"We're really, really sorry about this, again," Anna, whom up until this point had been fuming over the little stunt Lightning pulled, clasped her hands together in an attempt to sway the police officer's mood. Said officer only looked towards the woman with an exasperated and weary look, and something told the blonde that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. "It will never happen again, sir - I mean, after all, she's banned from the park..." her voice trailed off.
Shaking his head, the brunette only closed his notepad which held several notes from his interrogation with Lightning, Snow and Anna, replying, "Ma'am, as long as she doesn't come within thirty feet of the park, you two are off the hook. Just make sure you get her to a doctor,"
Inwardly, Anna winced. "Yes, sir. Thank you, again, and we're sorry."
"Hey, it's baseball, ma'am. People tend to go a little overboard." With those amusing words and a half-smile, the police officer left the stadium with his squadron, their cars whizzing back to the police station and out of sight.
In the lobby where she and Lightning were, the rose-haired woman sulked and fumed on her own silently and expertly in one of the many chairs set up by the front desk of the lobby. Towards the back of the comfortable lobby was another room, where Snow was currently chatting with his manager about the incident. Hopefully, Light thought, he'll let this go and go along with helping her. She had a hard time believing he didn't remember her - something about the way he looked at her when she abruptly came up to him told her so.
"Claire, you can not go around grabbing people's attentions like that," Anna sighed finally, plopping down in one of the chairs next to Lightning. The soldier made no sound nor any motion, simply focused on trying to burn a hole through the wall in front of her with her intense glare. "You'll get arrested for real, next time."
Scoffing slightly, the young woman uncrossed her arms and stood, finally, beginning to pace slowly. "I couldn't just wait and let the opportunity pass me by."
"No, but you could have found a better time to get his attention and talk to him,"
"When would there have been time? He's famous, right? He would have never gotten the time!"
The dirty blonde simply slumped in her chair and rested her forehead in the palm of her hand.
After what seemed to be ten minutes filled with pacing and huffing, the back door to the other office behind the lobby desk was opened, both Snow and his manager stepping outside and into the lobby to face the two women. At the sight of the two, Anna quickly stood from her slumped position on the chair and took a few steps towards the gentlemen, beginning to apologize for Light's behavior towards the baseball star.
His manager, a short but stocky man who looked to be around his mid-thirties, stopped her before she got too deep into the apology. With a kind smile, he said, "It's alright, Mrs. Farron. She didn't cause any injuries towards Mr. Villiers, so there's no need to worry."
Lightning stood behind Anna, arms crossed over her chest once more. Her pale eyes found their way to Snow's, who looked to be pretty laid-back about this whole situation, and formed a glare. In the midst of her guardian and his manager speaking, she spoke up in his direction. "Snow."
Blinking, the blond brightened and flashed a grin. "Hey— Lightning, right? Nice to meet ya!"
Leave it to an idiot like Snow to overlook an assault, Lightning inwardly deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "We've m— Nice to meet you, too...Anyway, we need to talk."
"Listen, you don't need to apologize, this kind of stuff happens all the time,"
"That's not what— wait, seriously?" She blinked in surprise but soon shook it off, getting back to business. "Not important. I need you to help me."
Honestly, Lightning wasn't very sure he would help her so willingly anymore, after her little "episode" out on the field. But, at this point, it was worth a shot, she figured.
Snow rubbed the back of his neck, a hand on his hip casually. "Help you?"
Crossing her arms over her chest once more, the soldier stood a bit straighter. "Find my sister, Serah."
"Um, your sister? Listen, I'm not—"
"You're her fiancé."
There was a silence between them, not exactly pregnant nor awkward, but more surprised. Of course Snow would be shocked to discover he was practically a married man; his life now was possibly that of a bachelor, Light suspected. Before he knew Serah, he was a very easy-going and free-spirited guy, never really looking to get tied down or dedicate his life to anything else besides his NORA gang, she idly remembered Serah telling her. Even so, that all changed once he met the younger Farron one afternoon during the summer. Lightning, of course, doubted it was true love or anything serious such as that nonsense, but through the trials each of them had been through while facing the fal'cie, the rose-haired woman came to see just how much he truly cared for her sister, even going so far as to risk his life several times against the army.
And, each time, he was too stubborn to die.
The taller man coughed into his fist, crossing his arms over his chest, obviously taken aback by her straightforward information. "F-Fiancé? Look, Lightning, I'm not so sure you've got the right guy here..."
With an irritated sigh, the shorter woman pinched the bridge of her nose to control the urge to deliver a punch to his shoulder or, even better, his jaw. But, remembering her own self-promise to not hurt the idiot as much anymore, she kept the urge in check. "You are the right guy, Snow, why won't you believe me? I know it's kind of sudden, but this isn't your life, this is somebody else's! You're part of a rookie watch group who calls themselves 'NORA', we teamed up against the Sanctum fal'cie and won, you almost died!"
"Sis, seriously—" The blond stopped mid-sentence, and Light's eyes widened in surprise.
He did remember her, after all!
"You do know me, idiot!" Light almost grabbed Snow's shoulders again, instead uncrossing her arms and settling them at her hips instead. An almost smug look came across her features.
The taller blond shook his head, shaken up a bit over the little slip-up, "That's...hrm. But I don't know you, I've never seen you in my life, yet..."
Something clicked in Lightning's head at that moment. "Snow, help me, and you'll gradually start remembering who you really are. And I know it's crazy and it sounds really stupid, but you need to trust me when I say that I am your sister— er, in-law."
Anna and Snow's manager had stopped talking a few moments ago to listen in on heat the two were discussing, and seemed to jump in at the right time. The dirty blonde spoke up softly, "Mr. Villiers, I know it sounds unbelievable, but I believe my daughter, even if she doesn't acknowledge me as her mother."
The young woman glanced towards Anna, a twinge if guilt in her chest. Lightning wouldn't exactly say she didn't acknowledge her as a mother, just...she wasn't her own mother. No one will replace her own mother, and Serah can attest to that; Anna was different from their mother in so many ways. However, it was conflicting for the soldier to often look to Anna for comfort, such as earlier this evening. Practically spilling her whole life story, and so willingly, she knew there had to be a reason for that. She couldn't quite put her finger on her feelings towards this woman.
Snow's manager cleared his throat, his business attitude returning. "Mrs. Farron, I apologize, but we can't afford to simply drop everything for the sake of one girl—"
"I'll do it."
All three of them turned towards the blond, eyebrows raised. Lightning half-smiled, Anna sighed in relief, and his manager, well, looked beyond confused and appalled.
"Snow, you can't be serious!"
"I am, Ryan," he answered matter-o-factly, grinning towards the shorter man. Walking towards the lobby door, he pushed it open and let the cool night air rush into the warm lobby, "Besides, season's over, and we won already. I think I can squeeze in some time to help my sis."
Lightning couldn't help but glance towards his manager, Ryan, with pride before heading out of the lobby with Snow and Anna in tow.
One down, five to go.
"So, Light, got any idea where to find the rest of the gang?" Snow asked, once they returned to Anna's apartment and got themselves busy with trying to track down the rest of the group. So far, it seemed like Snow was onboard with the idea, but Lightning had her doubts. Was he faking it to amuse her? Possibly, yet there was also the fact that he called her "sis" out of the blue back at the stadium. She had a hunch that if he continued talking to her, his memory will gradually come back to him, and soon he'd be his old self again. If they could track down the rest of their friends, their memories would come back much faster.
"Not a clue, to be honest...it was pure luck to find you," Thank Lady Luck, the rose-haired woman thought to herself with a small smile. Flipping a page in a large, yellow book that Anna had given to her, her blue eyes scanned the page with intensity, looking out for any of their friends' names. Anna was pretty tired from today's "drama", as she put it, and went off to bed a bit earlier. Currently, it was just Snow and Lightning in the large living room, two large windows acting as doors leading to the small patio outside on a balcony. The former baseball player had a few of his belongings delivered to the apartment, obviously wanting to be prepared for a roadtrip or flight. "It doesn't really matter what order we find them in, as long as we find them, and fast."
The blond nodded, eyes going back to the small machine he had on his lap. He said it was called a "laptop", and it had access to millions and millions of information for anyone to use. On Cocoon, things were obviously different in terms of technology— there were hovercars, flying airships, holographic panels used to record anything you needed at any time, and smaller, thinner cellular devices, lacking screens. Here, things seemed to be barely moving along; the cars were still limited to the ground and the phones had large screens. "Well, gimme a name, let's see if Google can find 'em for us."
Lightning wasn't very sure of who this "Google" was or how it would be able to find anyone, but she decided it was worth a shot. "Hope Estheim."
After watching him type the name rather quickly, she waited. His cerulean eyes scanned across the screen, a hand on his chin in thought. He said, without looking away from the screen, "'Director Hope Estheim, a leader of one of the most successful oil companies known as 'Academia Oil'.' Kid must be loaded!"
"A director? He's only sixteen," Lightning stood from her spot on the couch, walking over to look over Snow's shoulder at the screen. "How can he..."
The image of said "sixteen year old" suddenly came up on the screen, and the woman found her eyes widening, along with her lips parting in a small gasp.
"Hope?"
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