Wild Rose

"You didn't have to come with me, Lightning." Firion said, a hint of shame in his voice.

Lightning turned her head in his direction, but didn't actually look at him as she stared at the ground a few feet away.

"The rose is important to me, too, Firion."

Now, she slowly moved her head to look at him – her eyes bearing a hint of sadness in them; most likely due to the situation, but Firion didn't want to assume. He'd never seen Lightning so much as on the verge of tears. He didn't know what to make of it and thought it might not even be what it looked like.

"I just want to find it. So, I'm coming along. Besides…it'll be easier on both of us if we go together." she stated.

Firion couldn't disagree and nodded in response.

"You have a point. I-I wasn't trying to tell you to stay back or anything. My apologies."

He had a hint of embarrassment in his voice, but Lightning didn't really notice. Her mind was set elsewhere and even Firion knew that once she had something driving her…nothing would stop her.

She looked ahead and nodded for them to move forward.

"Come on."

She started walking, but Firion held back.

Lightning turned around with a look of anticipation. Clearly, she was expecting him to move anytime now and wondered why he wasn't.

"Hey. What's the hold up?" she asked, a bit hastily.

"Um…well, uh…" Firion stuttered.

His eyes were wide in reaction to her tone. She'd caught him a bit off-guard as she hadn't seemed the slightest bit annoyed by him just moments ago. Then again…he had to consider what was going on. The loss of the rose deeply affected both of them, but for some reason…Lightning seemed to take it harder than he could have thought. Upon truly realizing this, it only made him feel even worse about having lost it in the first place. He still couldn't imagine how it could have happened.

He sighed and stood in silence for a moment. He could feel Lightning looking at him – waiting for him to speak, but he had no words. At least…none that came easily.

"I…don't exactly know where I could have lost it. It's been a while. I just know that after our conversation, I met up with Cecil again."

Lightning put her hands on her hips as she stared at the ground for a moment.

"Okay, well…do you remember where that was?" she asked.

He thought a moment – back to shortly after their conversation at the Prima Vista. He struggled to remember at first, but then it finally came to him

"Crystal World. It's one of Cecil's favorite places."

Lightning stood straight again and nodded at him.

"Okay then. We know where to start."

She turned around, but this time…she knew better. She refrained from stepping forward as she looked back at Firion.

"You are coming this time, aren't you?"

Firion tried not to, but he couldn't help but laugh to himself. Whether or not she meant to, Lightning could be pretty funny – even when she was serious. He just wouldn't dare to tell her to her face.

"Yes. Of course." he said.

He started following her and the two of them made their way toward Crystal World as their search for the Wild Rose officially began. But…what they intended to be a short search, would become a whole new adventure.

*Author's Note* - Short chapter, I know. Chances are...most of them will be.