Chapter 11 (The Ending)
Serah lifted her had lazily off of the pillow as the sun rose in the sky. Lightning was still sound asleep with a content look on her face. Serah gazed down at her sister for a while - contemplating the love they shared with each other. Serah felt her heart swell up with happiness as she continued to stare at the sweet smile on Lightning's sleeping face.
Serah moved her arm to caress Lightning's cheek, when suddenly a jangle rang in her ears. Serah looked down at the source and realized it was the sound of her engagement pendant from Snow hanging around her neck - things were moving so quick lately, Serah had completely forgotten to take it off or return it back to Snow.
Serah moved her hand to her neck to touch the necklace, and memories of her and Snow flooded her mind, but she forced them out as soon as they came. She got up off the bed to the vanity mirror to take it off. Once she got it off, Serah placed it gently into her jewelry box and shut the lid softly and stared at her bare neck in the mirror.
Serah didn't notice that Lightning was awake from the movement Serah had caused getting off the bed. Lightning was staring at Serah with quiet interest as she watched her put away the necklace.
"I was wondering when you were going to take it off," Lightning's voice cut through the silence.
Serah jumped from the sound of Lightning's voice. "I didn't know you were awake," she said turning around to face Lightning.
Lightning only stared at Serah intensely - as if trying to read her mind.
"I actually forgot I was wearing it," Serah said. "Why didn't you ever tell me to take it off?" Serah asked, confused about Lightning's earlier statement.
Lightning shrugged her shoulders. "I thought you actually wanted to keep on wearing it," she said simply.
Serah looked incredulous. "Why would you ever think that?"
Lightning looked down forlornly. "I thought you were still in love with him…"
Serah quickly walked over to Lightning's side and sat down at the edge of the bed. "You know that's not true," she said sternly as Lightning stared deep into her eyes. "I love you," Serah said moving in to kiss Lightning.
Lightning felt Serah cup her cheeks as her lips pressed down firmly onto her own. Lightning swooned from the deep kiss as she laid back down onto her pillow.
Serah moved with her as she laid on top. She stopped kissing Lightning and caressed Lightning's cheek and kissed it. "Why are you so unsure of my love for you?" Serah whispered, truly curious of Lightning's constantly low self-esteem.
Lightning only stared back with a blank look on her face - she looked like she was searching for an answer. "I guess…," Lightning started hesitantly, "I guess it's because it feels like this is all too good to be true. I keep thinking you're going to leave me soon," Lightning confessed quietly.
Serah looked down at Lightning's worried face and felt her heart break for her. Serah nudged Lightning's face to look at her. "Claire," Serah firmly said, "I vow I will never leave you."
Lightning felt tears stinging her eyes and her throat become choked up as Serah hugged her tightly and affirmatively. Lightning had never felt so loved and safe in her life as Serah continued to hug her and kiss the tears that had started falling down Lightning's cheeks.
"Come on," Serah said, smiling sweetly, "We got a wedding to plan."
Lightning nodded her head and followed Serah as she tugged at Lightning's arm - pulling her out of the bed.
Vanille, Fang, Hope, and Sazh were already in the foyer when Lightning came down after her shower. Serah had called the whole gang over to talk about the odds and ends of the wedding. Vanille was jumping around and blurting out random things as Serah talked about the details of the wedding. Fang only shook her head as Vanille continued her antics. Hope was sitting quietly, scribbling things onto a notepad he had brought - paying extra careful attention to what Serah was saying. Sazh was trying to calm down the Chocobo that lives in his hair - the Chocobo was flying around, just as excited as Vanille.
As Lightning approached the group, they all turned their attention to her. Vanille ran up to her and clasped her hands to her face. "Oh! Here comes the lovely groom!" she joked as Fang got up to drag her back to the couch.
"Sorry about that," Fang apologized as she dragged Vanille back.
Lightning stood and ran her hand nervously through her hair, she thought she would be viewed as a disgusting human being to her friends, but to her surprise, she was wrong.
Hope looked at Lightning with a big, happy smile on his face, and Sazh looked positively happy for the both of them.
Fang and Vanille, were of course, more than happy about the tow of them tying the knot.
Serah had the most radiant smile Lightning ever saw her have as she got up to wrap an arm around Lightning's arm to drag her to where everyone was sitting. Everything got up off their seats to hug Lightning and shake her hand in congratulations. Lightning felt overwhelmed from the love in the room.
Once everyone settled down, Lightning sat next to Serah on the couch to begin discussing the wedding.
Serah looked at Lightning with such love, Lightning felt it surrounding her entire body. "So, Claire," Serah started, "Anything specific you'd like to see in the wedding?"
Everyone was looking at Lightning, and Lightning could feel her body shrivel in embarrassment. "As l-long as all the people I love are there, I'm m-more than happy with anything else," she said softly.
Everyone awwed at Lightning's response and Lightning could feel her face becoming red again.
Serah hugged Lightning's arm. "Isn't she sweet everybody?" Serah teased as everyone chuckled.
"Ever since you've been with Serah, you've just gotten so soft Lightning," Vanille teased and everyone laughed again.
Lightning felt as if she could just die from embarrassment at the moment.
Serah could see Lightning squirming and decided it was best to get the attention off of her. "Okay, okay everybody that's enough teasing my fiancee. Let's get this wedding planned."
Lightning mouthed a "Thank you" to Serah and Serah mouthed a "You're welcome" back as everyone got together to set up the wedding.
The next morning, Lightning was getting ready to go to the chapel where her and Serah's parents got married - they both agreed it would be best to uphold the tradition, no matter how farfetched their marriage was to each other. Lightning had convinced herself that their parents wouldn't be angry with her, they would be happy she was protecting Serah like they had wished for her to do. And marrying Serah, was the ultimate form of protection and commitment.
Lightning was in a frenzy. Lightning was scrambling to find her recently pressed tuxedo from the dry cleaners while searching for her motorcycle keys. Everything was happening so quickly, Lightning didn't really have time to plan or organize anything. Once she found her tuxedo, which had her keys in the coat pocket, Lightning ran out the door to the church - hoping she wasn't too late to the ceremony.
Serah felt like it was déjà vu. Just recently, she was donning a dress getting ready for one of the biggest days of her life, and now, it was happening again. This time, Serah wore a nontraditional wedding dress with a tint of pink - an ode to her and Lightning's unique hair colors. Pink roses decorated the waist of her dress, while the bottom of the dress flowed with elegance. Serah's hair was loosely curled and dropped down in pretty ringlets. Vanille gasped at Serah's beauty when she came into her dressing room.
"Wow, you look so beautiful, Serah!" Vanille gasped as she looked at Serah from the top to bottom.
"Thank you," Serah said as she stared at herself in the mirror. She really hoped Lightning will think the same.
Vanille sat on a chair and smiled at Serah looking at herself in the mirror. "How are you feeling?" Vanille asked while Serah played with her matching fingerless wedding gloves.
Serah smiled blissfully at her own reflection in the mirror. "It feels right this time, Vanille," Serah said as Vanille got up to her hug her congratulations.
Lightning finally arrived at the church and ran through the double doors past Sazh and Hope talking casually and drinking punch. As Lightning ran past the two, she nearly knocked the punch out of Hope's hands. "Sorry!" Lightning said quickly as she continued to run to her dressing room, while Hope fumbled to balance the cup from falling out of his hands. After some searching, she found her room and frantically began putting on her tuxedo. Just as when she was about to unzip the cover of the tuxedo, a knock came from the door.
Lightning groaned in frustration as she went to open the door. Fang stood at the entrance with a grin on her face, but as soon as she saw Lightning still not dressed, her face frowned in concern. "You're not ready yet?" she asked, making her way into the room.
Lightning only shook her head no and wrangled the suit out of the bag to begin putting it on. Fang only stood still at the door with an anxious look on her face. Lightning couldn't help but notice the usually cheery Fang being so serious.
"Is something wrong Fang?" Lightning asked buttoning the top of her tuxedo.
Fang pulled out a folded note out of her pocket. "Um, Snow came over earlier today to give me this," Fang handed her the note. "He told me to specifically give it to you."
Lightning took the crumpled note out of Fang's shaking hands and unfolded it quickly. Snow's scratchy handwriting was scrawled all over the paper - Lightning had a hard time making out the words, but she soon figured it out. It said:
Dear Lightning,
I would like to start off by saying how sorry I am I cannot congratulate you both in person and be at the wedding - I just don't know if I can take seeing Serah getting married so soon. I just wanted to let you know, I truly loved the both of you and I'm not mad at everything that's happened. I have faith that you'll take better care of Serah than I ever will. Please, do take care of her. What am I saying - of course you will. Once again, congratulations and have a happy life together.
-Snow
Lightning felt her heart break for the first time for Snow as she read his squiggly words. She felt more guilty than relieved at Snow's well-wishes for the two of them. Lightning folded the note back and placed it on the vanity mirror. Fang continued to stare silently at Lightning as Lightning sat down on the chair with her head in her hands - she felt like absolute scum at the moment.
Fang went to grab the note and read it quickly. She stared at Lightning in wonder. "Well, this is a good thing, right? Snow's actually okay with it. Now you can marry Serah without any guilt." Fang stated, as Lightning continued to cradle her head in her hands.
"That note only made me feel even more guilty," Lightning confessed. "He sounds so sincere and understanding about something I did to him in an underhanded way. I mean, I took Serah away from him at the last moment, and on their wedding day!" Lightning felt the guilt that she'd been holding in for so long come flooding out. Tears threatened to come pouring out as she tried her best to hold them back.
Fang made her way over to where Lightning sat and placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. "You're wrong," Fang said sternly. "Everything that has happened so far was meant to happen, and everyone knew that. It just happened at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it would have happened sooner or later." Fang spoke softly and seriously as she tried to catch Lightning's eyes.
Lightning bowed her head down and listened to Fang. She knew in her heart, she had loved Serah for as long as she could remember - she just screwed up the timing of her confession. It was too late to change the hurt she caused for Snow, but all she could do now was move forward. She picked her head up off her hands and smiled at Fang. Fang smiled back and hugged her.
"Now, let's get you married," Fang said as she picked up Lightning's tuxedo pants and threw it at her.
Serah hurriedly fixed her hair as Vanille helped straighten out her dress. "Okay," Vanille said, "Are you ready?"
Serah felt her stomach flutter nervously, but she knew she was never more sure of anything in her life. "Ready," she said as Vanille escorted her out to the hall. Vanille and Serah stood behind the closed doors and the sounds of quiet chatter could be heard from the other side of the door.
Lightning's fellow guardian corps and all the members of NORA surprisingly came. They were all seated waiting for the bride to make her entrance. Lightning stood anxiously at the altar, realizing how nervous Snow must have been. Everyone was waiting for the double doors to open when Hope began playing the wedding march. The doors opened and Lightning saw Serah for the first time.
Lightning's heart beat wildly as she gazed dumbfounded at her beautiful bride. She felt tears come to her eyes at Serah's astounding beauty. Her knees buckled under the intensity of such beauty Serah possessed. A collective gasp could be heard throughout the church as everyone turned their heads toward Serah.
Vanille was smiling widely as she walked with Serah down the aisle. Serah's legs felt like jell-o as she made contact with Lightning's eyes. Lightning looked so dashing and beautiful at the same time in her tailored suit. Only Lightning could pull off being stunningly beautiful and dapper at the same time in a tuxedo. Serah tried her best to hold back the tears wanting to trickle down her face.
Once she arrived at the end of the aisle Vanille, let her go and whispered congratulations to Serah before she sat herself down in the front row.
Serah was now facing Lightning and her heart beat loudly in her eyes in the silence of the church.
Lightning's lips quivered from trying to hold back the tears of joy wanting to pour out of her. Serah was smiling lovingly at her and everything felt like a dream - a fantasy. She wanted nothing more than to hold Serah in her arms and never let her go.
Serah saw Lightning struggling to hold back her tears and it made her want to cry herself. Her Lightning. Her Claire. Her wife. Her everything. Serah had never felt so blessed to have Lightning in her life.
Lightning could faintly hear the pastor speaking faintly in the background, but she couldn't pay attention long enough to him to hear what he was saying - she was too preoccupied with staring into Serah's eyes. They were really doing it - they were getting married. Lightning felt faint and excited at the same time. So many emotions were going through her body, she felt dizzy from happiness.
"Do you take Claire Farron take Serah Farron to be your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward?" the pastor asked.
They both wanted to stick with their last names, it seemed frivolous to change something that has already been conveniently worked out in their favor.
"I do," Lightning said confidently.
The pastor turned to Serah to ask her the same. Serah looked lovingly into Lightning's eyes as she said, "I do."
Suddenly the words, "You may kiss the bride," snapped Lightning out of her daze. She saw tears of happiness falling out of Serah's eyes and cupped her face, and kissed her with such passion, Serah nearly fell backwards from the intensity. Lightning had to hold Serah up with one arm as everyone exploded into applause and cheers. The whole church was filled with happiness as Lightning and Serah continued to kiss.
Vanille was wiping tears of joy from her eyes, while Fang smiled widely - tears pooling around in her own eyes.
Sazh and Hope clapped wildly with the rest of the audience as the Chocobo flew happily in circles and loop-de-loops. Everything felt like a fantasy. Lightning didn't want to believe it was even happening. Maybe, people are wrong. Maybe, fantasies really can become a reality.