Birds of a Feather
Chapter 10
They made their way through the open-air mall towards the movie theater. Hope smiled gently as he listened to Nora chat Lightnings ear off. He was glad Nora got along with her, not that Nora had a problem getting along with people. She was out going and talkative like her mother. The three trotted on down the street like walkways and into the food court, strategically placed before the entertainment section of the mall.
"Hope! Hope Estheim!" He heard his name called. Him and the girls turned toward the direction of the voice. It was a stranger's voice to Lightning and Nora but an all too familiar one to Hope. He had heard this voice numerous times on the battlefield.
"Captain!" Hope exclaimed at the approaching afro headed middle aged black man. The two embraced in a hug befitting old friends.
As they broke away smiling the man said "It's good to see you again. It's been what six or seven years?"
"Something like that, its good to see you too captain."
"Ha ha come on we're civilians now, you can call me Sazh."
Hope rubbed the back of his neck and said. "Sorry sir-I mean Sazh."
Sazh patted Hope on the shoulder then looked over at the girls and said. "Sorry about that I forgot my manners." He held out his hand to Lightning, who shook it. "Sazh Katzroy, nice to meet you miss…"
"Claire Farron, it's a pleasure."
Sazh smiled and looked at Hope as he said "You definitely have a type, I've never seen you without a pink haired lady." Hope put his palm to his face in embarrassment. Sazh lowered himself to speak to Nora. Still smiling he said "I know you, I haven't seen you since you were this tall." He held his hand about a foot off the ground.
"I'm sorry I don't remember that. But! I see you all the time in daddy's old pictures from the war. And I could never forget that chocobo comb in your hair!"
"Haha yeah I love this thing, my son gave it to me when he was little." He gently touched the fro comb in his perfectly kept afro. "How old are you now?"
"11." She smiled at him.
He stood and nodded and with empty eyes he said "Dahj would be about 20 now."
"So what brings you to town sir?" Hope asked, only realizing afterword he called Sazh 'sir' again.
"Haha you can take the man out of the military."
"Yeah force of habit." Hope snickered.
He stroked his chin as he spoke "The air show this summer. I'll be flying in it and the company sent me down to handle some paperwork. The venue has been booked since last summer but the paperwork never stops."
"I heard that, the college keeps me drowned in it."
"Yeah I just wrapped it up and came here to get a bite to eat, then I saw you and had to speak."
Hope smiled "I'm glad you did. Its good to see you again."
Sazh held out his hand and Hope shook it. "It was good to see you again too Hope." He motioned to Lightning and Nora. "I'll get You and the family tickets to the show."
"Sounds good."
"Hey Sazh." Lightning spoke up. "Did you want to eat with us?"
He smiled a gentle "No ma'am, I've already ate. Thanks anyway."
They shook hands one last time and Sazh said his good byes to Lightning and Nora before heading away.
They began to make their way into the food court, passing by all the wonderful smelling food towards the movie theater.
"So did you know him in the Marines or…" Lightning began.
"Special forces." Hope answered. "He was my team captain. I was just a master sergeant when I first met him."
"Ah…and what was your unit called again?" she sweetly asked.
"Pickled Potato."
"Oh that's right, the most feared spec ops unit there is, pickled potato." She said sarcastically.
"And don't you forget it." He pointed his finger at her.
She laughed at his response then asked Nora "What do you want to eat after the movie?"
"Oh anything is fine with me. What about you miss Farron?"
"Can I pick?" Hope chimed in.
"Yeah, the popcorn." Lightning jeered. This got a giggle from Nora. Soon after they were at the movie theater buying tickets for the movie. It was a movie picked by Nora, a pick that surprised Lightning. It was an action/adventure movie that followed a young warrior who falls in love with a beautiful girl. The ending had both Lightning and Nora crying, the warrior sacrificed his life to save the girl. She could have sworn she saw Hope wipe away a tear. She was sure to tease him about it at dinner as they discussed the movie. Turns out Hope like to encourage music and movie discussions with Nora and now Lightning was apart of them as well.
Honestly she felt like she was becoming apart of Hope and Nora's little family.
She would do whatever she had to in order to keep things that way.
It was now the next Saturday and Lightning once again found herself waiting impatiently. Unfortunately she wasn't waiting for Hope, she was waiting for Snow. As per Hope's request she contacted Snow last week.
She wasn't looking forward to this.
But she wanted to stay with Hope and she knew he was only trying to help. The last thing was wanted to do was strain their relationship over something like this. Not to mention her relationship with Serah, it was far from strained but she knew if she continued to act the way she was acting, then it would deteriorate. She loved her sister far to much to let that happen. So at the behest of Hope she invited Snow to her apartment for lunch.
She heard a knock at the door and looked through the peep hole.
It was Snow with his signature stupid grin.
She took a deep breath and opened the door.
She was greeted with a big smile from Snow "Here there Serah's mean ass sister."
She stared at him.
He smiled.
"You can call me Claire… or Lightning. If you want." She figured giving him the option to call her Lightning would be a show of good faith. "Come on in." She added.
"Thanks I'm looking forward to these sandwiches." He made his way to the couch and sat down.
Lightning made her way to the small kitchen and from the doorway asked "What do you want on your sandwich?"
She heard him get off the couch as he said "I can make it."
He was looking at her through the door as she responded. "No…your my guest. Just tell me what you want on it."
"Alright then, what all you got." Lightning opened the fridge and they both started to grab what they wanted. Once assembled Lightning toasted both of the sandwiches and cut them in half. She opened some chips and poured them out on the plates.
They sat on the couch. Lightning took a few silent bites of her sandwich. She wanted to speak but she just didn't know how to start.
"Hey, thanks for inviting me to eat with you. Heh I've always wanted to do something with you." Snow said to her.
She didn't respond. Snow continued "I mean you are my sister in law and I've always wanted to build some kind of relationship with you. Serah has always talked so well about you."
Hearing that hurt Lightning. Not because she had been denying Snow a relationship but because Serah had spoken so well about her despite her acting like a child.
"Well Hope told me to meet with you. He seems to like you."
"He's a cool dude, he loves that little girl of his. At Thanksgiving he gushed on and on about her when we where in the music room."
She smiled. "Yeah Nora is a sweet girl. She's my favorite student." She bit her lip "If it's ok I want to ask you something."
"Sure ask me anything." He said with a casual grin.
"Hope said you started noraneko….I'd like to hear about it. How you started it that is."
Snow's grin fell away as a forlorn look grew on his face.
Lightning scrambled with her words saying "If you don't want to that's fine."
"It's ok." He reassured her. "I don't mind. I've actually wanted to tell you. Ya'know in the hopes you stop hating me, but it never felt like the right time."
"Well it looks like your prayers have been answered."
He looked at her and grinned. "Seems so. Alright I'll start the tale of a hero's journey!" he pumped one fist in the air.
"Was that necessary?"
"No, but I wanted to do it." He took a bite of his sandwich and then began his story. "Well I'm an orphan. Spent my life going from foster home to foster home. All of them where terrible, playing the system for money. I never did to good in school, not that I'm dumb, it was just pointless in my eyes." He sighed
"Serah never mentioned you're an orphan." Lightning said.
"Yeah she said that its my place to tell people that." He looked at her and said "Before I continue…can I have a drink please. I didn't want to mention it earlier, I just figured you didn't drink…like at all."
She glared a harmless glare. "Yeah I'm trying to quite liquids."
A smile began to break across Snow's lips. "That so?"
"Yup." She stood. "You want water or . I can't make sweet tea like mama or Serah, but I've got some cold green tea or I could brew some other tea."
"Water is fine, thanks."
She sat down with two bottles of water and handed Snow one. After taking a drink he continued his story. "I didn't have anybody to steer me straight, only 'friends' I had where the other delinquents. When I was 14 we started to drink and smoke, I took one puff of a cig and said nah. I let everybody else smoke those and instead I drown myself in piss flavored beer." He finished his sandwich and sat back in the sofa. He looked too comfortable. "At 15 we started smoking pot, mix that with the liquor and…well I was numb to the world. I dropped out of school and the foster system, started doing odd jobs and slinging dope."
Lightning sat there listening keenly in silence to Snow.
Snow glanced at her and said. "What no 'oh you poor thing' or 'how terrible'." He chuckled in an effort to let her know it was a joke.
"Nope. Man up you wuss." She said lightheartedly. Truth be told she was thinking how awful it was to grow up like that. She was just never one to voice those thoughts, unlike Serah.
"Haha!" Snow laughed "Man I can't catch a break from you can I?"
"Someone has to give you a hard time." She tucked her legs under her and rested her chin in her hand.
"Well, that's fine," He smiled briefly "Anyways, I got arrested a couple times and then I got hooked on meth." Lightnings eyes widened in shock at the words.
The words hung heavy between the two. Snow looked forward silently then he sighed. Maybe she should say something but before she could say anything. "Later that year I was arrested for robbery. I needed my fix y'know, anything to get enough money for more meth. Since I didn't have a weapon I was still charged as a minor and got a plea deal. That deal was rehab and community service instead of time served. But if I got busted again then I'd be charged as an adult even if I was still 16 and no more plea deals."
Lightning patted his shoulder "I'm sorry."
He grinned widely at her. "Don't be. Not to spoil the story but I made it out alright."
Lightning glared at him playfully. "Ah. Good to know."
"It's the best thing that could have happened to me. The rehab facility I went to is owned by Gaddot and his dad. They cleaned me up and taught me to weld. Taught me about music too. Most importantly they loved me, I never really had that before. Maybe if I had I wouldn't have done the things I did."
"Maybe." She said more to herself than in response to his musings.
"Maybe." He echoed. "I got my G.E.D and A.S.G has a work program that lets you hire on after you've been clean for a year. So I hired on to them at 18 and by 19 I saved up enough money to open Noraneko, with the help of a bank loan that is. I wanted to give back to Gaddot and his dad, so I started Noraneko with the intention of working with only teenagers."
"Why just teens?"
"Well Gaddot worked with both teens and adults and I figured we could work in tandem. If they got overwhelmed with teens, then just send them my way. Anyways I quit ASG and ran that place for four years."
The pride could be heard in his voice and Lightning couldn't help but notice how bright his smile was when he talked about running Noraneko.
"We taught the kids trades and hobbies. Y'know how to weld and play guitar, we partnered with Bodham electric, and they trained them to be electricians. We had a good turn around rate." The smile faded from his face. "But, uh…I couldn't help them all…over four years I saw 12 of my kids relapse and overdose."
His eyes began to water but he regained himself.
"A-after that I… my heart couldn't take it. I left and Gaddot took over. I hired back to A.S.G and began doing work on steel beams. Hehe 200 plus feet up and not tied off. 23 and looking to die."
"Snow it was never your fault." Pleaded to him.
"I know. I just didn't know how to cope with it. I got paid a good bit in risk pay, I sent it all to Gaddot. Then one day when I was 27 sitting on a bench at the beach, Serah walked up to me and said 'why so glum' and I told her." He laughed before he continued. "I just outright told her everything…I broke down in front of her, years of pent up frustration and self-hatred, I poured it all out on her."
He turned to look at her and asked. "Do you know what she did?"
Lightning shook her head.
"She showed me love and compassion, genuine compassion. She helped me walk again. I wish you could feel the love I have for her, words can't describe it."
"Believe me I know how you feel. I grew up with her remember. In the same house no less."
He smile. "Next thing you know I quit doing beam work and just work the factory floor. It's been five years later and me and her have been married for three years."
"Do you still help at noraneko?" She asked.
"I just send money every month. I go a few times a year, but it hurts ever time, so I don't do it often. I wish I was stronger, it just feels like an excuse."
"All you've done, I'd say you're pretty strong." She stood and hugged Snow. "Had you told me this when we first met, I would have used it against you." She let go. "It could be because I'm older now or maybe Hope is rubbing off on me. Either way I want you to know I'm sorry for how I've treated you. Thank you for telling me all this, I can at least say I respect you now."
"Thanks."
"So you told Hope all this on Thanksgiving?" She asked.
"Nah, I've gone to dinner with him a couple times. It just came up once."
"So you've been dating my boyfriend?"
Snows eyes widened and a mischievous grin grew on his face. "Oh so you two are official huh? Imma tell Serah."
This time Lightnings eyes widened. She kept forgetting to tell Serah that her and Hope were in fact dating.
"Please don't, she'll get all excited."
Snow just sat there and laughed at Lightning's predicament.
Author Note:
It been awhile but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Be ready the next chapters are going to cover a double date, a Christmas chapter and more Vanille. I do have plans to do a chapter or two about Hope during the war. Thanks for being patient. Once I finish this story I'll clean up all the typos I've missed, I'm always surprised at how many slip through.