UNDER KINGSGLAIVE TRAINING
CHAPTER 12
Nyx Ulric felt happy to be back home.
Not long ago, he had learned to appreciate that morning at Insomnia were a true treasure to appreciate, with the fuzzing streets, full of people buying and selling their goods, the smell of wet pavement from the morning dew mixed with freshly made coffee filling the air, all of that combined with the laughter of the early workers. It was true that Bodhum mornings were amazing, with the sun illuminating the beautiful landscape, the feeling of the air full of salt, and the sound of the sea waves reaching his ears. But something was alluring from the city´s dawn that always took him into memory line, into days where he was the happiest, when he was not alone. His khaki, military-style pants, and his brown T-shirt were comfortable enough to let him walk down the rowdy street, and he almost whistled, uncaring about the chilly wind that made his arm hairs stand up. This early sun bathing his face made him feel more alive than ever.
It was Sunday, and like every Sunday in his life, he knew he should be still sleeping, enjoying the pleasure of hugging his warm sheets or his comfy pillow, and for many years he didn´t wake up before noon on the weekend, but today, there was a strange force prompting him to break his routine, get up early and go to a certain apartment.
Fortunately for everyone, the Farron´s place was no longer in that horrible neighborhood they had lived in a few years ago: Luna had found a cute apartment for the lovely siblings in a very beautiful building closest to the palace, and though it was not in the most expensive district (Lightning would never allow her to pay for them, she had always been just too proud for that, and her new paycheck allowed her to keep that pride intact), it was still a very nice and respectable place to live in. And to grow. Luna, and maybe even more so Ignis, kept in mind all the time that both girls were growing into very beautiful young ladies, thus, their security must be first priority for all the grownups related to their upbringing. After all, there were too many perverts in the world to keep one's guard down, or so Ignis always told both of them, producing, obviously, the rolling of the eyes from Lightning´s part.
The idea of seeing the Farrons, especially Lightning, ignited Nyx´s heart, prompting his feet to walk faster. But suddenly, a strange thought made him slow his almost jog: he questioned himself why of his urgency to see the siblings, but then, after a moment of thought, he shook his head and resumed his jogging: it was just because he cared about them, he saw them as the family he had lost, a replacement of the sister he could never see again, he convinced himself. As he turned around the corner of the building, the thought of crystal blue irises formed a smile upon his lips, making every step feel lighter. He was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he crashed against one of the pinkettes, Serah´s nose hitting his chest, the force of the impact making her stagger backward.
"Ooops!" waking up forcefully from his daydreaming, he barely managed to catch her by the wrist, right before she fell onto the ground. "You should be more careful where you step, missy!"
"Oh! Nyx! I´m sorry!" The smaller pinkette found her equilibrium and looked up at him, a grateful smile on her pink lips. "I was so distracted I didn´t see where I was going! I can be so sloppy sometimes!" She giggled at him while collecting her bag and cellphone, begging the latter one hadn´t suffered much for the fall.
Nyx was about to apologize, but seeing the little lady had done it for him, he instead took another approach. The man couldn´t miss the opportunity.
"Clearly. But don´t worry, Serah, I´ll accept an apology if you promise to repay me with a delicious breakfast."
The youngest pinkette giggled, fixing her dress. "I´m sure you would. Unfortunately, we´ve already breakfasted, I´m sorry to say you´re just too late for that. But if you don´t mind, and have enough time to spare, I might as well prepare for you one delicious lunch, like… let´s see… a smoked Behemoth, perhaps? How does that sound?"
His eyes shone brightly at the delicious invitation, and he forgot all the aloofness he had prepared to show. "Really? Would you cook it for me?"
This time Serah laughed out loud at his eyes opened wide like a child in front of a Christmas present.
"I most certainly would! Unless you don´t want to come over?"
"Oh, no! I´d be more than pleased to visit you!"
"Great!" She clapped her hands in front of him, her smile growing wider. "Wait up at the apartment, then, I was going to the supermarket anyway, I might as well buy the extra supplies for you."
"Do you want me to accompany you?"
With a wave of her hand and her ever-present cute smile, she dismissed his offering. "No, no, don´t worry, I´ve still got a few errands to do before going to the supermarket. I´d rather ask you to help Lightning cleaning up the apartment. It´s been alone for almost a year now, so it´s gotten a lot of dust and a few… emh… unwanted visitors… you know, in the form of insects." She grimaced at the last words.
He hesitated a bit at the unusual invitation. "Do you think Sparks would appreciate the help? You know how she gets whenever I offer my services, and if I recall correctly, being on her bad side is quite dangerous."
Once more she dismissed his worries with another wave of her hand. "Oh please, she´d be more than willing to accept your assistance. Don´t need to knock on the door, though, I left it open, so you can just come in."
"You mean… come in uninvited?"
"I´m inviting you in, silly."
"Oh… right. Okay, if you say so." Without thinking it over, he waved his goodbye and walked along the street, missing completely the smirk tainted with mischief that illuminated Serah´s features. Once he was next to the door, he heard there was loud music coming from inside their home, and even though he knocked to announce himself, there wasn´t any response, so he decided to obey Serah´s previous invitation and entered.
"Hello? Is somebody home? Sparks?" No response, and as he walked in, he could clearly hear the music coming from the kitchen. As he gave a few steps inside, he recognized the tune from a group that he vaguely reminded of hearing… somewhere. Hesitantly, he walked slowly towards the origin of the thunderous song. "Emh… Lightning? I… Serah told me I could come in…" Still no response, so he ventured further in. As he reached the kitchen door, he now could recognize the music was from a K-Pop group that often played automatically in the Star of Lucis every time he had to drive the stupid car. Nyx rolled his eyes at the thought.
Of the many things she could learn from him, it had to be his bad taste at music.
Groaning, he forced himself to focus on the here and now, while his hand pushed the door open, but the sight that met him froze him on the spot.
Lightning was wearing a white tank top that let her small waist to see, as well as the form of her rounded, perfect breasts, with a shy insinuation of her nipples, the fabric contrasting with a small, black sports short that still matched perfectly with the light of the tank top, outlining the beautiful form of her butt, and that made the skin of her long and well-toned legs look paler. But what had truly disconnected his brain had been finding the gorgeous pinkette dancing in a perfect sink with the music, her hips swaying side to side, while her hands flew around her, the kitchen instruments grasped tightly around her slender fingers, as if they were part of the dance, forming invisible drawings upon the air; pink locks twirled around her head, floating and moving in sync with the rhythm, while he found her beautiful eyes closed, the young woman evidently lost in the waves of the melody. He stood still, drinking all in, his eyes completely glued to her figure.
Nyx Ulric couldn´t help but lose his mind in the scene: in front of him, the most beautiful creature on Eos was performing the most alluring dance ever seen by a man. But when the music ended, a sudden scream woke him up rather forcefully, and he had to react quickly, least a hardpan broke his nose.
"What the hell are you doing here, Ulric?! And who let you barge in?!" A very angry Lightning had woken up from her personal paradise, only to find the man contemplating her without restriction. And without her permission, which made all the matters even worse.
"No… No! you don´t understand!" he tried to apologize while avoiding a teapot that almost crashed against his head. "I… I didn´t mean to… to see you like this…"
"You didn´t see anything!"
The man walked around the small table, ducking, as a salad spinner collided noisily against the wall at his back. "No! I mean I really didn´t see anything!"
"What are you doing here, Ulric?!"
He moved to the side, evading a green bowl from hitting his chest. "I-I came to help you!"
"Why in the world didn´t you knock?"
A chopping board almost found his shoulder. Seeing all the ruckus she was making, at this point he was more than thankful the knives were a little distance from where she stood. "I did! I did! But you weren´t listening!"
"You should´ve waited outside!"
A wooden spoon finally found his forearm, and he hissed at the pain. Her arm was as powerful as he imagined it would be. "Serah told me to get in! I swear to my life!"
The name usually did the trick, and she stopped in the middle of a movement, now the rolling pin held up high with one hand. There were a few, very awkward seconds where she stood still, just glaring at him, and he stood frozen out of fear that any movement could elicit more attacks. Fortunately for him, she decided to throw the pin into the sink instead of roaming it against his head, while the woman growled out of frustration.
"Urgh! I´m gonna kill that girl!"
Still afraid of losing his life, Nyx ventured his head above the table.
"Umh… may I… come in?"
Lightning huffed once more and then sent him her iciest glare.
"If you even dare to mention this to anyone, and I really mean anyone, I promise you I´ll cut your balls off!"
For an unknown reason, an image of such procedure came barging into his head, making him pale out of fear, and he gulped audibly, shaking his head vigorously.
"You have my word, there´s no living soul that will learn of this."
The pinkette, both hands on the sink, inhaled deeply a few more times until she finally straightened up and faced the man, her glare still in position.
"What do you want, Nyx? Why did you come this early in the morning?"
Still hesitant, he stood straighter too. "Well, I… I had thought about inviting you… both… to have breakfast with me, and so I…"
"We already ate."
"I know but…" he rose both hands, palms forward, in a conciliatory gesture. "…but then I found Serah, and she… well, she kinda promised me she would make lunch for me… so I couldn´t say no."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course, you will never say no to Serah´s cooking. Well, she will come back very soon, she only went to get some milk from the grocery around the corner, that said, you can wait for her outside."
"Actually…" one hand went to his neck, an obvious sign of insecurity, "she said she was going to do a few errands before going to the supermarket. And that I should wait for her here."
"What? Here? With me? All alone? Why?"
"But… if you want me to go…"
Yes, oh please yes!
Lightning didn´t feel ready to talk to the man in front of her, at least not yet, but for the love of Etro, there was a nagging voice inside her head that kept forcing her to do things she really didn´t want to do: Ignis didn´t teach her to be this rude. The image of her last mentor finally managed to get into her mind, and clenching her teeth, the pinkette took hold of her emotions, just like the bespectacled man had taught her to; she sighed deeper while a hand traveled over her locks, and she finally found some sense in her.
"No… no. Serah would kill me if I do this to you, especially to you. Please, come in, make yourself at home. If you want me to, I´ll get you some tea or coffee while we wait for her to come back."
He smiled at her words, all mistreatment forgotten, and sat over the small table, presenting her the dented teapot as a form of peace offering.
"If you insist. Coffee would be fine… please?"
Lightning rolled her eyes at his antics, but complied, and snatched from him the abused instrument. While they waited for the water to boil, silence enveloped them in its embrace, and, incredibly, she felt comfortable with it, despite his presence. After a couple of minutes, the pinkette finally managed to relax, and without words served the water in the cup in front of him, as a sense of calmness washed over her. He waited patiently for her to start the conversation, eager to hear her, while she sat in front of him.
"So… what really brought you here?"
"You mean I can´t just want to see you?" He coughed and corrected. "I mean, see you both, Serah and you? I care about you both."
"Yes, you´ve already stated that." She sighed after noticing her rough tone. Lightning knew her patience was short, had always been like that, but Ignis had taught her to be better, and his teachings always included the torment of how to be a good host. She couldn´t fail him like this. "I´m sorry, it´s just… I´m not used to having you around, you know? It just feels weird to see you so… well, here in the flesh and bones, sitting in front of me, pretending that more than five years didn´t pass us by."
"Well, I really don´t know what has changed in between us." Besides you growing into an extremely sexy girl. He clenched his fists after such thought and was invaded by an intense need to kick himself for being so stupid. At least he didn´t say it out loud. "But contrary of what you might think, I do understand. We never sat on a coffee table like this, just you and I, there was always someone with us, and even those moments were scarce, so unlike the many times you´ve spent with Libertus and Crowe. I´m sorry I could never be around as much as I wanted to, even when I promised you I would."
She looked at his eyes, trying to find deceit behind his words, and an answer to his first question. At least one that wouldn´t be too confusing-slash-terrifying… but since she found none, finally accepted his apology and acknowledged his explanation as the most plausible. She took a sip of her coffee.
"I guess you´re right and I´m just being silly."
The man blinked. Twice. Etro must have placed a confusion spell on him! Did she really accept he was right? That easy? He must´ve gone mad. Or maybe she was the crazy one.
Since he didn´t answer, she kept on talking. "Are you now going to tell me what brought you here?"
"I wasn´t lying when I said I wanted to see you. Both." Why was he so preoccupied about Lightning knowing he wanted to see Serah too, not just her? Not that he didn´t want to see Serah, but…
She smiled softly at his words, and such a sight broke his train of thoughts. Thankfully, because he had been driving right towards disaster.
"Well, I´m happy… I mean, glad you came because I actually needed to talk to you."
His ears prickled at her choice of words. "Oh, really? What about?"
"Well… I might need your help for my new mission."
"New mission? You mean one as disastrous as Leide?"
She glared at him. "For your information, it wasn´t a disastrous mission. We accomplished what we had gone to do. It just… turned out to be more dangerous than what we had originally planned."
"Oh, Dear Etro! So, you truly were in Leide!" He stood up, pointing a finger at her, his countenance that of a man who just won the lottery. "You actually were that crazy woman I saved!"
Lightning stood up as well, flustered and offended at his choice of words, her face tomato red. "Hey! I was the crazy woman who saved your sorry ass! You idiot!"
"Yeah, then I saved you!"
"Because I had to risk my life for you, you stupid, pathetic, ungrateful bastard!"
At her words, he grimaced and sat back down, his ego deflating immediately by the figurative slapping, and then, as an extremely rare demonstration of maturity from his part, he had the decency to break eye contact with her, looking quite apologetic.
"Yes, I´m sorry Sparks, you´re right. I´m such an ungrateful bastard."
His reaction, his quick and uncommon acceptance over her accusation, startled her; after a moment of hesitation, she sat back too, speechless and confused, her beautiful baby blue orbs fixed on his hunched form.
They remained in silence for a couple of seconds, and then his eyes bore into hers, his gray irises carrying an emotion so strong that sent shivers down her spine.
"I actually came exactly for that reason, Sparks. To… to thank you… well, no, I actually came to find out if you had been that fantastic woman who saved the asses of all the morons in Leide, even at the cost of her own life. And, if you did turn out to be that incredible woman, I then wanted to officially thank you, with all of my heart, for saving my life and the lives of my men. We all agreed that you were amazing and that we are in your debt." His fist reached his chest in a military salute full of respect, as his gray eyes bore into hers, making her blush, but she just couldn´t look away. The intensity of his stare glued her to his eyes, and for a moment, she couldn´t think properly either. Lightning didn´t know how long had she been staring, but after what felt like an eternity, she broke eye contact, harrumphed and, her voice sounding deeper for the emotion, she finally managed to speak.
"Yeah… well no problem. Tell… tell your crew that they don´t have to mention it."
Nyx was about to make some cheeky retort, but then thought of a much better use of their time together, and smiled at her, getting up to take the pot and serve the second round of coffee.
"Well, miss almighty Farron, now that we are in such a mood, what about you telling me how did you get that amazing scar you´re flashing to everyone."
She looked down at her cleavage, and her blush deepened, her glare returning full force.
"Really? After we are finally in good terms, you decide to take a look at my breasts?!"
He forced his countenance to be neutral, understanding he was treading on thin ice. "I would never do such things, but that scar speaks of quite an adventure, and if you share your story, I´ll share mine."
A delicate eyebrow rose, followed by a smirk. "Oh, really? You mean to tell me you have a scar as creative as mine?"
What would you know? Against all odds, the pinkette had taken the bait. He turned around, away from her, trying to hide the smirk playing on his lips.
"Well, you will get to see it if you tell me yours."
"Please don´t tell me it´s on your butt."
He spun around at her words, glaring. "What?! No! you offend me! It´s definitely in a more interesting place. Are you going to share it or not?"
"Only if you prove to me your scar is as interesting as mine."
"Fine! Jeez! You can be such a baby!" Rolling his eyes, he pulled his T-shirt up, his magnificent abs on display, and Lightning had to make a real effort not to blush, berating herself for being so stupid for falling into such a trap, but her eyes were already glued to his muscles, the temptation to touch him was growing quite unbearably… only the sudden appearance of the man´s finger in her line of vision, pointing at a place in the middle of his abdomen, broke the spell she was in. "There, do you see it? That´s a scar." At his prompting, Lightning finally managed to find a portion of paler skin that made a lineal form, cutting in half one of his abbs. She succumbed to the temptation and touched the skin, eliciting a small chuckle from its owner.
"That is the infamous scar? Oh please! It´s so much smaller than mine! And so less interesting."
"Not if I show you its exit and the reason I have it." He turned around, taking off his T-shirt completely, making the woman gulp.
"Nyx… I-I really don´t think that´s necessary…"
"No, no! wait, it´s on my back, check it out." The muscles in his back moved as he spoke. It was quite impressive, to see such an arrangement of perfect muscles framing his form. He looked powerful… he looked…
So sexy…
Lightning shook her head and got up all flustered, not really liking the path her thoughts were taking.
"Sparks? Won´t you look at it?"
"No, thank you. I believe you, but you still hadn´t won." She turned around, taking her cup with her as if to wash it.
"Oh, yeah? I might as well show you another one." Taking her negative from the wrong angle, he started to unbutton his pants.
His sudden silence made her weary, and she turned around, finding him with his hands on the waistline of the pants and ready to pull them down his legs. "What the hell you think you´re doing!?" Flustered, in two strides she reached his side and immediately slapped his hands off of the belt, proceeding to fix it herself.
"Well… I have a very good one on my leg…" His eyes opened wide at her proximity, and at the sight of her slender fingers working over his belt.
"Don´t you even dare to do that! I really don´t care about your scars!" But the moment Lightning looked up to glare at him, she found herself inches from his face, and the proximity froze all her movements. They were so close, she could see the reflection of the light in his eyes; after a moment, something inside her pulled her sight down, and as her eyes met his lips, she felt a warmth inside her chest that she couldn´t recognize ever feeling. But she had to be sincere with herself, she definitely liked the sensation.
For his part, if Nyx hadn´t been so concentrated on her proximity, on her partially opened lips, he could´ve noticed the give-away blush that tainted her face. But he was too engrossed on the parted, rosy, tempting lips so close to him to notice anything happening in the world. His chest hammered against his ribcage, and he wanted so much to close the gap in between them. But he knew Lightning, he knew that, if he dared to do such a movement, he would lose her forever. The thought broke the spell he was in, and he gave a step backward, unintentionally pulling her hands still entrapping his belt; such movement woke her up from her own bewitchment. They looked at each other´s eyes for a moment, then both harrumphed and turned away from one another, the pinkette managing to push him away with one hand against his chest, making him stagger lightly.
"You´re such an idiot."
He smirked and sat down once more. "Your reaction means I won our little game? Will you tell me your story now?
She was still hesitant, feeling her heart pumping against her chest, but collected her wits and sat down again. "I said no. Stop being so stupid and put your clothes on, I just hope Serah doesn´t get in at this moment and gets the grown idea."
"Alright! Alright. Geez! You haven´t changed a bit." His smirk still on, he proceeded to do as she ordered, trying to hide his own embarrassment.
Fortunately for her, his childish attitude allowed her to relax into their bickering and graced him with a small smile. "Neither have you, you´re the same idiot you were then."
"Well, I insist. Will you tell me about your scar if I tell you how I made mine?"
"Why would I care about your scar?"
"It´s what made me be promoted at a very young age, you know? It has always been quite the interesting tale." As the girl huffed, he gave away more information to make it tempting. "It was for saving Princess… ehem, Queen Lunafreya."
Lightning´s ears prickled at the name. Did she really want to know? She was over the idea of them together, that was now an impossible feat. But… she had never heard the full story, never knew how it had started. Still…
"No, thank you. Maybe some other time."
But the man wasn´t one to be dissuaded easily. "Then please, I beg you. I wanna know about your scar."
"Why?" She was getting irritated at his insistence.
"I wanna know the things you had to do to survive. The things I couldn´t protect you from. You really impressed me in Leide. What happened to you to make you such a magnificent fighter?"
"You don´t believe it could be for hard work and a lot of training?"
"Yes, of course it´s for those things, but your improvisation had nothing to do with perfectly honed skills. You reacted in ways that only experienced fighters do, and that kind of experience you get only after fighting many real battles. I wanna learn about them. About the fights I was supposed to protect you from, but didn´t."
She sighed at his words and spoke with a tint of sadness. "You couldn´t have done anything to protect me, Nyx, you should stop trying to play hero, you can´t save everyone."
He smiled softly as a distant memory hit his brain. "Yes, you told me that once. But you were my responsibility, and I let you down. Again."
She sighed, exasperated at his insistence. "Let me get this straight: you want to know the story so that you can feel even worse with yourself for failing me?"
"No. I want to hear it so that I get to know you better. It´s been years since I´ve seen you, and this time I really want to know the real Lightning, not the one my friends tell me about."
"A fight doesn´t define who I am."
He smiled at her stubbornness. "Though I differ of that thought, you must realize that a fight, a very difficult fight, is what brought us together. I want us to be together again. Though fleeting, that day I took care of you was a very important day for me. One of my bests. Am I wrong to wish to have all of that back?"
Yes, she remembered that day as clear as if it was yesterday. Lightning lowered her sight and blushed, pleased by his words, but tried to feign nonchalance.
"That´s a very dirty trick to play, low even for you."
Instead of feeling offended, he chuckled. "Well, I´ve learned from the very best. So, will you tell me the story?"
Lightning leaned on her chair, looking straight at him, a smirk plastered on her face. "No."
"Oh, c´mon! I know you´re dying to tell the story too!"
The pinkette chuckled at his antics as she sipped her coffee, giving a dramatic pause. "Well, I can offer you this much: I won´t tell you now, but I promise you I´ll tell you some other time. Is that enough?"
He returned the smirk. "You never lose, don´t you?"
"You know me."
"Fine then, I accept your terms. Some other time is better than never. Tell me about this mission of yours, then. What would you have me do?"
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A/N: I really hope everyone is okay, healthy, and in good mood, with all the Coronavirus killing thousands of people around the world. Please, guys, take care of yourselves.
I´m playing "The Witcher" now, and, for those who haven´t, let me tell you that it´s amazing! I obviously fell for Geralt, and fell enamored with Cirilla´s personality, but, and here´s why I recall their names now, Geralt and Ciri´s relationship is more like a father/daughter one, because he adopted her when she was I think fourteen-years-old, and they saw each other as family, as true daughter and father. But in my story, though Nyx did save and took Lightning under his wing when she was a teenager, she immediately left him to travel with the King and Queen of Lucis, while he went away to his training. They never saw each other during those six years, except for a few times, thus, never developed such a relationship. I comment on this for those who might grow disgusted at the idea of them having a relationship. Nyx never saw her as a sexual interest when he met her as a child, he even stated as such, but Lightning is a woman now, almost a full-grown woman, and a very beautiful one, and Nyx´s memory of her as his protégé is not that engraved, we could expect that from Libertus and Crowe, a lot more than with Nyx. And thus, he being a lady´s man, it would be quite easy for him to fall for her. I hope this helps everyone who cringes at the idea of them together. And I hope this chapter is of your liking.
I don´t own Final Fantasy, I write out of love for the franchise only.