Hello readers and welcome to what is official the shortest chapter I have ever posted on here (It's still like 2,300 words.)
Sorry that I haven't updated in a while but I've been organising all my other stuff on here and it took a while. But now I'm bck on track, and this is the first full loop of my stories that I've done on time in about a year, no kidding. This chapters actually been done for a week so I have another one written for one of my others stories that I'm probably going to be posting tomorrow.
Oh and if there are parts in this chapter that seem like they could have been written better that's because I made the mistake of starting to play Kingdom Heart 3D before I was done it, so the only thing going through my head at the end of this chapter was-
Kingdom hearts 3D Kingdom heart 3D, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku,Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama,Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama, Riku-sama.
So yeah, I might have been just a little distracted.
Anyway on with the chapter, hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy, Square Enix does.
Family
Serah stared at the girl in front of her. Fate she'd called herself. Such a peculiar name that she'd never heard elsewhere. There was a hand outstretched to her in greeting but she was unsure if she should take it. Scared of in fact, but she couldn't think of why. Just that something here scared her; it seeped through the walls, pervaded the air around them and dyed the world black. The girl in front of her was drowned in its suffocating presence.
So she didn't shake Fate's hand, but instead held hers to her chest so hard it hurt until the girl withdrew her hand. She thought Fate would be upset by her reluctance but she was wrong, because she had forgotten where she was. This was not the normal world anymore; it hadn't been since she'd stepped through the twin glass doors that signified the end of everything sane and right, and the beginning of hell.
Fate's only response to her denying her hand was to place it back on her lap with the other one and reply, "That was the right choice; it's good to see you know fear. The paranoia it induces will be a great help when the need arises, but it is also good to keep in mind that too much is crippling and will do nothing but bad things to you."
Serah blinked her eyes in surprise generally not having thought that the little girl would answer that way, and again struck by how out of place her way of speaking was which was far too advanced for the five year old she was. It sent shivers down her spine. Because the voice was almost as if hearing an adult speak from a child's body. It was terribly unnerving. Serah tried to speak, but her words caught in her throat and were ripped and torn as she tried to get them past. Fate caught on to her obvious trouble, and spoke the question she wished to speak.
"You want to know what I have to tell you?"
Serah nodded. This day had been a whirlpool of questions with no answers. The minimal explanation on the part of the Higher ups hadn't done much to ease the flow of confusion going through her mind. Because there was still one question bigger than all the others that had been left unanswered.
Leaning forward, she looked Fate in the eyes, those bizarre pools of dark blue that looked so much like the night sky, and asked "Who am I?"
Fate smiled; a warm smile that seemed so sadly out of place on her face, and reached her hand out to grasp Serah's. This time Serah made no move to fight her and let her small hand take hold of her's, "You're you," she answered "Serah Farron."
"But who is Serah Farron? Until today I had no idea that that person existed."
Fate smiled at her again, recognising her every problem, "Serah Farron was a girl who was raised in an orphanage because her Mother and Sister faked her death at birth so that they could get her away from here so she'd never have to live this life. It may sound strange to you but it was an act of love, because they had seen what becomes of the kids who are raised here, as I am an example myself, and as was your Sister. You were a girl who was brought to Pulse after they tracked her down as punishment to her Sister for something she'd done that was more their fault then it ever was hers. But don't be scared, because you are that girl no longer because you were uncovered on a mission and your memory was erased, and you became someone else. Don't be afraid for your past, because who you were then no longer exists, you are yourself and no one else."
Calm. That was the emotion Fate's words promoted. It flowed freely through them and seeped into Serah. There was hell somewhere in her mind, fear that sparked into flame at the mention of a girl from the past who was no more, but it was far off. Serah drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them protectively and let herself exhale. The slow process of calming was at its beginning but it'd be a long time til it was over. So until it was Serah reached out to Fate to hold onto.
What was there that she wanted to ask her? She thought, but as quickly as the question came so did an answer. There was something she wanted to ask her.
"You mentioned a Mother and Sister, who were they?"
A strange look passed over Fate's face, and she looked away from her when she answered her, the room holding her gaze rather than her, "Rosalie and Claire. Rosalie was a woman who was caught in Pulse's net by accident, an error in their plans. But nevertheless eternally trapped in the twisted world of this war that's lasted generations."
No longer looking up at Fate, Serah asked her, "And Claire? What about her?"
Somehow even though she was looking down and not at the girl in front of her, Serah knew that when she asked this question Fate's eyes returned to her, "She was someone vastly different."
The girl didn't seem like she was going to say any more on the subject after that, so Serah looked up to see if she could get her to go on, "How" she asked, "How was she different?"
There was a most curious look in Fate's eyes, but she didn't fight the continuation of the topic, "By a whole world of difference. Like she was something beyond what Rosalie could ever be. This world twisted her, and as the years passed Rosalie became horrified to see her transformation as it progressed. It was why they were so adamant of you never being a part of this, because even at six this place had damaged her so. When Rosalie died of an illness when Claire was ten it was like whatever walls that kept out the remaining demons that had yet to possess her for their own fell away and she changed more than anyone ever thought she could."
Watching Fate as she told this tale of her Sister, Serah felt the words fall pass her lips before she had a chance to stop them, "Why?"
Locking her eyes on Serah, the girl answered "Because when Rosalie died it destroyed her. She had never been truly alone here like so many others here were, and it protected her from truly being lost to the humane world. So when she lost her Mother she lost that protection. And you must know, the fact that you had died at birth was never fully believed by Pulse, so there was always a threat upon Claire and Rosalie that if they ever did anything against them that they would search for you. And Pulse being Pulse, there was no question if they would have found you or not. Try and imagine that being constantly at your back, with no shield to protect you from the horrors that might befall you. Your only choice to do exactly as you're told without question. To do Pulse's mission, be their weapon, to be the bleeding thorn at Cocoons side. You would change to, would you not?"
Serah felt a pool of sadness forming in her chest. That was horrible. To think that there had been people out there who had done so much to protect her. Hearing of her Sister's troubles made hers seem so small in comparison. She didn't care much if the conversation ended here, but there were still things that needed to be told, so it had to go on.
"You speak of Claire in past tense, what happened to her?"
Fate did a quick intake of breath when Serah voiced this question and looked away. Her next words seemed so awfully painful for her to say that it made Serah question greatly just how the little girl was connected to her Sister.
"When I was three months old she was set on a mission with a team of others, and labelled Killed in action."
Serah's eyes widened, she should have expected such of course, but it still sounded so…so "Awful." She whispered.
"Hm" Fate looked up ever so slightly from her lap, her eyes sad.
"That's so awful." Serah repeated for her.
Fate hummed in agreement and looked back down.
A couple more minutes passed in this fashion, with neither of them talking, instead letting time quietly go by before it struck Serah to ask, "What of my father?" She hadn't said of word of him.
"He was never a part of this." Fate replied, and Serah decided not to question what those words meant, and the many different ways that meaning could take shape.
Silence took over the room after that, and it lasted many minutes, though Serah couldn't have said if it was ten or thirty, for the minutes seemed to merge as time went past. She let it stay that way, for Fate seemed to have dropped out of reality at the second last question and Serah doubted her ability to bring her back. But she didn't mind it, because it gave her time to process all she had been told.
She was Serah Farron. The name felt a little odd on her tongue, but not wrong. She had had a Mother and a Sister who had made great sacrifices just to keep her safe, even if the end result had been a failure, she felt comforted to know that there had been people here who had loved enough to do that for her. And most of all, she was no longer who she once was. Because that person had disappeared with her memory, and even if she recovered that, that person would never come back. She was sure that when she started remembering things they might change her a little, but not completely. Nothing would stop her from being her.
It would be a long time until she was well again, but this conversation with Fate had been a comfort, and she felt better. It wasn't 'alright', but for now better would do.
The next she spoke up she was sure that it must have been at least forty minutes since the silence had started. Sheer curiosity powered her words, "Fate, what happened to my Sister seems to upset you so, how where you connected to her?"
For a moment she thought the girl was still gone, but after a while she lifted her head and Serah saw her eyes were clear and focused, "I was someone special to her."
Serah raised her eyebrows curiously. "But I thought you said she died when you were three months old, how could you be someone special to her when she hardly ever knew you?"
"She knew you even less and she still loved you, isn't that answer enough? One doesn't have to know someone very long to hold them dear."
Serah nodded in agreement a little absently, "I guess you're right."
There was a lapse in talking for a couple of seconds or so, before after some obvious inner fighting, Fate said, "And you're wrong by the way."
Confused, Serah leaned forward, "About what?"
"Claire didn't die when I was three months old; she was taking prisoner by Cocoon, and killed in their torture chambers after months of torture. So did the others who were sent on that mission with her that weren't killed when it all went to hell. All except Fang."
'All except Fang?' Serah thought surprised by it, but wouldn't that mean- "You mean she escaped capture then?"
"No." Fate said, shooting down whatever optimistic thoughts she could have on the matter. "I mean she escaped from the torture chambers, it's why she's so messed up."
That's what she'd been afraid of. Serah's hand went to cover her mouth, oh god how horrible that would have been. She'd thought it awful what had happened to her Sister, and awful it was, but at least she had been put out of her misery, Fang had to live with it. She finally got it, why her eyes always looked so dead.
After a while more, Fate said, "You were a comfort to her when you were here you know. She had been close to your Sister, so she became protective of you in her place without really noticing. And she liked you, you and your Sister weren't anything alike, but she liked you. After your memory was erased she got a lot worse, I guess because she had lost what had been a protection of truly losing it for so long."
Looking back up to Fate, Serah asked "Why are you telling me this?" She was interested in the girl's reasoning's.
Fate looked her straight in the eyes when she answered her, "Because I'd like you to help her, it's as simple as that. It's painful for me to watch her deteriorate more and more as time goes by." Finishing her sentence Fate slipped off the chair she was sitting on and pushed it back into the desk and began heading for the door.
Before she had a chance to open it Serah shot out, "Wait, what I can even do?"
Fate turned back to her with her hand on the doorknob, "Everything." She answered. Twisting the doorknob she said before leaving, "Fang's room is on the floor above us, room 68. A warning but she'll kill you for entering, so be careful." And with that she was gone.
Serah sat back on the bed, her new feeling of calm now tainted by strong feelings of confusion. But there was something else as well, a feeling of intrigue. For she noticed at the last couple of sentences Fate had started talking of Fang so personally. It made her wonder-
What was their connection?
And done, hoped it was alright, I think I could of written this a lot better but I'm not sure how. I had the same problem with the chapter I just wrote for my Kingdom Hearts story. You know what but it's very irritting trying to update this chapter while your mind keeps telling you that it's SSI it's your KH story, very irritating indded.
Please review, I'd love you for it.