Chapter Three: Friendships
The first night in Academia, Lightning didn't sleep well. She was in too deep a sleep to realize that she was tossing and turning all night in her bed. The emotional toll of everything was getting to her when she let down her guard at night. Fortunately she was alright the next day, only tired. The others studied her intently at breakfast and told her to stay at least one more night before she left on her question. She didn't respond at the time, but her silence was basically her agreeing. She wasn't ready to leave just yet.
Caius, however, was more than ready. He cornered her in her bedroom after breakfast. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded of her once he closed the bedroom door behind him. It was an attempt to make her feel more trapped, but Lightning wasn't one to get threatened easily.
"Waiting for the opportune moment," she responded simply. "Problem? Or do you already have a plan in motion that you need to get to?"
"You would be the one intelligent enough to think of that possibility," Caius said with an impressed smile. "Yes, I did have a plan. If Yeul were still alive, I was going to attack Bhunivelze so that the chaos could completely end this world. I was acting in accord to the goddess's true will, after all. But apparently she no longer saw me as necessary, so she took away Yeul. Yeul was my only reason for serving her. And now that Yeul is gone, I want revenge for her taking her away. Revenge is my plan now and I do not lightly put it on hold. Especially not so that your friends can cradle you."
Lightning grunted, eyes narrowing. Her friends were not cradling her. They were just being supportive. Sort of. "Jealous that you don't have friends who can do the same for you, Ballad?" she managed after a moment.
"Jealous?" he asked with a chuckle. "Never. I only have one desire: to avenge Yeul. What's your goal, Lightning? Is it to wallow in self-pity or avenge your sister?"
"Shut up," she said lowly. Her goal most certainly was NOT to wallow in self-pity. She wasn't doing that at all. "Your antagonizing won't get me to leave sooner than I'm ready. My goal is to get revenge. I'll only have a shot at accomplishing that goal if I'm prepared for it."
"What happened to the physical strength you had before, warrior goddess?" he mocked. "The ability to fight even when you were running on nothing…Apparently the death of your sister isn't enough to fuel that fire. Pathetic."
"Enough!" she roared. The house may as well have shaken with how loud she boomed that one word. Caius took things too far by mocking her with Serah's death. He could antagonize her all that he wanted just as long as Serah wasn't brought into it. Was he really selfish enough to use her as a tool to get Lightning worked up? Apparently so.
A voice sounded from the other side of the door. "What's going on in there?"
Neither Lightning or Caius responded. She stepped forward so that she was right in front of him, not intimidated by his size or height. "You say what you want about me," she said lowly. "But don't you dare bring Serah into this. She was the best person in the world. Kind, brave, and loving. The world is a much bleaker place without her in it. Give some respect to her and leave. her. alone."
"Lightning? Do I need to break down the door?" the voice outside asked.
Caius's intense purple eyes stayed locked on Lightning's angered blues. Not many people dared to cross her in the first place, but Caius should have known that he shouldn't have said what he did. He remained silent for a few moments after that as he glared at Lightning. "Tomorrow," he said lowly. "We leave tomorrow."
Caius Ballad turned around and opened the door, which Noel was standing right outside of. He walked right past his old friend and gave Noel and open view of Lightning seething in anger. "What was that all about?" Noel asked.
"Tell your friend to have some decency. And that if he ever talks to me like that again, he's as good as dead."
"O-okay…" Noel responded. He was clearly confused about those messages, but he also seemed a bit scared by Lightning. He wisely left the area to give her some privacy. Anger wasn't something that she wanted to experience right now, though, so she took in a soft breath and forced herself to calm down. If she let any emotion get out of control right now, there was no telling what would happen. She needed to do what she always did: focus on what needed to be accomplished and ignore her emotions. It wasn't like they mattered.
After a few minutes, she felt apathetic again. A part of her hated for that, but she pushed that aside as well and went to the living room. All but Noel and Caius were sitting around on the couches.
"Light," Snow greeted with a nod. "Just in time."
"What's up?" she asked. She walked over and sat on one of the chairs, looking around to the others. They all looked serious enough.
"Just decided on the final game plan," Sazh explained. "We have an idea for combating Etro."
"We need to expand our military," Hope said. "Everyone's scared stiff with the sky being like it is now. So, we think that if we give sophisticated weaponry to the regular people and give them basic training, they'd be willing to fight in this war."
"So where's the weaponry coming from? You have the resources for that?"
"Nope. That's where you come in, Light," he continued. "Because I jumped through the future, I'm not familiar with all the weaponry of the past hundred years. The weaponry that I'm most familiar with is this era's—500 AF, and 400 AF in Academia. If we get our hands on a load of those weapons and you bring them back to the future, we can even develop them a little further so that they're more like today's weapons."
"Either way, it'll be better than nothing," Snow added.
"Okay," Lightning said with a small nod. If they were certain that this was right, then she would take this path to get them more weaponry. "I'll make it happen."
"When are you planning on leaving?"
"Tomorrow." She rose to her feet as she spoke. "Until then, I'm going to go for a walk around Academia. I want to get familiar with it in this time so I can navigate more quickly in 400 AF."
"Good thinking," Hope said with a nod of his own. "But…You probably shouldn't go alone…"
"I'll be fine."
"No, Hope is right. I'll go with you," Snow said as he too pushed himself up. "Can't have anything happening to you before you even leave."
Despite the fact that Snow was only referring to her safety, she got the sense that safety wasn't the only reason that he wanted to tag along with her. For that reason, she decided not to protest any further. "Fine," she said simply. She jerked her head towards the exit and started out of the room, trusting that Snow wouldn't be too far behind. She had a bad feeling about this; he was going to try and bring up Serah, wasn't he? He was grieving too; he probably wanted to talk to somebody who held Serah in as high esteem as he did.
The two of them entered the city within a few minutes of walking. There weren't people around; everyone seemed to have taken to locking themselves within their homes. Fear was in the air along with the dark fog that made seeing the far distance difficult. What a terrifying reality to live in. At least there weren't monsters in the city. Not yet, at least. Valhalla's looming shadow was at a distance, not immediately threatening the safety of the world. But soon—very soon, that would change. Etro would try to conquer this world along with her own and eliminate life and death.
Lightning couldn't allow that to happen.
The eerie silence lingered in the air as they walked. At the same time as Lightning, Snow realized something. "You're not really out here to survey, are you?"
"No," she said before she could stop herself. "I guess I'm not." She just needed to get out of the house for a while…and away from Caius. He really pushed her buttons earlier with all his talk about Serah. That wasn't a topic she would bring up with Snow, though. He had enough on his plate. "And you're not really here to keep me safe, are you?"
"No, that's not the whole reason," he agreed. "Just wanted to be with you."
"Because of Serah," Lightning said instantly, surprising herself because she never would have believed that she would bring up the topic so eagerly. She didn't want to talk about it, but if Snow did…Well, listening was the least that she could do. Maybe at least one of them could find peace in this situation.
"Yeah." Snow sighed, looking at the path as they walked down the path between tall buildings. "I just…I just needed to be in the presence of somebody who loved Serah as much as I did. Don't have to talk about it, necessarily, but…Well, I'm sure we're both feeling a lot of the same things."
You mean like anger? Betrayal? Guilt? Yeah, I feel it all.
"Serah shouldn't have been out there fighting in the first place," he began. "She should have had faith in me…I said I was going to bring you back."
Lightning's startled eyes went over to Snow. "That's what you think this is about? She left because she didn't have faith in you?"
"What else could have caused it?"
"Me."
The two of them stopped walking. Snow didn't know, then. He didn't know that Serah was out there because of Lightning telling her to be. His blue eyes danced all over her face, yet she didn't dare return his gaze. She was guilty.
"What're you talking about, Light?"
"Noel didn't just appear out of nowhere. He came to Valhalla and I told him to go get Serah and bring her to me. The reason that she was jumping through the timeline was because I told her to through Noel."
Snow was silent. So was Lightning. She expected Snow's full fury or grief now, but she didn't get it.
Instead, she felt Snow's hand on her shoulder.
"It's not your fault, Light…" he said gently. "She was out there fighting because she wanted to be, I guess…"
"If that's true, then you can't blame yourself either." There was a moment of silence. "You're not all talk, are you, Snow? You actually mean that I'm not to blame? Because if that's true, you're not at fault either."
Brief silence.
"Guess you're right," Snow agreed. "Thanks."
A silent nod was his response. The two of them started walking again. For a long while, it felt as if time didn't exist in the world. But no, Valhalla had not conquered them yet. Time was just passing extremely slowly or extremely quickly as they spent the rest of the day aimlessly walking around the city. At least Lightning got a sense to what the city was like even if she wasn't paying too much attention to her surroundings; that would help her in the quest that she and Caius had.
When they had enough walking around, their feet led them back to the Academy Headquarters. Neither of them said a word, because no words were needed. Instead, they soberly nodded to each other and parted ways.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
*…*…*…*…*…*
Despite impressing upon Caius how both of them needed their rest, Lightning was up early the next morning. She was always an early riser; Serah could have testified to that. If she were alive. Thoughts like that forced Lightning to swear under her breath and curse Etro to a fate worse than death. Again, she found herself swearing that Etro would pay for cursing Serah and taking her away. And for betraying Lightning's trust.
Unaware if anyone was awake that early in the morning, Lightning found herself pacing the long hallway where the bedrooms were. No sounds were coming out of them, not even Sazh's snoring. Maybe he was awake already and just lying in bed, trying to delay the inevitable. Or he was trying not to awaken his son. He, unlike her, still had family to care for.
The pacing continued for a good while as thoughts of sorrow and anger about her lack of family threatened to consume her. Her parents died when she was younger. She never properly grieved over either of them because she was being strong. When Dad died, she was strong for her mom. When her mom died, she was strong for Serah. She was…
"Lightning."
She stopped pacing. The voice came from a bedroom. Somebody heard her from one of the bedrooms? How'd they figure it was her?
"What about her?"
No, they didn't hear her. They didn't even know that she was listening in. They were having a conversation about her. Though curiosity killed the cat, Lightning stood right outside Noel and Caius's bedroom as she eavesdropped.
"Come on, Caius, don't give me that look," Noel said. "You know I have reason to be concerned. You weren't exactly kind with her yesterday."
"She's a warrior. She is supposed to push her emotions behind her and get the job done. If she is going to travel with me, she needs to be that warrior."
"I think your traveling arrangements are the opposite," Noel pointed out. Behind that closed door, Noel raised an eyebrow at Caius. "She was the one who was able to create the first anomaly that brought you here. So you'll be with her, not her with you."
"But it will be my strength that sustains us." Lightning rolled her eyes. Caius was cocky, but if he was this cocky, they would have problems.
"Caius," Noel snapped. "Enough. Any normal person wouldn't be ready to leave on a journey like this even today. Lightning's extraordinary, in battle and in heart. Stop treating her like she's inferior just because she has people left in the world that she cares for."
Silence.
"I admit her battle skills are great," Caius said after a few moments. "But if she believes I will slow down because her heart is aching, then she is sadly mistaken."
Oh my gosh, would you just shut up already? Lightning seethed silently. She wouldn't let her emotions get to her. Emotions came after the world was safe. After revenge was gained.
"I'm asking you this, Caius," Noel said. The sound of creaking told Lightning that Noel just got up off his bed. "If you still see me as a friend in any way, treat Lightning well. Protect her too."
Apparently Noel wasn't going to wait for an answer. His footsteps came towards the door so that he could exit. Skilled with stealth, Lightning quickly went down the hall and entered the kitchen. Nobody was there, which was good. She needed to think. Noel just asked Caius—Caius Ballad—to protect her. Like I'll ever need his protection, she thought. Even her mental tone of voice had bite to it. She would never allow herself to fall into the mercy of that man. If the day came where she were to save him on the other hand…She probably would, just to have power over him. She wouldn't let him die; she needed his blade by her side.
That was the only reason she would keep him alive.
"Good, you're awake," Caius's low growl of a voice said. The warrior in armor entered the kitchen where Lightning sat.
"Yeah," she said simply, glaring at him. The glare wasn't suspicious; she always glared at him. And she would continue to after yesterday's conversation.
"Are you ready?"
"As soon as I say goodbye," she spat.
"Then say goodbye. Before I drag you out of here."
"I'm the one who can create the rifts, Ballad," Lightning said coolly. "So you're in no position to be dragging me anywhere."
"You couldn't get Light to go with you against her will anyway," a new voice said from the doorway. The eyes of the warriors went to Hope Estheim, who was wearing the faintest of smiles. "Light's too stubborn for that."
"Stubborn, yes," Caius muttered. Lightning's glare returned to him as Hope, along with Snow, Sazh, and Noel entered the room. All of them chose to ignore Caius's murmur, except for Noel. He gave the man a glare as well.
"Light, you heading out?" Snow asked, running his hand over his hair in what she recognized to be a nervous gesture.
"Yeah. We need to go."
"We won't keep you," Sazh said. He too wore a faint smile as he cracked a joke. "You're not one to let people hold you back anyway."
"Guess you would know that pretty well, wouldn't you Old Man?" Snow taunted jokingly. "After all, Light was the one who dragged you into the Fal'Cie Vestige."
"Yeah, basically," he chuckled. "And you tried to leave me being because I slowed you down. But you gotta admit, I came in handy for battles."
"You weren't completely useless," she agreed with the slightest of smirks.
"That's all I can hope for in my old age."
The group managed a few chuckles, but they quickly faded. Now wasn't the time for jokes.
"Right then," Lightning said after a few moments. She rose to her feet and looked at her friends. Refusing to say goodbye, she said, "We'll be back before you know it."
"We're gonna hold you to that," Snow assured her. "If you're not back, we'll find a way to get you and kick your butt for not returning."
"You'll swoop in and be the hero?" she checked.
"Always."
Lightning smiled faintly as Snow clasped her shoulder. As long as you keep that positive attitude, you'll turn out just fine, she thought to her friend. Sazh also had the courage to clasp her shoulder in farewell, as did Noel. The only one that dared to give Lightning a hug was Hope. That wasn't too surprising though, considering the relationship they had. They were like siblings. As long as they lived, they would look out for each other.
The farewells came to a close after a few minutes. Caius, silent for once, didn't interrupt the goodbyes. That was at least one thing that he had done right.
The two of them headed towards the outskirts of the city. If they were going to create a rift, they wanted to do it away from other people. There was no need to frighten them worse than they already were because of Valhalla's threat. No interruptions would be a plus as well, since Lightning wasn't even sure how she was planning on making this rift. The first time she did, it was because she had a rare moment of having a strong desire to get away from Caius.
I'm supposed to get us to 400 AF, Lightning thought to herself as they exited the city. But that's not what I desire most. What I desire most is for Serah to be alive. Yet no portal appeared for that desire. It was because there was no chance that Serah could come back. That was why Caius couldn't create portals, wasn't it? His greatest desire was not to go to 400 AF, but for Yeul to be alive. That impossible desire being his priority prevented him from creating the rifts.
That made so much sense now! No wonder Caius was so dependent on Lightning creating the rift. If he could, he would have left already. But he couldn't because of his heart's state. And he dared to complain that Lightning's heart was wound with emotions…What a hypocrite.
"Have we walked far enough?" Caius finally asked.
The two of them stood at least half a mile away from the city, in an area where the crass was to their ankles and the wildflowers were beginning to wither. There wasn't even wind around them; everything was so deathly eerie. Nobody was around. "Yeah, it's enough," Lightning said after a moment.
"What is the agenda?"
"Go to 400 AF Academia to get a bunch of weapons."
Caius was silent.
"What?" Lightning asked with an arched brow.
"Nevermind it," he said as he shook his head. "Create the rift."
"Okay." But how exactly do I do that? She knew she had to think of her strongest desire and a rift would appear to help her get closer to that desire. What did she desire more than Serah returning to life? What could she possibly want that would allow her to get to 400 AF? I probably should have thought this out sooner…Caius is going to be so impatient with me.
Lightning started pacing, trying to understand her own heart. Funny how easily she could analyze the states of her friends, and even Caius, yet she couldn't comprehend her own feelings and desires.
"What's the matter?" Caius asked after a few moments of pacing.
Instead of snapping, she answered honestly. "I'm not sure what I can desire so much that it'll take us to that specific time and place," she said. The pacing continued as she expected Caius to lose his patience with her.
He did not, however. Instead, he began to brainstorm with her. "We're going to 400 AF not for revenge, but for the sake of your friends."
"Yes, we are."
"What do you hope to accomplish there?"
"I told you, Caius," Lightning snapped. "Get weapons."
"That was not what I meant," he said with a sigh. "What do you hope to gain out of it, Lightning? What are your motives?"
What did she want out of this? This wasn't just a job; she would have thrown it aside if that was the case. "I want…to protect my friends," she thought aloud. She wanted the weapons to save them.
"Then make that your greatest desire."
That I may be able to do. Okay. Lightning stopped pacing, lifting a hand to her lightning-shaped necklace pendant as she shut her eyes. My friends, she repeated mentally. I want to protect them.
Nothing happened.
Please, she thought desperately. Please…they're all that I have left now. If I can do anything for them, I want to do it. More than anything, I want to save them.
At that, an orange rift appeared to her right. She opened her eyes at the faint wind that now blew through the area as her eyes found the anomaly. I did it. I accomplished it. Thank goodness… Maybe she could create more rifts in the future, as long as she believed in protecting her friends.
"Excellent," Caius said with a small nod. "Let's depart."
Nodding faintly, Lightning glanced over at him to see him heading towards the rift. She walked forward at the same pace, entering it at the same moment as him as the two of them vanished from time.
*…*…*…*…*…*
Hello there! Thanks for reading chapter 3 of the story (: Here are some notes/shout-outs to people and reviews and all that jazz. First let me say just how incredible it is to have 18 reviews for the first two chapters. Seriously guys, I NEVER could have expected such an enthusiastic response. Thank you so much for the support! And now onto the specifics:
i: Thanks for all the compliments! I do work very hard at the grammar and the flow of writing in general. Yes, I've done all this myself. There's absolutely nobody giving me ideas for the story so it's all from my crazy/twisted mind. And because my mind is twisted, I will turn these two enemies into people who genuinely care about each other personally and romantically. ;) Don't you worry; I'll take my time and do it justice.
Nirianna- "Now let's see if those two can cooperate without drawing out swords every 10 seconds!" Exactly! These two are definitely not on friendly terms right now. It's a ton of fun to write tension like this. But I can't wait to show you guys how I plan to evolve out of this stage into…well, something VERY different. ;)
Hannah Abby/other people commenting on this topic- "I like how you dealt with Lightning's grief over Serah's death. How she wanted to break down but wouldn't, even in privacy, is really in character for her." Thanks, I really tried to keep her in character but show her grief. A lot of people act like Lightning is emotionless or invincible, but she really isn't. I think the reason I was able to portray her grief so well is because I'm a lot like Lightning in how I cope with my emotions. That REALLY helps me keep Lightning in character, which I know a ton of people appreciate.
Think that's all for the personal stuff for this time. (: See you guys with another update in a week or two! Peanut is signin' out.