Lightning leaned against one of the beams under the bleachers next to the football field and let out a deep breath. This was one of the only places where she could get some peace on this campus. Of course, the occasional sexually active couple or group of stoners would sometimes come along, but all of them were usually too preoccupied with their own business to pay her any mind. And even if they did try to start conversation, it would still be better than having to deal with Alyssa. That girl stuck to Lightning like white on rice. For a while, Lightning had even feared that she had somehow been lo-jacked. It also didn't help that she hadn't been sleeping well due to all the strange dreams she'd been having of late. So now, before lunch, she would hang out under the bleachers and relax until she had mentally prepared herself to go on the yard and sit with the junior class president.
"So this is it then?"
Lightning's head lifted from the beam on hearing a familiar, sultry voice not too far away.
"I could try to find more if you need it, but all the basic info should be in there," a different voice replied. This voice was a bit more high-pitched. It kind of sounded like a boy who hadn't hit puberty yet.
"Well, it's more than I had before. So what do I owe ya?"
Lightning leaned back to peer through the beams. Sure enough, she caught sight of that messy mop of frazzled black hair that belonged to the athletic, tanned girl she had history class with. In front of her was a much shorter boy with unruly blond hair and goggles sitting atop his head. Lightning recognized him as a kid who would sometimes tag along behind Snow and Gadot. The boy was currently giving Fang a look as if to say, "You know exactly what you owe me."
"Alright, alright," Fang conceded. "Just tryin' my luck." Fang dug in her backpack and pulled out an object that looked like some sort of mechanical part. A wide smile broke out across the boy's face and he excitedly snatched the object from her. He marveled at it in his hands for a moment as Fang now placed a few papers in her bag and zipped it up. "Thank you, sir Maqui. If I need anything else, I can call ya right?"
"Sure can…" Maqui replied, still gazing lovingly at whatever in the hell it was she had given him.
Fang turned around. She too had a big grin stretched out across her face. Truthfully, Lightning was puzzled by it. For someone who dealt with so much adversity, she always appeared to be so carefree and content. It almost even seemed like the incident at the Vestige hadn't even phased her.
"Lightalot?"
Lightning stiffened. Her cover had been blown. She looked up and slightly raised an eyebrow towards the Pulsian as she approached. "Do you make a list of those before school every day just to use when you see me?"
"Hehe, nope. All off the cuff," Fang answered with a light grin. Lightning silently nodded, not really knowing what to say next. The two of them hadn't actually talked to each other since their spat during lunch the other day, and considering everything that had happened, Lightning had started feeling guilty for slapping the other girl. Twice. It didn't exactly help her conscience that Fang was 'coincidentally' standing far enough from her just to be out of arm's reach.
"So…" Fang began, interrupting the brief silence that had fallen between them, "What're ya doing down here? Not that I've ever heard any rumors about you acting like a bit of a troll or anything, but spending your time under the bleachers? Tch…" Fang shook her head and made a semi-dramatic scolding face. Lightning noticed her take a small step backwards with one foot. If Lightning even twitched in her direction, she figured that the Pulsian was preparing to use evasive maneuvers.
"Would you rather I was down here wheeling and dealing with the freshmen?" Lightning returned, referencing the transaction she had just caught the end of.
"Well, look at you. Got a taste of the wild side and now you're on withdrawal?"
Lightning gave Fang an unimpressed look in response. Even if Fang could walk around acting like they hadn't been arrested recently, Lightning still felt it was a touchy subject.
"But since you're so curious," Fang said, leaning forward on her toes to get closer while still staying out of reach, "All it is is some info for a little side project I'm working on. I didn't really know how to go about finding anything on it, so I enlisted Maqui to help. Kid's a computer whiz. You?"
"Relaxing." The word had slipped out before Lightning could catch it. She couldn't explain it; even though their last conversation had included physical violence and a heated argument, it was kind of easy talking to Fang. The girl was so laid back that it just felt as if some of it had no choice but to rub off on her a bit whenever they were close.
"Under the bleachers?" Fang's eyes flitted up and around dubiously, taking in the unimpressive setting. "I guess it does have a sort of symmetric, prison-like feng-shui to it. So ya really are on withdrawal then, huh? Unless… are you waiting for someone?"
"Hm?" At first Lightning stared at Fang with a puzzled expression, but once the real meaning of the statement registered, her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red. "NO!"
Fang crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows at the pinkette. It had been an earnest question on her part. She didn't want to mess up the groove of some lucky bastard too badly, but the quick and vehement manner in which Lightning had answered interested her. "Well, if you say so… But doesn't it get awkward sometimes then, with people coming down here to, uh… ya know?"
Lightning shot Fang one last peeved look for her insinuation before rolling her eyes and admitting, "It does." She always made it a priority to skedaddle and cut her relaxation time short if a couple came down there too heated. She didn't need anything else to haunt her dreams at night. "But I guess we're all just trying to find ways to pass time."
"Uh huh…" Fang nodded, the edge of her lip twitching upward for a moment as a quick thought popped in her mind.
Lightning watched her curiously. There was somewhat of a conflicted look on the Pulsian's face as if she were debating on what she should say next, and Lightning wasn't sure if she should trust it. "Well… I've gotta go find Vanille," she finally seemed to decide on. She began walking backwards towards the end of the bleachers, grabbing onto some of the beams as she went. "But good luck with whatever it is that's got ya down here. If ya need someone to stress slap, I would volunteer but it still hurts when I chew on my right side."
Lightning let out an amused huff in response and softly shook her head, grabbing onto one of the beams to lean against it again.
"But!" Fang called back to her once she had gotten a fair distance away. Lightning's head lifted back up in Fang's direction again. "If you're ever down here just looking to 'pass time', I'd be more than willin' to lend a hand." Fang winked.
Once again, Lightning stood with her brows slightly bent in confusion. Fang could tell when the underlying quip finally hit her though because her face once again reddened and an appalled look passed across it. Fang couldn't help but grin at seeing the girl so flustered. It didn't last long, however, because the girl's features instantly hardened into a scowl afterwards.
Still smiling, Fang spun around and lifted a hand in the air to wave. "See ya 'round, Lighttrap."
Hell. Fang didn't think she'd have felt any better if she had even given the pink-haired girl a vengeful slap to the face.
"So how ready are you for the practice meet coming up?" Yuj asked.
He and Fang were standing in the middle of the football field where most of the track and field's field activities were currently set up. Fang squinted and simply shrugged dismissively.
"Never been more ready," she replied. "I mean, it's just us and Our Lady Etro competing, right? I've felt more pressure at some of our practices here."
"Haha, true," Yuj nodded. "But if you embarrass them enough, maybe it'll get you some of your cred back. Between the Vestige rumors and you missing all those practice days, Coach was about to flip. I think the principal tried getting him to kick you off the team."
"Pshhh. I am the field team for this school." Fang leaned a bit against the vaulting pole that she was holding onto. "Coach would more likely give up his firstborn than give up me."
Yuj laughed but quickly jumped upon hearing his name being called from one of the lanes on the track. "And the torture continues…" he murmured. "Meet you at the water cooler later?"
"You know it," Fang answered with a grin. Yuj walked off toward the 200-meter mark on the track while Fang stayed behind and squinted forward towards the jump that she was supposed to clear. It had really only been a few days since she had practiced, but to her body it felt like it had been weeks. Aside from the invigorating feeling she got every time she worked out, there was just something about her practice drills that reminded her of her childhood on Gran Pulse.
Example number one: the pole vault. Whenever she rode the pole vault upwards and into the air, she felt as if she were flying. It was nowhere near as exhilarating as when she would cliff dive or go wyvern fishing with Vanille, but she still got a little taste of it every time she lifted herself into the air. Nowadays, that was more than enough and more recently than ever she felt like she needed something familiar and comforting to hang on to.
Fang shook her head to clear it of all her nostalgic feelings. She inhaled and then let out a deep breath before raising the pole and taking off into a run toward her mark. She slowly lowered the pole with each powerful stride. The mat was quickly getting closer and closer. She lowered the pole further. HERE. She planted the pole into the ground and felt herself beginning to ascend when—SNAP!
"Whaaaaa?!" Fang immediately tumbled down onto the mat, rolling as she hit it. A broken piece of her pole fell to her side as smaller splinters rained down from above to shower her on the mat as well.
She pulled herself up into a sitting position and surveyed the damage. She could hear some of her other teammates exclaiming from their various places around the track. "Fang!" the assistant coach jogged up to mat and looked around incredulously. "Fang, you alright?"
"Yeah, Coach," Fang replied. She picked up and glumly eyed one of the severed pieces of pole that had landed dangerously close to her head. This wasn't a good sign…
"What in the hell happened?" The coach was leaning over the mat picking up some of the shards and splinters and throwing them to the ground.
Fang threw the big piece of broken pole over the side of the mat and shook her head. "Not sure, Coach. It all kinda happened pretty fast"
"Hmph. We've been trying to get this school to invest in some better track equipment for years now… But if the ever-so-beloved football team even hints that they've got a scuff on something, it's new gear for all of them! I think there's an extra pole somewhere around here. I'll send one of the trainers to go get it."
Fang nodded and climbed to her feet. Sometimes things just broke. That was the way of the world, right? With all types of thoughts and worries swimming in her head, she continued to clean off the mat until she was given a new pole. This time, the assistant coach decided to stand near in order to watch her next attempt. As Fang walked back to her starting point, she looked down at her hands, which were gripping the pole.
She stopped at her mark and then turned once again to face the mat. She slowly shut her eyes and dipped her head down for a short moment. "Just a freak accident… Just a freak accident…" she chanted to herself before opening her eyes to look back up.
The assistant coach waited expectantly and impatiently glanced between her and the mat. "Here we go," Fang breathed. Satisfied with her mental preparation, she once again repeated the process. This time, the pole did indeed stay intact as she rose to the air. As she ascended further, her hips rose, curling until her feet were over her head. It was a feeling so familiar to her now, as her body continued to rise.
That was… until something very unfamiliar happened at the peak of her vault. She didn't know what it was. She could feel something, something like a pent up energy being stored in her upper body. It was something obtrusive and hindering, like a cramp, and all she knew was that her body wanted to release it. Needed to release it.
And release it, it did. And boy, did it feel good.
Now all she felt was air. Air above her. Air below her. Air whooshing her hair from the sides. It was another familiar feeling, but it was not the familiar feeling of falling that she should be experiencing at this point in her vault. It was a feeling more akin to when she and Vanille and latched on to a wyvern that was way too big for such small children to be fishing for. It was the feeling of flying skywards.
Fang's eyes shot open. She didn't even remember when she had shut them. She frantically looked around. She was soaring upwards, and damn it felt good. But that feeling slowly switched to one of potent fear as she slowed to a stop in the air and began to descend again. Her body had immediately lost its poise and grace in her confusion as she rolled in the air and flattened out so that her body was in a parallel position to the ground.
Not the mat.
THE GROUND.
Fang's eyes darted downwards. That shit was coming to meet her faster than she had expected. Her body must've taken note of this before her mind did, because it was just then that she realized that her mouth was wide open and emitting a loud, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" sound.
She quickly buried her face in the crook of her elbow, with her hands pushing forward in an 'X' shape to block her head from the inevitable impact of the fall. In her head she kept trying to remember the words of advice that Vanille had given her not too long ago. "Concentrate on what it is you want to do. You need to really feel it."
Fang shut her eyes again and quickly started repeating a mantra in her head. Guard against it. Guard against it. On all things holy, please guard against it.
A surge of energy felt as if it flowed out of her chest and throughout her body, causing her skin to stiffen.
POW!
"Shit…" Fang groaned, as she laid face first on the ground. She had flown too far forward in whatever mega-jump she had performed that she had missed the mat by a long shot and was now basically eating grass from the field.
"Fang! Fang!"
Multiple footsteps were running towards her. Fang groggily lifted her head up from the ground and spat out some dirt that she had almost accidentally swallowed. Her body ached, but considering how high up she had been, it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should've. "I'll be damned…" she muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Vanille was right."
"Fang!" The assistant coach was kneeling beside her. "Where does it hurt? What's broken? Oh, Etro…"
"I'm fine…" Fang mumbled. She planted her hands in the grass to push herself up.
"Fang, stay still!" That was the voice of her head coach, who had now appeared on the scene. "The trainers will be here in a sec, IF THEY'D JUST RUN FASTER!" The man shot an angry glare over his shoulder before also kneeling by Fang's side. "Does it feel like anything's broken?"
"No, I'm fine," Fang tried to push. She quickly sat up and wiggled her arms and legs. "I'm good."
The coach looked at her dubiously before looking sideways at the assistant coach. "How far up did she get?"
The assistant shrugged as Fang stood and stretched. "I want her sent somewhere where she can get x-rays. No one knows. She might have internal bleeding… or knocked her brain around a bit." The coach said that last part slowly as he eyed the girl who was now jogging in place in the grass.
"No, seriously Coach. I'm fine. I learned about this in physics. It's all about torque, acceleration, and velocity. With the speed that the pole brought me upward with and the way the wind was blowing, I didn't gain enough acceleration to hit the ground hard enough to break anything."
Both coaches continued to eye her.
"I'm serious."
"Well." The assistant coach scratched his head and looked over to his co-worker. "I was never really good at physics."
"Me neither," the head coach grumbled in a low voice. Fang let out a relieved breath through her nostrils. That's what she was hoping for.
"Well, if that's the case…" It was amazing how quickly the worried expression on her coach's face switched to one of pure joy, "I think we pretty much have the pole vault in the bag for the championship meet! Did you see how high you got up there?! Boy! …but wait. You haven't been getting a little bit of 'extra' help have you?"
"No, sir."
The coach just nodded and rubbed his chin. "Okay… But letting you know off the bat, if you pull anything like that at any of the meets, they'll probably want you to take a trip to the bathroom with them right after."
"I understand."
"And for the rest of the day… No more pole-vaulting. If you're really feeling as spry as you say you are, start practicing your javelin throw—"
"NO!"
The speed and intensity of her refusal shocked both coaches and even Fang herself. But losing control while pole-vaulting was one thing. She couldn't even begin to think about how deadly she might be if she went into over-drive when wielding a spear.
"I mean, I think I am feeling a little bit light-headed from everything. All the air whipping past and getting to my head… Just whew! I think I might need to have a seat." Fang looked up at her coach, trying to give him tired, puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, alright. But I want you over by the trainers. Let them take a look at you. And I want you to see one of those witch doctors or whatever you call them on your reservation too. Bring back a note. Or a stamp. Or whatever saying you're alright, got me?"
Fang's eyes lowered a bit in annoyance at the unintentional offhand comments about her culture but still nodded. "Yes, coach."
Immediately upon entering her house, Lightning threw her bag to the side and tumbled over the back of the sofa to flop down on the cushions. Serah was at one of the cheerleading tryout practices, meaning that the house would be empty for at least another two hours. Or so she thought.
"…but thank you for inviting me over. From the readings, it looks like whatever it detected came from a power source that hasn't been used in years, and especially not on Cocoon. I'm pretty sure that it was just a glitch in old machinery and I'll be back in Eden within the next few days." Lightning shot straight up into a sitting position on the couch, peeking over the edge. The door to her father's study was opening and two men were stepping out. One was her father. The other was a taller man dressed in a black PSICOM uniform. He had silver hair with long bangs, a short ponytail, and grayish-blue eyes that made her feel uncomfortable when she looked into them.
Farron was the first one to see his child and his eyes narrowed a bit in her direction; it was a habit that had formed over the past few days. The other man followed Farron's gaze to sofa and his eyebrows perked a bit in surprise. "I didn't realize one of your daughters was home."
"Me neither," Farron returned.
Following her cue from the stern look that her dad was giving her, Lightning rose from her seat. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be home so early. I can just go upstairs and start some homework."
"No need. I was just on my way out," the silver-haired man stated. However, instead of walking towards the door, he took a couple of steps toward Lightning. "Let me see if I can still get the names correct. You look to be almost eighteen. Claire, is it?"
"Lightning," she quickly corrected out of reflex. On realizing what she just did, her eyes flicked quickly to her father, trying to give him an apologetic look before turning back to the man. "I mean… I'm sorry."
The man chuckled lightly, clearly amused by it all. Farron was the total opposite. "Lightning?"
"It's a nickname that she picked up after her mother passed," Farron informed him, eyes never leaving his daughter. "I thought it was just a childish phase. I didn't expect it to stick."
"Interesting. Well, if she wishes to be called Lightning, who am I to go against it? I take it you don't recognize me."
Lightning's brows slightly scrunched together as she once again looked over the man's hard features. There was something familiar about him, but she just couldn't say from where. "No, sir."
"Yaag Rosch. Your father mentored me when I first joined PSICOM. I would sometimes join your family for dinner."
Lightning's eyes slightly widened in recognition. She did remember him. He was much skinnier with shorter hair back then. If there was one thing, however, that didn't change, it was the amount of creeps that the man had given her. "Oh. Yes, I remember. It's been a while."
"Yes, it has," Rosch replied, with somewhat of a wicked smile. "Once I started making a name for myself in the ranks, I was assigned to Eden to work under the Primarch. Etro has been generous to me."
Lightning couldn't help but be a little impressed and a little skeptical at the same time. "If you work for the Primarch, then what are you doing in Bodhum?"
"Official PSICOM business," Farron cut in. He eyed his daughter as if to ask what in the hell she was thinking.
Lightning's eyes dropped to the floor, and Rosch let out a stiff chuckle. "You can't fight a child's curiosity," he said, turning back to Farron. "Once again, thank you for having me over. It felt like old times."
Farron led Rosch to the door while also stating certain pleasantries about catching up on old times. "Perhaps you should stop by for dinner one night. The girls have become quite the little chefs of the house."
"Thank you. I may take you up on that offer." Rosch stuck out his hand from outside the door and Farron gave it a firm shake. Once the silver haired man turned to leave, Farron closed the door behind him.
Lightning still stood, rooted to the spot where she had held her short conversation with Yaag Rosch. She looked at her father apprehensively before speaking again. "Dad, I really am sorry… I didn't know—"
"You don't have to apologize, Claire."
Lightning's gaze turned from apprehensive to confused. Aside from the little cut-in with Rosch, this was the first time he had directly spoken to her in days. The man's eyes softened on seeing his daughter's shocked reaction to his statement. He approached her and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "We've all had a long few days. I think it's about time you stop apologizing for them."
"Y-yeah," Lightning agreed, still trying to decipher whether or not this meant that she and her father were on good terms again.
"You know, before you came in, me and Yaag actually spoke a little about you."
Lightning didn't speak, but her eyes displayed her curiosity at the statement and she dumbly followed behind her father as he walked into his study. "He mentioned a training program that the Guardian Corps heads. It's for young people who show great potential for becoming future leaders in the force. I know you haven't formally competed in awhile, but with your background in martial arts and your high grades, I think that you could be a strong candidate."
Farron reached for a folder on his desk, then turned and handed it to Lightning. Lightning quietly leafed through it as her father continued. "I don't know if it's still a dream of yours, but I remember when your were just a young child, you always said that you wanted to be in PSICOM like me. This isn't exactly PSICOM, but the Guardian Corps will train you right. And a transfer will be easy if you do well enough. That is, if this is even still your dream—"
"Yes."
The sentence had barely escaped Farron's lips before his daughter had answered. She looked up from the packet to establish eye contact with her father before repeating in a more resolute tone, "Yes. That is still what I would want. I mean, it is still what I want."
Farron seemed a bit taken aback at first by the quickness of the answer, but his gaze on his daughter once again warmed up. "Very well, then." A soft smile formed on his face. "You will probably need to undergo more training before you apply, just to get back in shape."
"That's fine." Lightning could feel her own features brightening on seeing the hint of a smile on her dad's face. "I remember most of the workouts, drills, and practice stuff from when I used to compete. And if you sign a note for me, I'm sure that they'll let me use the gym during my free period at school. Finding someone to spar with would be the only hard part."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll write the note now."
Lightning felt her heart swell and her face grow warm. A hopeful half-smile had crawled on her face from the look that her dad had just given her. It was something undeniable. He was proud.
"Yo, yo, yo." Fang called smoothly as she walked into the open garage of Sazh's Auto Shop.
Sazh, a middle-aged, dark-skinned man with a big afro and a neatly trimmed goatee, peeked out from around a lifted vehicle and pointed a finger at her. "Just the girl I've been looking for. You didn't happen to see a thrust bearing just lying around here yesterday, did you? Because I swear I had one and it's all of a sudden gone missing."
"A thrust bearing?" Fang asked innocently, scratching her head. "I'm not even sure I know what one of those is. Y'know, they say the memory is the first thing to go with old age."
"Don't know what one is, huh? Well, I figured you would know since you asked me if we had any yesterday. I think of the lot of y'all like you're my own kids. And I sometimes I enjoy your company. Really. Sometimes I do. But that doesn't mean you can run around treating this place like you own everything. Lenora's Garage will end up running me into the ground if you keep this up!"
"Is that why Dane is stuck doing all kinds of cheap labor for you?" Fang asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Oi!" Dane's upper body slid out from beneath a nearby car. His face and clothes were dusty and oil-smeared. "Dane's stuck doing cheap labor for him because it's the only way to pay the bill after SOMEONE ELSE got the car impounded!"
"And there's the man of the hour!" Fang grinned, looking down on her comrade. "All oiled up and sweaty, just the way I like 'im. Grrrrrrrrrrr," Fang rolled her tongue suggestively.
Dane shot Fang a disapproving look before announcing, "I'm going back under," and sliding beneath the car again.
"Yep. That's definitely what Dane said," Fang returned playfully. It was answered by Dane mumbling a Pulsian vulgarity at her from underneath the vehicle.
"This is why Vanille's the only one who gets visiting rights to the house. I might not know what you're saying, but I know it's bad and I don't want Dahj picking it up. And you," Sazh was once again pointing at Fang, "I know exactly what you're saying. That's the scary part."
Fang chuckled and reached over to her side to pick up some bulky, circular contraptions that were pile up near the garage doorway. "What are these?"
"Don't tell her," advised Dane's muffled voice from under the nearby car, but it was too late. Sazh had already opened his mouth to explain.
"Mini-hover pads. Wait… ugh. Put them back on the pile, Fang."
"I was just looking," Fang said defensively, placing the two that she had picked up back down on top of a couple of others. She continued to eye them curiously. "At that size, though, ya think you'd be able to strap them on to a pair of boots and just go whoosh?" She made an outward and upward swiping motion with her hand to drive her point home.
"Well, you'd have to have a lot of strength and coordination to control—Wait. Hey. Don't think about it." Sazh was pointing at Fang again. Fang was pretty sure at this point, if anything horrible ever happened to the man that left his body torn and mangled beyond repair, she would be able to confirm his identity as long as his finger was intact.
"Okay, okay. No touchy. I get it." She raised her hands and took a step away from the pile. "But how much longer do ya think y'all will be working? If I get home first, I'll be stuck on 'find out which trailer Willow is hidden in' duty instead of Dane."
There was an audible snort from under the car. Sazh walked over to his desk in the corner of the garage and looked over a chart. "We should be finished up soon. Dane's a good worker. I know that y'all have your certain skills and strengths among tribes and all… His have anything to do with this type of work."
"I guess you can say they're related," Fang began with a smirk.
"Shut up, Fang," the voice from under the car warned.
Sazh crossed his arms and looked towards Fang expectantly. He knew that she'd continue the story if it had anything to do with grating on the older boy's nerves. And sure enough, she kept on going as if she had never heard Dane at all. "You see those intricately braided bands he has tattooed on his arm?"
"What about them?" Sazh asked, playing along.
"They signify Dane's entrance to manhood by completing and proving himself worthy of the skill most revered by his tribe."
"Fang…."
"Ya see, the mighty Brons of the Yaschas area…"
"Fang, I swear!"
"Are basket weavers." Fang finally announced jollily with a smile that encompassed her entire face.
Sazh chuckled and shook his head while Dane could be heard muttering something unintelligible from under the car. "Ya know," he finally called back, "Basket weaving is a very respectable skill!"
"Oh, yeah. You should see how big of a hit he is with the ladies back on the res," Fang said, looking over to Sazh with an excited look in her eyes.
"Oh, yeah?" Sazh asked with an amused smile.
"Yes, indeedy. He's good with his hands."
A loud clanking sound immediately echoed from under the car, followed by silence. "Oww."
Fang leaned back against the wall and grinned. She eyed the hover pads one last time while Sazh broke out into a fit of laughter at Dane's expense.
A/N: Yeah, I'm no real expert on pole vaulting so y'all probably shouldn't take anything said in that part about technique or breaking of poles and stuff too seriously...