I too have horrible nightmares due to tragic/dramatic/traumatic events. So I decided to pass on my nightmare issue to Lightning…

FINALLY in Chapter 13 of Final Fantasy :D I'm in the home stretch people.

Wedding Date

Chapter 12

"Fang!" I gasped frantically for air, my hand clutching my chest as I sat up. "Fang?" I looked around the room, my eyes finally landing on the bed I must have been sleeping on. Last night was such a blur. It's been years since I've felt such immense pain. My chest still hurt even.

"Morning…" She spoke cautiously as she opened the door to my room and peeked at me. "I heard you call for me…are you alright?"

"Why are you still here?"

"I told you I wasn't leaving." She made her way across the room and sat at the foot of the bed. I could tell she was treading water carefully with her words. "Did you have a bad dream?" I nodded. "You wanna talk about it?"

"It was just a bad dream." I stretched out and rolled away from her. Her scent soon overtook me as she stretched out on the bed behind me. The weight of her arm came across my rib cage. She hugged me tightly from behind. "I'm…" My eyes slammed shut to fight off that same burning sensation as last night. "I'm sorry…" Her staying the entire night showed me I was wrong in my assumptions.

"I know." That's all she needed to say. All I needed and wanted to hear from her. The only thing that sent me over the edge again. I sobbed softly. Her arm soon becoming tighter around my midsection. Her face nuzzled against the back of my neck. She remained silent, simply letting me have my moment. "I've never cheated on anybody Claire." I rested my hand against hers then laced our fingers together. "I could never do that to you. To anybody I've ever been with."

After taking a deep breath I lifted her arm and rolled over. "Do you mean that?" Her arm returned to my ribcage, my hand moved up to her cheek to caress it. She nodded. "Say you'll move in with me."

"What?" She moved back just slightly, in order to get a better look at my face. She was in shock. "I can't just leave Vanille, she can't afford that place on her own."

I frowned and moved away from her. "Of course you want to stay with Vanille…"

"I'm not saying I don't want to move in…I just can't leave her with the payment by herself." She tried to reach for me again, only to have her hand pushed away. "Why is this such a big deal for you?"

"Just knowing that you two live together…after being together. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you hide it from me?"

"I don't talk about my past. The past is meant to stay there, in the past. I didn't think it was that big a deal really."

My eyes fell shut. "I had a dream of you and her…you were mocking me for being such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot. And why would we do that, you're our friend. Nothing's happening between us. She's more like a sister than anything else."

"That doesn't change the fact that something did." I sat up on the edge of the bed, my eyes becoming glued to the carpet. "I feel like I'm reliving my past relationships right now."

"Why?" I felt the bed moving as she shifted closer to me.

Pushing myself to my feet I made my way to the window to look out. It was a gorgeous sunny day. "It just does." My arms folded over my chest. My eyes searching for anything outside I could watch to keep myself from turning to face her. I knew what I was feeling inside. I was just unsure of how to put those thoughts into words.

"I love you Lightning, and I'd never do anything to ever hurt you."

Something was different about her voice. It was sincere. It was real. She wasn't lying to me. "I know…" I started watching a child playing with his father in the back yard of my neighbor's house. "Remember me telling you how I haven't been in a relationship in a while."

"…I do."

"My last relationship…I learned a lot of things about how cruel people can truly be." I still couldn't bring myself to face her. "He was as sweet as sweet could be. Told me all the time how much he loved me. At first he was okay with waiting for me. Then he began pressuring more and more." I closed my eyes as I remembered him. "I wouldn't give in. I wasn't ready. I was 19 years old then. He was 25." I took a deep breath before continuing. "We were engaged to be married. With our wedding a month away, I found him in our bed, with my maid of honor." I couldn't help but to gasp when I felt her arms wrap around my waist. My body instinctively leaned back into hers. "I haven't trusted anybody since then. Yes, I have been out on a few 'dates' since then. If that's what one wanted to call them. It always ended up being with deadbeats that Serah thought I would look 'cute' with. It never worked out."

"You're scared then?"

"Petrified…" My hand moved down to touch hers. She would have had the perfect opportunity to go running back to Vanille last night. But she didn't. "Fang…?"

"Hmm?" She rested her head on mine and looked out the window with me.

"Why did you stay here last night?" I turned my head to finally look at her.

She smiled softly. "Didn't you already ask me that love?"

"Yea, but you never answered."

"I stayed so we could talk. That, and to make sure you were alright."

I turned completely in her arms and wrapped my own arms around her neck. "Hey Fang…"

"Yea?"

"I…" It was so hard to say those three words to anybody but Serah. The last person I told them to tore my heart into pieces. I'd never know unless I said them. I'd never know what would happen unless I tried. "I love you."