Undying
*As Jar-Jar Binks* Hello!
*Normal Voice* Ahem. Sorry. Hey, guys! Sorry if this update seems later than some of my previous ones. This chapter just didn't want to be written! God, my writer's block might be back. *growls at the sky* As such, this one might not be as good as the others, but hopefully it will get better in the next few chapters.
Enjoy!
Word Count: 2903
Disclaimer: I own nothing. You know the whole deal.
Chapter 7: Life, Continued
"Two days ago, the life of Haala Fehnly was tragically ended at the hands of her brother, Aalere." A priest in red robes spoke from behind a small podium. Around him, the fresh air and cool breeze of the Pulsian daytime clashed ironically with the somber atmosphere in the cemetery.
The entire l'Cie gang and NORA were in attendance, as well as a few of Haala's friends from Cocoon, sitting underneath a large tent, facing the priest and the casket. A picture of her, smiling and laughing, was propped on the wooden coffin, the only reminder of her face.
Haala herself was not inside the casket that lay in front of them. No, she had died as a l'Cie, and they die differently. The magic inside their bodies causes them to fade into a crystal upon death, very much like crystal sleep. However, instead of ending up as a life-size sculpture of themselves, a l'Cie who dies turns into their Eidolith. For Haala, her Eidolith was a light-blue angel wing, extending from a very small lily. Currently, that crystal hung around Penelo's neck.
The l'Cie, save for Gamenern and Sazh, hardly knew Haala. Fang had met her one time before, and Vanille had seen her at the orphanage, but they never got to know the woman. Neither man had anything to say about Haala; Sazh only knew her professionally, and Gamenern hadn't talked much since her death.
That night saw so many emotions leave the Pulsian man. Haala had killed Aalere at the cost of her own life. It was a noble sacrifice. She was protecting her daughter, her daughter's father, and her new friends. She wanted peace in Oerba, much like the other l'Cie. But that didn't make her death any less painful for the man. He went into a depression that made Vanille worry about his well being. As such, she had Lebreau stay with him while he tried to cope with the loss.
The ceremony was short. The priest continued on about her life, her friends, and her daughter. He then said a prayer that would help her spirit find peace in the afterlife, though it was not repeated by the Pulsians. They recited their own prayer, an old Pulse prayer, that holds the same meaning, but to different gods (Cocoon prayed to Lindzei, and if what Aalere said was true, then Lindzei was the ultimate murderer). Despite their knowledge of the events, the l'Cie decided not to say anything, fearing that panic might take in. Better that they think it was just a random killing and not a second attempt at summoning the Maker.
xXxXx
After the funeral, the l'Cie gathered at Lightning's house. It was a quiet gathering, not at all like the one they had two days ago. The way Gamenern was acting, his sluggish movements, his quiet demeanor, and his downcast face, was nothing like his normal attitude. It was almost heartbreaking. Vanille and Fang had never seen him acting this way before, and both women were worried for him.
Dinner was a simple salad, with some toast and some fried fish. It wasn't a lot, and Gamenern only ate a few bites before he took off for the night. Everyone just let him go. It was his way of coping, distancing himself from everyone. It allowed him to think, to mull over what had happened, to try and put it into perspective.
Once Gamenern was gone, Vanille turned to Sazh, her eyes full of concern. "Sazh, what's gonna happen to Penelo?" She asked, breaking everyone's gaze onto the door. Sazh sighed, then leaned back.
"Well, according to the GC," He started, looking at Lightning. "She never wrote anyone down as a next of kin." He huffed. "Without a home for her, they'll put her in the Orphanage, I guess." Vanille sighed.
"What about Gamenern? Shouldn't he be the one to take care of her?" The redhead asked, slightly annoyed at the situation. Sazh shook his head.
"I'm not saying it's right, but Gamenern wasn't written down as the father." He sighed again. "I'll talk to him about it, see if he wants to, but I can't make him." He then gave Vanille a consoling look. "If anything, you can take care of her at the orphanage." This made the girl smile softly, and she went back to eating her food.
xXxXx
Life went on, however. Despite the next few days being fairly slow, life continued as normal. Hope continued his school work. Serah continued to help out with the younger kids in Oerba. Snow continued defending the town from whatever may try to attack. Fang helped Snow at times, though she was starting to help Guardian Corps soldiers learn to hunt and survive on the land. Sazh continued to work at the Orphanage, with Vanille replacing Haala's position.
Lightning wasn't to thrilled about the meeting she was attending today. Officials from the Guardian Corps were gathering to discuss the possibility of a new military base in Oerba. Lightning wanted nothing to do with the military after her escapade through Eden, despite several recommendations, most of them at the hands of Amador. While he was slightly upset that his best soldier wasn't going to rejoin the military, he understood where Lightning was coming from. After everything that had happened, the pinkette wanted to just relax.
Fang wasn't working today, so she could watch the house while Lightning was away. It wasn't going to take long, Lightning said, but sometimes you can't tell with the military. What should be a simple hour long meeting could turn into a day long discussion about useless stuff. This was one reason why Lightning didn't like politics. They were messy, pointless and tiring. She felt that the people had more say over what happened in the city over politicians.
Stepping inside the large town hall, Lightning immediately found Bartholomew Estheim standing outside the meeting room. Throwing her a small smile, he turned around to step into the large room. Lightning followed him in with a small thanks, then sat down at her designated spot. While most of Oerba's citizens went to Lightning for things such as buildings and finances, she was not the actual mayor. That role was recently filled by a man named Harrison Miller. His son, Jonah Miller, was Lightning's secretary. He had been working for her ever since Oerba was rebuilt, and was vehemently against his father's election.
Once seated, Lightning looked at Amador, who simply nodded before speaking. "Well, Farron, the soldiers stationed here feel that the city isn't very protected from any outside intruders." He motioned to a large map of the area, standing up and walking to it. "You see, while Oerba is situated in a very well protected area geographically, it still has a few gaps in it's coverage." He pointed to the valley that connected Oerba to the fields underneath Cocoon.
"This valley, for example, is a prime area for an enemy army to attack us from." As soon as he finished, several voices erupted from the room, all vocalizing their disagreement.
"The only city in that direction is New Eden!" One voice called out, to vocal agreement. "Why on Pulse would they want to ever attack us?" Again, agreement. Lightning cut in here.
"Because," the room went silent as she spoke. "We don't know exactly who is out there. We know that this area of Gran Pulse is currently uninhabited, but that doesn't mean all of it is empty." A few snickers were heard, and did not get by the woman. "You think this is funny?" She directed this at Harrison, who simply chuckled.
"500 years ago, Cocoon beat Pulse in the War." He spoke with a very deep, gruff voice. Several of the men in the room agreed. Even Lightning had to nod to this statement. It was true, after all. "When the primitive armies of Pulse tried to make their final attack on us, their very own savior killed them all. Ragnarok destroyed this world and all of it's inhabitants. What makes you so sure that monster let anyone survive?" His voice was now full of humor. It made Lightning sick. She had to grip the table in order to stabilize herself from downright killing the man in front of her.
"I know because that 'monster' is living among us today." This was met with several murmurs, most of them worried. "Ragnarok was the one who saved all of us, don't you remember? Six months ago, when we destroyed the fal'Cie, Ragnarok stopped Cocoon from crashing into Gran Pulse. He would never destroy it." Lightning spoke this quickly, her voice extremely angry. She wanted so bad to kill this man, but she knew that wouldn't get anything accomplished. The mayor simply laughed, joined by some of his advisors.
"You say that Ragnarok lives amongst us today? Ha, silly girl, I highly doubt that a beast of that size could go undetected for so long." He seemed genuinely amused at Lightning. He probably thought she was delusional.
His laughing fit ceased when a weak Fire spell exploded on the table in front of him. Everyone looked at Lightning with slight fear in their eyes. "That beast," She spoke with a venom she never used before. "Is Oerba Yun Fang." She stressed each syllable, her voice still extremely low. More silent conversations were passed. Lightning paid them no mind. She was focused on the cowering man known as the Mayor.
"She did fight in the War." Lightning continued. "And she did scar Cocoon. But she was the ultimate reason that Cocoon was saved." Her voice got slightly louder, but only enough to be considered her normal voice. The rest of the room simply nodded slowly. Then, Harrison gave a slight laugh. "What?" Lightning shot out, her hands crackling with electricity.
"Of course." He spoke as if it was as obvious as day. "No wonder you're fighting so fiercely against this." He smiled. "You're sleeping with her." Some audible snickers were heard. Again, they were paid no mind. "Tell me, Farron, can you separate your professional and personal lives?" Before he could even finish, Lightning was nodding her yes. "Are you sure?" He asked unconvinced. The l'Cie before him simply growled.
"Of course!" She yelled, her hand now disappearing behind a large yellow Thunder spell. Several people backed away from her and Harrison, while the mayor simply smiled again.
"Good." He said, taking a seat in his chair. Reluctantly, Lightning did the same thing. Harrison looked up to Amador, who was watching the entire event, and said, "You can have your base, Major. We'll start building this month, once we get finished with the freight station." The Major nodded, then took his seat next to Lightning.
"Now, onto our next matter…" Lightning groaned softly. Great, she was definitely going to be staying here longer than she wanted. "Several of our citizens were asking that we name this settlement 'New Bodhum'. They argue that since most of the people here are from Bodhum, it only makes sense." Again, Lightning spoke up.
"Never." She said simply. Several faces turned to her. "This town will always be Oerba." Harrison frowned.
"Well, you can't make that decision, Farron." He said, getting several agreements from the men. "Besides, our polls state…"
"You only polled the people not from Oerba." Lightning cut in. Several eye brows raised. "I conducted my own poll, and most of the people living here say they could care less what the city was named." Lightning was definitely pissed now. First, she has to come to some pointless meeting. Then she has to stay, while the actual mayor disagrees with her on every point. Finally, she has to deal with this same man trying to make Gran Pulse into something Cocoon captured. "Besides, we didn't take the city. We were given it." Lightning's voice softened up some, but Harrison simply shook his head.
"Fine, we'll hold a town hall hearing at a different date to discuss this." He wouldn't accept defeat, but he did give up on the topic, at least for now. "On to our next item…"
xXxXx
Two hours later, the meeting took a recess for lunch. Lightning headed to the nearest phone and dialed up Fang's cell number. A few moment's later and the line was picked up.
"Speak." Fang spoke. Lightning gave a short chuckle at Fang's welcome.
"Don't use that tone with me, miss." Lightning spoke, her voice fairly playful. She could hear Fang smiling on the other end.
"Hey, meeting taking too long?" Fang asked, her voice just as playful. Lightning audibly pouted.
"Yeah. Damn mayor doesn't care about the past. He wants to rename Oerba 'New Bodhum'. He's been pushing my last nerves." The tiredness in Light's voice amused Fang, who was giggling on her end.
"Well, you tell him if he want's to rename Oerba, he'll have to go through me first." Fang was still laughing somewhat, though she was also miffed at that fact. Lightning smiled.
"I'll let him know." Lightning sighed. "Anyway, their just holding a lunch break. Damn meeting's gonna take another few hours." A half-groan, half-pout left followed this statement.
"Okay then. I'll see if Vanille can come over to fix something for when you do get home." There was some shuffling on the other line as Fang moved around. From what Lightning could gather, Fang was watching TV, and because of the time, she concluded that Fang was watching her daytime soaps.
"Thanks, Fang." Lightning said, just as Jonah came in. She was needed back in the meeting. "Gotta go."
"Alright. Love ya, Claire." Fang spoke from her end. Lightning chuckled.
"Love ya too, Sunshine." The pinkette spoke. She heard Fang go to say something on her end as she hung up the phone, but she didn't quite catch what it was.
xXxXx
The rest of the meeting was about pointless topics, like where to put the recent funding. Many of the people there wanted to cut the budget for survival skills and put it towards building another dome for the fireworks that Bodhum used to hold every year. That idea, however, was cut down when Lightning mentioned that without those skills, many of the hunters they had wouldn't be able to survive in the wilds, and without the hunters bringing in food, the city would starve. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Lightning was walking home when she saw Gamenern and Penelo at the small park near the orphanage. The man saw Lightning and flagged her over. Sighing, she walked over to him.
"Hey, Light." He said, watching as his daughter played with some of the other orphans. "I talked with Sazh the other day. He asked me if I was interested in adopting Penelo." Gamenern didn't mince words. He could see that Lightning was in a hurry to get home. So, he kept his conversation short.
"Yeah, we were talking about that after you left my house a few days ago." Lightning said, watching as the girl chased a boy, probably playing tag. "He said he would talk with you about it. You gonna adopt her?" She asked.
Gamenern sighed, then turned to Lightning. "I am, but, I wanted to ask you something." Lightning cocked an eyebrow, leaning against the rail around the park. "If anything happens to me, I want you and Fang to watch out for her. Keep her safe, y'know?" Lightning nodded, then let a smile grace her face.
"Of course. We will." Gamenern smiled, then gave Lightning a short hug. While the soldier still wasn't used to physical contact, she didn't try to pull away. She returned it for the whole second she could, before she saw Gamenern bound off to the building that was the orphanage. He waved once to Lightning, before the soldier walked off.
xXxXx
The sun was starting to set when she arrived at her house. She walked up to the front door and turned the knob. She was surprised to see that the door was already opened, cracking open when she pushed on it. Cautiously, she stepped into the house. "Fang?" She called out. No response. A small frown etched it's way onto Light's face. She walked to her bedroom.
When she opened the door, she knew something had happened. The room was a complete mess. The dresser looked as if it was hit by several Ruin spells, and the wall to the back room had a large, smoldering hole in it. "Fang, where are you?" This time, there was panic in Lightning's voice. When she got no response, Light pulled out her cell phone.
She found Fang's speed dial and pushed it in. The line rang for a few moments before her voicemail received it. Clicking the device off, Lightning scowled. She had drawn her Blazefire out and was searching each room.
When she got to the kitchen, she saw Vanille, slouched in a corner, a small cut on her forehead. She was breathing steadily, so she wasn't dead. A small cure spell from Lightning closed the wound on the girl's head up. Before she was able to continue, her phone rang, playing a tune that was reserved for Fang.
Faster than her namesake, Lightning had the device to her ear. "Fang!" She called into it. On the other side, there was a dark, sinister laugh that made Lightning's blood run cold.
"Guess again…"
Okay, there it is. Next chapter should be better, but might not come for a little while. This whole week will be busy for me (my band is dragging me to some concert tomorrow, and work/PT will probably have me sleeping for most of the day). *sigh* Oh well, until then!
R&R
