A/N:Hey every one bet you thought I gave up! XD Just been working on another monster for you. 44 is an alternate world for our favorite ladies. I could not think of any reason why they would have a letter written for my ladies, so I had to create another time line lol. Hope you enjoy, as always R/R and critic. Thanks so much.
41: Reverie
Another night, another bonfire. Cocoon bright in the sky, the moon playing counter point. The air was cool but not too crisp, a perfect evening, the warm scent of Fararr tree burning. Fang sat in her favorite place in the entire world; between Lightnings legs, their trunks melded together, her Soldier supporting her weight as they curled into one another, an arm slid over her shoulder, warm breath against her neck and ear. Truly there was no better place in all of the world, in either world.
They were enjoying the last days of summer as the seasons transitioned to Fall and soon the bitter winter. Dinner was over, the children put to bed, a perfect moment where voices burred and the lines of reality softened giving ample opportunity to delve into memory.
Fang drew her wife's hand to her mouth pressing it to her lips. Finger tips caressed her face then full lips as Fang drew them too, to her lips. Immersed in the presence of her strong partner it was easy to allow her mind to drift...
...
"Lightning?"
"Hmm?" Fang had to smile, always to the point, that was her soldier. They had been walking the circuit of the beach slowly, watching the sun fade beneath the Oerbian ocean. Fang pulled her partner into her arms her chest pressed against Lightnings back as they gazed out across the endless expanse that was their ocean. In that moment the world felt hushed… perfect as they gazed out into forever, wrapped in love.
Fang pressed her cheek against Lights breathing in the warmth against her skin.
"I could spend every night doing this." Fang admitted with baited breath.
From her position she couldn't see Lightnings face but the muscles against her cheek only twitched.
"I mean…" Fang bit her bottom lip trying to say it best, to convey what it was she wanted to say with out saying it… It could be difficult communicating with Lightning in a way that did not create mistrust or retaliation sometimes…
She couldn't come out and say "Light I love ya…" Sometimes it hurt that her partner didn't believe those words… but Fang saw the power of proving her love, it was just sometimes… she longed to whisper those words to her girlfriend.
Fang drew Lightning tight against her chest pressing her face into a warm neck those three words burning in her chest. Dark brows knit with the effort it took to hold them back…
Small hands came to Fang's arms, finger tips caressing.
She lay her head back against Fang's shoulder and breathed deep, the feeling of their love still amazing, still overwhelming. Her hand slid back caressing a hip, sliding up to Fang's waist, fingers curling into the wrap of her sari, she held her lover as tight against her back as Fang held her against her chest. The emotion was raw and overwhelming. If she thought about it too hard it made swallowing difficult, and breathing heavy…
How could so little say so much? Fang felt her chest tighten further so that her breath rattled in and out of her lungs.
"I need ya, Farron Lightning."
This drew a smile to fine lips and Fang felt emboldened to continue on this train of thought. She pressed a kiss to her lovers neck, a reverent caress of lips.
"I need you now... today... tomorrow..." With each word she placed another kiss along Lightnings neck, headed along her jaw, and as if she summoned Lights lips they turned for her.
"Forever." She whispered against them sealing the words of her plea with a kiss. It drew a noise from her soldiers throat.
The kiss was tender, but it was far from dispassionate, a slow play of lips and tongue, a silent plea whispered between lovers begging for more; the kiss ended as it began with a soft press of lips.
Lightning turned in Fang's arms facing her straight on, blue eyes inquisitive about the meaning of these words. Fang reached a calloused hand up to brush soft pink hair out of her lovers blue eyes and caressed her cheek.
"I know we have had our rough patches, and I am sure we will have more..." Fang licked dry lips, shifting as unflinching blue eyes looked on.
"But I need you in my life. I never want this euphoria to end... when something important happens I want to share it with you. I want to wake up every morning and know you are there..."
Fang drew hands up over Lightnings arms her hand coming to rest over the woven band on her bicep where she took a hold of her soldier hoping to convey the emotions behind her words.
"I want to go to bed each night in your arms... please, Lightning Farron... please... be my wife."
A flushed shock writ itself over Lightnings features, blue eyes going wide, fine lips parting, her breath rising a bit faster.
Fang waited for an answer her heart beating out of her chest, each breath something painful as she lay everything she felt before the woman who made her feel it. She swallowed hard and licked dry lips once again. Full lips quivered as Lightning worked through her shock, Fang drew a hand across her own mouth wiping at her lips as the desire to beg grew so much stronger.
"Your wife?" Lightning asked still shocked.
"Goddess, yes." Fang murmured. "Please..."
"You want me to be your wife?" Lightning asked again.
"My soldier, my goddess, my love, my partner. Yes, call it what you want, please be mine forever."
That shocked face softened and Lightning in turn did something shocking, she giggled and Fang's mouth dropped.
"I'm sorry. The look on your face... its..." Lightning bit her bottom lip and chuckled once more as she reached up for her exasperated huntress. She took her gently in her hands and drew their mouths together. A hard kiss that said all the words she had denied her lovers ears, a press of lips and caress of tongue, the nip of teeth to the full lips of her lover. It took on a life of its own as their bodies joined, arms wrapping tightly about the other. Lightning kissed Fang until she moaned.
"Yes." She whispered into her lovers mouth drawing another groan this time of relief.
"Yes to all of them." She murmured as Fang pressed their brows together, her calloused hand tangled in pink tresses.
Fang smiled, yeah that had been a really good night, one worth remembering... one she couldn't forget. She turned to glimpse Lightning watching her, the fire glow showing that same love she had seen that night in patient dual blue eyes.
Turning her head she lifted lips to her beloved soldier and they kissed.
"I know." Fang whispered as their lips parted... drawing the most beautiful smile across her wife's lips.
"As do I." Lightning murmured and like Fang had so many starry nights ago Lightning dipped her head to press her brow against her lovers.
42: Ice
Fang groaned throwing an arm over her eyes, it was the hottest summer she could remember in all of Oerbian history. It had started with a mild winter, the hails had not come and the land was changing, the very air was stale and heavy. It made simply moving oppressive. She was seeking relief but couldn't find it any where.
"Ugh..." She groaned stretching long limbs out on the bed trying not to touch anything, her very skin was sweaty and sticky, even an arm against her side generated more heat.
How Lightning got the strength to rise in this hot muggy heat she didn't know. Nor did she understand there was a mission to her madness.
"Light?" Fang called summoning strength to call for her beloved. There had been a flurry of noise from the kitchen but it had faded now.
"I'm fine." Came the muted reply.
It was enough for Fang who was unwilling to get up unless absolutely necessary.
Lightning had planed for another hot day, it seemed Oerba was going to have a hot summer, and with a little forethought she had made something that would allow them to enjoy this forced time out from under the hot sun. Taking her prize into the bedroom she slipped onto the bed beside Fang. Green eyes opened and she gazed up at her pink haired soldier. There seemed to be a hint of something playful in her eyes. Something that ignited the flame in Fang's loins... something that drew both a noise of pleasure and suffering. She laughed and shook her head.
"It's too hot my love. Please, don't look at me like tha." Her voice hitting a pleading note as she closed green eyes.
A lobo smile crossed Lightning's lips and she leaned a little closer settling onto an elbow next to her lover.
"Keeping your eyes closed wont make me go away, Oerba Yun Fang." A green eye opened as she laughed.
"A girl can hope."
"You might feel cooler if you didn't have so much clothes on." Lightning pointed out reaching small hands to tug on Fang's black shorts.
Her wife rolled away with another rich laugh.
"Down, soldier." Fang murmured.
This only seemed to draw that lobo smile further across fine lips. Fang groaned as perfect teeth bit into Lightnigns bottom lip. It was clear she was thinking naughty things, and it did not seem she would be dissuaded. Patting the bed where Fang had been Lightning called her back.
"I will make it better." She promised. By the look in those dual blue eyes she wasnt so sure.
With a soft sigh and a smile that pulled full lips Fang rolled back into her place. A hand came to rest on the flat of her stomach and it felt blessedly cool.
"Goddess." Fang breathed sucking in a quick breath. It was both startling and an amazing feeling.
"What have you been doing?" Fang asked pulling that small cool hand to her face where she pressed her cheek into it. Lightning smiled and held up a bag of ice. Green eyes focus on the glittering bag of coolness, then looked past it to her blue eyed lover.
"Thats not big enough for the both of us to lay on, Sunshine."
"Oh, it's plenty big." Lightning murmured drawing sensual muscles in her partners body taut with anticipation.
Dipping her fingers into the bag of ice she let the melting treat cool her fingers before she drew them out again and began drawing their Pulsian alphabet on Fang's stomach. This drew a sharp gasp from her wife and she arched under the sensual play of cold fingers across overheated skin.
Lightning found herself biting her bottom lip as her wife's body vaulted onto shoulders and heels, her head thrown back, muscles tight... beads of cold water trickling down her sides. Drawing a piece of ice from the bag she used it to trace Fang's core muscles, sliding it down ehr abdomen to deposit it in her navel.
"Goddess..." Fang murmured as the cold ice cube rested there.
"What are ya doin?" She asked when her breath had returned. Her only answer was another cheeky smile from her attentive lover. Hands bathed in the ice bath came to press cold over her dark bra, soaking the dark material with cold water bringing relief to her huntress while stoking another fire...
Fang's breath came a bit quicker.
"It goes..." She tried to sit up and remove the now soaked wet bra but a semi cool hand came to her chest and with force pushed her back into their bed. A low growl came from her huntress but this only fueled Lightnings need to stay in charge.
"Only when I say." She murmured and drew another ice cube up to circle around a dark covered nipple.
Goose bumps crawled across the arms of her huntress, and ran down her sides as the cube in her navel permeated her core with coldness that bordered being too much.
That ice cube in her hand slid down over the golden swell of her breast, and was left nestled in the valley of her breasts just beneath the dark center clasp. Slender fingers dipped into the ice bath and slid down her chest, following the same path the first one had taken, over core muscles to stop just above her navel. A cool hand pressed against her abdomen and an eager soldier dipped her head to suck noisily at the cube and the melted water collected there. Fang groaned and shifted her hips. A hot demanding need was growing at the apex of her thighs one that created an ache that only Lightning would be able to quench...
An agile tongue darted in and out of her navel playfully, sliding that melted cube around quickening Fang's breath. Reaching for a pillow Fang pulled it under her head to get a better view of what Lightning was doing to her. A sensual play of hands and mouth over her body. The ice used both to bring relief and new torment. A piece found its way under the band of her shorts, another pushed into the cups of her bra. More play with Lightnings mouth and Fang was moaning hotly her hips unable to remain still from the sexual tension Lightning had drawn up inside of her.
When at last her shorts were pulled from long legs she thought that her torment would end, but a new form of it was presented. A long icicle with a rounded tip was presented, a popsicle that Lightning made great show in licking and sucking. Letting it slide suggestively between her lips, the cold water dribbling from her wife's chin onto her neck and breasts.
"Goddess... the heat has possessed you." Fang murmured with a dry mouth. This crystal clear shape tightened every muscle below her waist, and a gasp drew unbidden from her lips.
Lightning's smile said she was enjoying this... seeing her enjoyment and confidence made it all the more hot.
"Please..." Fang murmured her eyes on that icy shape, an ache a fire blazing in her loins drew that plea from her. Not just one but another.
"Goddess please... Light..." Lightning's voice lowered with passion, filled with gravel and dark whispered secrets.
"Please what?" She drew that cold long icicle down Fangs body drawing another low cry of anticipation from her and a whole lot of heavy breathing. She licked dry lips as it slipped lower drawing over her loins skipping the part of her anatomy she wanted Lightning to touch with that particular piece of ice. Her leg jerked when it caressed an inner thigh.
"Please Light..." Teeth raked over a full bottom lip.
Light brows raised.
"I need you to say it." Lightning said as breathless as her wife.
"Say it for me Fang." Again a pink tongue swath over the dry lips of her huntress, dark brows drawn over intense green eyes.
"I need you... inside of me..." Fang said barely above a whisper, her throat tight with desire and promise of something new... she hungered to feel this ice formation deep with in the hottest part of her body, driven by the hands of her lover.
"Please Light." And because Lightning seemed to need it she asked again.
"Please..."
All the foreplay could not have prepared her for the ice that slid into her body at the hands of her wife, or the intense play that came with it. The sensation was an experience all its own, but it worked wonders on dropping her core temperature.
43: Fresh
Fang smiled as Lightning leaned back against the face of the house.
"No where to run now Sunshine." She murmured, but the look she got was not the expression of a woman who was running away. A thrill ran through the huntress body, settling into the pit of her stomach as Lightning reached out wrapping hands in her sari and pulling her forward until their bodies were flush against one another.
"Who's running." Lightning asked in a low growl. A new wave of delight washed through Fang drawing her to seek sustenance from her girlfriends mouth.
Their kiss was consuming, hot and hungry fueled and fed by their lover. They devoured one another... that is until a youthful cheeky face appeared just beside them, peering very close at their eager kissing. A hand rose up to punch the sensation beside them and a hand rose to catch it. Fang grunted as she pulled her lips back from her lover to gaze with a disturbed expression at the youngest Oerbian true born.
"Sky?" She asked getting a cheeky grin.
Lightning scowled, dark blue eyes glaring death at her.
"That's really hot." Sky said not showing a hint of fear or regret for her interruptions.
"Don't quit on my behalf."
Fang looked at the hand she had caught only centimeters before the young red heads face. She drew that curled fist to her lips and pressed her lips against it. Skyfier seemed to enjoy their moments of solitude more than they did... she was always appearing in the strangest of places testing whether Lightning would utterly pummel her or if she would be saved once more.
Fang drew her lover forward and moved to the door with out saying another word to the impishly grinning Skyfire. Lightning gave her a look of death but she allowed herself to be pulled along by her partner.
"Can I watch!" Skyfire asked as they closed the door behind them. It surprised her when the door opened again and the pink haired soldier of cocoon came rushing out at her. She didn't have the time to react, but a quick grasp by the dark huntress who kept the feral creature of cocoon caught her by the wrist and slingshot her back into the house. The door slammed closed again and a sweating fresh Oerbian born escaped another thrashing...
When her heart dropped back out of her throat she chuckled and went on her way, plotting when next she might ire the pink haired soldier.
44: Letter AU not at all related to New Oerbian line
Lightning stood on the shore of Bodhum staring out at the calm sea after a long and tiring shift. Her eyes gazing across the waters with out direction, with out focus. The sound of the waves washing upon the shore was comforting, the scent of the air fresh just after the evening rain. She stood dressed in fitted cargo shorts and sleeveless turtleneck. Hands were sunk deep into the pockets of her shorts, proud shoulders hunched. She walked along the beach not knowing what it is her soul was searching for but knowing that she was suppose to be here...
She paused at the far end and turned gazing back at the disappearing foot prints. The waves washing away every step, wiping the slate clean, no questions asked... she thought it benevolent that way...
Several paces back something caused the waves to bubble and foam. As the water receded a hint of glass appeared. Thinking it debris that could cause harm to some unwary passer by, the solder meandered back down to it and bent to retrieve it when the water receded once more. Slender fingers pulled it from its sand bed and found it to be a fully intact bottle. More than that it was corked and sealed with a roll of paper inside.
Stepping into the surf Lightning washed the sand away and stepped back once more to get a better view of the message in the bottle. Blue eyes rose looking for some one who might have deposited it there. A boat, a person anything... she was alone on the beach this late in the evening. Not a single soul but she...
With a soft breath the soldier began wiping it clean and dry on the face of her shorts. When the bottle and her hands were dry, she worked the cork free, stuffing into her pocket before she tipped the bottle up to retrieve the paper.
It was probably nothing, an advertising tactic that had missed the clean up several months back when a toy company dumped a crate load of message bottles into the sea and let them go on their way. It had caused a sensation both in the news and along the beach. If it was one of theirs she was going be to sorely disappointed...
The paper fell into her hand, it was heavier than expected but still dry. Tucking the bottle under an arm Lightning slowly unrolled it.
"My Goddess...
I am tired... my soul is exhausted, weary of this life... injured beyond fixing, tainted beyond redemption... My true self is something loathed, a blemish they strive to remove. I hunger for some one who sees me for who I am... not the brand of my birth.
Oh My Goddess... I beg you for such a favor, please let our paths cross in this life..."
Lightning unrolled the paper a bit more. It wasn't so much a letter but a prayer. A lonely soul searching for the right person to be with... she rolled it up again and tucked it back into the bottle. Fingers retrieved the cork from her pocket but something stayed her hand. She hadn't even read the entire petition and she was going to throw it back? Let the currents swallow it once more... there was no Goddess... no Gods... only higher ups... men in power, that led to a higher power... and then a higher one... only men... And Fal'Cie... Lightning was not of the mind that they were any more gods than she was.
She looked at the bottle, it appeared to have gone through a bit of a ride. Pitted and foggy. Like the lost soul searching... the bottle too had wandered, collecting dimples and dings along its path. She turned it in her hand pausing when her eye caught a shape etched in the glass, almost washed away by the journey. Her thumb traced the outline, a simple shape like a canine... a tooth. Blue eyes looked upon it then once more out to the sea, who knew how long it had floated in the currents before finally coming to rest here on the shores of Bodhum. It oddly felt wrong to cast it again into the waters of the night, to spend its next thirty years on a path of eminent destruction... Lightning replaced the cork and tucked the bottle into her pocket. She wanted to read it some where private... some where safe.
Serah was waiting at home with dinner on the table, she worried about Lightning; of late she seemed more distant than usual. A quiet woman who had stepped away from the world after their lives fell apart. She had given up everything to raise Serah, and now that she was older Serah felt responsible for her sisters decisions. She heard the front door open, her sister stepping through to set her boots down on the mat.
"Welcome home." Serah called as she moved towards the door.
Despite Lightning pulling back from the world and every one, she never had pulled away from her little sister. A small blessing that Serah held onto with desperation. Embracing her elder sibling when ever the opportunity arose... and a few times when she simply wished it. Long sinewy arms embraced her, a kiss to the crown of her head and a ruffle of her hair.
"Thanks."
Lightning took in a deep breath and breathed it out in a sigh.
"I need to wash my hands."
"Okay." Serah said and pulled away so that her sibling could do just that.
"We have company tonight." Serah said as she followed Lightning into the bathroom where she worked on scrubbing her hands. Small hard hands paused and their eyes met in the mirror.
"Do we?" Serah nodded looking worried.
"Yeah."
"The little red head?" Serah tilted her head to the side at her sisters description of her friend.
"That would be the one." She had always expected Lightning to classify her as the chatty one... the talkative one, the bubbly one, the annoying one... but the red head had never really crossed her mind.
"Vanille Dia." Blue eyes looked down to her task as she rinsed her hands under the bathroom faucet. Serah read the hesitation in her sisters features, the drawing of brows, the tensing of lips. Serah leaned in again steeling arms around her sister and holding her fiercely.
"Please have dinner with me? Please Lightning?" Light drew herself around her little sister holding her just as tightly. She had spent part of her young adult and all of her adult life caring for this precious, brilliant, shining soul, the creature she had lost.
"Come on." She said in a raspy voice.
"Your friend is waiting."
Dinner wasn't so bad, the food as usual was excellent, and the company was manageable. Vanille had many words, and they could spill out of her mouth like a waterfall. Left unchecked it could give a head ache to the elder Farron sister, but tonight she was mindful of Lightning and did her best to keep her sentences short and her words to the point.
Towards the end of the meal the bottle that she had placed for safe keeping in her pocket fell free, it clattered to the wood floor and spun scaring every one, including Lightning. Cautious of where it fell Lightning slid back and scooped it up.
"Whats that?" Serah asked leaning over to see what it was that Lightning held.
"Something I found at the beach." Lightning said as she looked at the frosted glass, her thumb once again drawing over the almost lost design etched in its surface.
Serah stood up and came to Lightnings side to better see the object she held.
"Wow, is it really a message in a bottle?" Serah leaned in to see the face that Lightning kept caressing, she had to let her eyes go unfocused to actually see the design amidst all the pock marks and frosting.
"It looks like... something is on it..."
"Hmm." Lightning murmured and let Serah trace the design.
"Almost like a..."
"A tooth." Lightning said.
"A Fang..." Serah replied and they looked at one another, that is until their guest began coughing on her water.
"Goodness!" Serah said rising to hurry around the table. She began beating on Vanille's back until weak protests rose up.
Lightning tucked the bottle back into her pocket and stood.
"Are you alright?" She asked as their guest began wheezing but her fit of coughing had passed.
Vanille waved.
"I'll live." She rasped a reply. Lightning nodded.
"It was nice to have you over, I am retiring for the night."
The two young women watched as the soldier collected the dirty dishes and moved off towards the kitchen, and then her room.
Lightning closed the door to her room and set the bottle on the bureau as she moved off to take a shower. Half way through disrobing she came back out and picked up the bottle again. Drawing it with her into the bathroom it was set gently in the sink. She didn't know why but it felt important to her and what better way to keep an eye on it than keeping it in the same room.
After her nightly tasks were all complete, Lightning lay in her bed contemplating the time left before her next shift. Part of her really wanted to read the rest of the message, but she was already exhausted. With a sigh she tucked the bottle into the drawer of her night stand checked Blaze fire on top and turned out the light. There would be more time to read it tomorrow and perhaps then she would not feel so utterly worn away... just like the surface of the bottle...
"Light! You're going to be late for your shit!" Serah had been trying to get her sister up all morning... after another glance at the clock the younger Farron light stepped up stairs and rapped on her sisters door, it creaked open. For a brief moment Serah was left wondering if she should open it further, after a deep breath she stepped in.
"Light its time to get uh-"
The room was spotless, the clothing neatly put away, the floor with out blemish, the bed made with regulation corners and covers. Blazefire was missing from its usual spot, this led the younger Farron to guess she had once again missed her sister... but to be sure she returned down stairs to look for her boots. Sure enough, they like her sibling, were missing. With a sigh Serah turned to get ready for another day of class.
"Hey, Farron; hows that sister of yours?"
Lightning was looking at the bottle she had picked up from the beach the evening before when Cephus called out to her from his own locker. Again her thumb caressed the pock marked surface, hearing his voice she was drawn back to the present and set the bottle in the back of her locker, pulled out her stripes.
"She's doing well, thanks for asking."
Her last sight before she closed the locker door... the frosted light blue bottle.
Lightning walked up and down the line gazing at the Crusts under her command, they had been in a brawl and looked like they had lost the fight. Already a head ache was forming between her temples and behind blue eyes. She longed to rub her forehead, right after she showed them how to really brawl...
"Did you at least win"?" She asked in a cold rasp that sent shivers down the heartiest spine.
"It was touch and go there for a bit Ma'am, but we did prevail."
"For the pride of the Valkyrie!" A few of them whooped. Her annoyance with them doubled, they were actually proud of looking shit faced this morning.
"Get your gear... I have waited long enough..."
"YES MA'AM!"
She growled and flicked her crimson cloak.
"You will pay for your crimes..." Little did she know the truth of that matter was just behind her.
"Sergeant Farron." Lightning turned, blue eyes coming to the crisp voice at their company door, a Red Band stood in her door way, his crimson armband embroidered with a bold MP.
"Your Valkyrie are to report for reassignment." He held up a summons for her. A blue eye twitched as she took the summons. A manila parchment with the Captains seal upon it.
"Thank you Sir, I take responsibility for the appearance of my squad, we will be there shortly."
Walking to the door she saw him out before she closed it and looked back at the boys.
"Tell me everything."
The day only got worse from there...
Lightning was more recluse than usual upon arriving at home.
"I'm tired..." She said and excused herself, leaving Serah to stare worriedly after her. Honestly despite her usual state of fatigue, she looked quite frazzled.
With a sigh Serah turned to finish dinner alone...
Lightning went through her usual routine, the bottle still in her possession, followed her through the routine a second time. Tonight she was going to read it... but that wasn't the case. Lightning fell asleep clutching the peppered and pocked bottle to her chest.
Serah came in a few hours later to check on her, found her curled around the scarred vessel, it held to her chest as if something dear. Sitting on the bed she reached out a gentle hand to draw it through clean pink hair tucking bangs behind an ear. Leaning in the younger Farron placed a kiss upon her elder siblings brow before leaving her to rest. She wondered about the bottle but knew better than to take it from her sisters hand. Doing so would wake her as sure as the light would appear in the sky once again come morning.
With a sigh she shuffled off to put the plate of food for Lightning, away.
Lightnings Valkyrie ended up on their superiors shit list... that meant they got every dirty job and were handed out like dog treats to any one who needed a good squad. That usually meant the nastiest of the nasties... and were not talking the tough ones... A week of deep hunting, collecting and categorizing in the worst of environments with the most disgusting of creatures...
Lightning stood to the side after having gone on retrieval in a Flandit. Retrieval was what it was called to fetch one of your brothers or sisters in arms from the flan. The creatures were particularly vile, smelling of sludge in the bottom of a stagnate lake transitioning from water to new ground. It was disgusting, and tasted nothing like the flan candy they claimed was rust pudding.
Chapman knelt beside her covered in the sludge puking what was left of his rations into the grass. Lightning wiped at the sludge using a knife to scrape the worst of it from the front of her uniform.
"Water?" Chapman gurgled.
"Mouth and face only." Lightning commanded, they had hours left to their day and were not due for new provisions for another five hours. In the high humidity, exhaustion could easily over come them, water was more important to them as a drink than a cleanser.
"Yes Ma;am." Chapman groused as they all regrouped and gathered necessary drops.
"Sergeant, we have collected the Potent Sliver but have found no Power Sliver."
"Very well, collect some of the sludge."
Some one snorted and held up a specimen dish to Gabriel Chapman. He gave them a dark look but dutifully scraped his arm and palm into the specimen jar.
"Great collection there Crust."
There were at least three more Flandit before the end of the day, they found more of the Potent Slivers and got a fragment or two of the Power Sliver before the end of the day. Trudging back to camp they all unloaded and set to cleaning them selves and their gear for another day. After her scraping and scrub down Lightning forced herself to remain upright and take the first shift of guard duty. When the next shift came she was asleep before she lay her head down.
Through the week, there was little time to think about the bottle with the message still in it... but every now and then it came up into her thoughts. When they returned home from hell week, they were given three days rest before the next 7 days of hell began.
Serah was waiting at the base for her when they got home, just seeing her was a relief. A week of training crusts on the dirtiest of missions was a lot like being a preschool teacher, only instead of crayons and blocks, they had blades and guns...
"Hey!" Serah's smile was radiant, a beatific smile just for her... Lightning dropped her bag at their feet and embraced her, lifting her little sister off her feet. Serah said nothing as Lightning did this before every one. She held on for dear life and hoped that what ever Lightning needed, she could give in that powerful hug.
Serah clung to her elder sister and Lightnings grip was no delicate matter. The elder Farron held on like a dying woman with only a few moments of life left to her.
"I missed you." Serah said with some difficulty. There had been hugs like this in her youth, crushing, desperate... filled with love and all the things some one didn't know how to say... Lightning hugged just like their father and it filled Serah with heart pangs.
Gently she was set once more upon her feet even then it took a few moments before Lightning released her, she ruffled pink hair and gave a pained smile.
"Come on, I'm starving for some home cooking."
Serah laughed and together they headed towards home.
Dinner was just them, and Serah filled her in on the life she had missed while battling nasties. Serah's schooling was going very well, she was going to be pulling top grades in all of her classes, and Vanille seemed to have made a stronger presence in her life.
"I met her sister." Serah was saying as she passed the rice and vegetables.
"Her sister?" Lightning asked raising blue eyes over the vegetables.
"I thought she was an orphan."
Serah smiled.
"They met in the orphanage when they were little. This woman took care of her, protected her and the other kids from bullies. They may not be blood, but they are sisters."
"Hmm." Lightning could understand that. "What's her name?"
"Vanille calls her Yun. You should see her, she is so tall; a bit more than you even."
"Does she have red hair?" Serah shook her head.
"She is a robust brunette." Her sisters choice of words drew a brow and an amused look.
After dinner Lightning proclaimed she was going to take a bath.
"Okay, well I can finish dishes later." Serah offered. Lightning paused and thought about it.
"Go on, get out of here." After a week of taking showers with the guys with only a flimsy partition between them Serah guessed Lightning was wanting a bit of privacy.
She laughed at the relieved look on her sisters face.
"Not like I'm going to check you out or something... my boobs are bigger any way."
"I will always be taller." Lightning deadpanned.
This got a perturbed look from Serah.
"Rub it in..."
Light chuckled, caressed her sisters head and moved off to the bathroom.
After a very thorough scrub and rinse, Lightning climbed into the hot water to soak, a sigh escaping her as sore muscles felt better. She actually felt as she all the grime had at last been scrubbed away. A long soak in the ofuro and she would feel human once more...that's just what she did. Wiping hands dry on a short towel she sat up and reached out to snag a bottle that had seen some time lost at sea...
She felt a thrill of excitement as at last the cork was pulled free and the paper was dumped into her hands. Scanning the first few lines she settled into reading the whole petition...
"I gather the crimson chord of my heart and place it into your hands, draw forth my other half and let me at last be whole. Give my heart a place to reside in security, free of falsehood, let all the masks fall away and let us be true to one another.
I ask not for perfection, but for understanding, I can change many things, but not the place of which I was born... not the place that I was taken from... the home I fought for... I ask not for that to be given back, but for my future to at last be set before me.
I know there will be good times, and bad times, but I long for the time to be well spent. My heart can not fathom another false start. I ache for truth, for something real..."
Lightning paused in her reading as the sound of the phone drew her attention. Tilting her head she heard Serah answer, and by the sound of it, it must have been the little red head. It was habit to listen for a few minutes, to see if all was okay; when their seemed to be no emergency Lightning went back to the prayer on paper.
"Merciful Goddess Etro, let my heart be still until the time it may grow strong and true... let it not want, nor desire... but patiently await a sign that they are indeed the love I seek. When that sign is given, my Great Goddess I shall apply myself with endless patience, and devotion, until that time I beg you. give me the strength to believe, and the faith that my petition will be heard... and that you, O Goddess, that you will aid me in filling this most earnest desire."
Lightning turned the paper over but that was the end of the message, it was simply signed as its bottle had been.
"~Fang"
She wondered about the beautifully scrawled script, and the hand that had written it. Were they male or female? What was their place of origin that seemed to cause trouble for them? Were they old and gray now? Did they ever find the love they sought, and if they did; did they follow through on their promise to make it work?
While thinking about this she slumped deeper into the Ofuro, setting the paper out of the way to let her hands slip under the warm water...
After an hour and a half of utter silence from the down stairs bathroom Serah went to check on her sister.
Lightning lay asleep in the hot water, her head resting on the lip of the basin, her body stretched out to the center, hands rested on her chest, and she seemed utterly unconcerned about sleeping in the water. Beside her, thick aged paper with a slight curl lay waiting, along with the pocked and pebbled bottle that had held it for untold time. Serah stepped up beside the ofuro and gazed down at her slumbering sibling. Even in sleep there was a tension to her face, as if she waited for something to happen. Sitting on the yolk of the basin she leaned down to caress pink brows. A gentle draw of fingers to smooth the lines in her face.
Blue eyes fluttered open.
"Hey." Serah said as her sister woke from her touch.
She sat back out of Light's way as she sat up.
"Hey. What time is it?"
"Seven thirty."
Lightning ran hands over her face and looked for the towel she had set with in reach. Serah picked it up and handed it over.
"Going to head to bed?" Serah asked looking to the paper. Curiously she reached out and picked it up while her sister toweled off and stepped from the Ofuro.
"Let's watch a movie."
Surprised eyes lifted up to her.
"Really?"
Lightning nodded.
"Sure."
"Awesome! What should we watch?" She rolled the paper up dropped it into the bottle and capped it for her sister.
Light smiled.
"Something with action, you pick, while I get dressed."
Serah was waiting on the couch when Lightning came down stairs. The movie was something about fast cars and corrupt drivers. It seemed to be a favorite of her sisters, they watched it at least once a month. Sometimes twice, Lightning guessed it wasn't the program so much as what it let Serah do... She unwound, and never saw the end of the program... at least not with Lightning watching.
Just as predicted, Serah was out before it was over, during the course of the movie she had crawled little by little into her sisters lap until now she lay in the circle of Lightnings legs suspended by her arms. Pink hair fell over Lightnings arm, Serah's legs spilling out of Lightnings lap and out along the couch.
The elder Farron wore a bemused expression as she watched the light of the movie play across her sisters features.
Fingers dragged through pink hair and caressed a soft cheek. It didn't seem so long ago Serah fit in her lap... Lightning shook her head as she gathered her sister into her arms and rose up from the couch as the credits rolled. As she walked up the stairs she thought about the differences in this ritual. Gone was the little girl and her pink outfits, a woman was emerging with a strong and independent spirit. One who was free to be both grown up and still youthful. Lightning carried her up into her room, pausing she lay her down on her bed and arranged her limbs before pulling a cover over her.
She stared for a long moment before turning to go. A small hand slipped into hers sending a thrill up through her system she turned to find Serah already half way out of her bed.
"What is it?" Lightning murmured and opened her arms as Serah filled them.
"Can I sleep with you?" Lightning held her tight for a long minute.
"Sure."
With Serah still glued to her side she retrieved her sisters pillow and moved with her back into the hall. She didn't complain as they climbed into bed and Serah curled tight against her side, an arm cast over her mid section, her head nestled on Lightnings shoulder.
Morning found them in much the same position as the night before, Lightning found herself debating getting out of bed. Serah seemed to need her there, and to rise now seemed like she would be breaking her trust.
When Serah finally awoke, blue eyes met blue, and as she had guessed there was both surprise and devotion in those eyes.
"Hey." Lightning said offering a gentle smile.
"You're still here." Serah pulled her arms tight about her big sister pressing her face tight against a shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut.
Lightning felt that hand squeeze her heart once more. She really needed to find a way to be home every night, or at least more nights than she was gone. Reaching across she ran fingers through her sisters hair.
"I do try to do that..."
A small muffled voice came up from her shoulder.
"I know, its just... I miss you."
Lightning turned wrapping both arms around her kid sister and squeezed as tight as she had when they met at the base parking lot... Serah did not disappoint in her own intensity... Seemed she was not the only one who needed to feel the arms of a loved one around her. But Lightning would never... could never admit it.
After breakfast, Serah proclaimed a walk on the beach was in order. She wanted to be the first one out to hunt for new shells that may have washed up. These days home were all about Serah, time with her, so she neither wished to protest, nor had any reason to do so. When they met at the front door, her little sister was dressed in a one piece with a beach wrap twisted about blossoming hips. On her head was a straw sun hat, and on her arm a woven basked for the treasures she would find.
"I got your hat and sandals!"
Lightning, came down in a pair of womens cargo shorts, white tank top, and a loose open over shirt to protect pale skin from the sun. Per her usual, Blazefire was settled into its harness at the small of her back. The cured leather laced and buckled into place about hips and thigh. It was impossible to get Lightning to leave the weapon at home… and after its use to prevent harm to either one of them, Serah no longer cared.
As Lightning stopped at the door, Serah put the sand colored hat upon her head adjusting it to a jaunty angle before the two of them headed out the door.
"I hope we find something wonderful today!"
Lightning smiled as her impulsive little sister pulled her out of the front yard and off towards the beach. They didn't bother with the vehicle after all it was only a short walk to the sand.
The beach was a safe place for the elder Farron, at least early in the day, or late at night. It was a quiet place, free of the bustle of bodies, and the chaos of crowds. It allowed her to see for quite some distance in all directions and with the open space came the assurance that they would not be ambushed, or attacked with out foreknowledge.
They walked along the beach, Lightning trailing after her little sister, holding the basket of her treasures that slowly began to be filled. Shells, and corals, lost coins and what not's that struck her sisters fancy. It was the sea glass though that attracted Lightning the most. Shades of blues and greens up and the down the spectrum, their frosty colors reminding her of the bottle that sat proudly on her display case with its petition for love and understanding.
She may not have known the petitioner, but she understood the plea… the loneliness, the aching desire for something real that transcended the reality of their situation… Lightning had never really stopped to think about her own love life… there was always Serah to think about. How to get her to school on time, how to make sure her homework was done, how to help her make friends… how to console her on hard days… And while her sister grew, her worries did. Now she worried about Serahs choice in boyfriends, who she spent her time with, what she did after college… was she being smart and safe?So long had these questions filled her head, that she felt a bit overwhelmed to suddenly realize that there were other questions pertaining to herself she had never answered.
Lightning looked up as Serah placed another shell in the basked, and blue eyes beckoned.
"What are you thinking?" A startled expression crossed the elder Farrons features.
"How much you have grown." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was truth. As much as she hated to admit it, the time as her little sisters caretaker was coming to an end. That left her feeling like that bottle had been… adrift.
Serah tilted her head while regarding her sibling, she had glimpsed something in those blue eyes that had given her reason to pause, but it had happened so fast she was unsure what it was exactly she had seen.
Blue eyes dropped to the basket, giving Lightning a reason not to meet her sisters eyes, as she looked over what had been added since last she had looked. Really there wasn't more than a handful of objects, varying in shape and size, their colors as diverse as the compounds that made them.
"Already, quite a collection." Her words softened the worried expression and inwardly Lightning sighed. She was never very good at the emotional side of things… not since that day when she had decided to give so much up so they could survive…
"Aren't they beautiful? I almost have enough to make a bracelet!" Serah spent a few moments pushing the trinkets from the waters around in the basket her elder sibling was carrying.
The sound of a skimmer drew their attention, two pairs of blue eyes rose up to see a family of four begin to climb out. A small hand curled around Lightnings wrist.
"Come on, we still have a bit more to go before too many people show up."
Serah turned and stopped so suddenly, Lightning bumped into her then grabbed her to steady the both of them. Lightning looked up over her sisters strawberry colored hair to see a familiar shape walking towards them. By the ever present black bandanna and long trench coat she knew who it was, Serahs beau…
It felt strangely prophetic that she had to release her little sister and step back as he approached them.
He waved, a large gesture. His smile visible from the distance, he ran towards them calling her name
"SERAH!" There was a tremor that ran through her sisters body as the urge to meet him half way filled her, and lightning had another decision to make. Hold her back or let her go. Her entire life had been devoted to giving her sister wings… and now when they were at last unfurling would she hold her back?
Serah turned surprised when the omni presence of her elder sister suddenly disappeared. Worried blue eyes looked to her as the world she knew gave way.
"Go on, or you will miss the opportunity.
"SERAH!"
His voice closer, and still Serah hesitated.
"Go on, I'm not going any where." That seemed to be the catalyst that freed Serah from her hesitation.
"I'll be back!"
Serah took off toward the far end of the beach, and the hulking form of her exuberant fiance. Like a scene cut from some romantic production, Lightning watched as her little sister literally threw herself into open arm. For a moment she held her breath, a wave of anger ran through the onlooking soldier as she vowed unpleasantness at his expense should he miss; but Snow plucked her from the sky and drew her safely into his chest.
The feeling of anger passed on a tidal wave of heartache… she was losing her little girl… images of Serahs wedding flashed through her mind, their joyous faces as they pledged till death do them part, and the stark realization that Lightning was going to come home to an empty house.
The young lovers approached her, Serah first as if some mediator between Snow and Lightning. All over again the desire to pummel this blonde haired upstart ran through her, but what could she do?
"Light?" Blue eyes swirling with mixed emotions flicked to her sisters face
Lightning blinked.
"Yeah."
Not for the first time since she got home she got that worried look from her sister.
"Are you okay?" Serah wrapped an arm about her sister who stood there looking like her best friend died.
"Yeah." Lightning said waving a hand as she pushed all that emotional angst off to a dark place. Something she was pretty good at. In the back of her mind Lightning wondered if there was a limit to how much emotional turmoil she could crowd into one dark space.
There was something to be all happy about so she put on her "really i am happy" face and played her role. What it looked like to any onlooker was a grimace rather than a smile, but that was not to say it didn't cost the stalwart woman.
Snow had been recognized for his efforts in running his group N.O.R.A and the defense of the neighborhood and therefore Bodhum… they were going to give him a plaque and a thank you from the mayor of Bodhum.
All members of N.O.R.A. were to be present for a photograph before the noon news, and he wanted her to be there when they do the filming nag handing over of the plaque. With it brought a series of questions. Was there time to change? What would she wear?
The day was not at all what she had imagined when she awoke, Serah went with Snow and they had plans to celebrate after the interview and awards. This left Lightning with plenty of time to contemplate her own future, a future she was not completely sure about. With Serah growing of age and her need for Lightning changing, it opened new doors...
Thinking of doors, some one knocked at hers, she slipped off of the couch, still dressed in tank top and cargo shorts Lightning answered it. What was standing on her door step was so foreign that she was not sure how to begin.
A tall, dark woman stood there, her gaze was turned towards the distant beach. She was dressed in black jeans with a pure white dress shirt. Her hair was a mass of mayhem that beckoned some one to tame... by the tingle in her palms, it was some one like Lightning. An athletic build, broad shoulders tapering down into a slender waist before flaring into full hips. An air of otherworldly mist encircled her though it was the bright of day. Lightning stood silently appraising the women until she turned to see her there, watching.
Something sparked in her verdant eyes, something that made an invisible hand curl in the soldiers stomach and clench her heart.
"Can I help you?"
A warm smile crossed those full lips tightening the fist…
"Have you ever been told something impossible to believe but knew in your soul to be true?"
"What?" Lightning asked and paused as she searched her inward self. She believed that certain things one just knew… whether they wished to believe them or not, there were unspeakable truths you knew not because your head knew them, but something intangible and undefinable knew and understood them long before the conscious mind.
She searched for the truth, afraid she had missed something awful happening to her little sister. But there was no feeling of pain and loss, no angst or anger. She looked up to the dark enigmatic woman with furrowed brows and pressed lips gauging her silence.
Blue eyes shifted past her looking for any sign as to who she might be, and what it was she was really doing there. There was no vehicle with company logo, no sales case or slogans plastered on her peekaboo dress shirt. This didn't mean she wasn't in sales but gave the soldier pause as her position was not apparent. Giving her enough time to cautiously ask.
"What truth?"
Green eyes danced and full lips twitched but she held on to her serious demeanor.
"The one where we are meant to be together."
Lightning was rather doggedly pursued by the beautiful creature she had met on her door step that day… always poised, always relaxed, her shaggy mane begging to be combed with fingers, a teasing smile to her lips…
Little did Lightning know that every one was silently rooting for the supposed stranger to win the heart of their favorite soldier, and schooling Fang on the best way to approach her, woo, and avoid ultimately painful blows from reactionary movements.
After one particular encounter Lightning found herself pinned to a brick wall, the dark huntress who had been pressing her having twisted under her attack caught her in the chewiest with an arm and thumped her up against the wall. Now they shared a very small amount of space, as Fang pressed into her, and subsequently her into the very solid wall.
"Now Sunshine, with a move like that I might get the idea you didn't like me, but we both know different don't we?"
Blue eyes fought between two very sting desires. The first was to glare at her tormentor. The other was to roll closed and simply enjoy the feel of so much sensual muscle pressed against her own. Conscious and subconscious battling left her staring perplexed at her dark tormentor.
"You might get the idea? Might?" She asked trying to hold onto her anger… she knew and understood anger.
"I might." Fang said smiling that damnable easy grin. Lightning sighed frustrated.
"I have been rather blatant about not wanting you to peruse me… so you can understand why I MIGHT be a bit frustrated with you." She said Might through clenched teeth.
Fang chuckled.
"See, I take that for what it is."
A pink brow rose.
"What is it, besides a forward request to leave me the hell alone."
Lightning almost pulled a leg free of Fangs pin… almost and they struggled again, but Fang once again prevailed.
"A woman who does not believe my original argument." Fang said and pressed her quarry harder against the wall, looking much the same relaxed huntress she had always look. Lightning growled in frustration.
"What makes you so sure?" Lightning was fighting a losing battle… but if she paused to think about it… she had been fighting one from the first day.
"You have something of mine." Fang was rather enjoying herself, and the fun of helping this woman finally see things from her point of view… that and the feel of her slender form under her own curvy one.
"Something of yours?"
"Think about it, Something that I did not toss into Cocoon waters."
"Water…" Blue eyes seemed far away as she thought about the situation but snapped back to her tormentor as the puzzle was completed.
"You're that Fang?"
"I am."
Blue eyes narrowed.
"That's impossible, The bottle is hundreds of years old."
"I moisturize." Fang quipped.
Lightning glared.
"How can I prove to you that what I have said all along is truth?"
"Tell me what it says."
It was Fangs turn to furrow her brow.
"Do you know how long its been since I wrote that?"
Lightning began to struggle anew…
"Let go of me…" She growled and so Fang released her and ducked what would have been a spectacular left hook. Lightning pivoted and headed back down the alley way towards civilization.
Fang felt this would be her last chance to have this woman, the last opportunity she had to capture her before all hope was lost. Months of wrangling, schedule coordinating, and missed marks came down to this moment. Drawing a steadying breath she spoke the words she had spoken every night since the day she had cast them into the Oerbian sea.
"My Goddess...
I am tired... " The soldier's step slowed but she did not stop, and she did not turn around. Fang took some steps towards her and continued.
"…my soul is exhausted, weary of this life…" And as she spoke it, the emotion she felt that day filled her once more. The desperation of that time mirroring the desperation she now felt to prove her every action to this point was nothing but truth. A bottle cast into a wild sea pulled 500 years ago to this god rafted spear, found by Lightning Farron… how could this not be the hand of a Goddess?
Lightning's step slowed then stopped. Fang slowly continued both her step and reciting the prayer she wrote so very long ago.
" injured beyond fixing, tainted beyond redemption…" Lightning stood there, her back to the dark huntress who recited the bottles contents verbatim. Words she had not known until that moment mirrored her own fears and hearts desire.
Lightning felt her as she stepped into sensory range, a warm heat at her back, a solid presence that belonged right where she was. She bowed her head as a wave of emotion she had no words for washed through her. A strong hand came to the wall beside her, she felt the warmth and draw even that part of the dark huntress had for her. Blue eyes opened as as a smooth warm silk chords slipped over her wrist. She stared down it, a crimson chord of nothing less than pure silk, this the huntress behind her wrapped, once… twice… three times around her left wrist before gently pulling. Lightning again had the urge to fight, to flee… but when was it okay to give up fighting for your dreams and run because you were afraid?
Slowly Lightning responded to the pull of that crimson chord, turning in slow small increments until she could see the other end of that chord wound around the wrist of the dark huntress own wrist.
"I gather the crimson chord of my heart and place it into your hands, " She watched as Fang did just that, drawing the excess between them into her hands before uncurling Lightnings clenched fist and placing the chord that bound them into her hand.
"draw forth my other half and let me at last be whole." Fang took Lightnings smaller hands in her own and held them curled around that crimson chord. A physical representation of their joined life line.
"Give my heart a place to reside in security, free of falsehood, let all the masks fall away and let us be true to one another. " Blue eyes slowly rose up to imploring green, and her breath shuddered in her breast.
"I ask not for perfection, but for understanding, I can change many things, but not the place of which I was born... not the place that I was taken from... the home I fought for... I ask not for that to be given back, but for my future to at last be set before me.
I know there will be good times, and bad times, but I long for the time to be well spent. My heart can not fathom another false start. I ache for truth, for something real..."
If Lightning doubted the sincerity of Fang's words, all she had to do was look… and all her skeptical views were thrown away. The little voices that whispered unpleasant snarky comments that cut were finally silenced.
"Merciful Goddess Etro, let my heart be still until the time it may grow strong and true... let it not want, nor desire... but patiently await a sign that they are indeed the love I seek. When that sign is given, my Great Goddess I shall apply myself with endless patience, and devotion, until that time I beg you. give me the strength to believe, and the faith that my petition will be heard... and that you, O Goddess, that you will aid me in filling this most earnest desire."
Fang was silent as she gazed down upon Lightning with all the desire, and hope one person could hold.
"Little did I know that sign was a bottle that held the words of my very being… but here in your possession it resides, and there is no other place for me. Will you bottle it up once more and cast me into this foreign ocean? I am brittle and scarred, and will not survive another 500 years adrift." She drew Lightnings hands up in her own and pressed her face against their bound hands.
"Never have I known a woman more honest with all her words than you, you know it, taste it in people speech and see it in intentions… can you not stop for one moment and see it in me? Believe me when I say… I love you."
Epilog
"Letter writing is old fashioned they say, how much more archaic to roll a paper with a note into a bottle and cast it into the sea? Hopeless romantics have been doing it for millenniums, long before the Fal'Cie decided to create the shining gem that is Cocoon… before man rose above the great sphere of Gran Pulse and forgot their heritage, fearing the foreign land they once knew to be home.
If you find this I implore you, see not with the eyes of the Sanctum, but those of the heart, look beyond the hatred and be not blinded by the prejudice and scurrilous propaganda spread first by Fal'Cie then by men of great fear. I know the beauty of that forgotten home, have touched its presence in the form of love, and grasped onto its hand for eternity. If you by chance come across a piece of that home we were forced to leave behind, be cautious, be suspect, but do not be blind.
You may think me mad, a fool to believe that not all that comes from that place to be death and disease… but know my life was forever changed… by a letter from Gran Pulse.
May yours too be thus moved to be more than you ever thought."
"Done?" That warm voice purred across Lightnings senses giving her pen pause.
"Almost." She admitted. Fang smiled and leaned into her back reading over her shoulder as she penned her last word.
~Lightning.~
"Now done." She rolled it up and rose from her chair, causing her taller companion to backpedal out of the way. Lightning turned and held it out for her lover. A brand new bottle was presented and with a faint twitch of lips… Lightning's version of a smile… she slipped it into the bottle.
"Look." Fang said as she capped the bottle with a brand new cork. Agile fingers danced around the bottle so that she could see the design engraved in its faced. A lightning strike cutting down behind the form of a curved Fang. This drew that faint twitch of lips into a more true smile.
"Why do you get to be on the top?"
Fang grinned and wagged dark brows.
"Because, I'm the biggah one." Fang chuckled as this logic did not seem to fly with her smaller lover. She reached out and grasped Lightnings left hand with her right threading fingers with her until they were perfectly intertwined.
"Come on, you think about it while I lead the way"
Downstairs the younger sisters waited with great anticipation, but not just them, a slew of others that over the years they called friends… well at least one of them in the house did. Sometimes it was hard to know who Light called friend and who she called annoying interloper who came around more often that a perfect stranger… all relegated into a single non spoke but audible sound that was more like a grunt from the back of her throat. One of which was Snow, Serahs fiance, and his best friend Gadot. The last one she called that was a fiery red head of a certain salon artist who every one else called Skyfire.
Friends and family stood up as the two women descended the stairs together.
"Well, there sure is a lot of ya." Fang said as she paused on the last step, they chuckled and waited for the women to step out of the house and lead the small procession down to the beach. They stood on the shore their feet in the waters edge looking out over Bodhums waters. Fang lifted a hand and Lightning pressed the bottle into it.
"Can you get it out beyond the tides pull?" Snow asked from behind getting an elbow in his side for his efforts. Fang chuckled.
"I have many skills." Fang had come out completely to Lightning in those first few dangerous encounters that were suppose to be dates. Told her about being born on Gran Pulse, growing up an orphan, becoming a huntress and defender of her home in Oerba, being marked by a Fal'Cie and showing her the abilities she still possessed. It was these abilities that she called on now. Summoning the wind to give her aid in sending this bottle out beyond the shallow reefs and pulling tide. They watched it sail out over the waters and hit the sea surface like a champion skimmer before sinking into its grasp and bobbing in distant waves.
Looking down Fang watched content stole over Lights face feeling her own heart swell with love. Lightning gave her a look from the side of her eyes and then turned, they face one another before their witnesses and sealed their new bond with yet another kiss.
They led the procession back to the house in a cacophony of cheers for the party. From behind in the dying artificial light, the dual crimson chords about their wrists appeared to be bound one to the other… in the future when asked how it all began, every one of them would answer "all because of a letter."
45: Animals
The Silver Lobo was fierce, fast and very determined, it did not retreat after they had bled it. A strange reaction in every ones books. It came again and again, tenacious, fearless… Every weapon they had was drawn, every warrior ready, their bodies making a circle around the non combatants, and still the Silver Lobo persisted.
"Something isn't right." Lightning said as it stood back pacing, prowling looking for a weakness in the wall they had created around their innocents.
"Ya can say that again." Fang replied. "It's not natural for it ta be so determined…"
They braced as the creature seemed to have caught its breath and tried again.
"It goes down!" Snow said.
"HOLD THE LINE!"
"Damn it!" More than one cursed as Snow stepped out to attack the beast rather than defend against it. Seeing the break in the line it feint before heading straight for it. Fang moved to take up the slack twisting her lance into place. It hit the lance like a behemoth barreling through. It did not live long afterwards. The guns were out as the fire could have hit their own but that left every bladed weapon to attack. The Silver Lobo was dead before its hind quarters passed their line of defense. With its dying breath they learned of its true purpose. A little voice called back terrified.
They had stumbled upon a mothers nest…
"Get that outta here…" Lightning groused.
"Shhh." Fang said turning her head turned to capture the pups cries.
Every one went quiet and waited for the little voice again. Signaling for them to encircle the sound Fang led the hunt for the now orphaned pup. It wasn't much of a struggle when they found it. The little beast tried to wedge himself into a crevice head first exposing his nubby baby spines. All it took was a wrestle with his haunches and a tug and the little devil popped out into Fangs lap. She wrestled with its over sized mouth until she had its jaws clamped shut.
It was an ugly little beastie at best. Its skin bigger than its body, a wrinkly mess it had to grow into before it molted it at adolescence. It was blind still but it had all its teeth already. Razor sharp needles that would be the size of a knife blade when it was grown.
"Awwww, poor little guy." Fang cooed as it whimpered with its jaws clamped shut.
"Your an ugly one, I'll give ya that."
Lightning stood above her with a grimace, she was not fully aware of what would come next until Fang turned big pleading eyes up to her. She blinked at them her brows rising as Fang drew the whelp beast against her cheek and nuzzled him.
"What?!"
"Nooooo! Absolutely…."
"Aww, come on Light."
"not…" Lightning crossed her arms over her chest looking balefully down at her wife.
"We already have three chocobos and a behemoth, we do not need a Silver Lobo… absolutely not."
"He's an orphan!" Fang counter argued.
"We can't just leave em here on his own?" Fang argued.
"Why not?" Lightning asked. "Put him back and watch me leave him."
The pathetic baby whined turning its blind eyes up towards the angry voice. It could not see her but it knew hostility when it heard it.
"He needs a home too." Fang said pulling on his over grown skin.
"He needs extra help, cause he has a face only a mother could love. Yes he does." Fang cooed and rubbed her cheek against his again.
"What are you going to do feed him to Bee?" Lightning asked.
"I will teach them to be friends." Fang said looking up again with those large amazingly beautiful green eyes. Lightning felt her heart melt and her defenses crumble under the silent assult.
Lightning sighed as she looked at her wife snuggling the creature, really their problem was Fang was a sucker for animals… and Lightning was a sucker for Fang.