FANG/SNOW
As the two saw each other, they didn't speak a single word except their mutual names, the surprise being so intense. Fang's jaw had crashed on the ground and Snow looked like his usual safe, like a lost and confused dog. Snow's first reaction was to step on the side, and told Fang in the ear that he would meet her at the end of her shift, in a coffee shop in the airport, the Starbucks Coffee. Fang nodded and told him she was done a 6PM, and would meet him immediately.
So there we were, the clock hitting the 18th hour of the day, making Fang sigh with relief and anxiety. She took her bag and oriented herself to their meeting point, rushing through the crowd blocking her way, calling some "Dickhead" or "Stupid prick", making the people stare at her while passing by them, but she didn't give a damn. She needed to hurry, to find her friend and listen to what he had to say. She started walking even faster and finally saw the huge sign "STRABUCK'S". "They make it easy on us, I'll giv'em that" she said, shaking her head in a laughter. She stepped inside the coffee, looking at the green walls and waitresses behind the counter, taking several orders and had no trouble finding the huge blond man sitting at a table, a mug in front of him, and stood up at her sight, hugging, and almost crushing her. People were staring at the two young people, and some of them smiled softly at the beautiful sight. Snow let go of Fang after a little while, allowing her to place herself in front of him.
"I can't believe it's ya, I thought I'd never see ya again…" Fang said, a sincere smile on her lips. She was currently experiencing a mix of feelings, happiness, and anxiety and also a hint of sadness, being able to find only one of the gang, but felt her heart warming up when the thought that maybe Snow had found others crossed her mind.
"Yeah, I know it's crazy. I thought my heart was going to stop when I saw you." Snow answered, his lips still forming that stupid smile, and Fang couldn't help but smile at the sight of it. She shook her head and stood up to go order a Latte Macchiato, and came back two minutes later, a coffee in her hands. She sat down and stared at Snow, waiting for him to explain what the hell he was doing here.
Snow cleared his throat, since he apparently had become a mind-reader and started to explain everything to Fang. He began by saying that he woke up in Tokyo, completely lost and confused. He searched the city for a few days before leaving for a lot of Capitals. Paris, Rome, Berlin, London, Moscow, desperately searching for one of them. After more than 20 days with absolutely no clue he went to America, and flew to New-York, Chicago and Dallas, before heading to Montreal and Edmonton. He wanted to drop in Boston, but felt that Los Angeles was a better idea.
After more days of wandering in the cities, he was about to give up when he heard someone talking about Australia, and bought a ticket right away. Good thing that he did, without it he would have never been able to find Fang, and would've continued searching in every corner of the galaxy.
Fang looked at him, nodding at his words and sharing his pain of not being able to find anyone, and she suddenly felt like shit. She kept thinking that she didn't do anything to find them, just watching the news over and over again; buying every newspaper that existed, but never actually went in another country to search for them. Her heart was suddenly hurting in pain and regret, and she mentally slapped herself. Snow took her hand in compassion, seeing that the woman was starting to struggle with herself, and gave her a reassuring smile.
"But we found each other! Now we can find them together!" Snow said with a glimpse of hope in his eyes. Fang chuckled at the thought and finished her coffee "C'mon, let's go to my place, we'll be able to talk privately"
Fang took Snow's hand and leaded both of them to her car, walking faster and faster, rushing through the security but started walking more slowly, thinking that if she ever saw someone running in an airport she wouldn't hesitate to tackle him. They arrived outside and found her car with no trouble, granting her an "Oh wow" from Snow while stepping inside the car. She gave him a quick pat on the back of the head and drove off.
The ride was exceptionally calm; making Fang a little uneasy and decided to turn the radio on to lightened the mood. "A gruesome murder occurred in Boston earlier today, but the suspect was apprehended, the Serg-"was heard before Fang changed channels, definitely not in the mood for awful stories tonight, and found a channel where a nice song was playing. Snow tapped his hand on the top of the car with the beat of the music, while the ocean appeared in front of him, showing the beautiful city of Los Angeles. His eyes opened wide at the view and whistled in admiration.
"So, why LA Fang?"
"I don't know. It's warm, the sun is shinin', reminds me of Oerba." The woman answered a smile on her lips, before turning right to join the little suburb where she was living.
She parked in front of her house, Snow opened the passenger door and closed it behind him. He looked at the house and whistled again. The house was actually pretty nice, maybe 140 m² with a nice garden, modern but not too much, with a huge window showing the living room. Fang stood still and watched him contemplate her house and felt satisfied, before telling him to move his ass so she could use the restroom, making her friend laugh and gently ran towards her. She opened the front door revealing a nice hallway with posters of rock bands and beer brands, leading to the living room. Next to the living room was the kitchen, which also gave an entrance to the dining room. Snow looked around as Fang rushed to the bathroom and looked closely at the pictures on her cupboards. Photos of her and Vanille, her and Snow, her and Lightning and saw at the end the picture where they were together. He smiled and put his hand in his right pocket to retrieve the same picture, and looked at it, a faint smile on his lips. He put his finger on Serah face and brushed it softly, sighing with pain. He then felt a hand resting on his shoulder and turned around, making it impossible to stop the tears from rolling down on his cheeks. Fang put her hands around him and gave him a hug, breathing loudly through her nose.
"You know, it's the first time I'm crying since we're here. I thought it would make me weak, and I couldn't do that. I needed to stay strong, for Serah, for you, Light and all the others." He locked eyes with Fang and put his hands on her shoulders and told her with a tone of confidence she had never heard "We'll find them. All of them." and winked while raising his fist in the air.
"Now, that's more like the Snow I know!" answered Fang while punching his shoulder. "C'mon, I'll order some food. Whatdaya want?"
Snow looked at her, seriously considering the question and answered that a pizza and a beer would make this day even better that he could've imagined, and watched Fang take her phone out of her pocket and enter the kitchen, coming back with a 6 pack. She put in on the table and went back to the kitchen ordering two larges pizzas, feeling incredibly hungry. She put the phone back in her pocket and glanced at the window, seeing the sun slowly setting, and then looked at the clock showing it was nearly 7PM. She looked but the window a little longer, but quickly made her way back to the living room, only to find Snow a beer in hand, his feet on the table and cleared her throat, making him stand up immediately, and couldn't keep the laughter any longer.
"Pizza will be there in 30 minutes. Gimme a beer!" and caught the beer in the air before falling on the couch, next to Snow, smiling in happiness.
LIGHTNING/SAZH
Lightning stood still in front of the man she hadn't seen in several weeks, not ever since they defeated the almighty Bhunivelze. She stared at him and sat down, trying to find air in her lungs and breathed heavily, finally being able to remember how to use them. Sazh hadn't changed, still smiling and happy and she felt a smile form on the corner of her mouth and simply let it happen.
"You have changed, you're smiling now!" said Sazh clapping his hands together, making the smile on Lightning's face vanish before glaring at him, not pleased at all, having the effect to make him stop, but smiled none the less staying his usual self.
"I have to question you about the murder Sazh, after that I have to go back to the station but I want you at my house at 7 PM, with Dajh?" she said, struggling to say his kids name, fearing he had lost him again. Sazh smiled and nodded before explaining what he had seen, and Lightning couldn't help but think that it was a waste of her time, and that she'd prefer simply talking to her friend about where he was and if he found anyone else. She tried to question him as fast as she could and by the end of it, gave him her address with her phone number in case he couldn't find her flat. She gave him a quick smile before leaving the Coffee Place and headed to the car, finding it impossible to hide her smile, making the scared private relax at her sight.
She returned to the station with a feeling she had never experienced before: the urge to leave the precinct right away. It was odd because even if she was bored, staying here was relaxing. She could do some paperwork; searching for ways to fill the room, always finding a way to push back the time she was supposed to actually leave. She immediately went to Amodar's office and gave him the brief about what Sazh had seen. Amodar saw that his Sergeant was doing everything to keep this brief and stared at her before saying "What is it Farron? You look like you're on cocaine" and received a judging look from her, repressing her anger. She breathed through her nose trying to calm herself down and answered "It's just sir, that the witness was one of my lost friends. It won't happen again sir" being as professional as always, but flinched as her boss slapped the table with his fist, receiving a confused look from Lightning. "That's excellent news Sergeant. I wanted you to interview the criminal but I'll ask Merton to do it." Lightning felt the urge to ask who the hell Merton was, but swallowed instead and thanked her boss before leaving his office to get to hers to take the scarf she had forgotten earlier that day. She opened the door and felt depressed at the sight of her office, and thought she could go shopping with Sazh and Dajh, and maybe enjoy the fact to spend hours in shops with people pushing each other but the thought of it made her shiver in anger. She took her scarf and left the building, a weight off her shoulders.
Her place wasn't that far from her work, being in one of the most beautiful areas of Boston, and walked quickly. She struggled to grab her keys and exhaled as she finally found them, putting them in the door lock. She entered the building, ignoring the other residents greeting her and walked up the stairs, heading to the 2nd floor. She opened her front door and entered her apartment and sighed with relief. It was already 5:30 PM so she had no time to waste preparing some food. Luckily she had shopped the day before, making it easier for her to cook, but the question was what? She opened her fridge and took a beer, drinking from it as she studied the inside of it. She saw salmon and thought she could do that with noodles, and nodded to herself in approval. She closed the fridge, having some time before cooking and sat in an armchair, beer in hand and closed her eyes. She couldn't help but think that this was a sign, a sign that maybe she and Serah would be reunited, again, and said out loud "I only know that soon, we'll be together." and smiled at the thought. Her thoughts continued to shiver, from her being a single soldier from the Guardian Corps, then becoming the Knight of Etro to end up being the Savior. She chuckled at the thought "Savior, I always thought it was so tacky. S-A-V-I-O-R. Come on." and continued to drink her beer. She then found herself thinking about Fang but repressed the thought by shaking her head and stood up, the clock reaching 6PM, indicating it was time for her to cook.
At 7PM sharp she heard the doorbell and opened the door, indicating she was living on the 2nd floor. She quickly scanned the room and adjusted everything. The plates and cutlery were perfectly lined up, the towels were under them, the bottle of white wine was comfortably sitting on the table next to a bottle of water and coke, Dajh's favorite if she remembered correctly, and finally opened the door, revealing an excited Dajh than ran towards her.
"Lightniiiiiiiing!" he said while hugging her. "Hey little guy! I missed you!" she answered hugging him in return, smiling like she had never smiled before and looked at Sazh, hesitating before giving him a hug too, making him laugh softly in her ear.
They both entered the living room and looked at everything. The living room was white with shades of pink on the walls. Red roses were standing in a vase on the coffee table, in front a sofa and armchairs, the huge TV standing before them. Sazh made its way to the huge window and watched the ocean in front of him.
"Nice flat you have Lightning, not surprised though, you always had good taste" he said while taking his kid in his arms. After looking at the view, Sazh couldn't help but notice that they were no pictures on the walls, except a map of the world hanging on it, with a bunch of red crosses. He studied it more closely and heard Lightning's voice coming from behind him. "It's the cities I called to find each and every one of you. I probably should've started with the US" she said, regret in her eyes, looking at her feet before Dajh spoke up "But you found us Lightning!" with his childish voice and smiled at her, making her do the same thing. "It's true, I got lucky" and winked before pouring wine and coke in two separate glasses, handing them to the two boys. She then poured herself a drink and raised her glass, clinking them together.
She went to the kitchen to take the salad she had prepared and put it down on the table. She served them both and sat down after serving herself. She looked at them and simply asked "So, how long have you been here?" Sazh took a bite of his salad and swallowed before answering "We arrived in a small town in England, Dawlish. We were actually holding hands as our feet touched the floor. After that we drove through England, searching, and decided to go to Boston." He paused taking another bite of salad followed by a sip of wine. "What about you Lightning?"
Lightning frowned and breathed heavily through her nose. "I ended up in France, in Lyon more precisely with Lieutenant Amodar. But we couldn't speak a word of French so we went to the US. I wanted to go to Los Angeles, but Amodar thought Boston was a better idea. After that he started the precinct and hired me instantly." Dajh was looking at her and handed his empty glass, which the pink-haired woman filled with coke the next second. She then stood up to clean their plates, and brought them back to the kitchen, coming back with the plates, perfectly adjusted with the same amount of noodles and salmon on each one, and smiled at her achievement. Cooking was actually never one of her favorite hobbies, but the past week she had the time to actually learn, since Serah was usually doing all the cooking on Cocoon. She sat down and they all ate happily, sharing old stories and past adventures.
By the time they had finished, it was already 10PM, and Lightning offered Sazh a decaf while Dajh was sleeping on her couch. He nodded and joined her in the kitchen, helping her clean the table. It was the first time she actually felt relieved, having someone she knew and liked next to her. Sazh looked more closely at Lightning and asked "So, what are you going to do?" – "What do you mean?" she answered, her left eyebrow rising. "I mean about the others. Are you going to continue searching for them?" She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, before snapping them open "To the death." Her answer apparently pleased her friend as he gave her a small tap on the back making her shiver, and said "Good! We'll help you, me and Dajh." Before adding "and come on, it was only a small tap on the back" before rushing to the living room winking at her, and as he left the room she found herself smiling, but suppressed it as she brought the coffees to the table, looking as serious as ever, only being able to think "This day in ending perfectly", hiding her happiness.
SERAH/VANILLE
The two girls rushed inside, still hugging as they both started crying of happiness. It was actually more than that, it was a feeling that neither of them could describe, but it just felt right, perfect. If the kids weren't standing beside them, they never would've handed it, embracing the moment, but to their regret, a small hand grabbed Vanille's skirt softly saying "We have to go home Van!". The redheaded girl brushed her tears from her face and took Serah's head in her hands, rushing her to give her another hug. She softly said in her ear "There's a coffee place next to their house, we'll meet there 8PM, alright?" and Serah smiled hearing her friend's sharp voice in her ears. She nodded and held her hand a bit longer, before kissing the kids goodbye. She watched the door close, and as it did, she found herself jumping everywhere, clapping her hands together. She was finally happy. Sure, it wasn't Snow or Light that had shown up at her door, but Vanille was one of her closest friends and urged herself under the shower. She turned the water on and stepped inside after a few seconds, washing every tear from her body. The entire time she was smiling. Smiling because she had found someone, that there was actually hope and couldn't help but think about Dajh's last sentence "Yeah, we found hope!" She put her head in her hands, the water pouring on her neck and cried tears of happiness. She then shampooed and washed her body before storming out of the shower to dry herself. She looked at herself in the mirror and was glad to see that she didn't look the same as a few hours ago. She smiled again before plugging the hair dryer.
She actually spent more time than planned, singing and using the hair dryer as a microphone, and saw that it was already 6:57PM. She went to her bedroom and picked up a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. She then stormed into the kitchen, picking a yogurt from her freezer and ate it with more appetite that she could imagine, and grabbed another one. She ate the second one and went towards the door, opening it a smile on her face. She reached her car, a small Red Fiat, and sat on her seat, and drove off to the center of the city of Kansas. The ride took longer than expected and she was glad that she had left earlier than planned, since it was already 7:40PM when she made her way inside the city. She watched the people walking on the streets, laughing and smiling and said out loud "Tonight I'll be just like you!" and pressed on the pedal as the light turned green to reach the coffee place. She was in luck, since she found a parking spot right in front of it, and prayed for the evening to continue like it had begun. She stepped out of her car and found herself face to face with Vanille who hugged her, again. She accepted the warm embraced and whispered softly in her ear how much she had missed her. Her friend hugged even more and took her hand to lead her inside the coffee place. As she walked inside, Serah thought that it looked more like a bar than a coffee place, seeing people dancing and a huge amount of beers on the tables but didn't really care. They both sat down and waited for a waiter or waitress to come take their order.
"I just can't believe it." said Vanille, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm so happy!" and they both laughed in unison. "I know. Seeing you makes everything right Vanille." And grabbed her hand while speaking, "I missed you so much". Vanille made a sharp sound of happiness and brought Serah closer to her to hug her. Their reunion was interrupted by the waitress "So what can I get you…Serah?!" the designed person lifted her head up and saw someone she hadn't seen in years, that she hadn't seen since her crazy adventure to rescue Lightning from Valhalla, and stood up to take Lebreau in her arms. Lebreau used to be the owner of a restaurant in Bodhum, and one of her closest friend, her hair was short and she was still wearing the same type of clothing, short and kind of bitchy, but right now Serah didn't care. Vanille and Lebreau were there, and she felt the tears rushing down her face in the embrace. Her friend was feeling the same and was surprised when the third person joined their hug. They all looked at each other and laughed again. Serah sat down, leaving room for Lebreau to sit next to her as Vanille sat before them. "This is amazing. I didn't expect to see you here." said Lebreau, her smile bigger than usual. "What have you been up to?" she asked, looking at both of them. Vanille spoke first "I ended up in Rio and was kind of confused when I got there, I didn't know where I was so I jumped on a plain in the next hour, and went to Dallas first. I searched a bit but didn't have any money so I thought I'd come here and was hired as a nanny." What about you guys?
Serah cleared her throat and started speaking "I actually ended up here. I spent most of my time crying, Snow was gone, Lightning was gone, and none of my friends were there, so I felt myself falling apart. After spending so much time looking for each other, seeing everyone being apart again, it was just too much." Lebreau saw tears forming in her eyes, took her hand and squeezed it. "I looked on the internet but didn't find anything, which was weird… so I gave up, but then Vanille showed up, and hope appeared again." Vanille was looking at her, a smile on her face and winked at her. Lebreau stood up quickly and asked for their orders, fearing to be yelled at is she was taking too much time. Both girls ordered a beer and saw Lebreau heading towards the bar, picking up two bottles from the freezer before going back to them. She put the two bottles on the table and noticed that the two girls were staring at her, waiting for her story. She cleared her throat and watched them waiting patiently and smirked. She finally started talking, making the two girls sighed with relief. "I ended up in front of a lake in Germany, near Frankfurt, but quickly left to the US. After that I immediately started working in this bar, and just waited for people I knew to stop by. I actually saw Maqui a week ago, but he continued north, searching for Yuj and Gadot… And you, no sign of Light or Snow?" Serah looked down, and felt her heart being ripped apart. She couldn't blame Lebreau for asking her that question, but still felt a hint of anger and tried to hide it. "No. They would be here if we had found each other" and clicked her tongue in the process, before apologizing, feeling Vanille kicking her under the table. Lebreau nodded and put her hand on her shoulder, before leaving to tend to other clients. Serah shook her head in anger and felt Vanille's hand on her own, and closed her eyes, repressing the tears forming in her eyes. She opened them again and looked deep into her eyes, and smiled painfully.
After drinking their beer, it was already 10PM, and Serah started to be tired, and asked Vanille if she wanted to stay the night at her house. Vanille clapped her hands together and agreed while emitting a lot of noise, making Serah take a step back in surprise and put her arm on her shoulder, before going to Lebreau to give a kiss on the cheek, leaving her phone number and of course, paying her. The two girls went to the car and started driving carefully, even though Serah knew it was a bad idea, since she had been drinking. They drove of the valley and put some music. They were both listening and singing together. Serah parked in front of the house and Vanille got of the car, looking at Serah's house. It was small, a lot smaller than Fang's house, maybe 90m², but fitted the character. You could feel the warmth coming out of it, something that made you feel welcome, and Vanille could only imagine the inside of it, filled with pictures and small trinkets and wasn't disappointed as she stepped inside the house. Pictures, everywhere and stared at the same picture that Snow was watching in Fang's house, only she didn't know that. She smiled softly at the sight of them all, and felt Serah standing behind her "Every time I look at this picture, it hurts. Badly." Vanille turned around and sighed with pain, hugging her friend, only being able to think "Fang, please, make your way to us, and let our family be reunited again."
They both made their way to the bedroom, and rested on the bed, not even taking the time to go under the blanket, and fell asleep, exhausted by all the excitement of the day.