A/N: In the Second Time Around universe, Sice informs Seven of Leon finally having Minfilia as a girlfriend. What does the silver haired lass think when she runs into two newcomers by complete chance, plus how will Lightning and the rest take the newcomers? For this story, there is a mentioned but past pairing of Celes/Locke... with Celes and Terra being the newcomers here (on AO3 they'll be added as characters in the collection; in PIF Celes and Terra are close buddies but in STA they're an item). Pairings: Seven/Sice (married), Leon/Minfilia (dating), Celes/Terra (engaged) - with the others being married or in a domestic partnership.
Friendly Invasion from Vector
"Seven, get your silver haired arse over here!" Sice yells for her wife to come towards the direction of Leon, Minfilia and herself, with good news to share of Leon's newfound happiness. Seven is on badass terms with Leon - Sice's words here, mind you - with the Rubrum native secretly hoping that Leon gets his happy ending of sorts with someone (one would lose their shit at how many times Seven was close to setting Leon up on a blind date). After a few minutes of Sice gleefully yelling for her wife, Seven FINALLY makes her grand entrance to the spot within the popular cafe where she's meeting Leon's new girlfriend... and little did she know that Leon somehow managed to snag one like Minfilia. After a moment to shake off her nerves, Seven finally makes herself known to the small group at the cafe. "Leon? Minfilia? What are you two doing here...?" Seven starts to ask before Minfilia announces that she and Leon are a couple. Leon had to give the silver haired lass a hug as Seven was clearly crying happy tears to finally know that Leon finally has a girlfriend to call his own. Not to be outdone, Minfilia joins in on the hug, for Leon told Minfilia of the story regarding what happened to Seven.
The group carry on their meeting at the cafe with lunch - and a mental reminder to Seven to bring home varying food for Odin the cat plus some eggs to help Fang with varying meals over the course of the next few weeks. Out of the corner of Sice's eye, she couldn't help but feel watched by someone... or another couple. Oddly enough, the white haired lass shrugs it off, especially when Leon and Minfilia crack random jokes to get Sice's mind focused on other things. It was a few minutes later that Seven had to excuse herself to the ladies' room as a personal matter came up for the silver haired lass. Once Seven got to the public ladies' room she runs into a blonde whose looks are surprisingly innocent, and also by complete accident...and couldn't stop apologising to the stranger for 10 minutes straight. It was the blonde who spoke next. "Excuse me, but do you know the address of the Guardian Corps HQ? My fiancee is trying to find the address for it but isn't having any luck thus far... and so far no one has offered any help..." she continued, hoping that the silver haired lass would be the one who would give them a helping hand.
"Let me call my big sis on this one... and I hope that I'm not sounding rude, but what's the name of your fiancee...?" Seven starts to ask, before the stranger gave her a hug to say thanks when no one else would. The fiancee that the stranger was talking about was none other than Celes Chere of Vector, who Amodar personally wanted to hire to help Lightning with varying things tied to the GC as of late. "Terra Branford...?" Seven asked, recalling the article she read when she and Sice were in Akademia about Locke, Celes' late boyfriend, dying in a nasty massacre in Narshe orchestrated by one Kefka Palazzo so that Terra would live. Kefka was soon caught and died in prison while waiting for his sentence, but Terra brought out the best in Celes in the time after Locke's death, with full knowledge that Celes is bisexual. With a reply being 'the one and only', Terra brought up the GC Halloween incident that Seven was the mastermind of, and thanked her for doing something awesome for Y'shtola. Apparently, my plan is still the talk on the planet to this very day... it's forever worth it though. I don't like it when anyone messes with Ysh, Seven mused to herself.
Seven meets up with Terra and her fiancee Celes to give them the contact info for Claire 'Lightning' Yun-Farron, which Celes was beyond happy to see the silver haired lass talk about Sice, the white haired lass who got looks from Terra and Celes earlier. Celes couldn't contain her excitement when she got the contact info for Lightning, as Celes is a HUGE fan of how Lightning does things. A short time later, Terra and Celes meet Sice, Leon AND Minfilia - which got Celes' attention REAL fast, as the Vector native brought up how her wardrobe is inspired by Minfilia's magazine appearances. It was Celes' turn to blush like a fire truck when the small group revealed that they're big fans of her singing abilities. Terra made everyone feel better when she told the story of the courtship that Terra and Celes went through - which included Locke's decision to save Terra at the cost of his own life - as well as use the ring Locke gave her to ask Celes for her hand in marriage. The group did a toast to honour Locke and his selflessness. Although Celes would never get her happy ending with Locke, she is about to have her happy ending with Terra instead.
Celes and Terra would get a Hero's Welcome.
XXX
"I don't know about this, Light... we know that Amodar means well, but I don't know if she'll make it to the HQ..." Edge reveals to the oldest Farron sister, worried that Celes is lost or something bad happened to her. Rydia and Hope - in a rare moment of thinking alike - both gave the Eblan native a glare that was just as menacing as the famous Farron Death Stare. If anything, this was how one could shut Edge's mouth. Rydia was grateful to have scolded her own husband with a death stare because a few seconds later Lightning's phone was ringing. "Yun-Farron!" was the greeting Lightning provided to the caller, who had to be quick with why they called Lightning direct like this. When the caller revealed to be one Celes Chere from Vector, and in need of directions (plus Seven provided the Vector native the info), the pinkette gave thorough instructions to the blonde on where to go and what to say for an easy travel... and to make sure that Seven gets her favourite bagel and cream cheese for her efforts. With the call then ending on a positive note, Lightning proceeded to give Edge the potent Farron Death Stare... with Rydia and Hope literally on the floor laughing their arses off.
It was a few hours later that Celes finally shows up at the GC HQ... and was out of breath with both her intro and apology. What the Vector native got in return was warm smiles from the people who she would be working with, and one Rydia of Mist on her knees bowing to the Vector native, which saw Edge being unable to stop himself from laughing until he peed on himself after witnessing the most hilarious thing that involved his wife. Lightning herself immediately accepted the Vector native, which Celes provided the receipt of the bagel and cream cheese she bought Seven for her efforts. After the usual round of pleasantries were exchanged and a quick text to Amodar that Celes finally made it to Bodhum-Oerba safely, they did a bizarre Q and A to get to know the Vector native better. Their hearts went out to her when the story of Locke was brought up, but were nothing but smiles about Terra's efforts and the ring meant to get Celes' hand in marriage. Edge and Hope became two very happy lads that Terra and Celes see the best in each other, with Hope recalling how Porom - in a twist of fate - remembered Terra from a trip to Mysidia years ago.
After everything was done, Lightning went with Celes and Terra to the Yun-Farron household, as Fang was making dinner for at least eight people. The brunette knew about Celes and Terra's arrival, with the Yun wanting to meet both Celes and Terra. It was Fang who was informed by Seven and Sice about what happened to Locke, and how he made sure Terra lived but paid the ultimate price in the end, and how the ring Locke was going to use to ask Celes to marry him wound up in the hands of one Terra Branford instead (Locke gave Terra his blessing to be with Celes). Fang immediately accepted Terra and Celes - if you're on good terms with Fang's Sunshine you're all good with Snaggletooth. In the coming days after that, Celes and Terra were introduced to the rest of their crew - with Lyse, of all people, wanting Celes' autograph from a show the Vector was a part of. Plus Leon AND Maria wanting a photo with their new buddies. Y'shtola, Serah, Snow, Firion, Vanille, Carlyn and Porom? They all had a gift for the engaged couple EACH. Hope couldn't help but shake his head in laughter with Porom's gift to the couple: a puppy she saw Terra had her eye on but was in a hurry, who was named Interceptor.
Celes and Terra's friendly invasion from Vector was all they could ask for. Their courtship inspired Vanille and Carlyn to go from just a domestic partnership to properly getting engaged to be married. This made Fang one HAPPY lass for her younger sister. Serah's timing of saying 'it's about time' had EVERYONE laughing quite hard.
Everyone came out of this a winner.
FIN
A/N #2: Next story is another in the Second Time Around universe, and this is the story of how Lightning and Fang get claimed by Odin the cat!
