Edited as of May 12, 2o11
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 13 because if I did I would have made a lot more interaction between Light and Fang. :P
Lightning didn't like being sick. Her head felt like it was full of cotton balls from those sheep that roamed Archylte Steppe, while her body was switching between being too warm and too cold. Already, the strawberry haired woman had been forced to remove most of her outer layering of cloths to cool down, before feeling as if she would freeze and having to pull the blanket up… then being unbearably hot again. It was a vicious cycle.
Fang, the one who had volunteered to watch 'Sunshine' while the rest went off to collect Trapezohedron and some medicines for their ill leader, had instructed the solider to sleep while she went off the scout. "How could I possibly sleep in a Cie'th riddled village…?" Lightning grumbled as she sat up for the hundredth time, rubbing her forehead with a glove free hand while the clean sheets pooled around her bare waist. Bhakti, Vanille's little pet robot/bunny thing, whizzed around on the floor by the bunk bed, every once in awhile careening into the pole or Blaze Edge's case before righting itself and going in a different direction.
On a normal day, this would have driven the strawberry haired solider crazy and she would have promptly set up a cage of sorts. However today she just didn't care, even as the little robot slammed headfirst into the wall, making the bookshelf above shudder at the abuse to it's wall. Bhakti stopped for a second, making quiet beeping sounds before once again slamming into the same wall. Lightning raised a pale eyebrow; had the thing finally broken?
"What are you doing?" questioned the woman, pushing the covers away to stand on shaky limps. What a terrible time to be getting sick… they should be on Eden now, not camping out in Oerba while her body fought against her…though it was partially her fault… maybe all those all nighters, constant stress, and giving up on food so that Hope and Vanille could have more wasn't the best idea.
Lightning was brought out her musing when something heavy fell to the floor with a very loud thump. Making beeping sounds of triumph, Bhakti circled around the leather bound book. After three laps around, the robot rolled over to Lightning then scooted back to the book. Blatant: Pick it up.
On a good day, the strawberry solider would have brought the book to the bed. Today, being a bad day, Lightning sat down on the floor ignoring the chill that latched to her bare thighs and legs. The item was old, leather cracking and chipping as pale hands rubbed dust away from the cover. There was no writing on the front, only a simple engraving. Dirt and fluff balls fluttered up as she opened the book to the first page; it was a photo album. The pictures were yellowing and crinkled, hastily taped onto each old page.
The pages were filled with pictures of the citizens of Oerba, of the flowering landscape, ocean, and what looked like windmills. There was a group picture of what appeared to be everyone in the village gathered in the center square. If Lightning didn't know better, she would have thought them clueless about the War of Transgression that had been taken place at the time. They all looked so happy… She easily spotted a much younger Fang and Vanille near the edge of the picture with another four children. They looked oddly familiar…
Flipping the page, Light settled into comfier position, the leather photo album resting on her crossed legs.
The next three pages were mostly of landscapes and flowers of the actual town and surrounding areas. The pictures of a very old fashion sailboat and windmill intrigued the woman more than anything. She had only seen them in books. The cultural garb was also very interesting (though she was surprised to discover that not everyone wore such garments. Some of the citizens wore more modern attires); it had taken everyone some time to get use to the cloths the two Pulsians wore. The clothes had not helped when Lightning had discovered she had a small crush on Fang. The sari tended to slip around during fights and made her eyes look at the curves of the other woman too much for anyone's own good.
Quickly pushing the thought of the rather annoying (and beautiful) wild haired warrior aside, Lightning flipped through the next few pages: Couples, group photos, random shots of the children playing in the water (one looked a lot like Snow…), events and parties that took place.
The last two pages made Lightning's stomach twitch and her mouth slowly open in a very un-Farron like gesture. The pictures on that particular page must have been the children of the Orphanage that Fang and Vanille had grown up in. One boy, much larger than the rest with a mop of blonde hair had his arms around two girls that looked like siblings. All three had large grins on their dirt covered faces, making it hard to completely make out the features.
Another yellowing picture had slightly overlapped the first, cutting out most of another male causally strolling behind the three. The offending bit of paper had a twelve year old appearing Fang piggy backing another boy, but like the other, the face of the mysterious child was covered by a blurry thumb. Most of them were like that on the page. The children were either very messy, or the photo was damaged… or they were missing completely. It appeared that any good picture had been torn out.
Lightning felt something nudge her knee as Bhakti pushed into it gently. Stuck to his eye lens, was presumably one of the missing bits of paper. With careful fingers, the woman slowly removed the tape and photo, flipping it over to see who was in it… and promptly choking.
The picture, worn and crinkled with what looked like tear stains, was of two young woman in their late teens. One of the girls was Fang, donning her beautiful sari with an arm slung across the shoulders of the other, shorter by a few inches. Her lips were pressed to the girl's cheek in a sneak kiss, while the other girl blushed. Lightning couldn't take her eyes off the other's face. It was… it was…
"That's me…"
"Almost." the solider jumped at the accented voice that intruded her thoughts. "You're lucky it was me and not a Cie'th." Fang smiled sadly as she strode into the room, leaning her spear against the wall. Leaning down, the wild haired woman went to pluck the picture from Lightning's grasp. Only the picture wouldn't come loose. "I'll give it back. I'm just helping you off the floor and back into bed and I would very well like to see what belongs to me." Was the teasing remark.
Because Lightning really did not think she could lift herself up, she allowed Fang to help her back onto her bunk. She did, however, snatch the picture back once she was settled on the thin mattress. For fear of it getting damaged more, Fang let it go. "I always wondered where that one went. Neither me or Vanille had it." Scooting her friend's legs over, the Pulsian sat on the edge of the bed.
"Who is this?" Lightning asked, staring at the smiling and happy face of her look alike. All the features were the same, just younger and less…strained? Her hair was different though; it was braided over her left shoulder instead of styled, with several beads tied into the locks. The color in the picture had faded somewhat, but she was sure it was also a different color.
Fang's cocky smile disappeared as she gently took the photo back, rubbing her thumb over the face of the girl. Light felt a small blush creep up into her cheeks. "Her name was Averia." The love and affection that laced the woman's normal cocky and flippant drawl caused the elder Farron's chest to clench. Part of her wanted to reach out and snatch the picture away, just to make the woman stop sounding like someone had murdered her puppy. The other half couldn't bear the thought…
"She was killed, along with Laura, Troy, and Vincent." Maybe the puppy thing hadn't been too far off the mark. As Fang said the names, she reached into her sari to pull out a small, plastic case, handing it to the strawberry haired woman.
They were some of the missing pictures. One was of a girl that resembled Serah sitting on the shoulders of a behemoth of a man, another of Vanille and a version of Hope a few years older than he was now. A third was of a young boy with a head full of curly hair, holding onto an adults hand. There was one of herself, no, Averia, leaning against a stone wall overlooking the sea while Fang's arms were wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
A much larger picture was of the whole group, minus the little boy, all geared up with backpacks and weapons. Despite the smiles on their faces, they all looked less than happy. "That was the last picture we had together. It had been a planned camping and scouting trip gone wrong. Vanille and myself were the only ones to make it back. After that, I planned to become a L'cie to protect her." Fang ran a hand through her dark hair in slight frustration. "Etro… You wouldn't believe the shock we had when we arrived at the Vestige and saw Serah. Spitting image of Laura!"
"This can't be happening." Light mumbled, looking through the pictures. Her eyes kept drawing to the ones of Fang and Averia. "I must be having some weird dream because of the fever."
"Well, you're sounding more like yourself." the other woman chuckled, reclaiming and replacing the pictures in the plastic case. One long fingered hand pressed against the soldier's forehead. "Though you still have one nasty of a fever." Lightning forced the hand away and turned on her side, away from her L'cie friend.
"I'm not a little kid."
"Well, you are five hundred years younger than me." A small pillow landed on her lap, which Lightning had thrown in an attempt to shut the woman up but the world was spinning crazily. The weight on the bed vanished, and she must have dozed for a moment because the next second there was a cool cloth on her forehead and Fang was pulling the blankets up to her shoulders.
Something inside of the soldier's mind forced itself through the haze that had settled in like fog, and it wasn't the freezing rag on her head. She waited until Fang had pulled herself onto her own bunk, listening to the protesting groans of the frame. Eventually, the woman settled. "Hey Fang?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you love Averia?"
There was silence. A shift in the mattress…"I would have given my life for her."
"Averia" was supposedly going to be Lightning's real name instead of Claire in the beginning stages of the game. It's a type of flower.
"Troy", "Laura", and "Vincent" are the names of the English voice actors for Snow, Serah, and Hope.