Chapter 19: Distillation

Rygdea decided to personally oversee our train tickets. The first one to leave would be me. Sazh and Snow's departure wasn't until the afternoon. Fang and Vanille didn't have to escort us, but they chose to anyway. This would be their last moment of freedom before they had to endure boot camp. Rygdea had had enough of working with untrained idiots.

I felt entirely to blame. The agreement was that I went home if they took my place. I wasn't a minor anymore, but my father had stayed in contact the whole mission. Everyone had agreed that I should at least finish schooling. My father didn't know of my ulterior motive in wanting to stay. Gods, that was going to be awkward to explain when I got home.

Sure, he'd seen me kiss her once. But in his opinion, that was probably a one-off scenario.

Hey, Dad. You know how Light is my best friend? She's not. It's official, she's my girlfriend. What? You don't want that pervert ever visiting the house again? Too bad. I'll just elope.

Someone was holding me in a tight embrace. I looked up and realized Snow had me in a hug. I tried to wriggle free, but we both knew I could never escape him.

"Expect me and Serah to come and see you all the time. Even if Lightning won't be here, we're still your family. We'll even drag Sazh and Dajh along with us during the holidays. So don't be a party pooper like always. Remember to call me, lil' bro." He rubbed his chin vigorously into the top of my head.

"Stay home, Snow. You're not my family." I rolled my eyes, pretending I wasn't going to miss everyone.

Just this one morning of all of us together, had been like the old days. I hadn't realized how much it would hurt to end it. I tapped my forehead into his chest and punched his side.

"Yet," I whispered.

His whole body shook while he laughed at my comment. He hugged me so tightly that he lifted me off my feet.

"Considering how you freaked out the other day, what changed your mind?" I asked.

He set me down and put both of his hands on his hips. "Didn't have all the facts that day. Now that I know, it's all good." He tapped my necklace. "I didn't want either of you to get hurt."

I tugged at my bandana, trying to hide the pendant.

"What happened?" Fang said, sidling up to us.

"Nothing," Snow and I said in unison.

She punched the both of us in our shoulders. "If you say so. Hope, I already got all of the sentimental scat out of the way. But I guess it's worth reiterating. Thanks. I wouldn't be here without you. Now don't be stupid, otherwise I won't hear the end of it. For some reason Vanille and Lightning love you to pieces."

"And you don't?" I grinned and bared my teeth.

"Of course I do." She smacked me on the back of the head.

Vanille came from behind and wrapped her arms around me. "I love you, little guy. I'm gonna miss you. Make sure you call all the time. Ok? Don't forget about us. Without my hard work, you'd have nothing." She rubbed my face with on her hands. "Ugh, I'm going to miss this the most. Fang, I need you to grow out your leg hair."

"I'll miss all of this too, Vanille." I turned around so I could look at her. "You don't need to cry. I promise to call you all the time."

She giggled, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes. "Not too often. Lightning might use me as target practice. Anytime you turned around she looked murderous."

I started laughing until Lightning jabbed me in the side. I hadn't even noticed her approach. When I looked at her, I could tell she was trying her best to wear a mask. My hand was about to touch her chin when I was interrupted.

"Don't you dare forget me, kid. I may not have been running around with all of you, but that doesn't mean I don't get a goodbye. There is always room for you with me and Dajh." Sazh clapped my back and smiled.

"Call me when you're on vacation, I'll drop by."

"Hey! That's unfair. You'll visit him but not me?" Snow shouted.

I stuck out my tongue. As soon as I did so, the speakers rang about the arrival of my train. I would have to board soon.

"Light, can I talk to you privately?" I took her hand and strode to the platform.

Concern was plastered all over her face. Once we stopped, she tucked my hair behind my ears. I guessed she'd lied about liking my haircut. I took a deep breath.

It was now or never. She'd made it clear last night that if we didn't know how it felt in the first place, it would be easier to live without it. I worried that if I didn't let her know now, then I might never have the chance again.

"I have something to tell you. Technically show you." I held up my palm. "I haven't let you touch it. At first, I was afraid that you didn't feel the same. Then it became a matter of intensity, perhaps it didn't match up. But I can't let you leave without knowing everything."

I began to recreate her meteor shower in my palm. The sensation was entirely different than any of our other magic. The feeling was like bits of my soul burbling to the surface. I thought back to her birthday, the way the streetlights had glowed on her skin. I thought of every moment since. The more I thought of her, the brighter the fountain grew. How I had inexplicably wanted to kiss her for the first time. How that desire had never truly left. How her touch electrified me. Her glances my way, her adorable jealousy, her frustrated glare, her privately squawking at chocobos. I loved every second. Maybe that's all there was to it, a distillation into one truth. Worth more than like and lust and heat and temptation and passion and want and need. One thing.

I Love You.

I extended my hand to her, urging her to touch it.

The second her hand even neared mine, the sparks multiplied and shot towards her body. They wound in every direction covering the space around us like a ribbon of pure light. The ribbon exploded and droplets of faceted color shone in the air. Surrounded in the aura of magic, Lightning sparkled with a celestial essence. Was this what a goddess appeared like to mortal man?

Her eyes had never seared into me like this. I felt her hand rest at the base of my skull, the other moved to my lower back. She pulled me up towards her. Our lips met.

I started grasping for her like the starving teenager I was. My hands were all over the place, in her hair, against her back, grasping at her ass. Why did I have to be so short? The only possible improvement to the greatest moment of my life would be not having her support me on my tip-toes. As our kiss progressed I knew I wasn't the only one who'd been aching for this. Her tongue drove into my mouth, her teeth bit at my lips, her hand clutched at my jacket.

As we parted, the shimmering in the air vanished. It was just us, together, on the platform.

"Never," she said, catching her breath, "do that sparkly thing with anyone else."

She rested her head on my shoulder.

"I doubt my love for you would have that effect on anyone else. They'd probably barf."

She stood back up properly. Both of her eyebrows were raised, the precursor to a smile teased at the corner of her mouth. Did I say something weird? Oh crap. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way. Way to blow a romantic gesture.

"You thought our feelings don't match up?" she said, resting her hand on her hip. "What the hell gave you that I idea? I love you too."

She loves me.

I had been waiting for those exact words all year.

I could faintly hear catcalls from all around me. I wasn't paying attention though. All I wanted was her back onto my mouth. I gripped her collar and yanked her down to my level. I was fairly certain Fang shouted something along the lines of "Took you long enough." Lightning clearly didn't care about the onlookers either. We didn't separate until an announcer informed the station that my train was almost finished boarding.

"You'll wait for me right?" I said, placing one last peck on her lips.

"How long do you think I've been at this? Another couple of months are nothing."

My hands slipped from hers.