (where I got the idea of the overall plot for this from) & the AMAZING Freestylesmile for the first reply to my review of her short stories Fangrai Freewrites, as it was the one that slowly got my creative writing juices flowing again. I do hope that I can keep writing stuff like this but I can't promise anyone anything.
On a note about real life, I won't be writing much for this month anywhere – next week will likely have me working at my day job six days that week. Also, I will be attending Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, better known as C2E2, during 21-23 April, as well as likely getting one of my tattoos filled in (I have quite a few tattoos – most of them are on my arms). If I do write another one shot here, it'll be between those time periods. I'll resume writing more after C2EE2 is done with. I almost forgot to mention that I have a blog/website that I have original poems posted at. If interested, send me a PM here and I'll give you the page to look for. Thanks for reading and cheers!
