Chapter 42 Enter: The Ballad Farseer part 1
Hope exited the house, carrying a cat as Mog the Moogle gripped tightly to his head, "Serah, here's your Moogle. He was hiding and keeping this cat safe."
Serah looked thankful as she held her arms out for the Moogle, as he flew into her arms. She moved closer towards Hope and ran a hand through Snow the cat's fur gently, "We're gonna ask the neighbor to watch you until we get home."
Vanille and Hope smiled, "We'll go ask. Come on, Hope," Vanille offered him her hand, as he nodded, taking it as the two walked to the neighbors.
"Hope said he's getting Amodar to go to Lightning's client's house. He said if they are in danger that he'd be down to help us."
"Alright, will you be okay taking your motorcycle?"
"Always am, babe. I'll wait here until those two get back really don't want to leave you alone here, Serah. Our next task, when we get home, will be cleaning the house up. But did you see how close Hope is getting with Vanille? I'm starting to see how close they're getting."
Serah nodded, "I see it too. And the fact Hope actually held Vanille's hand. I can't be happier for them."
With Mog clutched in her arms like a toy Moogle, Serah sighed. However, it slowly faded when she noticed that Vanille and Hope were coming back.
Snow went into the garage and grabbed his motorcycle; as he sat on it once, he used the stabilizer.
"Snow, please be careful."
"Always am. You drive safe, too, Serah. Hope you wanna ride with?"
Hope and Vanille were standing there, still holding hands.
Serah smiled significantly, knowing she needed to get the butterflies in her stomach to stop swarming. "So, what's going on with you two?"
Hope looked at Vanille, "I think we should tell them…"
"The thing?"
Hope nodded as Vanille hugged him tightly, "Serah, Snow…. We're considering starting to date. Do you both approve?"
Both were shy, but Serah and Snow pieced it together, "We're happy for both of you. And we both sort of knew Vanille."
"Well, you two lovebirds ride with Serah, somethings telling me we'll need two cars anyways."
Serah focused on the road following Snow's motorcycle as the group was on their way to Moogle Works for sandwiches, so they could finish their semi-long ride to Eden.
"The neighbors called Guardian Corps, so they're sending several men and women to look over the house once more. However, these men and women will be keeping patrol of the house, just in case someone comes to the scene of the crime, so they can stop them from further damage and possible theft." Hope started, "I don't know, but it's crucial it's documented, and the soldiers will do their job. Plus, they'll be cleaning the garage."
"Good to know," Serah sighs, "That's gonna be an eyesore if no one does. Plus, I bet the neighborhood is talking at the Farron house got attacked. It's a mockery of my family name, and it's a mockery and the fact my sister was kidnapped. Oh, the neighbors are gonna talk."
"Serah, relax. If they talk, they talk. However, you can't let that get to you. Like I've told Lightning in the past, face it later. They're just showing concern for your family name. Plus, your neighbors are all extremely nice. They're just looking out for you and your sister."
"Sorry, Van. Just stressed," Serah sighed as they met Snow outside the restaurant.
Eventually, the group ate before they were on the road again.
Stopping at Starsky apartments, Serah, Vanille, Hope, and Snow met with Amodar, who had driven there as well. "Evening Serah; evening Hope, and the rest of you," Amodar bellowed.
"Evening, sir," everyone greeted Amodar.
"Right, let's get this meeting over with. When you told me Lightning got kidnapped, I didn't want to believe it, but I noticed a few weird things when I was going over the security footage. I noticed Jihl acting irrationally, and during all of this, I noticed my intern had gone missing. AZ, I fear something happened to her too. She hasn't been into work for days now."
"Alyssa hasn't been seen either?" Hope asked.
"Nope, and you'd know that. You two were training together. She's not reported in for several days now."
"Odd," Hope sighed. "I really hope she's alright. Maybe she went into hiding?"
"You never know, but Jihl attacked a recruit. I started looking into security footage of the town, and well… it's not good. I saw Jihl attack Reks during the GC/PSICOM ball. I didn't want to believe Farron for the longest time, but to learn the truth that she had always tried to tell me, and I wouldn't listen to her."
"Lightning usually knows when something doesn't seem right. When she told me things have been weird at work, I grew concerned about Amodar. But, she's stronger than she looks; if she's been taken captive, then we're gonna save her," Serah admits clutching her Moogle closer to her as Mog fluttered slightly before settling on her shoulder.
"I do need to apologize to your sister, though."
"You'll get that chance," Serah admits, "When we rescue them, I think Lightning will be ready to go back to work and join you again."
"Especially since Farron is one of my best soldiers. I'm gonna enjoy having her back at the office."
"Sorry to pull everyone from this rather good news. Let's go meet our client," Vanille said as Serah nodded and followed her.
The party of five went to the front door of the building, as Serah hit the call button as it paged up to the seventh floor.
"Hello? Password?" a low voice asked.
"Oerba didn't fall," Serah declared.
"Be down in a minute. I see you guys are a rather big party. Wasn't expecting five people."
"Sorry, but I'm the Guardian Corp commander. I offered to help."
"Alright, I'll unlatch the door. Take the elevator up to the 7th floor."
The group entered the building as Vanille hit the elevator button. She wanted to hit every button, but Hope held her hand and shook his head, "No, I know you want to do that prank someday. Not right now. Honestly, Vanille, I didn't take you for the mischievous type," he chuckled.
"Well, I did it to Fang one-time years ago; she hated me for it."
"And you did it to me too; luckily, we weren't in a hurry like we are here," Serah chuckled and stopped chuckling once the metal doors opened.
As the party stepped out, Mog turned into a crossbow, as Serah noticed a woman enter the scene with a bow raised and an arrow knocked.
"I'm surprised you guys weren't followed," she sighed, lowering her bow as the arrow slid from its knocked position. "You're a rather noisy bunch, aren't you? Either way, follow me."
The woman led the small group to an apartment and unlocked it, as a dog and carbuncle greeted them at the door. Both had their hackles raised in fear of the group before a door opened as they went towards it. The door shut behind them as a second woman stepped into the living room.
The group entered the living room and looked around. However, the woman leading went towards the other one, greeting her with a soft kiss. The archer eventually took her seat at the table before returning to her meal that had been getting cold.
The two started speaking in Oerban, as the one leading let out a sigh, as the other laughed. "It's fine Row, I'll make sure they're comfortable. Erm, sorry about that, which one of you is Serah Farron?"
Serah took a step forward as the woman gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Thank you for calling. I made sure that Lightning gave you my number in case of emergency. This is dire, but we're gonna do everything to save them. Frankly, I think I know who is behind it," the woman said as she looked at the party. "Who's your guests? When I heard a captain Amodar was with them, I knew you were Caspian's successor."
"Who are you anyway?'
"Oh right, I apologize. My name is Zelda Yun, formerly Zelda Nabaat, but I cast that last name a long time ago. Sitting at the dinner table is my wife Oerba Yun Rowan, she doesn't really care much for large groups of people, but that goes from traveling in a cult."
Vanille looked surprised, "Wait, what?! You're Oerban too?"
"Yes, I am," Rowan said between bites, "Fang told me about you. You must be Vanille. Someday we're gonna meet the others who are safe. We've been with them until we saw a newspaper article about Claire Farron after Caspian and Rosa Farron's death, but it surprises me our paths finally crossed. Had we not seen anything in the paper, we probably would've been strangers altogether."
Vanille squealed out of joy as Hope, Serah, and Snow chuckled at how excited she was.
"Well, this is rather nice; I remember you, Zelda. You were on that Oerba trip with Caspian if I remember correctly," Amodar announced.
"Yeah, it was our effort to save as many Oerbans as we could from the PSICOM genocide my sister led an attack on with Cyrus Hawke. So many great men and women lost. Chief Mamoru didn't deserve that."
"I'm Snow Villiers, I'm Serah's boyfriend," Snow said as Rowan looked at him and lifted him up with ease, "You're the infamous boyfriend Lightning told me about. Maybe I'll hold you out the seventh story window."
Snow grit his teeth.
Rowan set him down, "I'm kidding," she said dryly, "Lightning actually tolerates you; she just won't admit it."
Serah looked surprised.
"And I'm Hope Estheim. I'm Vanille's uh new…" he was all shy.
Rowan chuckled, "Spit it out, man."
"Boyfriend," Hope announced as Vanille hugged him tightly.
However, Vanille eventually stood beside Rowan and inspected the Pulsian with giant green eyes, "You're the complete opposite of Fang. I'm surprised you're rougher than she is and more scars. However, this is the most amazing thing, just to know your family. Family, I don't even remember! And with Fang's memory problem… That's saying something."
"Fang's recovering quite a bit of memory. That trauma and then the attack she went through, She's only just started recovering. But it's a slow process. I honestly was surprised when she said she got her one scar from a behemoth, but I remember that. It was twice her size and had attacked her, and several Dias worked hard to save her at that moment. You just don't forget. Plus, you were still a cub, so you probably don't remember much from Oerba."
Vanille bit her lip, "That sounds like Fang. Too stubborn to back down."
Rowan smiled warmly, looking at Vanille, "Well, someday I'll gladly tell you stories from there."
"Alright."
Zelda and Amodar finished their conversation. "Uh guys, we gotta travel once more. We're going to our safe house to meet up with our final party member. She's gonna be needed for this rescue mission because there's one man out there that is probably dangerous. However, our guest is his long-lost daughter."
"Daughter?" Serah asked, "Whose, daughter?"
"We have reason to believe that Caius Ballad is alive. His daughter, Yeul, we've been taking care of. However, it wasn't until Lightning started investigating his disappearance that we noticed several things were happening around town. Unexplainable things, too, including deaths around the town, and then hearing about PSICOM's transgate attack, we sort of had a hunch. He's alive, and his daughter is being taken care of by the Oerbans, all because we were needed here to lead Lightning in the right direction. Yeul spoke of a future where she'd see her father again, I think this is what she meant."
TO BE CONTINUED
