Chapter Two

Dinner was all sorts of awkward, but not because of the food. Both mother and Tifa could cook something fierce. No, the awkwardness came when mother, father, and Tifa tired of making small talk and tried to pin Lightning down about her past. Lightning wasn't rude or anything, but she didn't answer back much, and when she did her answer were so short they didn't really amount to anything.

"So, Lightning," father began, "It seems like you're from down south, at least if I'm judging your accent right."

Lightning nodded. "I did spend some time down south." And that was all she said, and by the way she spoke, it was clear that was all she'd say on the matter.

Still, that didn't stop Tifa from trying. "I saw your chocobo earlier. I have to say, we don't get to many like that in these parts."

Lightning nodded again, but her eyes narrowed a fraction too, not mean or anything, but cool enough to let the others know that she was wise to their game and not too fond of it. "Like I said, I've spent some time down south and that's where I picked up my chocobo."

After that things settled a little more as the adults took the hint and left Lightning's past to her. Quiet as she was about her past, Lightning was a little more tractable when it came to other talk.

"What kind of gun do you have?" I asked, not quite able to stop myself when there was a lull in the conversation. I wanted desperately to know because of how fine the gun had looked from what little I'd seen of it.

Lightning looked at me a moment and then at my parents and when father nodded, she reached for her gun and then laid it on the table. My eyes widened as I took a good long look at it. It was a beautiful gun, a clean steel grey and polished almost to a shine. The chambers were all loaded and the hammer sharpened just a little more than normal. There was a plate of darker metal along the side of the grip, not black, but close to it, and there was an intricate design cut into it that I couldn't place. It was maybe the finest gun I'd ever seen, but the longer I looked at it, the more I realised I could quite put a name to its type.

"I don't recognise the type," I said at last. "Though it looks a lot like the single-action Shinra."

Her mouth tightened. "You've a keen eye, Hope, maybe too keen for a city boy. You're right though. It's not a single-action Shinra, although it's a cousin of sorts. So tell me, where'd you learn about guns?"

I flushed, aware suddenly of how I was the centre of her attention. "I just always had an interest in guns and things. I figured maybe when I was older I might ride the range a little, maybe go out and see the world some."

Lightning glanced sideways at my mother and the father and the concerned looks on their faces. It was always something my folks and I had disagreed on, I guess, my going out and seeing the world. Finally, she spoke, and when she did her voice was soft and sort of bitter. "The world's a big place, Hope, and tough too. But there's a difference between knowing about guns and actually using them. You seem like a decent kid and I hope, for your sake, that you never learn what that difference is." She lifted the gun and slotted it back into the holster at her side, the whole motion smooth and easy and perfectly natural.

And so dinner went on, mother and father talking about their plans for the property out West with Tifa and Lightning putting in a comment or two every now and then. The whole time though, I kept thinking about that gun, about how fine it looked and most of all about how right it looked in Lightning's hand. It was like she and the gun were made for each other, two halves of a single deadly whole.

After dinner, Tifa pulled me off to one side and handed me a soda pop as mother and father talked with Lightning about the trip. No doubt, they had some things to fill her in on, like the kinds of things we were carrying in our wagons, and she most likely had some things of her own to tell them too.

"You looked mighty curious about her gun, Hope." Tifa had a keenness about her when it came to what people were thinking. I figured it came from running a bar.

I shrugged and looked down at my soda pop. "It's just… well, I've never seen anyone handle a gun like her before." I took a sip of my soda pop. "How good do you think she is with it?"

Tifa chuckled like I'd said something silly and would have laughed outright if Lightning hadn't shot her a look from way across the bar. Lowering her voice, Tifa smiled at me. "How good is she with it? Why, Hope, I wouldn't be surprised if she could trim you hair with it and all you'd feel would be a breeze."

I gaped. "Really? But how can you be so sure?"

A look, not dark, but kind of sad passed quickly over Tifa's face before she covered it with a smile. "An old friend of mine had a gun like that. It's a special model, you see, not too many were ever made. To get one she'd have to be something special with a gun, really special."

"Wow. Do you think she was in the army then?" I asked. Maybe Tifa knew more than she was letting on and the chance to learn about Lightning past was one I wasn't keen on passing up.

"Not exactly," Tifa answered slowly. "Besides, it's not my place to tell you exactly what she was a part of. Only, you don't have to worry about her being dangerous. What I can say for sure is that she's not dangerous, at least not to decent people like you and your folks." She smiled and ruffled my hair. "If I thought that for even a moment, there's no way I'd let you folks go off with her out West." A faraway sort of look crossed her face. "But trust me, she's the furthest thing from dangerous to you and your folks." Her expression turned a little stern. "And Hope, don't ask her about her past, okay? There are some things you don't ask people about, not if you respect them. She has a right to her past, just as much as you or me, and if she ever does speak about her past it'll be on her own terms and in her own time."

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure of what Tifa was trying to say, but she seemed so earnest and at the same time I could see Lightning staring at us from across the room, her blue eyes almost blinding. "Sure, Tifa," I said at last. "Sure, I won't ask."

X X X

We left Midgar the next morning, maybe a half hour after dawn. Tifa was kind enough to load us up with all kinds of drinks, the sort that would keep the whole journey. Father drove one of the wagons up front and mother and I drove the other just behind. The wagons were pulled by four sturdy black chocobos. They were slower than the golden chocobo that Lightning rode up front, but they were bigger too and better suited for pulling heavy loads long distance.

It was pretty easy going at first, easier than I'd thought anyway. Near the town, the land was close to flat, dusty maybe, but with only a few cracked dry creek beds for scenery and half-dead tumbleweed for company. Still, I wasn't fool enough to think that the easiness would last. Lightning had told us, just before we set off, that the land could turn cruel pretty quickly and that the last thing we should do was get too secure. It didn't take too much longer to see that she was right.

Around noon the wind began to kick up till it was no longer a light breeze, but a hot, searing gale that roared up from the southwest. It was like breathing fire and when the wind picked the dust up and flung it into our faces we had no choice but to tie handkerchiefs around her faces, never mind how hot it was. Only Lightning didn't bother with a handkerchief. Instead, she just slid her scarf up and over her face and continued on in front of us. It wasn't too much longer either before the road ended, just sort of faded away, because not enough people passed this way to make it permanent. It didn't seem to matter much to Lightning though, because she just kept on riding on, and we had no choice but to trust her and follow her through the swirling dust and hot, heavy wind.

Near dusk, the wind let up enough for us to drop the handkerchiefs and I hopped off the wagon where my mother was and ran over to the wagon that my father was on so that I could try and maybe get a word in edgewise with Lightning.

"Hey," I said. She looked at me and I squirmed. "I mean… how do you think we're doing?"

She scanned the land ahead for a moment and then slowed her pace enough so that she and her chocobo were level with my seat on the wagon beside father. "Not bad, I guess, for city folk, but it's been easy so far. Tomorrow will be tougher."

"Tougher?" I asked. "How?" I wasn't much looking forward to another day of eating dust.

"Have a look ahead, Hope." She pointed forward. "If you look closely, you should just be able to see some hills." I squinted and then nodded. I could just make out the hills. "Those hills are bigger than they look and plenty rough. One wrong step and a chocobo can break a leg or worse." She pointed ahead again, this time to a copse of trees. They were scraggly things, almost dead and with few leaves, but they formed a bulwark against the wind. "We'll make camp their tonight. There are other things about those hills you'll need to know."

We made camp in the trees just as dusk was turning the sky all shades of orange. We parked the wagons into a 'V' shape to block the wind and made a fire in the middle to cook our dinner. It was mostly canned stuff and dried stuff, none of it too tasty even with mother's special talent for cooking, but I figured I best get used to it, seeing as how I had another three or so months of it to look forward to.

"Before we head into those hills, there's some things you should know," Lightning said as we finished up dinner. "Listen closely now."

We all nodded.

"Those hills are rough terrain, but that isn't the trickiest thing." Lightning's gaze hardened. "There are all sorts of things out there, many of them hungry and with teeth and claws big enough to make you an easy meal." She paused, let the words sink in. "So I need to know right now what I can expect from each of you gun-wise." She looked at me first. "Can you use a gun, Hope?"

I shook my head feeling a little embarrassed. "No… well… I mean father hasn't taught me how."

Lightning looked at me and then at father, but her gaze wasn't angry or disappointed. She simply waited for father to nod and then nodded herself. "Well then, Bart, how about you?"

Father nodded. "I can handle a gun well enough."

Lightning nodded at a tree maybe fifteen feet away. In the glow of the fire it was easy to see a big knot in its bark. "Put a bullet in that."

Father grimaced. "Let me get my gun." He went over to one of the wagons and came back with his gun. It was a single-action Shinra, almost brand new by the look of it. He lined up his shot, his stance even and his hands pretty steady, and then he fired. The gun barked once and I peered at the tree. There was a hole in the bark a couple of inches from the edge of the knot.

"Not bad," Lightning said softly. "But not good either. From now on, you wear that gun with you at all times unless I say otherwise and if you so much as think you see something dangerous, then you let me know. If you don't think you've got the time to do that, then you fire first and then call for me, understand?"

Father nodded. "When you say something dangerous, what sort of thing do you mean?"

Lightning opened her mouth to reply but then she stopped and her eyes locked onto something in the long grass around the trees, way out beyond the circle of light cast by the fire. I followed her gaze, squinting to try and make something out in the darkness, but I couldn't see a thing. A grim look crossed Lightning face and she took a big handful of dust and doused the fire. "Watch closely now."

Almost the moment the fire died down, I saw the long grass move even though the wind was still. A sleek, feline shape appeared. It was close to the size of a man with glittering amber eyes and long teeth. Beside me, I heard mother gasp and father moved to point his gun at it.

"Don't move," Lightning ordered. "That's a hill cat, though it's rare to see one out on the plains like this, even if we are close to the hills. When we get into those hills there'll be plenty more like this, and likely harder to spot amongst all the boulders and rocks." The cat lowered itself into a crouch and tensed, ready to spring. "Let me handle this."

The cat sprang. Yet at the very instant it moved that power inside Lightning, that furious, barely leashed energy and capacity for violence leapt forth to meet it. Her blue eyes flashed and her pink hair swayed in the sudden swiftness of her movement. "With a big cat like this, you can't afford to miss your first shot. The best place to put a shot is in the upper chest." And as she spoke she was doing it. Her hand swept down to her side and then her gun was up and the gun was still in motion as she fired once and stepped aside. The gun roared and the cat thudded to the ground where she'd been only a moment ago, its head down in the dust, its amber eyes glowing with fury. "The chest is a bigger target, hard to miss too up close if you're even a half decent shot and more often than not the cat won't get back up from it." She turned to look at us – at me – and her face was blank of any emotion as she added, "Once you've got the cat down, take your time with the second shot. Line it up with the head and then fire." The gun roared again and the cat jerked harshly to one side from the impact and then lay still. "See."

With that she went over to the fire and lit it back up and I got my first real look at the cat. It seemed even bigger in the firelight and it was a sort of tawny colour. For some reason, looking at it with a hole in its head and chest, I almost wanted to cry.

"You see that, Hope?" Lightning said softly as she met my gaze. "This what a gun does. A gun is for killing and really, when you get right down to it, there's nothing pretty about that."

I glanced down at her hand and noticed there was a knife in it. "What are you going to do with that?"

Lightning tilted her head at the big cat. "If you kill something, don't let it go to waste, especially out here. The meat from is good for you and if you treat it right in the fire it'll keep for almost a week." She took the cat by one leg and dragged it away. "Head on back to the fire, Hope, you don't need to see this.

It wasn't too long before Lightning came back to the fire with several slices of meat and while mother looked a little green about the gills at first, the smell that came from the cooking meat was something wonderful. Besides, I think we all recognised how important it was to conserve supplies. Things could easily get tough and if we could save some supplies by eating something else decent, then why not?

Later on, when everyone else had bedded down for the night, except for Lightning who was keeping watch, I had a hard time getting to sleep. At first I wasn't sure why, but then it hit me. Lightning had been wearing her jacket when she'd gone off to the cut up that cat, but when she'd come back to the fire, she'd still had it on yet there hadn't been even a single drop of blood on her as far as I could tell.

I shuddered and pulled my blankets a little tighter. People never got that good at cutting things up without plenty of practice. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Lightning's silhouette through the fabric of the wagon. It might have been a trick of the firelight or maybe my own tiredness, but it seemed almost like she was holding the knife in her hand and just staring and staring at it.

X X X

Author's Notes

First of all, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

Well, it looks like the journey is under way. It's only been a day and already Hope and his parents are finding out that there is more to their journey and their guide than they thought. If you're wondering about the geography of their journey, I wouldn't recommend looking up the map for the FF XIII world. The geography of the setting is something I've pretty much made up, although some of the names and places will seem familiar.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.