Okay, here's chapter two. Seems like this is going to be a full story after all (:
Really hope you like this one, it's a little slower than the first chapter and also a tad bigger.
If any of them seem out of character to you, let me know! I try to make them as realistic as possible.
And reviews always make my day (;
Summer Camp All Over Again
Chapter Two: Snow and Directions - Doesn't Work!
It was cold in the cottage when Lightning woke up after a horrid night of dreaming vague things about Snow and Serah getting lost in the woods after hiking. She was sweating slightly beneath the woolen blankets but the air above the duvet felt freezing and her nose was so cold she was afraid it might come falling off anytime soon. And to top it all up; as she tried to get out of bed, her head throbbed with yet another headache and felt stuffed with mucus.
Jolly good, another day in Paradise!
The wooden floor was icy cold beneath her bare feet and she shivered as she tiptoed to her door, not sure of what time it was. The sun was shining outside though, and she guessed it was probably around eight in the morning, perhaps even earlier. Everyone else was still sleeping, she concluded from the closed doors and the silence in the house. Now being able to see everything in daylight, the wood everywhere was even worse and she noticed the carpet with a busy print that had been faded away at most places by hundreds of feet that had dragged themselves over it.
Enjoying the silence, she decided to go downstairs and have some breakfast before everyone else came to join her. Maybe she could have some peace and quiet on her own, just to prepare herself for the probably busy day to follow.
As she walked down the stairs though, she got a whiff of something that smelled like eggs and bacon and, slowing down her pace in suspicion of who might have arrived in the kitchen before her – worst case it was Snow and she had to mentally prepare herself for that – she wondered who it might be. Cautiously, she opened the door to the kitchen and peeked inside.
"Mornin' sunshine," was Fang's remark at the very moment she'd spotted the woman standing behind the stove, not even bothering to see who had entered the kitchen. She wore navy-blue shorts and a dark top in an unrecognizable shade, and stood bare footed on the cold stone floor of the kitchen. She turned around as Lightning didn't respond and looked surprised to see her standing in the doorway. "Lightning? Hm, could've sworn y'were Vanille, she makes a nasty habit outta tryin' to scare people in the mornings."
Lightning licked her lips. "I'm not Vanille."
Fang laughed. "Well, I noticed that…!" She turned to the frying pan again. "Anyway, you like eggs in the morning? I'll make Vanille some more after, so it's no problem."
Surprised by her kindness – she remembered having not really been nice to Fang last night – Lightning walked into the kitchen to stand next to Fang and watch her cook. "Eggs would be nice, yes. Thank you." She watched Fang clumsily trying to add another egg which resulted in a lot of shell ending up in the pan instead of Fang's fingers. She cussed and tried to pick the pieces of shell out of the eggs, only burning her fingers in the process.
"Normally… Normally this works…!" Fang growled at the frying pan.
Without asking, Lightning butted Fang out of her way and took over the cooking, quickly removing the pieces from the eggs with elegant fingers, adding a little salt and pepper – Fang had already put those out their cupboards – and turning the eggs swiftly before they could get too dark.
"Woah Farron, didn't expect ya to be able to cook," Fang said, sounding honestly surprised. Lightning looked at her through strands of her own hair that had fallen in front of her face again. Fang was smirking at her. "Ya seem good at it, too. Can't I hire ya as my personal cook or somethin'? I'll pay you well, promise!"
"Forget it," Lightning said back, being unable to filter the smile out of her words. And then, to distract Fang from the vague hint of a grin about her lips: "Do you know where the plates are?"
The sun quickly rose that morning in a sky as cerulean as the lakes on Gran Pulse, mist hanging heavily in between the mountains but dissolving the moment the sun's beams hit it. Slowly, the cold of the night got replaced with the promising heat of a new, beautiful day. Birds were singing through the silence in the forest, only disturbed by shouting voices coming from the holiday cottage near the lake.
"Hey! I didn't put that sticker on that for nothing! Woah, hey! Careful now!"
"Ow, sorry Snow, it's so heavy, I just..."
"Don't...!"
Loud, banging noises, something that crashed into the floor, wall or someone.
Groaning, Lightning sat on her bed, head resting in her hands, massaging her temples ever so slowly, as if to drive out the constant headache. Since it was, as Vanille kept calling it, 'unpack-day', everyone was busy cramming their clothing in dressers and hauling suitcases up the stairs - and it wasn't going so well. Lightning had packed as little clothing she could, knowing it was easier to travel light, and had been able to take her baggage to her room with greatest ease. She had seen that Fang had done the same, and for some reason she was happy there was at least one more person in the house who could think, but the others hadn't thought of something like stairs when they put their stuff in their cases.
And Snow, the idiot, had misjudged the weight of Serah's suitcase and tripped down the stairs with the luggage falling on top of him, resulting in a bruised ankle that got thicker with the minute as he simply refused to cool it and kept trying to haul his own stuff upstairs. Seeing him stumble, Vanille had tried to help him, only making things worse. The case now lay down the stairs and the two people who had tried to get it up were arguing about who dropped the handle first.
"I didn't mean to drop it! You're being mean, Snow!" Vanille's shrieking voice sounded thick with tears. "It just slipped through my fingers! I... I just wanted to help you!"
"Well you did a great job, throwin' it down the stairs!"
"Snow, please, calm do..."
"No! I ain't gonna calm down, Serah! She dropped the bag with the..."
"OK people, that's it!" Fang's voice interrupted the argument on the hallway. "What do you think you're doing? Y're arguing like little kids, for god's sake! Let's get it together and stop actin' like five year olds, and start behaving our age." She sounded pissed. "Snow, you get the hell down and cool that foot of yours. Vanille, stop whinin' and help Serah unpacking her stuff."
"Hey, Fang, don't you just..."
"I don't do just nothin', mister! Get down and cool down! And no but's, Vanille. I'll take that bag to where it belongs. Now get outta my sight."
Lightning didn't hear anyone argue the last statement and soon footsteps carried everyone away to where Fang had sent them. Lightning sighed, relieved. Perhaps now she could nap some more and try to sleep off the headache, or the cold...
She just lay down on her back, closing her eyes, when the door to her own room got kicked open by no one other than Fang herself and Lightning started, jumping from her bed. The other hadn't seen her lying down and put her hands on her hips.
"Ya got all your stuff, Farron?"
Lightning had a response ready."I've had for ages."
Fang sniffed. "Good. Thank god you're capable of takin' care of yourself." She smirked. "Makes two of us against three clumsy idiots."
"Faaaaaang? You're ready?" Vanille's voice resounded from downstairs. "We're gonna use the mountain bikes that came with the cottage! Come on down!"
Fang grimaced, sighed and shook her head. When she looked up at Lightning again though, her eyes were sparkling with something Lighting couldn't define and she smiled at her. "Y're comin' with us, Farron?"And then, added with a wide smirk: "...Or are ya afraid ya might lose from the likes of me?"
By the time she'd spoken the last three words, Lightning had passed her and was already pacing down the stairs. Grinning, Fang followed her.
"Okay folks, listen up!" Snow - as usual - had gathered everyone outside. The sun was shining fully and majestically in the sky and stung Lightning's pale skin. Grimacing, she realized she'd forgotten her sunburn. "So, Serah and me, we had some ideas for the week. I mean, we can't sit on our asses the entire time right? Look at the surroundings!" He moved his arms wildly around, pointing in various directions, nearly poking Serah in her eyes while doing so. "Anyway, what I wanted to say..." he was beaming so widely that, for a brief moment, he reminded Lightning of a dog she'd once seen in her garden, digging out the few plants she had. She'd kicked it. "We kinda have made a schedule for everyone. Like, today, we're gonna bike around this really beautiful biking trail... It's stunning, promise! And tomorrow, we were planning on hiking and sleeping in the wild."
"Oooh, sounds exciting!" Vanille was hopping from one feet to the other. "So we're going to camp, then?" And then, squealing: "Always wanted to do that once!"
Serah giggled at her excitement, Fang planted her hand in her face and Lightning tried to remember why she hadn't stayed at home.
"And the day after tomorrow? What're we gonna do then?" Again Vanille was the one to ask the question. Snow grinned and rubbed his neck, looking apologetic.
"Ah, uh, well, we gotta think about that, right, Serah?" And he gave his wife a please-help-I-dunno-what-to-do-look, which she gladly returned before turning to the others around them.
"Ehm, yes, that's right, we'll think about that tonight, or tomorrow night perhaps," she said, slightly nervous. "We don't want to do something one of us doesn't like, so... we'll vote for what we'll do next, I think. Then everyone can suggest something tonight, and think about it until tomorrow, and then we'll vote tomorrow in the evenings. Okay?"
Vanille nodded. "Sure thing!"
"Sounds like a good plan," Fang added, smiling at Serah.
Lightning just nodded, and got a feeble smile from Serah in return. "Please," her eyes said. Pleaded. "Please, try to, at least, look happy..." And as an answer, Lightning avoided her sister's digits and looked at Snow, who was talking to Vanille, gesturing wildly. She felt guilty, but not guilty enough to change her attitude. Serah couldn't expect her to really enjoy this holiday, after all. She knew how much she hated holidays. Holidays meant free time, and free time meant thinking. And thinking meant pondering. And Lightning hated pondering.
"Okay, then, everybody, follow me!" Snow ran off towards the other end of the house, seemingly having no issues with his ankle anymore, and the others followed, although in a slower pace. Serah was walking next to Fang and Lightning got saddled with Vanille, who kept talking to her even though she never answered. Vanille didn't seem to mind, and smiled at her while attempting to chitchat.
"The weather's just lovely today, isn't it? Look at that sky! So blue! Nearly like back on Gran Pulse, don'tcha think? And the trees are so green, and the birds all sing so lovely..." she inhaled deeply and let out a big sigh. "And the air smells so nice, too... Wow, it nearly feels as if we're in paradise." She looked at Lightning for a second, probably expecting some sort of reaction, but Lightning refused to say a word and trotted straight after Snow towards the back entrance of the cottage, leaving Vanille behind looking disappointed and joining with Fang and Serah, hoping that they would talk back to her.
Now that they had to walk around it, it struck Lightning how big the house actually was. From the inside out, it had seemed awfully small for five people, but looking at it from a distance made her wonder where all the extra space had gone to. Perhaps there was a third floor they hadn't found yet, or another door hidden behind shelves or junk? Either way, the cottage fitted in with the landscape perfectly and, Lightning had to admit, had a brilliant view on the lake nearby. Now with the sun on its highest, the water reflected its rays in thousands of brilliant sparkles, just like a diamond, with a hint of cerulean blue beneath it. Beautiful.
Too soon she was disturbed from her daydream by Snow, who roughly handed her a red, debilitated bike that had been outside for too long, judging by the amount of rust on the chassis and brakes - Lightning wondered whether they'd even work and suspected accidents to happen - and she took it clumsily, not knowing what to do with it as long as the others were still chatting about the weather or something irrelevant like that. "Folks, listen up, we're headed that way," Snow shouted, pointing at the nearest mountain. "The guide said there was a good trail for beginning bikers there, with some nice views too - sounds good, right? And it's not too long a trail, too, so we should be back before dinner."
Fang had already jumped on her bike, a fanatical expression on her face, her eyes shimmering with excitement. "Then what are we waitin' for? Let's go!" And before anyone could react, she dashed off, throwing up dirt and stones in the air. Snow boomed with laughter and quickly followed her, his tires slipping on the grit.
"Wait for me!" Serah waveringly took off, wobbling on the pebbles, shortly followed by Vanille who was biking way too fast for herself to handle - she shouted out of fear most of the time, only to burst into laughter directly after that - and the line was closed by no one other than Lightning, who blandly trailed the others on her own pace.
The 'beginners' trail' turned out to be a seldom used path, probably only trodden once in a while by small animals, and nearly completely overgrown with ivy and other, bushy like plants. Vanille had dropped off her bike - and the trail - more than five times by the time they'd been gone for half an hour and was whining about cuts and bruises, and Serah had bumped her knee against a rock when she lost control of the bike and went down too fast. Everyone was agitated, sweating and feeling too warm and constantly nagging at each other, making the ambiance of the group less than hopeless.
"Whose idea was it to go biking anyway," Fang complained through clenched teeth, her face gleaming with perspiration and an annoyed look on her face. "And this trail ain't for beginnin' bikers, this is a fuckin' animal path, for god's sake! Snow! You get us back or I swear you're gonna regret you didn't!"
"Now now, calm down already Fang," Snow reasoned. "Okay, it's a bit... heavier than I expected, but we're doin' fine aren't we? Besides, we've gotta be there anytime now, can't be too long before we reach the clearing the brochure mentioned." He glared at his surroundings, panting while riding up a hill. "They said go right at the big rock... But I didn't see a big rock... a lot of them smaller ones but no big one... Did we go right?"
"What?" Fang wasn't paying attention to his rambling, could barely breathe.
"Nothin', nothing to worry 'bout," Snow said quickly. But as he turned to face the path again to see where he was going, he was frowning nervously. From the back, Lightning observed the others and concluded that they weren't build for biking trips like these. They raced up the hill too fast, went down even faster, crashed, cried and then got up again only to do the same over and over. She couldn't understand why they wouldn't just slow down and keep a constant speed, like she did. And unlike the others, she hadn't got hurt in anyway.
What seemed like five hours later, but couldn't be a lot more than half an hour, Snow suddenly stopped and Fang bumped into his bike, cussing as she nearly fell to the ground.
"Hey! What're ya doin'?" her face was flushed from the effort she'd put into climbing and her voice sounded drained of her usual enthusiasm. "Don't stop like that!"
Vanille's head popped around Fang's back to face Snow. "What's the problem?"
"Is there anything wrong?" Serah had also reached the group, barely able to talk due to exhaustion. Lightning stopped directly after her and kept a close eye on her sister, afraid she might fall over anytime soon. The man they were all looking at looked stressed as he slowly turned around to face them. His face was red with heat and shimmering in the light with sweat, and he looked troubled.
"Guys," he started, talking slowly as if he was thinking about his words. Which was, if you asked Lightning, impossible.
"I think we're lost."
