The wedding was beautiful. Taking place at the sandy shores of Bodhum, down at the beach right behind their parent´s old house, with white wooden chairs for the guests and a beautifully decorated altar and a small rose arch for the bride to walk through, dressed in her magnificent white wedding gown, Serah Farron received the wedding of every girl´s dreams.
Lightning didn´t quite remember how she did it, but somehow she managed to play along, managed to keep a friendly smile plastered on her face, managed to feel happy a bit for her little sister walking down the aisle with her eyes twinkling with joy, with happiness. It felt good to see her so cheerful, so sure, it gave her the impression that maybe, just maybe, she was doing the right thing letting her go.
The corner of her lips might have twitched the moment the pastor asked the community if anybody had any objections, but of course she´d stood her ground, a silent spectator as she watched her little sister married off to that guy, Snow Villiers. The latter looking completely over the moon as he made to put that golden ring on Serah´s finger, as he leaned down to kiss her, sealing their bond.
Maybe he wasn´t such a bad guy after all.
There was a huge feast afterwards at the local Inn. There were tons of people to be served after all. Snow´s family counted 30 people alone and their´s, well they had a whole bunch of friends to make up for the family they´d lost.
Claire Farron was sitting at the dining table, squeezed in between Zack and Angeal, the latter stuffing his face with food as usual, it was always a joy to watch the burly fist class dine.
"What is this? Pork? Taste´s awesome!" the man in question sputtered between chews.
Looking up at Sephiroth who Serah had `coincidentally´ put right opposite from her when she had decided on the seating arrangements, their gazes locking for a tiny moment, Lightning couldn´t help but crack a smile.
It didn´t matter where you were, some things just never changed!
"No Angeal... It´s Behemoth steak! Gadot and Snow took it out on their watch last night." she managed between giggles that turned into bursts of laughter the second she took in Genesis disgusted expression as he realized what it was he had been eating all along.
The redhead sitting right next to her favorite First Class General, he let the piece of meat he´d been chewing on fall back onto his plate with a tiny clatter, than grimacing and taking a long swig from his glass of wine, he demonstratively pushed the plate away from him.
"Hmm... Never thought they´d taste that good!" said Angeal, who didn´t seem to care at all.
"Genesis! Aren´t you going to finish this?" he asked when he took in the redhead who kept eying the piece of meat in front of him as if it was going to attack any minute.
"Here, it´s all yours!" Genesis said, shoving the plate into his mate´s direction.
It was just so him to play the diva again.
Maybe that was what came from reading too much poetry.
The remainder of the evening passed with speeches, games, dancing and of course booze.
Lots of booze actually.
So much that Cloud was seen actually taking off his shirt as he made to dance with Maqui and Lebreau even allowed herself to be seduced by Zack. Lightning even spotted Snow´s sister Crystal give Angeal a peck on the cheek as the two of them were having a go at Serah´s wedding cake together.
Of course Genesis was reciting from Loveless again. And it was at least at this point of the evening that Lightning was happy she had had a few sips too much of that applejack the red haired First Class used to carry with him wherever he went.
Dancing with yet another guy, some old, balding relative of Snow´s that did remind her a lot of Heidegger himself, the pink haired female guessed she wouldn´t have made it through the evening without getting herself tipsy anyway.
The old fool shamelessly checking out her cleavage, it was when the song ended and the music changed to a more romantic tune, that she turned away from her current dancing partner, just to find herself face to face with Sephiroth.
Startled by his sudden appearance, her heart skipping a few beats before allowing itself to give a tiny flutter, she couldn´t help but feel tiny pleasant shivers running down her spine the second she felt his skin on her´s as he gently took her hand, the other coming to rest somewhere at her red dresses' waist.
Going with the flow, she let him steer her through the crowd, allowed her eyes to drawn in those brilliant green ones for what seemed like an eternity. Her feet somehow moving on their own, miraculously missing his despite her abysmal dancing skills, they already hurt in those red peep toes Serah had selected for her to match her dress.
Her toes hurting with blisters from those horrible shoes, her skin wet with sweat from hours of dancing and her head spinning with the side effects of the alcohol and the noise of the music, with the bodies of people pressing against her own, she knew she needed to get out of there.
And realizing nobody was watching, as their dancing had lead them to a less crowded area of the room and near the back door exit, Claire Farron took her opportunity and bolted.
"I´ve got to get out of here." the pink haired female suddenly stammered.
General Sephiroth Crescent didn´t understand what she was talking about. They´d been barely dancing a minute and there she went, looking around to check whether anybody was watching...
No. This definitely wasn´t a good sign.
The silver haired first class had been waiting the entire evening to catch her on her own so he could approach her, so he could talk to her, had been biding his time to find an opportunity to dance with her and there she was, slipping away from him again.
As usual.
He didn´t know what he had expected.
Of course she would push him away again.
She always did.
It was so her.
He should have guessed that of course today would be no exception.
He felt her small hand close around his own though, felt her tugging at his arm tentatively, before she let go and pulled away from him to sneak out through the Inn´s side doors, pausing to look back at him for a tiny moment before she turned and left, his eyes following her as she vanished into the night.
Lightning.
What was he supposed to do?
Hesitating only for a few seconds, he decided to follow her out onto the beach.
No matter if she wanted him to come along or not, he wasn´t going to let her walk out there alone. The memory of what had happened in Corel still etched into his mind, he wasn´t stupid enough to repeat his past mistakes ever again.
No lonely beach strolls for Lieutenant Farron anymore...
Walking out and looking around for her, he didn´t spot her immediately but found one of her crimson high heeled shoes at first, carelessly tossed away in the sand.
How could one possibly loose one´s shoe? How wasted was she exactly?
Picking it up, he followed the trail of footprints until he found the other. And he couldn´t help but chuckle. It was so like her to get rid of those as fast as she could. Albeit she did look beautiful in them, he guessed they weren´t exactly very practical.
Continuing a few meters further down the shore, the sand grains glistening in the moonlight like tiny diamonds twinkling in the dark, he found her down by the water where she had shed the rest of her clothes to just plunge herself into the gentle waves.
Approaching slowly, the silver haired first class followed her example.
The salty waters pleasantly cool in contrast to the dry hot air of that humid summer night, it didn´t take him long to reach her.
She had stopped a few meters into the sea, the water reaching up to her belly, her gaze trained skywards, as once again she stared up at the stars above.
"I just love looking at the stars... Watching the night sky... Pondering what is up there." she said once she sensed him near her.
General Sephiroth Crescent had already guessed that much. He had caught her doing that on plenty of occasions, hadn´t he?
"Sometimes it just feels like something inside of me is reaching out for it..." she added, her voice taking on a dreamy quality.
Yes. He knew what she meant. He had felt it too. It were the Jenova cells inside of them, craving the infinite depths of the universe. Craving home.
He didn´t bother to explain it to her.
She wouldn´t like to hear about it anyway.
Approaching her from behind, he chose to close the distance between them instead, brought up his hands to rest them at her hips, leaned in to gently kiss her neck.
Feeling her skin under his lips erupt in goosebumps, he heard a soft moan escape her throat before she leaned to the side to expose her neck to grant him further access. The pink haired female slightly shivering under his touch, he felt her body relax against his chest, slowly, as he brought his arms up around her to just hug her from behind, tracing soft kisses down her neck and collarbone.
It felt good to have her close to him again.
He had been craving the feeling of her skin on his ever since he had first felt it.
The truth was that he had missed her.
He really had.
Those weeks after the night of Meteor fall, every day that he had let pass without talking to her, without touching her, without kissing her, without showing her how much he needed her, watching her going about her daily business, knowing that she was there only meters from himself, but unable to just find the courage to reach out to her because he didn´t know whether she´d want him to, they had been terrible, had been torture.
How much time had it been going on like this exactly?
Months?
Years?
Suddenly he wasn´t sure.
It didn´t matter. They were together now.
Angeal Hewley had been watching the pair of them all evening and it was therefore that it didn´t escape his notice how the both of them sneaked out together.
"Hey Angeal... Have you seen Sephiroth anywhere?" Genesis asked. "Can´t seem to find him, and that son of a bitch´s still owing me a few drinks!"
"Hm... I can´t find Lightning either!" Serah piped up from somewhere behind.
The bride throwing the burly first class a knowing glance, Angeal had a hard time hiding his smile.
"I think I saw the both of them sneak out about half an hour ago." Zack threw in from next to him, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Angeal was surprised he had had time to notice this at all while busy flirting heavily with that girl, Lebreau.
"Well... it was about time." the first class said.
His statement earned happy smiles from everybody except Genesis, who just scrunched up his nose in mock disgust.
Well... It was none of his business anyway.
Claire Farron woke up the next day with a hangover.
A hangover and the memory of one of the most beautiful nights she had ever had.
Her second night with Sephiroth.
They had spent it out on the shore behind her parents old house.
What had originally started out as an innocent little swim in the sea had turned into something more serious the second the silver haired general had joined her in those shallow waters.
She could still taste him on her lips, could still feel his touch on her skin.
And this time she didn´t regret anything.
Flashback
The night had been cloudless. She´d been standing there with the waters reaching to her waist looking up at the stars and she remembered having said something about how much she loved to look at them.
She couldn´t remember what had led to it but the next moment she felt his hands on her hips, had felt his chest against her back had felt his lips on the back of her neck and on her collarbone, the contact of their skins sending tiny shivers through her body, before she felt his arms wander to her midsection and hold her in a tight embrace.
"I really missed you." the tall lean man whispered into her ear, his voice slightly husky.
She simply loved the sound of it.
He had missed her...
Her heart giving a crazy flutter she let her hands go up to find his own and tilted her head to try and look at him standing behind her when she felt his lips gently brush her cheek.
She didn´t remember what made her do it but after a few moments she pulled away from him to turn around and face him.
Looking back at her, unsure of what to do, the silver haired male only let his arms dangle at his sides.
"Claire... I..." he began tentatively but she didn´t let him finish. She just took a step forward to close the distance between them again to lean up and connect their lips.
Screw it.
Her reaction seeming to take him completely by surprise, it took the first class general a few moments to respond, to kiss her back, took a few moments before she felt one of his arms at the small of her back and the other come up to gently cup her face.
"I think I missed you too." she said first thing when they broke apart.
It was the understatement of the century.
The thought of him living in the same house with her, sitting at the same dinner table only feet away, knowing him close to her at all times without the opportunity, an excuse really, to touch him, to feel him, it had been torture, had been killing her inside.
Why had she been holding back in the first place?!
Suddenly she couldn´t even remember anymore.
"You `think´ you missed me?!" Sephiroth asked somewhat skeptically.
The silver haired General standing there in front of her, he couldn´t hide one of those adorable half smiles forming on his face.
"As in you´re not even sure you -"
The pink haired warrior silenced him with another kiss.
There was just no time for stupid banter. Not anymore.
She needed him, wanted him, needed to feel him close to her.
It was as if her body was taking over, her mind shut off completely as she steered him back to the shore. Their lips didn´t part for even one second on the way, not until they had reached the shallower parts of the waters that was, where the general´s foot caught on a stone causing the silver haired First Class to tumble backwards and the two of them came crashing to the ground with the pink haired female fortunately landing right on top of him.
"You´re going to kill me..." the general chuckled.
"Believe me, if I had any intention of killing you, you´d already be dead by now." she shot at him, giving him a challenging smile.
"Sure..." he just said.
"I had the best of trainers after all..." she added, a stupid grin spreading all over her face. He just propped himself up on one of his elbows to come up and kiss her again.
Oh, how much she had missed those kisses...
The general´s free hand softly caressing her shoulders, her back, her sides, Lightning felt it sneaking lower and lower before breaking their kiss for just a few moments he shifted her weight so she could finally feel him where she needed him most.
And how much she needed him...
She hadn´t even been aware of how much her body had been yearning for him.
Suddenly nothing else mattered anymore.
There was only him.
As if he were the only reason she existed, her only reason to breathe, had somehow been all along.
And she knew, she finally new for sure, there was no doubt anymore, that she was really, completely, helplessly head over toes in love with him.
In love with General Sephiroth Crescent.
And suddenly, finally, for a few short hours at least, she was happy.
She didn´t know how long they lay there afterwards.
With nothing but the soft breeze of the sea to dry them, they sat there until long after their hair wasn´t damp anymore, until the sun was already starting to rise.
It had to have been hours.
Hours they had just spent there on the beach, lying in each other's arms.
They hadn´t even done any talking.
Well, there were no words to describe the way they felt then anyway.
It was the General who broke the silence first.
And his words, they pulled a plug inside of her, made the warm cozy feeling of bliss of happiness that had somehow accumulated in the pit of her stomach over the past few hours slowly drain out into nothingness.
"When we are leaving for Eden next week you´re coming with us, aren´t you?" the General asked, looking up at his female comrade expectantly.
She hated the fact that he had to bring this up now, had to bring this up at all.
This wasn´t something she was ready to face right then.
"I... I don´t know."
It was true.
She really didn´t know.
What was she supposed to do?
Now that she had found her family again after all those years, she wasn´t sure whether she was ready to leave again. Not yet.
On the other hand, what else was there to do for her?
Sitting at their parents old beach house doing nothing, it was getting old fast. And besides she needed to earn some money, right?
Things couldn´t stay like this forever.
But now that she had returned and was reunited with her sister, she wasn´t eager to leave anytime soon either.
Why did he have to do this?
Why was he trying to make her choose?
Why now?
Looking up at the general she found his eyes gazing at her with disappointment, maybe hurt even.
"I´m not sure I´m ready to leave Bodhum again..." she tried to explain.
She didn´t know whether he would understand.
He had no family after all.
"Please Lightning... I need you to come with me... I need you at my side..." his mako green eyes pleading she could only stare at him in amazement.
Had he really just said that?
That so wasn´t him.
The silver haired general sitting up to take her hand, his mako killer eyes staring into her´s, she knew what he was going to say would be important, at least to him.
"We could... I don´t know... Find a place to live in for ourselves... Maybe something similar to what you have here..." he began tentatively, hesitantly, as if the words were reluctant to come out.
She could tell it was hard for him to say this, to open up like this. She wasn´t sure what was making him say it in the first place. His sincerity, his openness, it gave her goosebumps.
"We could have a family of our own..."
Those last words startling her, taking her completely off guard, Lightning felt her eyes go huge, felt her mouth gaping open stupidly.
Who was this guy, and what had he done to her first class general?!