... I don't want to say anything anymore...
Chapter 3: A Winter to Remember
"Why do you seem so happy lad? You did not jest the chef again did you?"
"What? Of course not Otou-sama! Not yet anyway… I have another reason to be happy about!"
"And what is that?"
"Earlier today I made five snowballs. The first three I threw at my friends' faces. You should have seen their faces Otou-sama!"
"Hahaha, I see. What of the remaining two?"
"Well, the fourth I threw it at…"
"At whom?"
"…At Onee-sama."
"…Boy, have I dropped your head when you were a mere babe?"
"I do not know Otou-sama, you tell me. Well, at least it served its purpose. I have not seen Onee-sama smile for quite some time now."
"I used to think I never made such a mistake. Now I am not so certain…And what of the last ball?"
"Why, the last is served for the best! Of course it goes to you Otou-sama!"
"ARGH! Why you little-come back here young man!"
-xxx-
Lightning looked outside from the window, the snow falling as the others were playing snowball fights. And as usual, the main target was Zack. She noticed that there was a certain blonde missing the scene and was not really surprised to hear a knock at the door a few seconds later.
"Hey! Open up Light! You're missing out all the fun outside!" came Stella's voice from outside her room.
The said woman rolled her eyes, "I can see that. I have a window in case you've forgotten. And I'm not interested on playing with you children so leave me be…for once." She replied in a slight annoyed tone. In truth, she would want nothing more than to join those who were outside right now, it would be nice to relax every once in a while. But her trauma of losing her parents stopped the young adventurous girl inside of her that was not often shown and seen by others' eyes.
"Oh come on Light! It's not healthy for you to be always sealed inside your room. You need to have time for yourself every now and then." Before Lightning could even reply, Stella cut her off by saying "And it doesn't matter if you hate the snow because of him."
The strawberry blonde-haired woman frowned, leave it to Stella to say everything that's not supposed to be said. Now she secretly hoped that none of their housekeepers heard it, although she was fairly sure they already know about it. "If you already know why I don't like it, why even bother asking me to go outside knowing that I would refuse?" she asked as she moved away from her room's window, not standing the sight outside anymore.
There was a long pause before she heard the jingling of keys and was not at all surprised to see the door swing open to reveal the blonde haired woman she was talking to earlier. "You are coming with me when I go outside this castle whether you like it or not missy." Were her exact words as she headed straight towards Lightning's wardrobe and began to take clothes out.
Lightning watches Stella as she threw the clothes to her bed, "Just make sure you put those back where you pulled them out. Unlike you, I arrange my wardrobe myself and not have someone else do it for me, so it ain't easy." She said in a monotone voice.
"Oh come on guys! Why am I always the target here?" Zack whined and was answered by a snowball in the face. Every winter, whenever they somehow see each other, Zack is always the target on every snowball fight. Somehow, the girls just love using him that way, and it also helps since Zack doesn't fight back at all.
"That's because you always leave an opening, you don't fight back, and you're much more fun than those emos over there." Yuna answered as she pointed her thumb at the guys who were just sitting on a snow-covered fence.
Aerith just stayed in the sidelines and watched as the other girls gang up on Zack, a somewhat dreamy look on her face. Hope was standing beside her and somehow noticed her dreamy expression. "You can join them you know. There's no law against it or anything." And when he turned to her once more, she was already long gone and was joining the other girls.
While they girls continued to abuse Zack's inability to fight them back, the guys were having their own agenda. "Poor guy. Although I think he probably deserves it." Tidus said as he watched another snowball hit Zack square in the face again.
"He does deserve it." Cloud said in a low tone as he crossed his arms.
Squall turned to him, "I've been meaning to ask you about this Cloud, but why the hell does hehave to be here?" he asked as pointed at the farthest left. When Cloud turned to where Squall pointed, a dark scowl immediately formed on his face. There, exactly where Squall had pointed, was Serah being all love-dovey with Snow. Cloud held the wooden fence in an effort to calm himself down, which is unfortunately not helping at all.
Tidus followed the direction to where they were looking at and frowned, "Why did you even let him stay here anyway?" he asked Cloud.
"Serah wouldn't take no for an answer. Luckily, Lightning isn't here and-"
"Hey guys! It's a miracle! I managed to make Light come out today!"
...
…
…
…
…
"Never mind. Forget I even talked."
Lightning went beside her brother. She watched as Stella joined the other girls on ganging up on Zack, "If they keep doing that, I won't have a punching bag later." She said. She noticed that the fence she was leaning on was slightly trembling, she then looked at her bother and tried to look around for anything that may cause his irritation. And when she turned left…
…SNAP!
Tidus and Squall looked at the piece of wood that was taken from the fence, "You know, if you're going to break things, the guy you're looking at is clearly available." Squall said. Lightning clutched the wood in her hands harder, and it once again snapped into two.
Tidus gulped, "Uh, Squall? I don't think you should be giving her ideas in these kinds of time." He said as he watched his female cousin turn red from anger. And when Snow places an arm around Serah…
"That's it!" and Lightning made a move to march towards the couple, but was stopped by three powerful pairs of arms. Cloud was pulling her from the waist, Squall doing the same from the shoulders, and Tidus pushing her away from the front.
"Damn it woman, what are you a bulldozer or something? Geez!" Tidus shouted as he put more effort on pushing her.
"Uh, guys? Do you think that those three are enough to stop Light?" Yuna asked as she and the others have finally stopped attacking Zack. The raven-haired male turned to where the girls were looking at and almost laughed at the picture the four cousins were making. Scratch the almost part, he did laugh, and not quite the way normal people would laugh too. He then decided to lend a hand for once;
"Hey! You two over there! I ain't against you –well actually, I'm the only one who's not, but I'm not exactly a big fan of PDA. Nor am I a fan or Light's 'Operation: Kill my sister's boyfriend'." He called out. Then he looked up and appeared to be thinking about something, "Although, the way Light does it is pretty interesting. It's just not very appealing on my part 'cause I'm the only one who actually has the heart to carry Snow to the hospital and –WOAH!" he ducked, and the rock that Lightning threw at him hit the tree behind him. He laughed triumphantly and pointed at Lightning, "AHAHAHAHA! You missed! And you're supposed to be the best shooter in all of Cocoon? AHAHAHAHA!" and once again let out another fit of laughter.
In response, Lightning gave him a dark smirk. "On the contrary, I hit my target well. Too well." She said and nodded her head at him, telling him to look up. When he did, piles of snow came pouring down at him. Apparently, Zack was never her target, but the tree that stocked up piles of snow behind him. Lightning has once again outsmarted him, like that's anything new…
Rinoa let out a small giggle before composing herself and turning to Tifa, "Hey, didn't you and Stella planned to go out today? That's the reason you wanted everyone here right?" she asked.
Hearing this, Stella turned towards everyone, "Okay! Since this is the first winter that we are all together, let's all go out and have fun! And also, this is the day we celebrate Light's improvement on being social! Who's with me, raise your hands!"
Everyone –aside from Lightning –all raised their hands, with Vanille jumping with glee. Although, Cloud, Squall, and Tidus were either scratching the back of their heads with their other hand (Cloud), had their left eye twitching every now and then (Squall), or just simply rubbing their temples (Tidus) because Tifa, Rinoa, and Yuna had lifted their hands with one of their own and were grinning wildly. Fang turned to Lightning and, aided with the other girls, gave Lightning a pleading look, in which Lightning ignore by simply looking away. "Aw come on Light! Don't ruin all the fun! Even Cloud, Squall, and Tidus are tagging along!"Aerith said.
Lightning gave them all a cold glare, and for some reason, everyone aside from Lightning all thought the same thing: 'Is it just me? Or did the temperature just got lower?'
"No."
'Why am I here again?' Lightning found herself asking in the back of her head as she struggled to remember how she ended up being where she was now. And to add more irritation in her, Stella just had to take everyone to the grand shopping mall in Nautilus. This one of the main reasons Lightning didn't want to come in the first place. Aside the fact that he was here, Stella had a knack on annoying her to no end, which in fact, is happening right now. She made a mental note never to trust that woman again. Ever. She was sure all this girly trash she is being forced to see will be the death of her. At least, she wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying. Her older twin brother and the two brown-headed cousins were turning pale from all the girlishness around.
"Hey guys, look! Don't you think this will suit Light perfectly?" Yuna asked as she pulled out a crystal blue gown that was far too revealing on Lightning's point of view.
"You're right, it complements her eyes very well." Tifa answered as she nodded her head in agreement.
Lightning rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself, 'Why I'm acquainted with these people, I'll never know… May the Light grant me enough strength to survive all this…'
A few moments later, the gang was dragged by Stella to go to a place that has caught her attention. It was somewhere near a cliff. "Hey guys? Don't you think that this would be a nice place to have a picnic? After all, we haven't eaten lunch yet, and over there is a really nice spot!" Aerith suggested as she found a place where there is not much snow around. The others have agreed immediately, not being able to deny their hunger.
Lightning looked around as she took another bite at the rice ball she was eating, one of the few things that she liked about being with these people is watching them have fun. Yes, she was content with just that. She looked at her left, and even though she despised the fact that Snow was with Serah, she couldn't deny that she was happy seeing her sister happy. She honestly didn't have anything against Snow, unlike everyone sees, she just doesn't want to see her sister get hurt like the time when their parents went missing. She shook the though away, focusing on her friends' smile. She then turned to Tidus, who was now happily eating the bento that Yuna had made for him. Then to Squall, who was happily eating a piece of bread with Rinoa. The guy seemed really happy, too happy, so Lightning decided to add a little spice into it. "Yo, Scar-face! You got mayonnaise on your face!" she shouted. And as she had predicted, Squall immediately whipped his face, only to find out that there was no such thing on his face.
"Lightning!" Squall shouted and stood up as the others laughed at him. Rinoa's laugh seemed to calm him, so he once again took his seat. Lightning loved making fun of Squall, although it's not so obvious. Aerith was feeding Zack, who was acting like a child like he always does. The two seemed really happy with each other, causing Lightning's lips to form a small, almost unnoticeable smile. She heard an all-too-familiar chuckle, which she was sure belonged to her older twin brother. She turned to him, and was not at all surprised to see him smiling his heart out–well, enough to lightly reach his eyes anyway, still, that was a very huge difference compared to his normal smile, which doesn't really count as one-as Tifa fed him with a piece of strawberry. Cloud was always like a ray of sunshine when Tifa was with him. Like he was literally a cloud and she was the sky that he belonged to. And the Oerba cousins along with Hope are having a really great time as well. Then she turned to look at-
Lightning's eyes widened. She stood up and turned her head in every direction there is. The others turned to her in utter confusion, "Light? Are you cool? What's gotten in to ya'?" Fang asked as she and the other watched the strawberry blonde-haired woman turn around over and over again.
Lightning whirled around once more, "Stella? Stella where the hell did you go now?" she called out. One of the many things that she hated about Stella is that she's standing beside you for one moment and disappears the second later. And the worst part of it, is that whenever she does that appear-disappear trick of hers, she always ends up getting in trouble. A few moments later, a loud scream filled the air.
"LIGHT! LIGHT! HELP!"
And before the others could react, Lightning was already long gone, following the screams that belonged to her blonde-somewhat crazy- friend. "Stella? Stella? Where are you?" The coral-haired woman called out once more when she was certain that this was the place she was looking for.
"Down here! Down here!" came Stella's answer from the Light knows where.
Lightning went to the cliff's edge and prayed, even though it was useless, that whatever she was thinking of just now was not reality. True enough to her predictions, Stella was hanging on the cliff. "Why do you always have to get yourself in trouble? Here, take my hand. Careful though." Lightning said as she offered a hand.
The blonde princess reached out, but the rock she was holding onto suddenly collapsed. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for a harsh fall, but a hand gripped her arm and threw her back up. Lightning inwardly thanked her reflexes in these kinds of situation, what she didn't expect was the ground she was sitting on to collapse under their weight. She knew that they would both fall if she didn't do anything, so she threw Stella to somewhere away from the collapsing ground they were in with all the strength she had left.
"Light!" Stella cried out, tears forming in her eyes as she turned to look around to see her best friend, only to find empty air. She headed straight near the broken edge, looking for Lightning below. The tears in her eyes fell furiously as the others came to her side.
"Stella, where's my sister?" Cloud asked, a strange quiver in his voice.
The princess of Tenebrae didn't say a single word, the tears in her eyes blurring her sight. The only response she gave them was a shook of her fair head. Cloud' eyes widened as he turned his head to the cliff. Before anyone could stop him, he rushed towards the steep, carefully going down. "Lightning? Lightning where are you? I know you can hear me! Please answer!" he shouted, even though his heart ached because he knew he was not going to get any answer. His fair hair covered his eyes and he clutched his hands into fists. 'I promised Mother that I would never let anything happen to you. It was the first and last favor she asked me, and now look what I did! Damn it!'He squinted his eyes and when he opened them, some tears threatening to fall from the icy-blue eyes that he shared with his sister.
"Éclair!"
'Damn it, this is why I hate people who are too adventurous for their own good. I am never going to go along with these kinds of things again. That is, assuming I'll live after this. I doubt anyone comes along these parts of the forest, and its winter…'Lightning thought to herself as she clutched her left arm in an effort to stop the bleeding. She couldn't use any magic that she had learned these past few years, she was totally drained from her fall. Wait, now that she thought about it, why didn't she use it when she was helping Stella out? 'Well, too late for that now.' She tried to stand up again, but ended up falling from the horrible bruises on her right leg and foot. Well, what did you expect? Would you rather get hit by a huge rock or a tree bark? Lightning may have amazing reflexes, but no one can go unscratched from a fall like that.
'That gives me an idea. Maybe I should train here when I have the time…' Lightning knew the thought was really random, but hey, she liked risk. She just doesn't like the look on her siblings' faces when they see her get badly hurt. She smiled lightly as she pictured how Cloud would react if he were to see her like this. An image of Cloud turning blue then fainting popped in her head and it almost made her laugh. It's not like it never happened before anyway. If she could remember correctly, it happened seven times last year, ten the year before that, and this year would be twelve if he sees her in her current state. 'Somehow, no matter how many times it happens, it still amuses me to no end.' Lightning thought with a smirk on her face. Her eyes widened as she started to get dizzy and her sight get blurry.
'Shit! I'm losing too much blood! But why? It's only my arm-'her thoughts were cut as she felt a wetness on her head. She touched the back of her head and, sure enough, the liquid was blood. So that was why she felt dizzy. 'Not good. I can't pass out here!' she thought to herself as she tried to stand up again, only to fall once more. She decided to give up, she would only make it harder for her if she kept trying anyway, so she just lied down on the snow and tried to forget the pain.
"Man, this just really isn't my day, is it?" She asked herself, slightly surprised that she said it out loud. She closed her eyes, waiting for herself to fall into a deep sleep. But before she fell unconscious, she felt strong arms wrap around her. 'It's so… warm…'were her last thoughts before she left the conscious world.
"You really need to take care of yourself more. I'm not entirely fond of the idea of you getting yourself half-dead all the time, especially when I can't even be close to you with so many people around, Éclair. Strong as you are, you're no exception from death's cold embrace. Good Light, I's starting to sound like my father more and more…well that can't be good!"
"Cloud? You okay?" Zack asked worriedly.
Cloud whirled around to him furiously, his expression grave, "What does it look like? Do I look like I feel like celebrating to you?" he shouted.
The raven-haired teen didn't look so surprised. Hope turned to look from Cloud to Zack, this was one of the rare times that Zack wears a serious face. "Do you think Light's gonna like it if you act like this?" Zack asked him.
The blond looked taken back, and then clenched his teeth, "I didn't mean to snap like that. It's just that I… I feel so useless… I wasn't even there! And-!" He felt a strong sting on his cheek, and when he looked up, he saw Tifa holding her hand up and tears fell from her eyes.
"Don't go talking as if you're the only one who's hurt! Stella was there when it happened! And you're not the only one who cares about Lightning!" the brunette yelled.
"Um, I have no intentions on bothering you whatsoever You Highnesses, but Lady Lightning is resting in her room."
They all turned to the direction where the maid was standing…
3….
2….
1….
"Get outta my way you chocobo haired alien!"
"You get outta my way you blonde-haired witch! You're the reason Light's in bad shape!'
"Shut up! You call yourself her brother when you weren't even there when she needed you most!"
"Ah shut up! She wouldn't be like that and I would have watched over her if you hadn't disappeared like a rat!"
"Who are you calling a rat? You-"
The others watched Cloud and Stella race toward Light's chambers, leaving them with clouds of smoke.
"Well, it looks like they're all back to normal!" The others looked at Tifa and sweat dropped. The brunette was smiling and she had sparkles on the background.
'Eh? Didn't she just slap her fiancé earlier? Talk about mood swings!'Vanille thought as she looked at Tifa. She sighed and then turned back to the two blonds tried to outrun the other. 'Oh well, at least, Light's all right. I suppose that's all that matters.'
"Light!"
Unsurprisingly, Cloud and Stella had reached Lightning's room at the same time. When they entered the room, they saw Lightning sleeping on her bed….
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DECORATED WITH BANDAGES?! I know Halloween is coming up but why the rush man?!" and even in the farthest corner of the castle you could hear the blonde Tenebraean princess' scream.
The others turned to Cloud, who looked like he was seeing a nightmare. The blonde prince turned blue, the color on his face draining away like water in a sink, then fell spinning on the ground as Tidus caught him. "Hey, dude? You okay? Cloud? Oh jeez, not again…" the brown-haired teen sighed as he shook his cousin awake.
Tifa turned to them and giggled, "You shouldn't do that Tidus, it'll only make it worse." She told him.
"Yeah. And it's not like this is the first time this happened. Cloud always gets like that whenever Light gets injured. He never changed, he was like that since we were five." Zack said and laughed like a mad man.
Rinoa looked at Zack, "Say, no one ever did tell us what happened in the past. Do you mind telling us the story?" she asked him.
The raven-haired noble crossed his arms and looked up, a smile playing on his face. "Well, it all started years ago."
Squall looked over at Lightning, "Guys, where did her scarf go? I was sure she wore one."
Fang looked at the strawberry-blonde haired princess as well, "You're right, she did wear one. All of her clothes are over there…"
It was late at night. A dark cloaked figure was sitting in the shadows, like he always do. He lifted his hand and stared at it. The moment he laid his eyes on his hand, an image of a strawberry-blonde haired maiden intruded his mind, not that the idea displeased him, he welcomed the thought. Without his permission, he lips curled into a soft smile.
"You sure are such an interesting woman, Éclair." He whispered.
'She sure has grown. She's not that little girl who keeps on yelling "onii-sama" over and over again whenever Cloud comes home from a trip. You've surpassed all of my expectations of you. Although,' his curved lips turned into a straight line,'I didn't expect to see the present princess of Tenebrae here either. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice to see someone from that wretched place every once in a while. I'm not as heartless as they made me to be.''
His hand went to his pocket, looking for something, 'Ah! Here it is.' He pulled out what his hand has found, only to be disappointed to see his pocket watch. He tried again, but pulled out his handkerchief this time. Once more, but he took out a pen. He stood up in panic.
"AAHHHHHHH! Where is it? I know I put it here somewhere!" he yelled as he tried to look for it in his other pocket. And when he looked down to his neck, "Ah, here it is!"
It was a red scarf.
Review please! ^^