I own nothing, just borrowing from other people :)
Chapter Seven
At the sound of her ringing telephone Lightning woke up slowly. She chuckled to herself as she tried to disentangle herself from Fang's arms. The two had stayed on the couch after the earlier session, chatting until Lightning dozed off. Fang must have dozed off herself soon after because the topless Oerban was still snoozing on the couch when Lightning moved off the couch to go answer the phone. She picked up, adjusting her clothing to try and restore some order to them.
"Hello?" She asked, taking the phone into the kitchen to avoid waking the huntress up.
"I was going to wait for you to call me but I couldn't stand the tension anymore and I broke down," Serah laughed. "I am not interrupting am I?"
"Not at all, we were asleep on the couch. Well Fang still is," Lightning leaned to look out the window; the sun was setting, so they had to have been sleeping for over an hour.
"Oh, you guys were on the same couch?" Serah giggled and Lightning could hear Vanille's voice in the background asking if they had been pashing.
"I only have one couch Serah so yeah on the same couch, and tell Vanille I don't know what pashing is… But it had better not be rude," Lightning actually let herself chuckle at the other two women. There meddling was sort of sweet if not annoying at times.
"She says it being kissy and stuff, like passionate." Serah was obviously grinning.
"Am I on speaker phone?" Lightning got herself a glass of water as her sister clamored. She sipped her water and leaned on the counter as her and Fang's sisters continued to squabble. She grinned to herself a little as Fang came into the kitchen tucking her tank top in as she walked to Lightning. Lightning reached for her belt loop and tugged her over, hitting the speaker phone button.
"I'll bet Lightning had to put the kibosh on things. I have heard Fang is all hands." Came Vanille's voice.
"She'd better behave because I don't want to have to defend my sister's honour." Serah responded, trying to sound firm.
"Will ya two knock it off? I didn't do anythin' to her," Fang put her arms around Lightning and lowered her voice. "Not anythin' she didn't want me to do anyways," the second part just for the elder Farron's benefit. Lightning grinned a little and poked her.
"OH! Fang we didn't know you were there." Vanille laughed nervously.
"What was it you said Vanille? All hands yeah?" Fang pulled away, taking the glass of water from Lightning's hand and sipping from it. She grinned as her sister instantly started to grovel. Lightning changed the subject.
"Don't you work tonight Vanille?"
"I do! And you guys should come by, Lebreau has changed the menu and you should try something. It can be like a date." Vanille bubbled.
"Because I want to go on a date with ya hangin' around?" Fang shook her head. "I wanna talk to this Lebreau anyways. I gotta find somethin' to keep me busy when Sunshine is at work yeah?"
"Great! I start at 5! Oh! That means you and I can work together, that'd be so fun!" Vanille kept on rambling and Fang obviously was tuning her out. She was looking through a newspaper and responding with the occasional uh huh. It made Lightning smile to see Fang so relaxed.
"Okay Vanille. We will see you there. Let Lebreau know we will stop by. I should hang up now… I'm feelin' like I might be gettin' all hands again." She winked at Lightning.
"See you later Vanille, you too I imagine Serah." Lightning finished exchanging good byes before hanging up.
"Not much for talking on the phone?" She sat at the table with Fang. The taller woman shook her head.
"So impersonal and she can't pick up on when to stop talkin' when she can't see my body language." Fang grinned and sipped her water. "Feelin' okay Sunshine?" She arched a brow
"I feel great," Lightning was starting to blush, her mind wandering a little. "Thanks."
"Mission accomplished," Fang chuckled and leant back in her seat. "You up for goin' out tonight Sunshine?" Lightning gave a nod and crossed her arms on the table.
"I don't have much else to do tonight. I cannot be out too late because I work in the morning."
"I figured ya might be workin'," Fang grinned a little. "I might catch a shower before we go," Fang stood up and leaned to kiss the top of Lightning's head before leaving the kitchen.
Lebreau's bar was busy as usual. it was a popular night spot in Cocoon because of the close proximity to the beach. Popularity had risen enough in the last five years that Lebreau had to change the location so she could expand the bar. Lebreau needed all the help she could get and when Vanille started working for her business picked up even more because something about Vanille made her very popular, Lebreau assumed it was the accent. The proprietor was busy behind the bar when Lightning and Fang came in and took a seat at the bar.
"Busy for a Sunday night huh?" Lightning asked as she looked around. Lebreau popped up behind the counter and grinned.
"I am so glad you two came by," She leaned to offer a hand to Fang. "It's nice to see you again," she had recognized the woman as soon as she saw those eyes.
"Again?" Fang chuckled. "I must have been popular or somethin'," she grinned at the other woman.
"I recognized you. It's not often I get customers that stand out as much as you do. Besides, your sister told me about you constantly," Lebreau slid Lightning a beer and offered one to Fang, handing it off with a smile. "I hear you might be looking for work."
"I hear ya might have a job for me," Fang chuckled.
"I do, come with me. I will give you the tour." Lebreau lifted the counter and nodded for her to follow. "Vanille! Come take over." Vanille made her way behind the bar as Fang followed Lebreau. She smiled at Lightning.
"You seem happy Lightning," She leaned on the bar. "You two are getting along well?"
Lightning gave a nod. "We are getting along great. She's starting to remember things, which is great," the pinkette smiled. "She can remember when Bahamut came for her, so that's a start."
"That's so great!" Vanille bounced a little. "She'll be back to normal in no time."
"She also can remember why she decided to become Ragnarok," Lightning sipped her beer. "Can I ask something? I would ask her but I don't want to upset her."
"Fire away!" Vanille smiled as she dried glasses.
"She mentioned falling for someone who became Cie'th... Who was it?" Lightning played with the label on her beer.
"Mostly I think I will have you working behind the bar because as wonderful as Vanille is, she tends to talk too much and neglects other customers." Lebreau chuckled and led her off.
"It's just the way Dias are," Fang laughed. "Companions and counsellor types," She took a case of beer that Lebreau handed over. Lebreau smiled and gave a nod.
"That makes sense then. What do you do?" Lebreau led her to the back to put stock away.
"My family is full of hunters and warriors." Fang took a second case on her way past.
"Maybe I should turn you into a bouncer," Lebreau laughed. "You can scare off the trouble makers," she put her box down and took one of Fang's from her.
"I can always come out from behind the bar," Fang grinned and stacked the second case.
"A few years ago you would have been tossing out Lightning. She used to cause a lot of trouble here. "
"Really? How so?" Fang leaned on the shelf. "She said she used to drink a lot."
"She was in here most nights drinking and fighting," Lebreau organized some stock. "She was pretty angry for a while there. She's been better since Vanille showed up and tonight was the first time I think I have ever seen her smiling, so you must be doing something right."
Fang gave a shrug. "I can't really remember what she was like before so this is all I know."
"Well trust me when I say that she seems happier," Lebreau grinned.
Vanille looked to make sure Fang was nowhere to be seen. "This is really something you should ask Fang about Lightning..."
"She has enough stress trying to remember things, I am not going to force her to remember other things." Lightning sipped her beer.
Vanille sighed. "There was someone. Her name was Luna," Vanille leaned on the bar. "She was a friend of ours, not from the orphanage though. Fang has always been pretty and strong and people have always liked her. Boys liked her, girls liked her…"Vanille shrugged.
"She told me she was popular and I can obviously see why," Lightning sipped her beer again. "What made Luna special?"
"I guess it was because Fang liked her back. In our village if you want to marry someone you have to do things to impress them. First of all you have to prove you are a suitable addition to their clan. Status in Oerba is everything. Like for example we have this clan the Tans, Tans are known through Oerba as tailors. When someone wanted to marry a Tan they had to prove they belonged so we had men making dresses to ask for one of the Tan daughter's hands. The Tans where well off, and had four daughters so you can imagine the mess of fabric that suitors brought their way," Vanille giggled.
"And Yun's are hunters," Lightning gave a nod.
"More than that, Yuns are also warriors, protectors and with Fang being the only one left, they were important," Vanille nodded. "Very important. Yuns were always respected so lots of other clans strove to try and make a union between themselves and the Yuns even before it was just Fang. So fathers sent their sons out to try and match Fang's skills as a warrior and hunter. Our village did so well the year that everyone was courting Fang because the biggest most impressive beasts were hunted."
"To try and impress her," Lightning gave a grin as she imagined the annoyance it caused Fang.
"Exactly! And Fang wasn't interested in marrying anyone, least of all some gangly boy that got a lucky hit in on a Behemoth. So anyways… After you impress the clan's leader, you have to best them in battle, which meant that they had to kill something scary then fight someone scarier." Vanille laughed. "Because it doesn't get much scarier than fighting Fang." She paused to help a customer and then came back to Lightning. "Luna had this big idea that she was going to do it. She would be the one who married Fang. The two of them had this sort of thing between them and this was going to be Luna's way to finally make it something serious."
"Is that why she became l'cie?" Lightning put her beer aside, watching Vanille.
"Yes and no. Luna's father wanted to win a place with the Yuns as much as anyone else but instead of putting his hopes on Luna he put them on her brother Raine. Raine was a real jerk and a sore loser. He tried as hard as he could to best his sister in the hunt but couldn't so their father forbade Luna from courting Fang and took the prize that Luna hunted for Raine instead." Vanille shook her head. "When it came to the next step and Raine had to fight Fang he lost. He lost really badly," she laughed. "Which I knew was coming but it was funny to see him so shamed."
"Basically Fang would never marry because she wouldn't lose a fight?" Lightning chuckled.
"On the contrary, nobody could beat her in a fight, but I know she would have conceded the fight to Luna so they could marry." Vanille sighed. "Luna went to Anima to become l'cie so she could best both her brother and Fang in battle. Fang was furious that she went and did something so foolish and she decided that she wouldn't marry at all, like ever," Vanille rubbed her forehead, her features looking a lot less like herself and a lot more sad. "It broke Luna's heart and she let herself become Cie'th. Fang and I had to free her from that torture."
"That's awful! And Fang blames herself doesn't she?" Lightning shook her head.
"That's Fang for you. That woman takes more blame and guilt than anyone I have ever met," Her tone losing its usual perkiness, suddenly Vanille straightened her back and pretended to work as Lebreau and Fang emerged from the back.
"Is she working?" Lebreau asked with a grin and a nod towards Lightning.
"Yeah, she was telling me about courtship rituals in Oerba." Lightning smiled. Fang sat next to her and rolled her eyes.
"She isn't demandin' ya slay somethin' so ya can continue to see me is she?" Fang grinned and Lightning shook her head.
"No, she told me about the Tan daughters," Lightning shrugged, trying to keep the conversation light and away from what Vanille told her.
Fang laughed and slapped the bar top. "Ha! The ugliest frocks Oerba had ever seen!" She shook her head. "Like thirty of the bloody things."
Vanille smiled a little at Lightning. "I told you so."
"I never doubted you Vanille," Lightning said and laughed. "Glad things are simple here in Cocoon. Get a ring and ask a question," Lightning leaned on the bar and smiled. "
"Nah Sunshine, if you want someone then you should be willing to work for them in my opinion," the huntress said with a grin. "Seems a little more romantic yeah?"
"Depends on the people I think," Vanille smiled as she wiped the bar down. "Waiting for five years and then helping someone remember so they fall for you is pretty romantic."
Fang laughed. "I am sure if you ask Lightning she will tell you it's been hard work," Fang sipped her drink that she left behind during the tour.
"It has had its ups and downs," Lightning smiled at Fang. "But you are right, totally worth it." Fang leaned in to kiss her neck softly.
"Good," Fang blinked as a man sat next to her at the bar and grinned wide at her and Lightning. She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him.
"Don't mind me," The man grinned. "I will behave."
Fang visibly cringed and Lightning leaned to look past her. She raised a brow at the man. "Get lost."
"Whoa there sweet thing, I am just appreciating you guys. A beautiful couple like you should be appreciated," the man leered and Fang stood up.
"Alright buddy, time to go home," She hauled him by the arm.
"She will fit in nicely here," Lebreau said before chuckling and shaking her head.
AN: Sorry for the delay, been a busy week with work. (And not FFXII-2 surprisingly)
Thanks again for the feed back. Was going to make this one longer but I wanted to get something up for this weekend so I can work on another Chapter over the weekend without any pressure :)
Thanks for reading!
Meggs