"Where are you going?" Claire called to Lightning as she moved out of the doorway and started to walk down the hall.
Lightning wasn't sure how to handle kids. She'd never been exposed to any other than Serah. She had stood in the hallway while Claire had gotten ready for bed, not sure how she could help. The girl had unpacked her few things without much interaction from her aunt. Claire had been quiet and focused.
Lightning hesitated before responding, "I'm going to my room." She waited for an answer but didn't get one. She walked into Claire's room to make sure that everything was alright. "Is there something you need?"
Claire was looking curiously around her room before her eyes traveled up to her aunt. "Well… We usually said prayers before bed…"
"Oh." Lightning mumbled. I didn't know that… they were religious… Lightning thought as she felt the familiar twinge of guilt stab her stomach. She mentally scolded herself, once again, for becoming so distant from her sister. She sensed the confusion in her niece's innocent eyes, watching her new guardian suddenly so distant and not completely there. Lightning's attention snapped back to reality and she put up her mask to protect herself from anything that might catch her off guard again. "I'm to tired. You can say them by yourself, can't you?" she said, a new edge in her tone.
Claire stood uncomfortably under Lightning's cold expression. "I can. Good night." Claire muttered.
Lightning nodded slightly and exited the room, letting her mask melt away. Instead of going to her room like she said she would, Lightning proceeded to make her way downstairs and into the kitchen. She glanced blankly around the room before walking to the coffee pot. There was some left over from that morning, but Lightning didn't like to waste anything, so she poured the rest of the chilly coffee into a mug and took a long gulp. She didn't wince as the pungent fluid washed down her throat and hit her stomach. She didn't care if it kept her up all night. She hadn't been able to sleep well recently anyway, so what did she care?
Lightning stood with her hand on her hip, while the other hand held the coffee mug, and stared vacantly out of the window above the sink. Although she couldn't see anything but the shadows of the night outside, her thoughts were vivid and full of color. She was beginning to come to the conclusion of what Claire was to her.
An apology.
Lightning couldn't imagine herself becoming attached to the girl, but she couldn't see herself feeling like the girl was a bother either. She was a connection between herself, Snow, and Serah. Nothing more.
Lightning blinked and came back into reality. She exhaled and faced the opposite direction of the window before easing herself to the ground. She pulled her knees into her chest and set the mug on the floor next to her. She rested her head on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. Lightning shut her eyes and struggled to calm her racing mind. After many attempts, Lightning gave up and let her mind wander.
"You're still getting married? Are you kidding me?" Lightning snarled at the couple sitting in front of her. They were in a local diner. It wasn't anything fancy. It was filled with red colored booths and tacky wall decorations. They were surrounded by people, but that didn't stop Lightning from raising her voice. "Serah. You don't even have a steady job and this idiot's not one that can be considered dependable or hard working."
Serah was looking at her lap, avoiding her sister's gaze. "But, sis… I love him."
"Oh yeah? What does love do for you when you can't pay the bills? When you don't have enough food to last the week? You'd probably come crawling to me to borrow some cash and then never pay me back." Lightning's fierce questioning caused Serah to stay quiet with her head pointing down. Lightning could see tears rolling off of her cheeks and splatter onto Serah's jeans.
"Lightning!" Snow interjected. "We'll make ends meet. You can trust me. I'd never let anything hurt her."
Lightning scoffed. "Does that include yourself?" Snow glared. "Tell me again why you're getting married?"
"We're getting married because we love each other and we couldn't imagine spending our lives apart." Snow snarled.
Lightning laughed once without humor. "Sounds like a happily ever after." she spat. "Just remember your promise when she's shaking uncontrollably on the sidewalks of downtown because your cardboard box isn't warm enough. She'll beg you to help her but you won't be able to." Lightning smiled in a spiteful way, knowing that she was getting under his skin.
"Lightning! Please!" Serah shouted. Everyone started to look their way. "This is why you'll end up alone in a house filled with cats! Just like that old lady that used to live on our street! Alone." Serah's watery eyes met her sister's icy ones.
"Cats." Lightning scoffed under her breath.
Serah turned her gaze to her side, away from Snow and Lightning. "No one will ever love you." she growled.
"Except my cats." she joshed. "You love me, don't you Serah?"
"I don't know anymore…" she murmured. Lightning scowled. Snow shifted in his seat nervously.
"Is everything okay over here?" The three of them jumped, being sucked out of their argument. "Some of the other customers are telling me that something may be wrong." A waiter in a black uniform was standing over their booth with concern in his eyes.
Lightning shot daggers at him with her eyes. "Everything's fine and dandy, sir. You can get back to whatever it was you were doing."
"Let me know if you need anything." he mumbled and walked briskly away.
Lightning scoffed. They sat in silence until their food came roughly ten minutes later.
"Mmmm." Snow hummed, enjoying his meal. Serah nodded in agreement.
"It's adequate." Lightning commented. Serah sighed. Lightning watched as Serah wolfed down her food twice as fast as Snow did. "You sure like that food."
Serah peeled her attention away from the cuisine on the table to her sister. "It's alright." Lightning narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "What? I'm hungry. Is that such a bad thing?" Serah said.
"You do realize that you've eaten more then Snow has, and he's already done. Seems like you're just getting started."
"I'm hungry."
Lightning quietly gasped. "You're eating for two, aren't you? You are! You're pregnant!" Lightning exclaimed. "That's why you're getting married! He knocked you up!"
Snow's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Serah… We haven't even-"
"No I'm not, Lightning!" Serah interrupted.
"Snow, you bastard!" Lightning exclaimed. Snow cringed away from Lightning's fury filled eyes. She looked down at the table for something to throw, her gaze fixing on her glass of water. She grasped the glass and flung the remaining water at Snow. He yelped and got up immediately.
"What the hell, Lightning?" he bellowed.
"That's for knocking up my sister!" she yelled. Lightning got out of her seat and moved toward Snow, who was wiping ferociously at his soaked coat. She grabbed his collar and pulled him away from the booth. Lightning snapped her fist into his nose and he fell to the ground whimpering.
"Lightning!" Serah shouted, panicked. "Lightning stop it! I'm not pregnant, I swear!" Lightning ignored her sister's cries and continued to pummel Snow on the ground. Serah rushed to her sister and grabbed onto her arm, pulling her away as best as she could. "Lightning! Why won't you believe me? I'll show you proof that I'm not!"
Lightning punched him one last time before standing up. "Whatever you say. If you do have one, I will never take care of it. You'll have to on your own." Lightning sneered and stalked away. She paused before shoving the doors open and called, "Snow. Get a job."
Lightning shook her head. She felt her stomach churning, maybe because of the stale coffee or maybe from the guilt of her behavior. She didn't know. She stood up and walked to her couch, sitting down roughly. She stared at the wall across from her, her mind surprisingly blank. She took a deep breath, relieved. Lightning shut her eyes but didn't fall asleep. She sat there until a piercing scream rang through the house. Awake and full of panic, she sprinted up the stairs and into Claire's room. She found the girl screaming, crying and flailing about on her bed. Lightning didn't know what to do.
"Cl-Claire?" she said, terror creeping into her voice. She rushed to the side of the bed and grabbed the girl on her shoulders. She held on, not sure what would happen.
Claire awoke, alarm on her face. She gazed at Lightning who was standing over her, looking at her with frightened eyes. "Lightning?" she whispered. Lightning sat on the bed next to her.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Claire moved closer to the woman and wrapped her arms around her middle. Lightning tensed. "Claire, what's wrong?"
"It was a bad dream." she mumbled.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lightning offered. Isn't that what you're supposed to say? Lightning had no idea. Claire shook her head. Lightning sat for a few seconds thinking about what might cheer her up. Lightning thought of something that she wasn't excited about. "Would you like if we went to church tomorrow?" she whispered to the crying girl next to her. She felt Claire nod. "'Kay…"
A/N - I'll be introducing more characters in the chapters to come, so don't worry. For this chapter, I wanted to give an idea of how Lightning treated Serah and Snow, and how it's affected her. That's why this chapter's pretty uneventful. I hope I got my point across and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks