The night at the fireworks display had turned into a night to remember.
No matter how much time would come to pass Claire Farron was sure she wouldn't be able to forget the way he'd looked at her, the silver haired first class from her dreams, kneeling on the ground before her, mako green eyes gazing up at her with anticipation, with hope, with fear.
He'd been nervous that night, Lightning had sensed that easily, had been scared she would say no, that she would push him away again, and he had had every right to do so too, hadn't she done exactly that in the past at least a countless times.
Well. This time was different. It really was.
For a few moments there, the woman with the pinkish strands, the woman who was carrying his children, had stared at him completely startled, perplex, as had done all the others in the crowd, to then reach forward and pull him up onto his feet and into her arms, planting a loving kiss on his lips to then look deep into his eyes.
'Yes. I do.' she'd said against his lips before she'd pulled him into another kiss, making the whole crowd cheer and Sephiroth's firework wish come real.
There were congratulations and exclaims of surprise and kisses on Lightning's cheek from the girls and Cloud and claps on the back for Sephiroth from Snow and Gadhot, as well as bewildered glances from Genesis and accusing stares from Angeal Hewley who was still standing back on shore, waiting, watching it all from a distance and shaking his head at the general's abysmal timing.
They had left soon after, Sephiroth and Angeal, to investigate the ominous dogster sightings, leaving Lightning with the others and her chest exploding in a burst of a million butterflies all taking flight at once. That and a tiny bit of worry about the dogster incident, settling somewhere at the pit of her stomach.
Had the dogster's really returned to Bodhum?
Surely this could not be true.
There had not been a single sighting in the past few weeks. Not a single trace of them. Not after they had slain the giant jenova spawns. And she had been lettting herself get lured into a false sense of security, had been wallowing in the perfection of her own personal safe haven.
She had thought everything had turned out fine, that finally the nightmares of her past were over, that she would be able to start a new life. A life without battle, without war, without beasts and fights and constant vigilance, but full of joy and love and solidarity and family.
Had she been mistaken?
Suddenly she wasn't sure.
It was late when Sephiroth returned back home. But not too late for Lightning to still be up and awake. Not too late for his brand new fiancee to wait for him.
The pink haired woman greeted him with a series of fierce passionate kisses and a worried scowl.
'And... What was it about?!' she attacked him almost instantly.
It made the silver haired man shed his coat and quickly lean down to touch her face.
'Just a few stray dogs... Nothing to worry about.' he whispered against her soft smooth lips.
Lihgtning gave a relieved sigh.
'I was worried.' she muttered somewhat sheepishly.
'It's alright.' the man assured, pulling her closer, making her arms sneak up around his neck.
There was silence for a bit. Silence filled with gentle kisses, hug and staying in each other's arms.
'You had this all planned, admit it.' Lightning said when finally they pulled apart.
It made the man infront her emit a tiny sigh.
'Yes. I definitely arranged someone to report a dogster sighting so I wouldn't have to spend the evening with you and your mundane friends.' he chuckled dryly.
'No... I meant the other thing.' Lightning said, narrowing her eyes at him.
'No... Yes... Well...'
'You know Snow proposed to Serah at this same fireworks display exactly a year ago.' his new finacée threw in somewhat suggestively.
'I didn't know that.' Sephiroth replied sincerely.
'Does it bother you?' he asked after a short pause of contemplation.
It made the pink haired female pull him closer, kiss him teasingly.
'Lots.' she joked, as she pulled away to twinkle at him merrily.
'I actually proposed to you a month ago.' Sephiroth admitted once she let him come to word.
It made Lightning's eyes go huge, made her look at him with big blue eyes, all teasing forgotten.
'What?!' she choked out instantly, suddenly completely taken by surprise.
'Well yeah... Back at your parents beachhouse... You'd locked yourself into the bathroom... Or that's what I'd thought until I realised you'd bolted out of the window.'
Claire Farron could only stare.
'You proposed to me there?!'
'Yes. I did.' the silver haired first class admitted.
'Unfortunately you didn't hear it.'
Lightning just keept staring. There really was nothing else to do.
'Well... Serah did though. And probably Snow.' the man infront her added at an afterthought.
It made Lightning's eyes pop even harder.
'Serah knew that?!' she exclaimed completely perplexed. 'The rat never said a thing!'
The silver haired first class only shrugged his shoulders.
'I'm glad she didn't!' he said somewhat pensively.
'I'm not!' Lightning assured him instantly.
'Well... Imagine it: 'Oh yeah and sis that bloke who's after you proposed to you while you were busy climbing down the drainpipe. I thought you oughta know.'
It made Claire Farron give him a tiny playful shove.
'Why in Etro's name did you propose to me in a bathrooomm?' she questioned him accusingly.
'I could have sat on the toilet.'
It made the silver haired first class shrug his shoulders.
'I thought it was the right time.'
It made Claire Farrron emit a carefree laughter.
'You are crazy! You really are.' she said as she pulled him close again.
'But I love your crazy.'
Lightning moved in for real after that. It took only one ride in Snow's yellow pickup truck to bring the rest of her things with her.
She still didn't really have a lot of physical possessions and it was not something that was going to change soon either. There were not exactly a lot of things she really needed.
Maybe it was a soldier thing.
Still it was weird. Emptying out the room she'd had in her parents old beach house and moving over to Sephiroth's, no, their house.
Weird but in a totally awesome way.
Leaving her old life behind to start something new. Something whole, something infinitely more beautiful...
It was like a childhood dream come true, was like a fancy fairytale she'd wake up from any second.
The house had changed too.
There were not solely blank surfaces, not only emptly smooth white walls.
They had gotten a big ceramic flower vase from Serah and an intricately emroidered tablecloth from Angeal.
They had started to decorate the living room with paintings and photographs and carpets and plants and Sephiroth had begun growing herbs in small pots on the kitchen counter.
There were curtains in almost all the rooms now and a mirror in the hall and blankets and a bunch of pillows of the sofa.
It was getting more comfortable, more cozy, more homelike. Was finally beginning to look like someone actually lived there versus the real estate catalogue vibes it had given off in the beginning.
The only room that still stood completely empty was the one on the right side of the hall, the one that was reserved for the two anticipated additions to the family. A fact that too was going to change soon.
They had begun the preperations for the wedding too, with help of Lightning's sister Serah mainly, had begun making plans about how they wanted it to be, had begun deciding on invitations and colors and whatnot, and it was with their jobs at the guardian corps on top of it all that the two of them were glad to get a breather sometime, were glad to have some timeout with all of their friends on a late sunny friday afternoon.
They were over at the clubhouse again, meeting with all the others over a hearty snack from Lebreau's and a couple of drinks, the guys deep in conversation about freetime activities in Bodhum and how it came the village had no fitness center, a fact Zack and Cloud seemed determined to change.
'It's a gap in the market guys!' Zack Fair assured the others with huge blue puppy eyes.
'People need the opportunity to work out. I mean look at all those beach guys, surely they would want to train!' he elaborated instantly.
'Yeah.. How is anyone supposed to practice squats?' Cloud Strife threw in in general approval.
'I mean we really should think about it... Opening up some place of our own. I mean, who knows how to run a gym better than us? We've spent half of our lives there!' Zack Fair went on excitedly.
'We could call it 'Gentlemen's Hall'... In memory of 'Men's Hall' back in Midgar.' Cloud Strife provided eagerly.
It made Sephiroth and Angeal Hewley scrunch up their noses in distaste.
'Oh yes, what a magnificient idea!' Genesis piped up from the other side of the table, making Fang beside him cringe.
'We could get member training suits and stuff.'
It made Claire Farron roll her eyes.
It was typical for the redhead to get all excited about some stuff like that.
Still the guys did have a point. A fitness center in Bodhum. It really was something that had potential.
Also one didn't have to work in the military forever. And one definitely should not.
'We could host competitions again. Or fights, duels. Bodhum could nominate another champion.' Genesis brought up at an afterthought.
'No.' Lightning intervened unexpectedly.
'No more duels.' she said decisively as she found her lover's hand beneath the tabletop.
'I've had enough duels to last me a lifetime.'
Angeal Hewley and Zack Fair agreeing instantly, Lightning realised that it was true.
Monster inside her very cells or not. She was done duelling, was done fighting. No matter how much of a monster jenova really was, she too at some point must have urged for more, she too craved the reunion, longed for wholeness, some kind of peace or harmony.
Noone was a monster all way thorugh. Not even a bloodthirsty extraterrestial. And definitely not her.
'Okay, okay... Just competitions then. Friendly competitions.' Cloud Strife offered as a compromise.
'Sounds great.' the guys from the neighbourhood watch chimed agreeingly.
'Who knows, you might be able to leave the guardian corps completely.' Yuj suggested to Cloud sitting right next to him making the blonde's face flush a range of colours.
Everybody nodding in agreement it was Genesis who got up from the table.
'Well if that doesn't warrant a round of shots then I don't know what does.' he declared before stepping away from his seat he made over to the bar making some of the others cheer in approval.
It was a short time later that the redhead returned with a trayful of fiery red sparkling drinks and set them into the middle of the table.
The generous first class handing out drinks like candy as usually, everybody made to take one eagerly, even Sephiroth, and it was much sooner than Lightning would have wanted, that the tray had finally arrived at her.
'No, I have to refuse.' the pink haired female said decisively.
'Oh come on.' the redhead cooed, rolling his pretty sparkling eyes at her.
'One drink won't kill you, Farron.' he encouraged somewhat dismissively, Cloud and Zack agreeing instantly.
It made Claire Farron mentally face palm herself.
'No guys... I really cant.' she finally brought out, making them all stare at her.
'I am with child.'
There was silence. Broken only by Cloud Strife's audible swallow.
'Twins actually.'
The group around her gaping at her with huge baffled eyes, Lightning found Serah and Fang's faces looking at her proudly, felt Sephiroth squeeze her hand reassuringly.
'Yeah... And I always peed into Serah's front lawn when we lived there.' Genesis Rhapsodis said into the silence somewhat sardonically, before reaching across the table he grabbed Lightning's untouched drink and downed it in a few quick gulps before he set it down a little bit too hard.
There was silence again. Everybody looking back and forth between herself and Sephiroth.
'Well... Congratulations then.' Zack Fair finally said lifting his drink for a toast.
'To Lightning and Sephiroth and their unborn children.'
'May they be more use to the world than their parents...' Genesis muttered before he dawned his second drink, leaning back into his chair and ordering another.
Everybody on the table taking turns to congratulate the parents to be, Serah Farron was found beaming proudly at her older sister.
Snow Villiers could only stare at her.
'What, you knew?!' he muttered somewhat upsettedly.
'Why didn't you tell me?'
Oerba yun Fan met her sparkling eyes with a smile on her face too.
'Of course I knew.' Serah whispered secretively. 'Women just do.'
It was a while before everybody settled down again and the chatter somewhat died down, the mood getting somewhat calmer.
It was then that Cloud Strife decided to seize his chance.
'Well... Since everyone is outing themselves today... I might as well make this offivial...' he began looking at the guy beside him somewhat sheepishly.
'Yuj and I, we are.. You know... Toegether...' he said somewhat carefully, before finally getting up and putting his fist to his heart he puffed out his chest.
'Yes.' he confessed. 'I am actually homosexual.'
Well. Nobody seemed to be surprised by that.
'You should take the one with the ribbons.' Serah said enthusiastically.
Looking at the ridiculously lacy thing her sister had indicated, Lightning only rolled her eyes.
They were over at the dressmaker's again, looking at the wedding dresses, and her little sister had made her try at least a hundred pieces, still the pink haired first class had not been able to make a decision.
Somehow she didn't even really care.
There were more important things in life than wedding dresses weren't there?
She'd only be wearing the dress a single day in her entire life after all.
And besides... She had never been a big fan of fancy dresses to begin with, had she? No. She'd grown comfortable wearing her beach dresses here in Bodhum. It was true. Especially since the beginning of her pregnancy. Still, wearing big fancy evening dresses and the likes, even the thought of it, it still did not appeal to her, still so wasn't her.
Well... She was not going to avoid it this time.
A bride had to wear a propper dress to her wedding.
There was no way to get around.
'No... NoNoNoNoNo... Take this one.' Cloud Strife advised, pointing over at a volumous strapless thing hanging next to Yuj who was busy browsing wedding catalogues.
'This one will look alright on you even with your baby belly.'
It made Claire Farron cringe. Her baby belly.
It wasn't really all too visible yet. Was not really a bother. Still. It probably would be sometime soon, might be in a few weeks from now.
They were moving up the wedding, it was true, had been doing that in order for them to get it behind them with her kids still small so she would still be able to move around probably and maybe fit some of the dresses.
It was something Lightning was not entirely happy with. She would have prefered to wait until next summer. Still, she wanted to exchange vows with Sephiroth before their children were born, just like so many people did. It just seemed right to her, seemed the right thing, was what she wanted.
Sephiroth and her belonged together. There was no questioning that anymore. It was a fact as plain as day.
She was already carrying his children.
She lived with him in their beachhouse.
Marrying him was the next logial step.
She had already been bonded irreversibly to him in so many different ways.
Marrying him would be the least committing, actually.
Still. The thought of it somehow gave her cold feet, made her feel nervous and jittery, on edge, everytime she played it through inside her head.
Well... Maybe that was a quite common way to feel for a bride to be.
Standing there in front of the huge ornamented mirror of the dressmaker's, watching her reflection in yet another puffy white dress, Lightning couldn't help but feel anxious, scared even.
Was she going to make a good wife, a good mother?
Suddenly she wasn't sure.
She had been a soldier for almost all her adult life. A warrior. A killer. An assasin. All those things combined. Had never spent any time with kids, had never even held a child.
Soon she would be Mrs. Claire Crescent, not Claire Farron anymore. Would be the mother of two kids, not the warrior godess from her past.
Suddenly the thought of it, it gave her goosebumps.
It would be a whole new life, a whole new mission, a completey new experience.
Was she really up to it?
Lightning didn't know.
'Oh cheer up a little! You will look gorgeous!' Cloud Srife said as he stepped up to her, tugging at her fallen cheeks.
It made the pink haired female snap his hand away.
'Shut up you fag.' She contered, throwoing her friend an adoring smile.
The revelation about her comrade's sexuality had not exactly come as a shock. There had been incidences, hints and sings, long before they had come to Bodhum, but that he had soemthing going on with Yuj, that was something Lightning never would have guessed.
Still.
She couldn't help but feel happy about it. Happy for them.
'When is your turn to get married?' she asked suddenly curious, looking back and thro between him and Yuj expectantly.
It made the latter's cheeks flush crimson.
'I dunno... We haven't really talked about any of this yet you know...' Cloud answered in a lowered voice, making Lightning giggle like a little girl.
'Are you two done ?' Serah suddenly asked somewhat sternly.
'We still have to determine the colors for the name cards and choose the cake icing.'
It made Claire Farron roll her eyes.
'Whatever you say, Drill Seargent Serah.' she muttered beneath her breath so that only Cloud could hear.
Yes.
Soon she was going to be Mrs. Claire Crescent.
Everything had turned out fine. Autumn and winter in Bodhum had turned out just as beautiful and warm and humid as the summers. The vegetation just as vivid and the waters still luke warm, it were only the torn off pages in the daily rip off calender in his office at the guardian corpse station that told Sephiroth how much time had really passed already.
Time really seemed to have passed exceptionally fast those past few weeks, those months, as it always did when things were fine, were beautiful, and it was with a little feeling of regret that he looked up out of his window and over to the nearby bushes were a small dirt trail let into the woods.
His relationship with Lightning was beautiful. Perfect. They were getting on well together. More than well, actually. Things had turned out harmonious between them, had turned out so much better than he would ever have allowed himself to dream.
Soon they would be getting married. The preparations for their wedding were coming along fine, and the furnishings of their beach house were almost complete.
Everything was fine, was well.
The weather, the house, his friends, his family...
Still. The thought of the reactor in the woods, that creepy sense of forebodeing he felt whenever his thoughts dared to walk down that bumpy path, it all kept looming over him like a dark fat cloud, promising impeding doom.
It had been two weeks since the reported dogster sighting at the fireworks, two weeks since Lightning had become his fiancée.
He hadn't found any sign of a single dogster, not even a tiny trace.
And still, the feeling of somehting laying in wait there in the bushes, watching them, biding it's time, readying itself for an attack, it never quite left him, stayed with him at the back of his head at all times.
It had been that feeling exactly that had driven him back into the woods, back into the wilderness.
Yes. He'd gone back to skirting the forest every other day, had gone back to scouring the undergrowth for tracks, for hints, for anything, had covered great areas of the wildlands, had studied it's habitants, it's vegetation, it's creeks, the different kinds of geological formations, had tried to get himself a feeling for the lands, the birds, the berries, a natural kind of understanding of the environment, always staying clear of the reactor he knew lay it it's very heard and the imminnent line of death that it had drawn around it.
Yes, he had avoided it. Had spent hours and hours keeping himself occupied with studying the environment, just evading it.
The truth is he was scared of it, was scared of what was laying in wait inside of it, was frightened, freaked.
If only he could avoid facing it forever. If only he could stay away from it entirely. If only it would just go away, just vanish on it's own. If only he could think of something else, could keep his distance.
Still. No matter how much he tried to make himself forget, no matter how carefully he made to stay away from the reactor, it didn't rid him of the nightmares, his secret mako cravings, the eerie feelings of foreboding, of being watched, the creepy visions and the voices. Voices in his head, telling him to come. To come closer.