Chapter 3: Awakening
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Lightning awoke early at the sound of her alarm clock buzzing off at seven in the morning. With a grumble, the soldier lazily unveiled a hand from the covers to come slapping down on the device, silencing it immediately. She forgot to call Amodar the night before to explain her current situation that she would need to take some vacation time off. With that in mind, she swept the covers from her lithe body and hung her down past the edge of bed before slipping into a pair of moogle slippers that came with the pajamas Serah gifted her.
The pinkette sleepily sauntered over to her nightstand to retrieve the women's cell phone and quick-dialed Amodar's office. The device ringed through three times before Lightning could hear the older man's familiar voice pick up. "Lightning? I didn't expect you to be calling at this hour. Your shift does not start for another two hours. Something going on?"
Lightning fought back the urge to yawn as she was still in the process of waking up fully. "No everything is fine..I just had a few things come up and I was calling about my vacation time I have saved up. Would it be alright if I could take the week off?" The soldier could hear the man letting out a hearty laugh on the other end before replying. "Of course! I've been trying to get you to take some time off for months now! I'm know sure what came up but it has to be pretty important to take a full week off. I think we'll be able to manage a full week without you here."
Lightning grabbed her brush from the nightstand and proceeded to brush down her hair while speaking. "Thank you sir. I really appreciate this." Lightning said flatly. "Hey don't mention it! Good luck with whatever you have going on, I'll see you on Monday morning." As early as it was, the old man still seemed to be full of energy as always. "Of course sir. Thank you again." Lightning then flipped the device down ending the call before returning the small phone back to the nightstand.
The pinkette swept her fingers through the already wild bed head as she made her way to the closet to retrieve some new clothes. The forecast mentioned mildly cold weather all week, it was late fall after all, so the soldier picked out her favorite red scarf and a yellow chocobo-feathered jacket. Tossing the two to her bed, she resumed her search and decided on a pair of faded blue jeans with a long sleeve blue t-shirt with some gloves.
Lightning stripped down to her under garments and wasted no time throwing on the small pile of clothes that had been tossed onto the edge of her bed. Pulling the shirt down her body, she kicked off the moogle slippers before slipping into a pair of chocobo-faced sandals. After she had gotten fully dressed the women practically busted through the door in a rush and down the stairs to the living room to meet a still-sleeping Vanille sprawled out across her couch.
With a impatient glare forming across her lips, Lightning gave the smaller pulsian a few pokes to the cheek as if that would be enough to wake her. The red head only groaned and rolled over onto her back, shielding her eyes from the sunlight that was now radiating from her living room window. She was definitely Fang's sister alright. Since the previous attempt failed she would have to try something more aggressive. Without giving it much thought, Lightning leaned down and started to shake the women impatiently.
"Get up already!" Vanille yelped out in surprise and jumped up, almost bumping heads with the soldier was now giving the smaller pulsian a death glare. Vanille balled her fists and started to rub the tiredness away from her eyes before opening her eyes to mere slits. "Light? What's going on?" Lightning gave the red head a dreary look before she continued.
"It's Fang. I found her not too far from the pillar..she was pretty beat up when I found her so I brought her to Serah to patch her up. Serah told me she'll be okay." Vanille's eyes opened to the size of oranges and immediately leapt off the couch before wrapping herself around Lightning's middle, jumping with excitement.
"See? I told you she was going to wake up sooner or later!" She squealed and proceeded to snuggle into Lightning's stomach. The soldier let a smile work its way across her lips as she folded her arms around the younger women at a attempt to contain the pulsians excitement. Lightning was just as ecstatic but she preferred to show it differently and more privately rather than Vanille who was so open with her emotional outbursts.
The perky pulsian stepped a few steps back out of the soldiers embrace but continued to hold on to the women's wrists. "You said she's resting at Serah's house? Doesn't she live just down the beach from here? Well what are we sitting around here for? Let's go see her!" The redhead exclaimed as she made a dash for the door where she stopped to look behind her toward the soldier. Lightning was confused for a moment on how the red head even knew where her younger sister lived to begin with but then realized she had the address taped to the fridge.
Vanille then proceeded to beckon the soldier over impatiently when Lightning just stood in the same spot, lost in her thoughts. "Come on! I know how excited you are to be there when she wakes up so we can't waste any time! Chop-chop."
Lightning snapped back to attention then as the pulsian exited the house and was skipping down the beach towards her sisters and future husbands home. With a grin, the soldier walked nonchalantly through the open door and bringing it to a full close where a satisfying lock was heard. The soldier followed the pulsians path down the beach with a light jog, taking in the cool morning air gusting through the pink locks.
Lightning being true to her name, was already starting to catch up to the red head on just a jog alone. Vanille twisted her gaze to the left side of her as Lightning started to match her pace down the beach. "Wow you really are fast huh? Is that why everyone decided to call you "Lightning"? she asked in awe. Lightning's brows furrowed as she looked on towards the twos impending destination. "No. I gave myself that nickname a long time ago after I lost my parents."
Lightning's blue icy hues turned to meet her counterparts and for the first time Vanille saw what looked to be a genuine smile coming from the emotionless cold-hearted women. It actually frightened her more than the soldiers already-menacing glare. "I'll have to tell you about it sometime." The soldier soft in a remarkably softer tone. Vanille was in shock. Lightning used to never be this nice to anyone, at least back on their journey anyway. Fang must have made a huge impact on her.
Vanille was ripped away from her thoughts as they started to approach a two story home which what she assumed where Serah and Snow lived. With the younger farron being a doctor and Snow being a full time security officer at the local bars, the home was easily affordable for the two. Lightning walked up the steps leading to the door before giving it a few gentle knocks. Vanille walked up to the soldiers side and waited until she heard the all-too-familiar soft padded footsteps approaching the door.
The door was pulled inwardly open to reveal the smaller pinkette in her flan-pokadotted pajamas. Lightning immediately found them to be incredibly ridiculous. Serah still acted so much like a child and now apparently dressed just like one as well. Serah could almost feel Lightning's judging look pierce through her as her face started to flush to mimic the color of her hair.
"O-Oh hey sis." Serah's view turned to meet the pulsians. "Oh hey Vanille! It's so good to see you again!" The two younger girls both giggled and embraced themselves into a tight hug. Lightning chuckled lightly at the display before she decided to walk past the two, letting herself in. Her vision was directed towards the kitchen which was occupied by Snow, preparing breakfast from what it looked like. The younger farron had the man whipped and tied around her little innocent fingers.
Lightning knew how dangerous and manipulative her little sister could be, probably picking it up from herself. Snow caught the women's entrance almost instantly and waved. "Morning sis!" Lightning flinched at the annoying nickname the brute decided to give her, lucky for him she was in one of the best moods she felt in her entire life since last night. "Hey. What are you making in here? It doesn't smell all to awful."
The pinkette went inside the kitchen to investigate and found eggs being cooked on a skillet with a side of bacon. Very typical and average breakfast, Snow never was one to be all that creative. The tall blonde-headed man turned to look at his future sister-in-law with that same goofy expression he was renowned for. "You hungry at all? I've made plenty." Lightning shook her head. "No thanks. I'm not really that hungry." she kindly refused.
Snow nodded before returning to the meal, flipping the eggs and bacon as they sizzled in the skillets. Lightning took a moment to take a look behind her to see what the younger girls was up to as they moved their conversation to the living room. Serah was sitting across from Vanille on their tanned couch who decided to take the liberty to stretch her legs out across the other end of the furniture. From what Lightning could hear, Serah was currently filling in Vanille on all that happened on Gran Pulse the last three years.
Lightning then returned her attention back to the younger farrons fiancé who never moved from his current position in front of the stove. "Has..Fang gotten up at all since yesterday? Is she doing okay?" The soldier attempted to avoid coming off too needy and pushy so she decided to limit down her questioning. Snow stopped what he was doing before meeting the women's eyes. "Yeah..she got up a few times in the middle of the night. Serah went to go check on her and she was mumbling something in her sleep. That's all that she told me anyway I was asleep through it all. "
Lightning only nodded in response before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room to meet with the two younger girls. "Hey Serah, Snow was telling me Fang was talking in her sleep? Did you happen to hear anything she was saying last night?" Serah shook her head. "I never got close enough to actually hear what she was saying. I only just listened in through the door, I didn't want to wake her up or anything."
The soldier did not want to believe that this was anything serious but she still found herself becoming more and more increasingly worried. It could have been a odd side effect of crystal stasis and perhaps was still stuck in her dreams. Lightning gritted her teeth at the thought before investigating further. "Serah are you sure you didn't hear anything at all? I need to know, it could be important."
Serah's attention dropped to her feet and fiddled with her fingers before responding. "I did hear a few things but I just pushed them off as normal sleep talking but.." Lightning started to fidget as her patience was starting to grow thin. "Well what was it?" The older farron spoke harsher then what she originally attended and caused Serah to jump a bit. "S-She just called you by name a few times..not by Lightning but your real name..Claire.."
Lightning shivered slightly at that. Fang had only spoken her real name once and that was during a very intimate moment in Sulyya Springs. There wasn't any way Fang was reliving that memory was she? The soldiers face started to matched the color of a tomato as Serah reluctantly continued. "Then um..I heard something that sounded like moaning...then..then she said something about spanking her-"
"Enough we get it!" Lighting roared. The women's face could not have gotten more red at that very moment. She felt embarrassed as well as enraged that Fang would blurt out something like that, asleep or not. Serah did not need to know about the intimate moments between her and Fang. Lightning then turned to Vanille who was now giggling uncontrollably. "Oh Fang never told me that story! You little vixen, seducing my older sister like that!" the younger pulsian teased.
"Shut up!" was all the embarrassed women could counter with. Quick to change the subject, Lightning turned her gaze back to Serah. "Speaking of Fang, is it okay if we could see her?" Serah smiled, glad to be off the hook from that other conversation and not having to reveal the full story that would forever scar her. The smaller pinkette got up from the couch and signalled for the others to follow as they traveled into the hallway and to the guest bedroom.
Serah opened the door quietly as she could and there lay the sleeping brunette sprawled out on the bed. Lightning and Vanille both walked into the room silently where Serah watched from the doorway. Vanille was the first to approach the bed and gently bring her head down to rest onto Fang's chest. The older pulsians heart kept a steady remedy beat that the red head was so used to falling asleep to.
Vanille smiled and rested there for a few short moments before finally getting back up and returned to Lightning's side. "Looks like Serah was right. She looks to be doing alright. I know you would like some one-on-one time with her so I'll go outside and talk to Serah, just try to keep your clothes on before I come back yeah?" Lightning turned around to give the younger pulsian a death glare but was only met with the girl's backside as she skipped happily outside of the room.
The older pinkette rolled her eyes at the display and turned back to meet her sleeping lover. She could hear the door close behind her as Serah and Vanille returned back to the living room before Lightning took the opportunity to approach the bed. She slowly raised a gloved hand to gently stroke across the tanned women's cheek and through the brown wild mane.
Closing her eyes in delight, she savored every moment of contact that she so foolishly refused to do back when they were l'cie. Lightning stopped her trailing hands at the back of Fang's head as she dove down to deliver a kiss to the brunette's forehead. She held the kiss for as long as possible until she felt strong arms wrap around her waist to tug her down on the bed.
Yelping in surprise, the pulsian pulled the pinkette on top of herself with ease as Lightning just lay there in shock. Fang's eyelids slowly ascended open to reveal the green emerald hues that hid beneath. The soldier's heart skipped a beat as her body refused to move and even lost the ability to speak. Fang's lips twitched into a smile which almost caused the soldier to faint alone as the two lay there, staring into one another's eyes.
Fang was the first to speak as the pulsians hands started to trail lazy circles up and down the women's back who still seemed to be petrified. "Now that's a sight I could get used to waking up to." the accented voice came out as a broken whisper though Lightning fully understood her. Just hearing her voice again was enough to bring the flow of tears out. Fang's smiled twitched to a more gentle expression as she felt the soldiers tears start to fall and drip onto her own cheeks. Lightning's voice broke as she finally regained the ability to speak.
"F-Fang..I missed you so much..Here I thought I would never see you again..after all those promises you told me that we would figure out how to beat it..how to beat our focus and survive together." Lightning's hands balled into fists as she went on. "I never wanted to forgive you for what you did..You stole my heart away just to toss me to the side as you went on to save Cocoon and be trapped in crystal for Etro knows how long..Fang I didn't know what to do without you..I was lost."
The huntress could only stare up at her hurt soul mate as she started to just let everything out that she had stored away for so long. Fang tightened the embrace, holding the soldier to her chest as Lightning let the tears finally break freely. It had taken all the willpower in the world to prevent herself from joining Claire in letting everything out but she had to be strong to explain herself.
"Light..I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am that you had to go through all this. I never wanted to hurt you..the moment we met in Palumpolum there was a connection I felt with you that I never thought possible. I actually was nervous to be around someone for the first time in my life..I tried so damn hard to contain my feelings, to tell myself it was all just some misunderstanding but I couldn't shake it."
Fang lovingly rubbed along the length of the soldiers back at a attempt to ease down her lover. "The more I was around you though the tougher it started to get to hold myself back. Someone that could actually keep up with me in every sense of the word. Someone that matched my skill in combat, my speed, and even showed me up a few times. At that moment I knew I found the person I was meant to be with."
Claire's sobbing slowly started to subside and only cuddled further into Fang as she continued her story. "I was selfish to let go of my restraint and let myself fall in love with you..But now that I'm awake I'm very thankful everything turned out the way it did. I was able to come through with all my promises after all..You was able to see Serah again and now I can give you all the love and support that you always deserved.
Lightning's heart at that moment was inches away from bursting out of her chest. Fanged actually wanted to take care of her, to protect and support her. The feeling was so foreign to her, all her life that was exactly what she did for Serah when they were growing up. The feeling actually made her feel a lot lighter on the inside. For the first time in three years, she finally felt relieved, safe, and secure in her lovers arms. Lightning braved herself to look up at the older pulsian, giving her lover the first opportunity to see her in such weakness.
Fang's emerald eyes followed Claire's moistly sapphire hues and smiled warmly. The huntress brushed her fingers tips across her lovers cheeks to brush away the remaining stray tears as she spoke. "If I can make you one more promise let it be this. I will always be there for you whenever you need me, I'll fight for you, support, and love you no matter what. Nothing will ever cause me to leave you again..I'd rather die before I would ever let you suffer again.
"You better keep that promise to." Claire spoke gently. Letting her forehead rest on Fangs, she let herself close her eyes while she brushed her hands through the brunette's mane. Fang only nodded and hummed in response as the two lay there for what felt like eternity until there was a few consecutive knocks heard from the other end of the room's door.
Lightning quickly cleared her voice and shifted herself off her lover and returned to her place beside the bed before she looked to the door. She would never hear the end of it if Vanille caught the two in such a position. "Come in." The door pulled open to reveal Vanille who's eyes instantly went to the Fang who was now sitting up on the bed. Vanille immediately dashed into the room and past Lightning as the young red head pounced onto her older adoptive sibling and squealed.
"Fang! Your awake! It's about time sleepy head." The huntress was blind sighted when the red headed projectile flew into her chest thought was still able to catch the girl with ease. She was used to Vanille's excited outbursts ever since they was in the orphanage. Fang chuckled lightly and gave Vanille's forehead a gentle poke. "Heya kiddo. Your acting like I've been out for days, how long was I asleep anyway?"
Lightning swiped away at her eyes, making sure there was no traces left that she had been crying just moments earlier. "Just a day. Vanille somehow found out where I lived and she appeared at my doorstep yesterday night. I told her to wait at the house when I went to search for you. I found you about a mile north of the pillar."
Fang's brows furrowed in thought as she tried to recall what happened. The pulsian could have swore that was all still a part of her dreams. While in stasis she had multiple dreams of somehow being released from her prison and walking freely around on the steppes. Though if Lightning was saying was true, she'd been out of stasis for at least two days.
Fang was reminded of that when her stomach started to grumble violently and winced in response. Vanille caught on instantly and hopped the bed before retreating into the kitchen. "Stay right here, Snow has some breakfast cooking I'll let him know to make some extra for you Fang!" the red head spoke before exiting the room.
Lightning then took a step towards Fang, rubbing down the length of her white faded out brand as she softly spoke. "How are you feeling? I'm sure your probably starving but is there anything else?" Fang smiled widely before shaking her head. "Not anything I can think of right now love, thanks for asking though."
Clare smiled before wrapping her arms around the pulsians neck, bringing the older women into one last embrace before they had to meet the others. "I'm glad your back..we all missed you." Fang's head was being pushed into the soldiers stomach as her eyes closed in delight instantly. "It's great to be back..you was on my mind the entire time love..I'll make it up to you for all the lost time." Lightning smiled widely with her cheek resting on top of Fang's head before giving it a small kiss. "Can't wait."
"Well I guess we should probably go out and see what everyone else is doing yeah?" Fang spoke as she reluctantly pulled herself away from her lover. The huntress then was about to get up until she felt Lightning's hands push against her shoulders and felt herself plop back down on the bed. "Not yet." she said with her eyes staring down at the pulsian intensely. "Serah told me you was sleep talking last night and the dream you seemed to be having was very vivid..the night in Sulyya Springs if I remember right?"
Fang looked up at Lightning with a confused expression until it all started to come back to her. The huntress recalled that night to be a very..nice and remarkable one. But now that she started to think about it she had multiple fantasies of her and Lightning having many intimate sessions all over the place but the particular dream she had was all real and one of her favorites, she might add. Though the look she was receiving from her girlfriend was starting to make her a bit uneasy.
"W-Was I talking about that out loud? Light I had no idea that I did that. I'm sorry if that.." Fang was cut off as Lightning turned around and walked towards the door, only to slam it shut and twisted the lock. Lightning then looked back at Fang was looking at her clueless before a evil seductive smirk made its way across the soldiers lips. Lightning sauntered over to where Fang was still sitting before she straddled the pulsians lap. "How about we relive that night..I want you to show me everything you remember." Fang's confused expression quickly melted away before shaping into a cocky grin. "Gladly."
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Author's Notes: Once again here is a new update! Fang is finally back and Lightning wasted no time reuniting with her girlfriend as you all can see :P. I really appreciate the reviews you guys have been leaving it really means a lot to me and makes me want to write that much more! Thanks for reading and I hope to hear more from you guys soon!