A/n: And here's the final chapter!...of the "prologue chapters" that is, lol. I'm not cruel enough to leave you guys hanging like this ^_^. I worked SUPER hard on this chapter to make it as good as I know! it's gonna be...plus, having it out so soon is a bonus too! (it was all the lovely reviews I promise...I read 'em every time I need the motivation). yay me! Honestly, not much to say here...least not w/o giving stuff away ^^; The only thing I can say is, Pulse does use a quote in here that was said by someone else...so, let's see if you can tell who said it and where it is :) (if ya cant figure it out I'll tell ya who it's by in the next chapter). Well, what are you waiting for? Start reading!
Chapter 7: Admittance
A few months had passed since Lightning had been told that her savior was Pulse; and honestly, the pink haired warrior found it hard to believe at times. Largely because the taller female didn't act like she was said to be from ancient writings.
Since that time, the two had become fairly good friends. Pulse felt that they could be the best of buddies-if only Claire addresses a certain barrier.
The goddess-while she was mostly laid back and carefree-noticed more than she let on.
She noticed how Claire would be posed to laugh at one minute, then the net, her face turned stoic. How one moment the girl would be completely relaxed before she suddenly became rigged; talkative one second, then as silent as the grave the next.
'I swear, the chicka meets all the requirements of being classified as bi-polar,' the dual haired female thought with a chuckle and a slight shake of her head.
But, the much older of the pair knew better—ignoring the fact that she was all knowing.
Whenever Lightning quickly shifted in her persona, Pulse was always quick to ask about the sudden change; she usually poked and prodded the younger woman until the pale fighter was snarling that she was fine and that it was nothing. There were times when instead of responding verbally, Lightning would let her fists do the talking.
Even knowing what the end result was going to be, Pulse was still never fully prepared for the slight sting the strawberry blonde's punches made.
Continuing to not let a sleeping Behemoth lie, the taller of the two would also inquire as to why the smaller girl left home in the first place. She chose to ask as opposed to violating Lightning's privacy—which the former soldier greatly respected. Her answer to this question varied between three.
One being the common response of Lightning falling completely silent—she would remain that way too, for the rest of the day. The second unusual reply was 'I just did, before things between them continued on as if it had never been asked.
Still, the third response was the rarest of them all; it made the light skinned deity extremely happy. This answer began with 'Because I...' before the blue eyed female trailed off and walked off for some hours to have time to herself.
For every bit of progress that was made, when the dual haired teen received such a rare comment, roughly three of four were taken back.
While it seemed that the brown eyed goddess was being nosey—and annoying—with her numerous and insistent questions, she was only helping.
The older of the two knew just how stubborn of a person she was working with, which meant that Lightning had to be pushed just to give the short answers she gave. Yet, she knew the icy eyed fighter was trying-trying to allow herself to be helped by someone other than herself.
That fact in itself was a huge step—whether Light herself even noticed her subconscious efforts of not.
But, Pulse was stubborn as well, and she was not going to let up on her friend; in fact, she was closer to a breakthrough than Lightning realized.
She was going to get Lightning to admit why she left if it killed her-which it wouldn't by the way.
Switch...
"Shut up!" Lightning snarled, as she climbed onto the water bank and out of the water.
Meanwhile, Pulse was rolling around on the ground in pure laughter; and really, who wouldn't be after seeing the comical way that the former l'Cie had fallen into the water.
They were both hunting for breakfast; today they had chosen to do some fishing in a nearby body of water.
So Lightning found them some sturdy branches to use as rods, while Pulse gathered the stems of large leaves to use as the line. Once that was done, the maker took some sap from a nearby tree and dipped the ends of the stems in it.
Once anything came into contact with this type of sap, they were instantly and completely stuck; only a certain type of salve could dissolve it. Since they didn't have hooks, this method was just as good.
Casting into the water and propping up their rods, they waited for a while—sitting a few feet from their rods, so that they'd be able to react quickly when they got a bite.
A few minutes passed before one of the lines started bobbing up and down in the water; Lightning saw and went to go and retrieve their catch.
However, the moment she grasped the rod fully in her hand, did their catch take off; taking the blue eyed young adult completely by surprise before she was all but snatched off her feet—landing with a loud splash in the water.
The goddess was still on the ground laughing by the time Lightning had walked from the other side to where she was; she stood over her friend with a scowl on her face. Her clothes were completely soaked through and water droplets just slid down her body.
Suddenly, she kicked Pulse in the back; not hard or in a damaging way—though from what she could tell, nothing could hurt the taller female—but simply to get her to stop laughing. "Hey! I said shut it!" she repeated angrily.
The dual haired teen held up a hand as she attempted to catch her breath, as well as get a hold of her endless laughter.
"Okay...okay...okay...its outta my system now," she said, coughing to hide the few giggles that she couldn't hold inside.
"So...are we eating something else for breakfast or have you yet to get your fill of fishing?" Pulse inquired from her space still on the ground. Another swift kick, to the side this time, was her only response before Lightning turned and began walking away from the large body of water and Pulse.
It wasn't long before the caramel skinned girl was walking next to the younger woman.
The maker, laced her fingers together behind her head as they walked; their breakfast could be fruit off of any of the tress they passed. This was another benefit to having Pulse as a friend—you never had to worry about what was and wasn't poisonous to eat.
"Why do you always do that?" Pulse questioned as they strolled along in no particular direction. It's not like they had a destination in mind.
They passed underneath a tree where a delicious looking piece of fruit caught Lightning's eye; she somersaulted into the air and expertly picked the fruit from its branch, before landing gracefully on the ground and falling back into step with her friend. "Do what?" she countered, as she bit into the fruit. It was at its peak in ripeness as the sweet juices filled her mouth, while the rest trailed down her chin.
They arrived at another tree that held a piece of fruit that caught Pulse's eye; she simply tapped her fist into the bark and the piece of fruit she had had eye on dropped into her hand. She wasted no time in biting into hers either. "You know what I mean," she remarked, as she slurped up the juices.
"You always get upset and sorta lock up, whenever the joke ends up on you," she pointed out, as she spit out a few seeds. "Don't be so uptight, learn to laugh...especially at yourself," she commented.
The elder Farron, swallowed what she was eating before responding. "Why would I laugh at myself? …That's just stupid," she stated.
"Quite the contrary, it shows that you know how to lighten…hehe, I just made a pun with your name…up and that you can take a joke," came Pulse's swift comment.
A sharp glare was sent towards the elder of the two. "I can take a joke!" she protested, which earned her a skeptical look from Pulse. "I can!" she insisted.
"Really? …You can take a joke?" the brown eyed woman asked, just to be sure. She was met with a nod. "Oh, Really? Then mind explaining what was up with your reaction when Fang pranked you and had you go into work on your day off?"
"That wasn't funny. That was downright cruel," Lightning stated.
"Only because you were the one it happened to. Had it been anyone else, you would have found it quite amusing and would have cracked a tiny smile," Pulse.
The pink haired woman became silent because she had no come back for that; Pulse had hit the nail directly on the head.
The duo walked in silence for a few miles—grabbing and eating various fruits along the way. As they walked, the sky began to slowly turn gray, signaling that it was going to rain sooner or later. Eventually, the light skinned girl spoke again; this was the sentence that was going to get the ball rolling.
"Claire…why did you leave?" the deity simply inquired as she stopped in her tracks; Lightning did the same thing no less than ten feet in front on her.
A roar of thunder boomed across the sky, as the pair just stood there.
"I just did," came the second answer before the former Sergeant resumed walking once more.
But Pulse was having none of that, as she shook her head and stayed where she was. "You know what I think…I think you're afraid," she stated. "It's okay to be afraid Claire, y—"
"My name is…Lightning," the pink haired fighter interrupted suddenly angry at having her birth name spoken.
The taller of the two gave a short snort. "You don't even say that sentence like you used to," she stated. "Having trouble believing yourself?"
In an instant, the shorter female was before her with her fist cocked back. She swung, intending to plant Pulse on her ass for such a comment; however, her plan failed because Pulse was grasping her fist in her hand.
She held a tight grip on the pale woman's hand that couldn't be severed.
"No more running from this Claire," she said, her voice haven taken on an entirely different tone. This tone held no traces of playfulness or anything—she was completely serious.
Lightning tried to free her fist from the other woman's grasp, even though her efforts were in vain. "I'm not running from anything!" she shouted, as crystal blue eyes bore into light brown eyes.
Suddenly, the sky became illuminated as a bolt of lightning streaked across it.
"How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him?" was the goddess's counter.
"Now…I'll ask again, why did you leave!"
Already angry that the older girl wasn't letting up with her questions like she usually would have by now, hearing that question sent Lightning overboard. Something within her broke and she couldn't stop it even if she tried.
"Because I could no longer look myself in the eye and recognize the person staring back!" she shouted, finally being able to snatch her fist from Pulse's grip.
The former Guardian Corps soldier then fell to her knees. "The eyes that I look into are cold and uncaring, and I don't know them even though they're supposed to be mine! I left because I no longer want to be the guarded and distant person that I am! I…I want to be the person I used to be! When I see my eyes in the mirror I want them to be my own, not some strangers! I wanna be Claire!" she all but screamed.
Apparently, her breakdown touched the clouds in the sky because they opened up and released their harsh tears upon the landscape.
By now, Lightning's body was trembling. Not from the chilled rain that assaulted her body, but because she herself was crying. She was shedding tears that were long since overdue to be released.
"I want to be Claire again but…but I don't know how," she admitted. "…I don't know if I can." She added, as she freely allowed tears to fall from her eyes.
Pulse was set to say something after this, but the pink haired young adult began speaking again. "But, I do know…I no longer want to be Lightning," she stated with conviction in her weakened voice and her steel looking eyes.
Pulse kneeled down before her friend; she was just as soaked as the pink haired woman. "Thank you for admitting 'why' not just for me, but for yourself as well," she said, as she placed a hand atop the younger female's head.
"Since you told me this, I think its fair I told you how this came about," the caramel skinned deity added.
The rain violently beat down on the pair, but they easily ignored the sting it caused their skin.
"Do you remember right after you completed your Focus how you turned into crystal?" Pulse asked; the gunblade owner nodded. "While within crystal stasis, you were completely unguarded…meaning that every emotional barrier you had even placed up was dropped, and when those walls fell you were hit with things that you had kept locked up for years," she informed her friend.
"Everything that you've ever experienced in your life rushed you and crushed down on you, those few minutes you were in stasis. Though I'm sure to you it felt a lot longer. In those brief minutes you became Claire again—reminding you that you weren't always such a closed off person," she explained.
The taller of the two, paused briefly to allow that information to sink in before she continued on.
"And you know those dizzy spells you get?" Pulse began. She waited for her question to be acknowledged before moving on. "Well, they're more than just your average 'oh I stood up too fast, lemme sit down' dizzy spells…but I'm sure you know that." She added with a slight chuckle, which earned one from the warrior as well.
"The fact of the matter is, whenever you have one—which yours seem to revolve around you making eye contact with yourself—those dizzy spells are actually Lightning, fighting against your body, Claire," the only existing Torres stated.
The shorter adult's eyebrows rose from that bit of information. "Wait…are you telling me that I have a split personality?" she questioned in shock.
Pulse tilted her head from side to side. "Eh…not completely. What I'm saying is that you have another person sharing your body, compliments of your crystal stasis and all emotions hitting you at once."
"You both are fighting for control, which explains why you're prepared to laugh one second and then wearing your poker face the next," the dual haired maker added on.
Suddenly, Claire sprang to her feet and began pacing—her mind sorting over everything that she had just been told; she was moving so fast that she almost slipped in the mud a couple of times, but she was far too wrapped up in her own thoughts to care.
Living up to her former title, the pink haired female turned suddenly to look at her friend. Pulse was still in the same position that Claire left her in.
"Separate us?" she all but demanded to know, eyes looking at the other figure expectantly.
Can say I didn't see this one coming, Pulse thought to herself; even without her powers, that was a request that could have been seen for miles away.
"Are you sure?" the kneeling of the two inquired, just to be sure.
She was met with an absolute nod. "Yes, I am. I…I don't want to be her anymore…I want to be me again, for good," she said and Pulse could tell that it was more of a plea than anything else.
"As you wish," Pulse conceded as she stood to her full height. "I owe you after all," she added as she held out her hand.
"Shake my hand to confirm our agreement," she stated. Without hesitation Claire/Lightning shook the maker's hand; seconds later a blinding white light surrounded their hands before an excruciating pain erupted throughout the strawberry blonde's entire body.
Not soon after her entire form began to ache did she pass out and slip into sweet unconsciousness.
