Ohohohohohooo! I'M BACK! And after so much happenins-you don't even want to know O3O
Anyway! I am now up and running again, and will be updating frequently for BOTH of my stories :D
Sorry for the wait! I hope you will forgive me TTATT
OH! And I can't tell you how happy I was to receive all of your wonderful reviews-you all make me burst with joy x3
Thank you EleanorLavish, XxOerbaDiaVanillexX, Wolf Strife, DublDagrKLL110, DesertStar87, Steve, Miller Inman, and Tear Of Light!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH 3
Now...
ONTO THE CHAPPY!
I do not own the characters from Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy VII, or Blue Crush, nor do I own the locations mentioned in the following scripture. I write for the purpose of entertainment - not profit.
Chapter IV: Counting the Sighs
**Breezy by Blank and Jones
The sun had set almost entirely, leaving a violet hue to color the wide open sky. Wispy clouds formed from the sun's deep halo, and stars began to twinkle in the darker regions of the sky.
A gentle wind blew through the girl's beautiful pink hair, ruffling it gingerly as a quixotic Spanish guitar plucked in the background.
Cloud carefully approached the railing the girl was leaning against, the entire time making sure he didn't spill the two drinks in his hands, especially her daiquiri. While staying out of her peripheral vision, the blonde set the strawberry mix next to her propped up elbow, leading to the girl's crystal blue eyes to shift inquiringly to glance at the drink. Placing his own elbows on the railing, Cloud held his breath before releasing it in a barely audible exhale as he held his own drink in both hands over the edge.
Turning her head just enough to look at the guy standing next to her, Lightning tilted her chin upwards to take in his features,
'Blonde spiky hair, sky blue eyes, stern face. Definitely a face I've never seen before, so where the hell did he get the guts to approach me so brashly?'
Her thoughts continued to process before the man's soft voice broke her concentration.
"Hi."
Lightning's face remained calm, but her hands slowly snatched the drink from the bare rail,
"Hi."
Her reply was dull and elongated for effect, and an uncomfortable silence followed as Cloud began to unconsciously twiddle his thumbs.
Over at the table where the gang had gathered around to chat, Gadot took notice of what was going on,
"Hey-hey, looks like Strife's already making summer plans." Following his booming voice, every head at the table turned to spy on the two still standing in silence.
"Psssh, yeah right! Cloud's not interested in women." Reno said as he leaned back on his hands while tilting the chair halfway off the floor.
Silence ensued as all eyes turned to Reno in question of what he just said. Maqui inched forward while cupping his mouth to whisper with a worrying look plaguing his face,
"Wait… You mean he's—?"
Reno's face turned red with annoyance as he slammed his open palm onto the table, his brow beginning to twitch vexingly,
"What—no! I meant he's already taken."
Lebreau's mouth dropped open, along with Yuj and Hope, who were in just as much shock,
"What? No way! By who?" they all said in unison as they hovered over the table towards haughty red-head.
Stepping onto the table with a bent knee like he was proposing, Reno placed a hand on his heart and stuck the other one out into the air as a sparkle twinkled in his eyes,
"By the sway and the rhythm of the tide~" he sang loudly as everyone watched with wide and baffled eyes, which all slowly changed into mixed emotions of awkwardness and embarrassment as he continued to sing in a rather gawky voice.
"Killed it."
"Shot down."
"Completely annihilated."
The three who questioned earlier rolled their eyes as they headed back to the bar to veer as far away from the humiliating scene as possible,
"Oh, come on! It was golden!"
Maqui patted the singer's back caringly as he began to sob.
Back over at the quiet side of the bar, and in an attempt to lessen the quiet, Cloud coughed in his throat,
"I'm Cloud. Cloud Strife." he said as he held his hand out to shake the pink-haired women's next to him.
Lightning took a sip of her drink without returning the slightest notice to the kind gentleman as Cloud awkwardly held his hand in the between them. He slowly ordered the hand to retreat as he tried to think of a plan B,
"So, you new around here?"
The blue-eyed girl slammed her drink down onto the railing as her head turned swiftly to shoot a soft glare at the blonde,
"Does it look like it?"
A small hint of fear crept into the back of his mind, causing Cloud to struggle to compose himself,
"Um, no… I just haven't seen you around here before." The blonde reached a hand around his head to rub his neck for no reason in particular as the girl next to him daintily sipped her drink again.
"I just moved here."
"Where from?"
"What's it to you?" With a sense of annoyance emitting from her like an aura, Lightning spoke in her signature voice as she turned completely around to face her inquirer. Her ice blue eyes sparkled from the dying sunlight, but the anger in her voice could also be spotted in the dazzling crystal irises.
Cloud sighed with a hint of frustration towards himself as he set his drink down to speak again, hoping to calm the vexed girl,
"Look, I'm sorry if I come off as rude, but it's just—"
Lightning crossed her arms as she waited for an answer to prove the man's reason for persistence. Deep down inside, she truly believed he had intentions other than wooing, but she never trusted men, especially ones this calm.
"I swear I've met you before."
Both figures still remained in place, while a small summer breeze blew through the air from behind the light-haired women and towards the blonde. Her hair ruffled lightly as her stare softened from a glare to a regular gaze, giving Cloud a small ounce of hope… which was crushed as she swiftly turned back to her drink,
"Must have been someone else."
Cloud slouched over in defeat as the girl sipped her drink without a care. Sighing loudly, the blonde turned back to his drink as well, which he finished in one swig before he continued his trek,
"Well, if you aren't the same person, then may I know who you are?" Trying to hide the sass in his voice, Cloud set his drink back onto the rail as he watched the waves roll into the night sky,
"Lightning."
Letting the words sink into his mind, Cloud continued to stare into the dark of the night. The light of the tiki torches now acted as the only source of light as the sun had long since set, but its glow warmly covered everything around.
"You surf?"
"Nope."
"You free tomorrow?"
The pink-haired girl groaned as she glared at the taller man, who quickly put his hands up in defense,
"My friends and I were going to meet here tomorrow around noon and see what the surf was doing—" A pop sounded from across the bar along with some 'whoops' and 'hurrah's' as Cloud continued,
"If you want, I could show you around the island." His voice softened to a mere whisper by the time he had finished speaking.
Lightning still wore her usual scowl as she couldn't figure out why the guy was so damn persistent, but she might as well give him a chance, since he had made it this far anyway.
"We wouldn't be alone. Those idiots would be joining us—" Cloud pointed behind him at the table with the sobbing red-head and the guffawing Mohawk-man.
Lightning raised an eyebrow as she waited for an explanation of the particular crowd and how one came to find such people. Cloud grinned slightly as a bit of embarrassment hovered around him,
"They're just friends."
They both turned to look at the group as the people sitting around table had spurred into a drinking match, shouting and cheering on either Gadot or Snow. Both men were tilted back in their chairs, chugging down their sixth shot before Snow collapsed onto the floor, causing an eruption of cheers to burst in the almost empty bar.
The pink-haired girl gazed downwards in thought, her arms still crossed in a defensive fashion. Cloud waited patiently, but he was still nervous about her reply, since her expression hadn't changed much no matter what he said. Moving her head up quickly yet gracefully, Lightning shifted her eyes to look into the similar blue orbs above her,
"Why?"
Her voice was stern, but as soft as a whisper, which caused Cloud to stare back in a dazed manner. Taking a moment for the question to sink in, the blonde froze as he realized what she had actually asked, and found himself wondering the same thing. He pulled a hand behind his head to rub his neck mindlessly, replying with a face that looked the other way,
"You're…clearly not the girl I know…But—"
He turned his head back to face the now relaxed girl, her crystal blue eyes not afraid to make eye contact with him, and spoke with his usual embarrassed face,
"I want to get to know… you."
Letting his hand drop casually, he waited for the stranger to answer—to say something—anything.
"I'll pass on the 'hanging out'—" she said as she drank the last of her daiquiri.
Cloud raised his hand again to rub his neck, looking away from the stern woman.
"But I guess a quick tour wouldn't hurt." She huffed as she turned her head to stare at the dark ocean.
Cloud smirked softly, a tinge of relief playing on his lips as he grabbed his and her empty glasses,
"Where should I pick you up?"
"The Katz Shack. I get off work at one."
"Sounds good."
The two were silent once again before the blue-eyed girl pushed off of the railing and turned to walk towards the other end of the bar. Setting a bit of cash on the bar counter for Lebreau, who was enjoying the scene with an amused expression, Lightning walked down the steps of the bar, and began to make her way down the beach. Watching her stroll away with calm, blue eyes, Cloud called out to her, still holding the glasses in her hands as he leaned over the railing,
"Can I offer you a lift–"
"Don't push it, spiky."
Her simple tone made him smirk to himself as he waited until the darkness of the beach swallowed her figure entirely. Sighing with a shrug, the blonde headed over to the table whence he came, hoping no one had noticed his absence.
Setting the two drinks down carefully, he quietly seated himself in the chair he occupied earlier as the entire group around him hushed, turning their heads to look at the chocobo-haired man. Opening his eyes after another tired exhale, Cloud noticed the multiple pairs of eyes staring straight at him in silence.
"What?" he said as he started to shrink into his seat to try to escape the piercing gazes, the feeling of alarming awkwardness flooding his entirety.
XXX
**Just Say Yes by Ken Andrews
With the sand churning under her feet after every step, Lightning sighed as she continued to ask herself why she ever said yes to the 'date',
"Why in Odin's name did I ever agree to such a silly outing. What was I thinking?"
She kicked the sand in front of her with a scowl, the feelings swarming inside of her foreign to the usual 'Lightning' mojo.
"Sure, he honestly mistook me for someone else, but did I really have to go on a date with him—?"
Lightning stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widening a bit as she thought to herself,
"Whoa, stop. A date? Ohohoo, I am NOT dating him. No—Lightning Farron does not 'date' people. Especially a stranger—!"
Blinking a few times as the thought processed through her mind, the expression on Light's face went from stunned to disgusted to many other colorful emotions as she threw her head back while slapping her hands onto her face, shouting in a fit of distress,
"Oh my god, I'm dating a complete stranger!" she yelled at herself, her hands gripping the top part of her forehead. She growled loudly before pulling her hands from her face, slowing turning her head to face the ocean.
The majestic roar of the crashing waves calmed her nerves to the marrow of her bones, and softened her piercing gaze to a serene state. After watching the soothing waters for a few seconds, the girl sighed before running a hand through her beautiful pink locks,
"Maybe I'm just glad to have met a surfer who isn't…arrogant."
Frowning with a furrowed brow, the twenty-one year old dropped her head to look at her feet, the salty waters of the sea washing over her toes. Her pink hair drooped like a willow tree's leaves as her crystal-blue eyes glared at the foamy water below her.
Suddenly, images of crashing waves and churning waters surrounding her filled her mind like an old scratched-up film. The sound of whipping torrents and desperate breathing quickly replaced with twisted silence and sickening gags repeated in her thoughts over and over. Bruised arms flailing and the color of blue and white flashing across her eyes as a watery scream echoed in the churning maelstrom. The dark abysmal blue fading into crimson…
The sound of a large wave crashing brought Lightning back into reality. She blinked a couple of times before sighing with annoyance and placing a hand over her face to cover the mixed emotions plaguing her face.
Finally pushing the images she just saw to the back of her mind, she looked up from the ground to see her blue, wooden beach-house sitting on the coast's edge, the lights inside completely off.
Smacking her face with her right hand with a groan, she slowly dragged it down her cheek as she realized what time it was.
"Serah…"
XXX
"Man, spiky. Didn't know you had it in ya'." Gadot laughed as he rocked back in his chair.
Cloud rubbed his forehead as he groaned in annoyance. He had attempted multiple times to convince the group around him that he was not dating the girl that had just left.
"Look. I just thought she was someone else."
"Like who?" Hope popped up from his seat to inch closer to the spiky-haired guy for an answer.
A blaze of bright blue flashed in the blonde's thoughts as his memories washed up onto the shores of his mind. A blue brighter than the sea, and as magnificent as the sky; a blue so wild—it glowed like fire.
"No one…" he whispered as his eyes averted in a daydreaming fashion.
Gadot only shook his head with a grin before standing to herd his gang back into the kitchen to clean up for closing time. Cloud and his own group remained seated in the rather comfortable chairs just as he was immediately swept away into his own thoughts.
Hope eyed his older friend curiously as he was rather interested in the situation at hand.
"So, what's her name?" the young teen asked as he dragged out the 'so' for emphasis
Without a single ounce of movement, Cloud replied in a deep mumble,
"Lightning."
Hope's face tilted like a dog's would as his face flushed with curiosity,
"Lightning? What an odd name."
"It's a name of trouble, that's for sure." Smacking his hand on the table, Reno's face began to blush from all the drinking he had taken part in. Hope growled back with his teeth bared in defense,
"Come on, Reno. The only trouble around here is the icecream hoarder I'm living with! Besides, it looks like Cloud's got a headstart." Hope remarked, making sure to give a good pinch of emphasis to the ending of the sentence.
The redhead's brow twitched with frustration as he glared at the younger boy, inching closer to him over the tabletop,
"What are you insinuating, Estheim?"
"Oh nothing… Just that Cloud's going, and you're not."
Reno and Hope were now nose to nose over the table as they glared at each other, but the ginger still felt a tad confused, since California speech wasn't in his dictionary. He turned his head to Vincent for some help on the American lingo,
"Oi, Vince. Translation?"
The dark-haired surfer sipped his drink gingerly before replying in a somber voice,
"You're single. Cloud's not."
"WHAAT?" Reno was speechless as he gaped at Cloud with his mouth hung open. He continued to spew out nonsense and stutters as Hope sighed in embarrassment.
"Dude, did you seriously just miss the whole point of this chapter—"
"How could this happen? How is it that 'dark and serious' over here has just topped the lady magnet? I-I-It can't be done!"
The shouting and crazed argument began to annoy Cloud as he was trying to focus and listen to the waves. Sighing with a frown, he turned to his friends and attempted to get their attention,
"Hey, guys."
"— I mean, really, who would want to date a guy with a ponytail?"
"People…"
"At least my hair doesn't make me look fifty years older!"
"Guys!"
More surprised by the fact that Cloud had just shouted, the group hushed as they turned their heads to face the angered blonde.
Realizing that he had gone too far out of his quiet zone, Cloud coughed into his fist before continuing his statement,
"We're not dating. She just wanted a tour of the island." Cloud said as he ran his fingers through the blonde spikes adorning his head.
"Score!" Reno fist-pumped with a smirk, earning him a good punch in the arm by Hope.
XXX
Lifting her feet up faster, and turning her pace into a jog, she jumped up the steps to her house before grabbing her keys out of her pocket to unlock the door. She turned them in the lock with a 'click', and took a breath before opening the door quietly. The hinges thankfully didn't creak too loudly as she slowly inched her way into the dark foyer and closed the door behind her, pulling the keys out of the door.
Sighing with relief, Light turned to walk down the hall before the light switched on.
Kneeling on the floor directly in front of her was Serah holding a large box of pudding in her hands up to the older girl's face with a scary grin on her face.
"Shi—Serah!" Light jumped back with her hands all over the place as she held back a scream.
Serah remained in her 'worshipping' position and spoke sweetly,
"I got you some Pudding!"
"Why did you just capitalize puddin—"
"I thought you might like some—do you want some?" she said with a huge, sincere smile as Lightning groaned,
"Serah, it's almost midnight"
"Hm?" Serah said as she took a moment to realize that it really was late.
Standing back onto two legs, the younger sister held the box of pudding in her arms as she looked at her sister with a squished up face,
"So where have you been? You smell like strawberries."
With another sigh, the older Farron pushed her way past the girl and pudding and headed towards the bedroom,
"I just took a walk down the beach and got a drink."
Serah began to trail her sister like a dog as she held the pudding in her arms like a baby,
"Oh, okay—hey, hey! Is that cologne I smell?" the eighteen-year old sang with a smirk as Lightning straightened her back in surprise.
"W-What? No…" the blue-eyed woman stuttered as she walked into her bedroom to change into her pajamas.
"Come on, what's he look like?"
"I was at a bar Serah, there were a lot of guys."
"Oooh, getting it on in double digits~"
"T-That's not what I meant!"
The door slammed behind her as the older sister began to put on her matching pajama pants and top, and to hide her beet red face. Serah giggled before she leaned against the outside of the door,
"Just kidding."
Silence hovered between the two as Serah smiled softly, and Light sighed again.
"Did you get a number?"
"Serah…" Lightning growled in a dangerously low voice as she was about to pounce out the door and after her sister.
Serah sighed in slight disappointment, but grinned gleefully as she walked towards her own room,
"Fine, fine! Goodnight!"
"Night." She barked while brushing her teeth.
XXX
"Hey, Aussie-boys! We're closin' up shop." Gadot shouted as Lebreau, Yuj, and Maqui grabbed their bags and started to head home.
The four guys sitting at the table in the middle of the empty bar replied to the Mohawk-man with a few raised hands and 'okays'. Reno growled before grabbing his empty glass and heading towards the main bar, along with Hope, who continued his argument with the red-head as they walked away. Vincent and Cloud found themselves equally at peace for the first time that night as the bar music was soon cut off, and the sound of the waves crashing was the only sound echoing in the air.
"Why the sudden interest?"
Cloud groaned as he leaned forward in his chair, the dark-haired man still sipping his murky drink daintily.
"I told you," he muttered calmly. "It's not like that. I just thought she was—"
"I know who you thought it was." Vincent set his drink down harshly as he interrupted the blonde surfer.
Cloud turned his head to face his long-time friend, surprise and confusion swimming in his cerulean eyes. Vincent slowly inclined towards the younger man, his eyes grim from his natural demeanor,
"I'm wondering why you went along with it. After you realized it wasn't her."
Both guys were face to face, their stern expressions mimicking each other in a serious fashion. Heaving a forced sigh out of his lungs, Cloud turned away and leaned back in his chair,
"I don't know."
Neither of the two spoke again, mostly because they began watching Hope and Reno fight over dating matters again as they shouted at the bar.
Vincent stood from his seat like a ghost, nearly inaudible before the clinking of his boots walked in front of the table he once sat at. He raised his left arm and opened his hand, causing a jingling sound to echo softly through the air. Because of the years of practice, Cloud spotted the small flash of silver in his peripheral vision that was propelling towards him as he raised his own hand to catch a pair of keys with ease. He turned his head to look up at the darker figure that handsomely popped his collar,
"You drive. I'll get the kids." And with that, Vincent had headed over to grab both 'kids' by the shirt collars to carry them away. He said his goodbyes to the others while the two boys he restrained still tried to swat at each other despite their position over the ground.
Cloud watched them with a steady face, but it slowly averted its gaze to the beach the girl from earlier had walked down.
The keys flew up into the air with a ringing sound before the blonde snatched them in midair like a hawk's merciless talons.
XXX
**Star Stealing Girl from Chrono Cross
With every light around turned off, and the roll of the ocean waves the only sound resonating along the sandy shores, the ocean hummed in slumber as its company did as well. No gulls sang in the sky, and even the wind had softened its bluster for the moonlit night.
The airy silence was then interrupted by the sound of smushed sand. Followed by another similar sound, a pair of small feet paced across the shoreline of the beach, every step causing wet sand to ooze between the person's toes. Finally, the person halted, and the sound of the waves returned to their dominant rise in the night's ambience.
Something in the human's grasp sparkled in the starry night sky, and suddenly the figure crouched on the edge of the water. Salty liquid rolled over their feet and up to their ankles, and as quickly as the waves had washed over the sand, they receded like a cowardice creature.
Lowering its hands daintily to the water, the small fingers of the beholder released their grasp on the rounded object it once held.
The item sunk into the sand before the wave came once again and threatened to knock it over, but once it ran away as before, the glassy object lifted from the sand's grasp and floated away.
Standing quietly, the person remained rooted in the sands below, watching the note it had written drift away in the safety of its vessel.
The sound of footsteps followed, before the beach was once again vacant in the warm summer night's presence. Waves crashed beneath the half eaten moon sitting high and proud in the sky, Silence rolling in with the tide.
First off, did ya' catch the joke with the place Lightning works at? (I totally gigglesnorted)
I named the titled after I counted every single time I wrote the word 'sigh' : 14 times! Man, I need some variety xD
ANYWAY! I hope you all enjoyed another chapter of Electric Blue. Reviews are much appreciated, as I love hearing from all of you :D
Until next time... :3