(4,608 words)Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, I'm not sure if anyone is really upset by that but I want to apologise anyway. I had assignments and tests and all that. I decided to put FF on hold until I finished them. I was going to write heaps during the holidays but I had a friend over for a week so I didn't do any writing, then I kind of got writers block.

Hope you enjoy.

37) Future

Lenne let out a sigh as a gust of wind swept by. She was outside on the doorstep of Yuna's house. She had said she'd wanted some fresh air, it wasn't a lie, but she wanted some silence too. Since her and Yuna had told them about her pregnancy, the untimely death of the baby's father and all the facts surrounding them, she and Lulu had been talking non-stop. It was for the most part precautions in case her plans to get her father's help failed. Lulu had sworn to look after her and her baby if there was no one else who would, but it was a fact that it would be most difficult. Her and her husband weren't the richest people in the world. Sure they made it by fine when they had to look after themselves and Yuna; even with the new baby included things were still alright. But they were unsure how they would fare with an extra two people to look after. It was somewhat possible Lulu was sure, but she wanted to play it safe.

Lenne was sure that her father would offer his help when the situation was explained to him. All these extra precautions were unneeded, but even so, she didn't blame Lulu for taking them. She was being smart was all, it was a good idea.

But it was a little trying if she was being honest. Lenne felt these talks went on for a tad bit too long each time they happened, and the time in-between was usually spent helping Lulu with the baby. She'd been allowed a short time off from school to calm down. Everyone agreed that she had gone through a lot at once, it was the least they could do for her. Though, she had decided she would only take a week off, and it was already three days into that short break. She'd go back on Monday.

She had been eyeing a leaf being swept around in the wind for around a minute. It was still green, showing it'd broken off quite recently. She wondered if it would be calming, if she could flow in the wind in place of the leaf. When she closed her eyes, she imagined being swept on the wind like the leaf, each time the wind passed. She herself found it calming, but thinking about it, she doubted that if the leaf was alive, it would enjoy it as much as her.

After another few minutes, she heard the door creak open behind her. Partly curious, Lenne tilted her to upwards and to the side to see Wakka standing behind her. He'd gotten home only a little earlier in the day, about half an hour she thought, shortly before she had come out here.

"Oh, didn't expect you to be right at the door." He chuckled, scratching the nape of his neck.

"Sorry, am I blocking your way?" Lenne asked, slightly embarrassed.

"No, it's fine." He replied as he squeezed through the partially opened doorway. "I can still get out." He finished as he freed himself of the house.

"I can see that." Lenne commented, before going to return her attention to the leaf, only to find it was already gone. She frowned, it may seem strange, but she was having fun watching it.

She had initially thought Wakka had somewhere to go, so she was taken by surprise when he took a seat next to her on the doorstep. Or attempted to anyway, it was just too small to fit both of them, so a part of him was hanging off the edge.

"Taking a break are you? Lulu has been talking your ear off hasn't she?"

"Yeah she has. I wouldn't blame her though; she's just being concerned for my health." Lenne grinned; it was almost cute in a way. But even so it wasn't something you could take forever.

"Well of course she is, you and the rest of Yuna's friends are like family to us, and family looks after family." Wakka smiled broadly. "Hey, I'd probably be doing the same thing she is if I didn't have to go to work."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did."Lenne laughed. "You guys are really protective of those you care about. You've illustrated that to me plenty of times since I met you."

He joined in with laughing with her for a moment, before the conversation turned to silence. He was just thinking something else to say, for either he hadn't had much to say and wanted to continue the conversation, or he'd forgotten what he was going to say. It didn't bother her at all, she was about to go back inside anyway.

Whatever the reason, Lenne beat him to talking first.

"You know what? That child is going to have wonderful parents." From the sound of things, she said it to him, but truthfully, it was more to herself than anything.

Wakka smiled contentedly. "Thanks, that means a lot, really. "

"It's true, you know that right? You and Lulu are wonderful people. We're not even related and I feel more at home here than at my own home. None of my friends, not even Yuna are related to you, and yet you've become family for everyone. Not everyone you meet can say that about themselves." She grinned, the joyfulness she felt shone through her.

"Thanks," He laughed, as he ruffled her hair, "you know you're kid's going to have plenty of people there for them too."

"I know, and that makes me happy. They'll have a good future ahead of them."

"What are you going to try and do in your future, if you're alright with me asking?" Wakka questioned, somewhat curious over the subject.

Lenne shrugged. "I'm not a hundred per cent on that to be perfectly honest. I'm going to try and finish high school, I'm going to try and get a decent job, not the best of the best, I know that's out because I'll be a mother by then, but I never wanted that anyway. I'm going to try and do my best, and though I know they'll always be people I can rely on, I'm not going to rely on them completely. That'd make me lazy, and set a bad example for my kid, I don't want that. I don't want them to think that they can reply on other people for their whole life and still get somewhere. I want them to know that they have to put in the work if they want to get somewhere good in the future.

I know I also don't want the bad things to bring me down, I know things will be difficult for me for sure, I didn't think even once that my future will come easy. I want to be strong, I don't want things lost to bring me down, and I don't want to regret what could've been. I know that there are people in the world who's had worse done to them, I know it could be better, but it could be a lot worse, I should just be glad that it's as good as it is. I guess if I can manage all that, than I should hopefully create a good future for me and my kid."

When she finished, she noticed Wakka had leaned back, and had his back against the door. He had an odd grin on his face.

"Wakka?"

"Do you think Vidina sounds nice?" He said practically out of nowhere.

"Vidi-what? What's that?" Lenne tilted her head, confused.

"Vidina, it's the Al Bhed word for future." He answered, with a smile just as odd as before, only this was more cheerful.

"And? What about it?"

"I was asking if it sounded nice."

"I got that, but what about it?" Lenne asked again, still confused.

"Do you think it makes for a good name?" He asked.

Lenne paused as the meaning sunk in. "Vidina? As in a name for your son?"

"Yeah, exactly that." He answered, his smile remaining even as he was given an odd look.

"The Al Bhed word for future?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I can see how that is a good idea, but isn't it a little strange?" She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to see her point of view.

"I don't really think it is you know. I think it's a nice name." He stood up as the sentence finished, and pinned on the ending, "I think I'll go tell Lulu."

"I think you're crazy, are you being legitimate here?"

"Of course I am; I would really like to call my son Vidina."

"You're crazy." Lenne laughed as he entered the house and shut the door behind him.

"Oh why thank you!" She heard him call out before she could hear no more as he was too far away.

Lenne spent a good minute in silence, thinking about what just happened, before bursting out into a fit of laughter at the strange way their conversation had found its end.

"You sure you don't want to wait until after school? What if someone hears something?" Yuna asked, deeply concerned.

"Frankly I don't think I'll care that much, everyone is going to figure it out sooner or later. Besides, I'm being impatient. It's been heaps long now and she doesn't even know anything yet. Think how mean that is." Lenne replied, calmly.

It was Monday, the first day of school for the week, and the end of Lenne's time off. Today she had decided they would tell Rikku everything, as she'd been left out of the loop for far too long. She was their friend too, and she deserved to know just as much as everyone else. She had decided she would tell them during the first break they got, far away from everything else, Yuna was perfectly fine with Lenne confessing to Rikku everything that had occurred as of late, but she found it problematic to tell her at school. Someone could hear, and words spread like wild fire around here. But Lenne didn't see the problem, unless she stopped going to school entirely, people would eventually pick up on the fact that she was pregnant.

The first two periods went by as normal, for Lenne didn't share classes with Rikku and didn't have to fight the temptation to tell her earlier than she had intended. She knew Yuna, who did share classes with Rikku wouldn't say a thing, since she'd find it awfully rude of herself to spill the beans when it was Lenne who should do the talking. Plus she was reluctant to make mention of it while on school grounds.

When recess finally came Lenne ran along to go find her friends, and subsequently an appropriate quiet place for them to talk. She spotted Yuna and Rikku near the door that led to the oval. She could hear Rikku even at a distance; she was saying something that she had to go home with Yuna to get a look at Lulu's baby. She hadn't seen the little guy, she was the only one who hadn't yet; it annoyed her.

When Lenne reached them she hooked her arm around Rikku's and giggled,

"Ooh, speaking of babies, come with me!"

Her sudden appearance scared the crap out of poor Rikku and made her jump, the force almost disconnected their arms.

"Jeez Lenne, warn me next time, and what are you going on about anyway?" She questioned; her face a perfect picture of confusion.

"Well come with me and you'll see then won't you?" She grinned.

"Well I hope so." Rikku sighed.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Yuna give her an odd look. She expected it; she had started in a seemingly overly cheery mood. She wasn't even sure what had made her act that way, she had just done it. Sadly she'd probably gone and made things difficult, since now she ran the chance that Rikku wouldn't believe her when it came to telling her everything.

They found an out of the way excluded part of the oval, partially hidden behind a wall of the school building. Yuna, who expected Lenne would do most of the talking, sat a little off, with her back to the brick wall. Rikku sat crossed legged on the grass, staring up at Lenne who remained standing. She was thinking things through last minute, figuring out what to say first.

"Okay, so what is this all about? You're acting a little funny now that I think about it." Rikku sighed, "Or is that just all in my head?"

"No, I say that would make sense." Lenne admitted, as she sat down in front of her, with her knees pulled closed to her chest. "And I'm sorry about what I'm going to say." She smiled with a sad look in her eyes.

Rikku raised an eyebrow quizzically, "Why should you be sorry?"

"Because it's not nice what I have to say. And I should have said it a lot earlier, I hope you don't think of me as a bad friend for keeping quiet."

"Seriously Lenne, what is going on?" Rikku was annoyed to a degree, but her voice remained light. She didn't expect sunshine and rainbows, but no doubt she did not expect what was to come.

"Did you know that Shuyin was doing drugs?" Lenne asked, her voice unsteady and frail.

Rikku bit her lip, "I heard it once, but I didn't believe it. I'm sorry to hear it; I know you guys were close."

Lenne nodded her head.

"Is this something about that?"

"Well, sort of, but there's more to it." Lenne turned her gaze downwards and toyed with the hem of her shirt. She tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat. She was clearly attempting to say something to her, but stayed silent for close to a minute.

"One day, I can't even remember how long ago now, whilst he was high out of his mind, I guess he just decided he could do whatever the hell he wanted without consequences, sooo," She drawled. "He raped me."

Though she was not looking directly at her, she saw Rikku stiffen up, shocked by the appalling news. Lenne tilted her head up just a little, and could see she was about to say something. She had a feeling it'd be something along the lines of 'I'm going to kill him!', which was something she especially did not want to hear. So before a single sound left Rikku's lips, Lenne Placed her hand in front of her Rikku's mouth, stifling her and rendering her incapable of speech.

"And," She begun shakily, "I'm pregnant."

Rikku froze again. She stayed frozen awhile after Lenne took her hand away.

"You're kidding." She breathed, unable to take the information in.

"I'm not, though I wish I was."

Rikku twisted her head around to look at Yuna, eyes opened wide, "Did you know about this!?"

Reluctantly, Yuna nodded yes.

"Why didn't you-"

"As I said, we're sorry we said nothing earlier." Lenne interrupted her before she finished her sentence. "Something should have been said, we know that. Besides, Yuna wouldn't have found out when she did had she not run into me moments after I found out myself. I was in tears, I couldn't avoid her questions."

Rikku's expression turned sad as she turned her head back towards Lenne. "Okay. Is that all?" She asked, hoping that was it. It was already too much.

"No, there's more." Lenne answered gloomily.

"Did something happen to Shuyin?"

"Yes." Lenne replied, emotion leaving her voice for her answer.

"He knows about this right? I mean, he has to right? He has to know what he's done to you!"

"He doesn't." Her emotion stayed away again.

"What!?" Rikku yelled, her tone changing to furious, "How can he not? He has to know what he's done to you, it's only right."

"Because I can't tell him." Lenne said back, her voice stern, as if she stood by her decision and nothing could change it for it was set in stone.

"What why not?" Rikku yelled again, remaining angry.

"Because he's dead."

She froze up, an uncomfortable sensation like ice running through her veins hit her. Her mouth was left agape, her eyes shone with disbelief. She felt sick in the pit of her stomach. She did not change from this for a good thirty seconds.

"How? How did it happen?" She whispered, unable to make her voice go higher from the sheer shock she felt.

"He had a drug overdose, they managed to save him in time, but he didn't want to be saved. When the nurses had their backs turned, he stabbed a sharp object into his arm and let himself bleed to death. Unfortunately it was too late to do anything about it by the time the nurses even noticed." Tears built up in the corner of her eyes. "That's what Acacia told me, she avoided details, but I won't blame her for it." Her lip trembled as she held back tears. "This is her big brother we're talking about here."

"When did this happen?" Rikku asked, concern overflowing from her voice.

"On the same day Lulu had her baby. We didn't mention it to either of them until a couple of days later, we didn't want to ruin such a special day for them." Lenne admitted.

"So they knew as well."

"Yes, I told them so they didn't make me leave. I've been staying a Yuna's since my mum kicked me out, she didn't believe me that it was rape and called me and irresponsible idiot. I had to tell Lulu and Wakka because they would've sent me back eventually, they thought me and mum had just had a little fight and she'd simply overreacted. I'm not upset over it really, those two are better family then mum is anyway." Lenne explained.

Rikku took a moment to let it all sink in, and when it did, she lifted herself up into a kneeling position and without warning pulled Lenne into a tight hug.

"Listen you, if you ever need help, I'll be there for you okay? I'd never be such a bitch like your mum alright? And I'll even make my family help you too, even if they don't want to, I'll force them so they'll have no choice. You are a good person and you deserve the best."

When she released her, Rikku tried to give an encouraging smile, "I'll always be there okay? And so will everyone else, never doubt that."

"I never did." Lenne returned the smile.

It was the end of the day, and everybody was leaving as fast as they could so they could get home and enjoy the rest of their day. Rikku was retrieving her belongings from her locker. She was pretty sure that Lenne and Yuna had already left for home, she would have gone with them so she could see the new baby, but she had decided against it last minute. She'd remembered she had a stack of chores to do back home and it'd be smarter to start them early rather than to rush and do them all at night. As she finished she shut her locker and begun to walk off. She could see down the hall a way down, Gippal doing what she had been doing a moment before. She frowned as sadness took over.

It wasn't her own feelings that made this sense of sadness wash over her, but that every time she had seen him as of late, he'd be wearing a miserable expression. A part of her still completely saw them as friends, even though they'd barely said a word to each other since entering high school. It was this part of her that made her want to help him, though she was pretty sure she could do nothing. When she'd first noticed he was down, the feeling had popped up right away, but she had decided to ignore it believing that common sense would knock it away. They weren't friends any more, she couldn't help him like he was a friend in trouble, because he wasn't one. It annoyed her so, because common sense did not do its job and wash away this feeling running through her. She still wanted to help him, because she felt like if she didn't, she'd be abandoning a friend.

But maybe it was common sense to want to help him, his friends weren't going to do it, that she knew. They were like those popular people you only ever saw on TV, she wished it was a joke, but it wasn't, that was the truth. So, she felt as if she was the only one who could do anything. Some people wouldn't notice, some people wouldn't care enough, and some couldn't do anything at all even if they wanted to. Something in her mind told her she was the only one who could do something; it was almost a preposterous thought.

Just as she was about to pass him she stopped. She turned her head just a mite in his direction, wondering if she should say something. She didn't expect to be able to fix anything, but maybe, she could find out what was wrong. That was a good first step. When she looked around, she found only a small amount of people remained in the hallways, it was better that way. She figured it make it easier to make him talk.

She took a step closer and said, "Gippal."

It took a moment for him to respond, he turned around with an expression that for a few second expressed nothing. When it registered who had called out his face turned into a peculiar mix of shock and confusion.

"Rikku?" He questioned, as if he thought he was hallucinating, like the act of her talking to him was an impossibility.

She nodded and spoke softly. "I'm sorry if you don't want me asking, but, you seemed upset. Well, actually, you've being looking upset a lot lately. Did something happen?"

He didn't verbally respond to her. But he looked away and his eyes became dark. Immediately she felt like she'd done something wrong.

"Ah, I'm sorry for asking, it's just that, when I noticed I couldn't forget about it. You looked really blue." She hastily apologised.

He gave her a tiny, sad smile. "Don't apologise, you didn't do anything wrong. It's weird, but I'm kind of happy that someone asked. It's sad when I think about it though, that it came from someone who I'm not even close to."

Rikku frowned, "Well your friends are terrible aren't they." She muttered.

If he heard, he didn't comment.

So she asked again, "Did something happen to you? Did something happen to make you upset?"

Gippal gave her the same tiny smile. "Yes, but I don't want to talk about it. It's not even important anyway; I'll get over it soon."

Rikku nodded. He was lying when he said he'd get over it. She could hear it in the sound of his voice; it was a lie when he said it wasn't important. He'd never been a good liar; she reckoned he'd gotten worse since he'd become friends with morons.

"Okay then." She said anyway and begun to continue on her way.

But he stopped her by calling out, "Hey Rikku?"

"Hmm?" She twisted her head back to him, curious.

His expression was as sad as always. "I'm sorry about refusing to say anything, but, if it makes you feel any better, there is one thing I can say. I don't hate you or the others, I never did. So, I'm sorry if I've ever made you sad.

She smiled, "Thanks." And walked off.

She had always hoped that it was true, it filled her with joy to know it was so. She also decided then that she'd continue to try and find out what was wrong, one failed attempt wasn't going to make her give up. She still cared for Gippal, and if no one else would do something, she would.

Yuna was waiting by her locker. Lenne was taking her time to get her stuff; she'd been waiting for a while now. She wondered if something had distracted her from the task. While waiting, she watched the people walking past, the number was small now compared to what it was, most of the students had already left, the vast majority of those remaining had after school activities.

To her left she heard the shutting of a locker and turned her head. It was a decent ways down on the opposite side. She frowned when she noticed it was Seymour. He was a bit of an odd one. She hoped he didn't say anything to her if she had to pass him. He didn't move from where he was, she guessed he was lost in thought. Somehow, these thoughts quickly altered to how weird his hair was. She caught herself before they could change again with a shake of her head.

Down the hall she spotted Lenne running over to her. She breathed a sigh of relief and strode down the hall to reach her. As she reached her Lenne went to her side and hooked her arm around hers. She was grinning happily.

"Come on, let's go home."

"Finally, what took you so long?" Yuna questioned with a laugh.

"Got distracted. Lenne replied.

"Thought as much."

After that they remained silent. Yuna was glad for this when they passed by Seymour, she didn't want to hear a word come out of his mouth. Sadly, her wish to get away was destroyed when a calm voice asked from behind her.

"Ah, Yuna, how have you been doing lately?"

She didn't want to appear rude, so she turned and replied, "Um, I've been good." She shakily answered while straining to form a smile.

"Well that's good." He smiled back as he began to walk off, luckily in the opposite direction to the one they were taking.

He seemed a mite less creepy than before, but the politeness he exulted felt so superficial. It was hard to take.

"I don't like that guy." Lenne muttered angrily.

To this, Yuna did not reply, less Seymour hear her. She didn't want to say anything while he could still hear her. After another moment, they walked off, heading for the exit.

I don't trust the power puff girl's anymore...they're homunculus now...

Don't watch the power puff girl's while reading Fullmetal Alchemist.

don't ask, my sister put it on TV while I was editing.

Please review, it'll make me ever so happy.

Jya ne,

~Serah Villiers Valentine