A/N: Decided I would post a chapter before I went to bed tonight. I was in a good mood haha. I'd like to explain that the 'New Bodhum' I'm gonna start mentioning is NOT the same New Bodhum from FF13-2, I'll be posting a chapter soon that explains the names of all the places so if there is any confusion rest assured I will feed your hunger haha. Anywaysss, here is Chapter 11. I had to make this one long cause I couldn't find a good stopping point. Please enjoy and review?:3 Again, I love you guys.
Refresher: "You know I can't do that. Tell me who to call?", Lebreau asked getting up and heading behind her desk to her dresser. She pulled her cell phone off the top and looked at Lightning waiting for her answer.
-Lightning's House-
"She has been gone for hours Fang where the fuck did she go?", Serah was screaming at Fang. Her precious sister had left some time that afternoon and at this point she had been gone for over 6 hours. The infamous Lightning had still not shown up and Serah was getting sick of waiting around for her.
"I already told you girlie she left, she didn't tell either of us where she was going. Back up.", Fang demanded as she gently pushed the petite girl off her. Just then her cell began ringing.
"Hello?", She questioned as she put the phone up to her ear.
"Fang? Hey it's Lebreau."
"Aye, how's it?"
"Uhh, could've been a little quieter down here. Would you mind stopping by?", She sounded anxious.
"Can't really spare any time right now. Sergeant Farron decided to give us the slip, been gone since about four this afternoon."
There was a voice saying something in the background. Fang couldn't quite make out the source of the voice, or what it had said.
"I need you right now Fang. Please I'm begging you."
"I can't Lebreau."
"Snow's here causing a scene. Please?"
"What…", Fang was shocked. He's out of the hospital already?
"Just come here now. I promise it'll be worth it. Leave someone at the house incase Lightning comes back, just come here. Please Fang?"
"I'll be right there.", Fang didn't even bother saying goodbye as she clicked the end button and slid her phone away in her pocket.
Everyone in the room was staring at her.
"What was that about?", Vanille questioned from her spot on the couch with curious eyes.
"Lebreau needs me to stop by the bar to help her with a fight. I shouldn't be gone that long. I'll check around for Lightning.", Fang left out the important detail that Snow was involved. If any of them knew that idiot was there they'd all try and kill him.
"A fight? Do you want some help?", Hope offered getting up from his seat.
Thinking quickly Fang didn't consider it an awful idea to have someone accompany her to deal with the man. "If you're willing to come.", Fang replied.
"Wait! What if Lightning comes back and she's hurt? What if we need Hope here?", Serah asked still leaning against the wall where she just had Fang pinned with her relentless questions.
"It'll be fine Serah, Fang said we shouldn't be gone that long.", Hope tried to put Serah at ease with a gentle smile. Him and Fang weren't held up by anymore questions and together they walked silently towards Lebreau's bar.
Upon entering the small establishment they saw Snow and the rest of the N.O.R.A. group drinking and playing pool. Fang found it rather odd to see the bar completely packed with people.
"Oye!", Fang shouted to the rowdy group of men in the corner. Her eyes caught glimpse of Snow and took note of the fact that he wasn't doing anything awful as Lebreau had mentioned in their short conversation.
The man in question strode over to the Pulsian woman.
"Hey Fang! Where were you the other night? We got robbed while you were gone, the kid shot me but.. No one was seriously hurt. It was a good thing you were gone.", Snow didn't bother wasting time trying to show off his bravery. His story telling reminded Fang that she didn't know the truth about what happened, or at least that she had to pretend she didn't know.
"Heard about that. Good to know you're okay.", Fang tried to sound happy, but her tone came out a little more bitter than she had it wanted to.
"Heroes never die!", Snow formed a fist and smiled and Fang. "Who's this kid?", He asked patting Hope a little too roughly on the back.
"Hope Estheim. Pleasure to meet you", Hope introduced himself holding out his hand.
"Snow Villiers.", Snow greeted back.
"Good, now that we all know each other. Snow where is Lebreau?", Fang asked.
"Oh, that old grouch?", Snow smiled at his own joke. "She's back in her room, might wanna be careful though, I'm thinking she's not in too good of mood. Either that or she's got another girl back there for the night.", Snow winked at Fang and Hope and laughed his way back to his friends.
Fang gave the man an evil glare as he returned to his pool table. She clenched her fists tightly.
"Relax, he will be handled at a later time.", He sounded so calm and collected, it was hard to believe.
Fang reluctantly nodded her head, continuing her glare for a few more moments before she walked herself behind the bar. She knocked on the door to Lebreau's office and waited a moment. The door quickly burst open and she, along with Hope, were jerked inside.
"God you guys took long enough. We have a problem.", Lebreau quickly stated after she slammed the door shut behind Fang and Hope, locking it once again. The inside of Lebreau's tiny office smelled more like liquor and cigarettes than the bar did.
"Damn right we do. You lied to me! You realize I've been worrying all day about Lightning coming back home and you call me down here thinking you need help and that bastard isn't doing a da-", Fang caught herself as she felt Hope's hand gently brushing her arm. She turned her direction to where he was staring and immediately felt guilty for giving Lebreau the third degree. Huddled in the corner on Lebreau's make-shift mattress was the woman in question.
Lightning was sound asleep, sprawled out on her back. There was an empty bottle of liquor next to her, and an extinguished cigarette still between her fingers.
"What…'Breau….", Fang was at a loss for words.
Without hesitating Hope knelt over beside her and checked her body temperature and did a quick examination. "She seems to be fine.", he stated nodding in the direction of the two girls.
"You've got some explaining to do.", Fang stated simply crossing her arms and glaring at the young bartender.
"She showed up not too long after you told me she left Fang. Drank her heart out for a long time. Then Mr. Hero in there decided it would be a good time to show up. Telling the N.O.R.A. gang something about him getting robbed, getting shot, all this other stuff. She went a bit rigid after that, I let her hang out in my office for a while and she started losing it. She was trying to scream at Snow. I know she's never liked the kid, so I figured something must've happened with them. I asked her what I should do and she told me to call you. She's been asleep for maybe.. 20 minutes.", Lebreau explained. Short sweet and to the point.
"I think you mean passed out for 20 minutes. Did he…", Fang was wondering how much Lightning had admitted to the young bartender in her drunken stupor.
"Snow?", Lebreau asked.
"Yeah.. He didn't… see her did he? Or do anything to her?", Fang was wondering if she sounded strange.
"No. Lightning didn't even see him, she just heard everyone welcome him back when he walked in and… she got. I don't know, scared? Mad? She just didn't look comfortable.", Lebreau explained again.
"We've got to take her home Lebreau.", Fang glanced down at Lightning and picked up the empty bottle of Pulsian vodka. She gave a stern look towards Lebreau.
"She snatched it Fang. Whatever she's going through has been pretty rough on her.", Lebreau tried to defend her actions.
"So you think letting her down an entire bottle of PULSIAN liquor is gonna make anything better? And just how many cigarettes did you decide to let her smoke?", Fang countered.
"Ladies please.", Hope quietly intervened. "Fighting will solve nothing. Lebreau, we have to leave. We're going to be taking Lightning with us.", Hope confirmed to the unfamiliar woman. With his tone of voice it left almost no room to argue, but Lebreau did anyways.
"Absolutely not. Not until you give me an explanation for why this soldier, this Guardian Corps soldier, has been drinking her ass off since this afternoon. Why she can't even stand to be in the presence of her own sister's fiancé. Until I get an answer to all of that she's staying here, and if you try and take her without my permission I'm gonna call the police. Have you even looked at her?! The police should've been called ages ago.", Lebreau left her statement sound, crossing her arms for defiance.
"Dammit 'Breau. We… it's not-… things aren't that simple! Lightning has too much pride, and we can't leave her here tonight! Her wife misses her, Serah misses her, they've all been worried sick since she left. You really wanna let them go through the rest of the night thinking she's still missing?", Fang thought her argument was just as sound.
"Did you say Serah?", Lebreau asked, sounding like the only word she had managed to grasp for Fang's entire rant was Serah's name.
"Yes, Lebreau, Serah.", Fang sighed repeating the woman's name in annoyance . "We need to leave.", She reminded her again.
"She's okay?", Lebreau asked.
Fang and Hope both gave one another quizzical looks.
"The robbery?", Lebreau asked as if it was obvious where her side of the conversation was going. "I'm surprised they haven't aired more of it on the news yet, but Serah was there wasn't she?", Lebreau explained.
"Th-… There wasn't a robbery Lebreau.", Fang quietly explained a hint of hesitation in her voice. "Snow… Snow did something awful.", She added, and in that moment she prayed to the goddess that Lightning wouldn't kill her once she found out.
After Fang gave a brief synopsis of what happened the other night Lebreau only managed to shift her body weight back to lean on her desk, as a breath full of tears escaped her mouth. Her eyes stung, and she glanced over at the once impenetrable form of Lightning Farron sleeping on her bed.
Imagining the gruesome details as Fang explained them, Lightning's form seemed to change. She became more of a person, someone with more depth, more feelings than hate and determination. Everything began making sense. Her discomfort when Snow entered the room. Her blatant rage after hearing his voice. Her want to consume every drop of liquor in the bar.
"She… she's hurt…", Lebreau summed everything up breathless, silent tears streaking down her face.
"She's trying to hide it. Why do you think she ran away in the first place today?", Fang added crossing her arms.
The three of them stared at Lightning, sleeping quietly on her mattress, inhaling slowly, exhaling even slower. She was peaceful. They hated to ruin it.
"Take her… Keep her safe.. I'll… I'll call the cops and tell them.", Lebreau added, trying to think of the best way possible for her to help.
"No.. no, no, don't do that. It's up to Lightning. Don't make a decision for her okay?", Fang didn't need to do any more convincing. Lebreau only nodded a teary nod, and hugged Fang thanking her for explaining anything. She promised she wouldn't say a word of it to anyone. It was nearly 1 in the morning when the trio departed from the bar. Hope was carrying Claire in his arms back to the house.
"No one knows we told Lebreau okay?", Fang double checked her status with Hope.
"We found Lightning passed out drunk at the bar.", Hope added to the story.
"Snow wasn't there.", Fang continued. They both nodded in agreement.
"I'll be leaving after this. Feel free to call again if something happens, I'm always prepared to help my friends.", Hope smiled at the Pulsian woman.
"I certainly hope your help won't be needed again.", Fang smiled back at him. She quietly opened the door to Claire's house to find Vanille and Serah both asleep. Vanille was sprawled out on the couch, and Serah was leaned back in a chair. A quiet news report was on.
Fang took Lightning from Hope and nodded a thank you at him, Hope bowed his head as a goodbye and grabbed his suit case sitting by the door then departed from the Farron residence. Fang gently placed Claire in Serah's lap, managing by some miracle not to wake the younger Farron girl. Her tired body guided her feet to the two-seat couch placed adjacently to the one Vanille was sleeping on and after taking off her shoes she fell asleep the instant her head hit a pillow. The last thing she remembered hearing was the news of a robbery in New Bodhum, and Snow's name. She drowned out the bullshit report, and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
-The Next Morning-
Fang woke to screaming only a few feet away from her. Her eyes sprang open and her feet guided her to the source of the sound before her brain could even comprehend what was going on.
"Stop! Get off me! Agh!", Lightning was thrashing around in her sleep on Serah's lap. Serah, Fang, as well as Vanille were all trying to wake the soldier from her nightmare. Serah put her unknowingly cold finger's against Lightning's cheek to try and calm her down. Claire's eyes sprang open and immediately began scanning the room with the utmost urgency. Locking eyes with the entrance to the kitchen she clumsily leaped off Serah's lap and ran as fast as she could to the cold room. Claire had barely made it to the sink before she started puking out tons of the stinging liquor she had consumed the night before.
Entirely clear, and smelling of nothing but Vodka, Claire was vomiting at the sink for almost half an hour. Serah came up behind her and grabbed a small bundle of her hair to hold behind her head, while simultaneously rubbing her back.
"Shhh, sis it's okay. You gotta get it all out, you'll feel better afterwards.", Serah reassuringly told her older sister.
Lightning heaved one more time, her body shaking from her lack of energy. She began slipping from the counter, falling towards one side, but Serah was quick to catch her.
"I got you.", Serah said, holding Claire in her arms guiding her back to her spot on the couch.
"Serah…", Lightning sighed, her breath still smelling strongly of liquor.
"I'm right here Claire.", Serah promised gently placing Lightning down on the couch Vanille was just asleep on.
"S-.. Serah..", Lightning repeated clutching her hand to her head and screwing her eyes shut.
"Hangover?", Serah questioned, even though she already knew the answer. All Claire could manage was a small nod as she fluttered her eyes open, squinting at the bright light of her living room.
"I'll go shut the curtains.", Fang announced, knowing all too well the young girl was experiencing.
"I'll get her some water.", Vanille followed, leaving the large living room and disappearing into the kitchen.
"Where's….'Breau..?", Lightning questioned in a raspy voice.
"She's at the bar sunshine. Same place she is every day. Did ya forget?", Fang chuckled taking a seat at the arm of the couch Lightning was laying on after pulling the curtains shut.
Vanille brought in a cold glass of water, along with a damp wash cloth she gently placed on her wife's head.
"Better my love?", Vanille questioned, kissing Lightning's forehead before placing the cloth down. Lightning's body shuttered as the cold fabric touched her skin. She sighed a relaxed sigh and shut her eyes again. Vanille couldn't help but squeeze herself between her wife and the back of the couch. She rolled the girl's body over onto her chest and lightly wrapped her arms around Claire, then followed suit in shutting her eyes and dozing off.