Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from any of the Final Fantasy games or characters.
Vanille awoke to a searing pain on her back and her first reaction was to sit up, but almost instantaneously comforting hands gently pushed her back down onto the bed. She was wide awake at this point and noticed that she was lying on her stomach on a bed in a very familiar place. Realization dawned on her and she tilted her head to look over her shoulder.
Immediately, Vanille forgot about the pain in her back and all she could see was Lightning. The pink haired woman was standing there in her usual soldier outfit, which was dirty and bloodstained, and a small bandage on her forehead.
She never looked more beautiful to Vanille.
"You know...there are other places we can go on dates, Claire. There's the library, the Training Center, anywhere but the Infirmary again please," the red head joked, and she was rewarded with a small laugh from the soldier.
For the first time, Vanille noticed that Lightning had a sponge in her hand. The only reason she noticed now was because the soldier continued with what she had apparently been doing while the red head had been asleep.
"Lie back down," she ordered gently and Vanille obeyed, resting her head on her folded arms. She felt Lightning tenderly cleaning off, what she could assume to be blood, from her back.
"What happened?" Vanille asked, letting herself relax under Lightning's ministrations. She felt the soldier stop what she was doing abrubtly and without warning.
"I thought you were dead," Lightning's voice was full of barely suppressed emotion. A moment later her face appeared in the red head's vision as the other woman knelt down beside the bed to be at eye level with Vanille. She wasn't crying, but her eyes told Vanille that she had.
A rush of memories flooded Vanille's mind and a sharp pain shot through her chest.
Oerba was destroyed. Her home had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
Taking a calming breath, she remembered that they had evacuated the L'Cie in time. Vanille reached out a hand a cupped Lightning's face, letting her thumb gently caress the soldier's cheek.
"How...?" Lightning began but seemed unable to find the words. Vanille understood what she was trying to ask though.
"When we arrived in Oerba, the people seemed to have already known that Galbadia was planning something, so they trusted us and let us take them to a safer place. Less than a half an hour after we got them away and I noticed...smoke. Oerba...," Vanille broke off, the full weight of the situation hit her. Tears swam in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Oerba was just a town, all of the people were safe; that's all that mattered.
Lightning took the red head's hand that had been resting on her cheek and slid it towards her lips. The pink haired woman kissed her hand lovingly, it was all she could do to comfort the woman who had lost her home.
Clearing the emotion out of her throat, Vanille gripped Lightning's hand and gave an appreciative smile. After a moment, she found the courage to hear the rest of the story.
"What happened?" she repeated and waited patiently for the soldier to speak.
"When Snow and I got to Galbadia Garden we were able to sneak in pretty easily. In hindsight, I should've realized we were walking into a trap. It was too easy. Somewhere along the way I must have tripped a sensor though. I went to the third floor and I heard them say that the missile had been fired at Oerba. I...I really thought...," Lightning's stumbled on her words again, but Vanille understood. It was her turn to bring the soldier's hand to her lips. She gently kissed her knuckles in an attempt to make it clear that she didn't have to continue, but she did.
"I recklessly ran at Barthandelus. Someone must have being waiting for something like that because when I was feet away I was hit hard on the head. I was knocked out cold," Lightning revealed a little ashamedly, but Vanille did not judge her. She just squeezed her hand tighter.
"When I woke up, I saw you and...I couldn't believe it...Anyway, you know that part," Lightning was really struggling with this, but Vanille saw the determination in her to finish.
"Snow didn't follow procedure. Instead, he and both our units stormed onto the third floor and saved our asses. They captured Barthandelus and secured Galbadia Garden. Fang flew back to help Zack with the L'Cie a few hours ago and I brought you here," as she was saying this she stood up to look at the red head's wound.
"I'm okay, you know," Vanille whispered to the soldier, who was so obviously guilt ridden.
"I ruined the mission. If it weren't for my rash actions you wouldn't be hurt," Lightning berated herself, unable to meet the green eyes staring intently at her.
Vanille ignored Lightning's protest this time and sat up entirely, holding the sheet to her bare chest. There was nothing the soldier hadn't already seen but Rinoa could walk back in at any moment so she covered herself just in case.
Turning carefully so as to not aggravate her wound, Vanille came face to face with the pink haired woman. She held the sheet in her right hand while reaching up for Lightning's face with the other.
Gently tracing the other woman's features, Vanille watched as Lightning's eyes slid closed at her touch. It felt like years since she had felt the soldier's skin on her own. Lightning leaned into her hand and her eyes slid open to stare at the red head.
"I love you so much, Claire," Vanille said just above a whisper before leaning in toward the soldier. She pressed her lips against Lightning's in the lightest of kisses and lost herself in the feeling.
It had been a few days since the capture of Barthandelus, but Lightning still stayed in the Infirmary waiting for Vanille to heal. She waited on her hand and foot without complaint, despite the fact that the red head rarely asked much of her.
When the wound in her back had healed enough for her to be able to leave the Infirmary, Vanille asked for Lightning to take her to the secret area in the Training Center. The pink haired soldier agreed and that's where they stood now.
It was late afternoon and the red head looked so beautiful in the slanted rays from the slowly setting sun. Lightning approached her from behind and wrapped her arms around the shorter woman, resting her cheek on the top of Vanille's head.
""I need to tell you something," Vanille spoke suddenly and Lightning gave the red head her undivided attention. Vanille turned in her arms and looked up into Lightning's eyes.
"What is it?" Lightning asked gently, waiting patiently for her to say what she needed to say.
"I have to leave," Vanille told her confidently. For a moment, Lightning didn't understand what she was talking about. Why did she want to leave? She was happy in Balamb, wasn't she? Not waiting for Lightning to respond, Vanille continued.
"Oerba is destroyed. All of the L'Cie that were living there are homeless. I want to go help them rebuild," she told the soldier, not breaking eye contact. There was nothing Lightning could say that would change the red head's mind and she didn't want to.
"I understand," was all she could say. Vanille relaxed into her arms, resting her head on Lightning's shoulder, and the soldier knew her choice would be easy.
Squall was still filling out reports from the mission when Lightning knocked on the partially open door. He glanced up at her and gave her a small smile while gesturing for her to come in to his office.
"How's Vanille?" the Commander asked as Lightning sat down across from him. She knew what she was going to say to him but she decided to stick to the small talk for now.
"She's doing much better. She'll always have a scar though," Lightning told him, thinking about the red head relaxing in her dorm room at the moment.
"That's good. What can I do for you? I thought you'd be taking it easy yourself," Squall continued the conversation, while he finished up one of the many reports and beginning another.
"There's something I need to discuss with you," she informed him simply, pulling her gun blade out of its holster and placing it in her lap. For a moment, the General let her fingers graze over the cool steel of the weapon. She had gotten this gun blade as a gift when she became a soldier. Squall had offered her a higher quality one each time she had been promoted. Every single time she had refused, holding on to this gun blade.
"All right, what is it?" Squall asked, putting down his pen and giving Lightning his full attention. She could see the concern in his bright blue eyes, she couldn't really blame him. It was a rare day when she sought him out to talk.
Wordlessly, Lightning placed her gun blade carefully on the Commander's desk and for a moment they both stared at it. Squall, slowly took his eyes off of it to look up at his top General.
"I don't understand," he said, searching the pink haired woman's eyes but, as usual, she gave nothing away. Squall was not as hard to read, and Lightning could tell he had an idea of what she was doing.
"I formally resign as a General of Balamb Garden," she said flatly, no hint of emotion in her voice. Lightning watched as Squall looked down and slowly nodded his head in confirmation.
"I should have seen this coming. Going to Oerba?" he asked giving her a small, sad smile of understanding.
"Yes. We're going to help rebuild. Maybe even build a Garden there, depending on how the L'Cie feel about it," she informed him, still watching him as he stood up and picked up her gun blade. She stood up as well and saw him fling her weapon into a blade and then right back into a gun.
"Well, then I guess you're going to need this. Especially if you're going to be the Commander of Oerba Garden," Squall held out of the handle of her gun blade to her. She finally let herself smirk and took it from him, not bothering to tell him that nothing was finalized yet.
"Are you sure? You could use a newer model," she joked, surprising the Commander who let out a laugh. After a moment, it was apparent that he had no idea what to say to his long time comrade. Just as she was about to leave, he stopped her with a question.
"I'm just curious. How would you informally resign?" Lightning turned to look at her boss. She had never really considered him a friend, but for some reason she felt a surge of affection for him at that moment. A part of her even wished that she had opened up to all of these people while she was here.
Stepping forward, she surprised him again by wrapping her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. It took him a second to get over his shock and when he did he snaked his arms around her slowly.
It was a short embrace, but it was full of meaning. They were officially friends and Lightning was okay with that. As they pulled away, Squall walked her to the elevator and they stood facing each other, watching each other with an unspoken mutual respect.
"Don't be a stranger, Lightning," he said as the elevator door opened.
"Good bye, Squall," she said, stepping into the elevator and giving him a smile. She had only used his first name a hand full of times and she could just see the grin that spread across his face as the doors closed.
Vanille was going to miss all of these people. She had come to not just know these people but she loved them as a family now.
It seemed as if half of Balamb Garden was standing in the Quad waiting their turn to say good-bye to Lightning and herself.
Tidus, who usually had a perpetual cocky grin on his face, was uncharacteristically somber. Even more surprising was that Lightning allowed herself to be brought into a hug from him. He was soon replaced by a tearful Yuna who seemed reluctant to let the General go.
All Vanille could think was, This is going to be a long afternoon for Claire. It was only a matter of time before all of these unwanted hugs would grate on her nerves, but the woman seemed to be handling it well.
One after another all of her friends came up and said their farewells. Zell even gave her a hot dog from the cafeteria for the trip. Selphie was bouncing on the balls of her feet and talking to Vanille a mile minute about what she was going to do about the Garden Festival Committee now that she was leaving.
Vanille didn't hear any of this. She was too busy staring at Lightning. How had she gotten so lucky? Lightning had not only saved her life, she had saved her soul as well.
Watching Lightning say good bye to all of her friends made Vanille feel a stab of guilt. She felt bad about the soldier having to leave everyone she knew, but in reality Vanille didn't really have a choice. As soon as she had told Lightning her intent to go help the L'Cie in Oerba the soldier had told her she was coming too. She couldn't have dissuaded her even if she wanted to and she most certainly didn't want to.
Vanille was startled out of her day dream when she heard a thunderous roar coming towards the Quad. Everyone looked to the location of the noise and saw Cloud on his motorcycle, Fenrir, driving through the Quad, parting people easily. He drove it past them and right up into the loading bay of the airship, where he cut the engine. Walking back down the ramp, he went right up to Lightning.
The pink haired woman looked interested in what the spiky haired blonde man was doing but said nothing. Not waiting for a response, Cloud grabbed her hand and put the keys to the motorcycle there.
"I want you to have it," was all Cloud said. He was a man of few words but when he did speak everyone listened.
"Strife, you know I can't take this," Vanille heard Lightning protest, attempting to hand the keys back to him. He merely folded his arms and shook his head. If most people did that they'd look like a stubborn toddler, but he just looked insistent.
"It's all yours. I've always felt like a brother to you. Take it...please," Vanille had never heard Cloud talk this way and from the look on Lightning's face, neither had she.
Nodding slowly, she hugged him tightly and Vanille had never noticed that they were almost exactly the same height. For some reason, she always thought that Lightning was taller.
Vanille made her way over to Lightning after this exchange and gave her a content smile which the other woman returned.
Without really thinking, Vanille slipped her arm around the soldier's waist and rested her head on Lightning's shoulder. She felt the other woman place a gentle kiss on her head before continuing a conversation with Rinoa and Tifa.
They talked for a while because out of everyone there, Vanille felt the closest to Rinoa. After all of the Infirmary visits they had become pretty close and she was definitely going to miss her.
Of course, Vanille knew that'd they'd be visiting Balamb on a regular basis, not to mention they'd be back in a matter of months to go to Tidus and Yuna's wedding.
Before long, it was time to leave and Lightning led Vanille by the hand to the airship. They waved one last time to their friends before the bay doors closed.
The two of them remained quiet during the trip to Oerba, each thinking about the new chapter in their lives they were about to embark on. Lightning held her hand the entire time though, stroking her thumb over the sensitive skin of Vanille's palm.
They arrived at the Vallis Media where the L'Cie were still living temporarily. A male that Vanille recognized but couldn't remember his name approached them as they stepped out of the airship. He smiled at them both and held out his hand to Lightning which she accepted gratefully.
"Noel Kreiss, I'm kind of the temporary leader right now," he introduced releasing her hand and nodding to Vanille, whom he obviously recognized.
"Claire Farron, former General of Balamb Garden. Nice to meet you," Vanille's head snapped to the pink haired woman in disbelief. Did she just say what she thought she said? Lightning definitely just told him her real name.
Noel seemed impressed with her credentials and welcomed her before making his way back to Zack and Aerith who waved over at them.
Once he was gone Vanille glanced sideways at the taller woman, questioning her with her eyes. Lightning simply smiled back at her and laced her fingers with the red head's while they walked over to the L'Cie.
"I don't need 'Lightning' anymore," she said simply and Vanille understood completely.
After months I have finally posted the final chapter. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I hope you all enjoyed it. I just want to thank everyone who has stuck with this story and been so patient with me. This story wouldn't have been finished at all if it weren't for all of you who read and/or reviewed. I appreciate each and every person who read this story and gave me the confidence to finally finish it. Thank you!