Chapter 3

The world was pitch black save the starry sky at this time of morning. Guided by the light left on by her sister from the porch, Lightning stepped around her house looking for the entrance to their small barn. Grass and wooden planks provided flooring for its resident, and the animal's water lay house-side next to the trough for her food. Opposite was her shelter. This pen was spacious enough, alongside its two loving masters, for one chocobo to live in comfort.

She stepped towards the shed and saw Cordelia lying in her mound of hay, of course, woken by the sounds and smells of her arrival. Her eeriemopey black eyes in the dim light took in Lightning's presence. She felt sorry for disturbing her sleep at this very time.

"Sorry, babe," Lightning whispered with a smile. "I need your help." She brushed both sides of the bird's neck with her curled fingers. Feeling wrong about getting her to work so early all of a sudden, she spent time showing the gentle beast affection. Hopefully, she had enough time to purchase her own chocobo after work, and perhaps prepare a barn similar to this. When she released the lock of the long rope attached to her leg, the bird stood up, then yawned.

"Good girl." At that, Cordelia started nudging Lightning's chest with her long beak, then tried poking inside her jacket's pockets. "Alright. Needy."

Lightning procured the gysahl green and hung it up above and away from her head. The chocobo craned her furry neck and took it. After eating it, it suddenly cried in reinvigoration.

"Woah!" Lightning tried to settle it down. Soon she equipped its harness, hopped on, closed the gate behind them, as they made their way onto the dirt road of their humble neighbourhood.

She followed the moonslight, heading towards Tonberry's business central. It would be a thirty-odd minute journey by chocobo-back.

She was anxious about her new job. Not so much because of the responsibilities it entailed: working for the police as a wildlife incidents investigator of sorts, which her experience at the end of the line put her in great stead for. But because she had to try out her alias in a new setting. One as close to the enemy as you could get…

Her name was 'Irene Rositier'. Everything else about Irene's history, after the fall, matched with her own. She was the lead survival instructor and wildlife specialist at Gabo where she made her reputation. She was the popular choice for guardianship jobs whenever it was contractor-specified, speaking of the reputation she'd built, and she was the best going around at identifying wilds hazards and innovations. Most of her vital nuggets of wisdom came from Fang—the Pulsian sisters, as well as the years' accumulative experiences of survival and working with scientists, and a touch from her old army training. She was part of many expeditions, and they often turned dangerous, especially those contemptuous missions of greed for slug oil. She'd seen many dead bodies, years even after the war, by the hands of Pulsian beasts. Sometimes Lightning found it all fair—as it was those humans purposefully invading the domain of the beasts, with bad intentions—but other cases coming to mind, there were no other words but tragedy and stupidity, in the coldest sense.

But, certainly, the wisdom she possessed thanks to Fang and the others had saved the lives of many people on occasion. That was her positive outlook. Every day she tried to even the ledger.

She looked up to Cocoon. The giant, Lindzei-born structure was held up by its crystal pillar: the place where, inside its crystal, her friends lay. They had sacrificed themselves to save the world, and that's something Lightning could and would never forget, not even in a million years.

She started to see the lights of the business district soon, and entering the start of the road she checked the time on her transceiver. She leant off Cordelia's back, relieving her of her weight. Bringing her by the harness leash instead, she walked the city streets at a leisurely pace. No businesses were open at this hour, except perhaps the Southern-most bakery whose inner lights gleamed on. They probably provided hot food for all the early rising workers, and she could smell their goods' deliciousness as she passed by.

Coincidentally, at the end of the road, she spotted what looked to be a chocobo ranch right at the edge of the foreign town. It was wide and behind it was a large, open grass field, where she presumed the chocobos trod about during the day. As she came closer to it, she could smell them, as well as Cordelia—noted by her subtle nervousness, as they lay beyond a fortified security fence connected to the two-storey building. Lightning inspected its opening hours.

'10:95GZ – 32:40GG', it read.

"Maybe not today, then," she murmured to Cordelia. "Sorry babe. I might need you for the next couple of days."

"Kweeeh!" She cried, quieter this time.

"Irene, isn't it good to see you?" said a familiar man's voice. Lightning turned around.

She was surprised to see his jovial form grinning ear to ear… and dressed in a floral T-shirt, she couldn't not note. While smiling back, she noticed his hair was on the whiter side of grey too. "Love the hair!" he commented.

"Amodar," Lightning, for a brief moment without words, bowed. "Thank you—same—it's good to see you."

"It's been a while since we've seen each other face-to-face, huh? Have you been well?" he asked.

"Yeah, v'been good. It's been practically a year since." And before that, she hadn't seen Amodar since Bodhum. "But, we've been in touch through mail, which has been good."

"Yeah. We have." Amodar sized her up briefly. Just watching him sent a wave of nostalgia coursing through her. "I can tell you're a different woman now, Lightning—I mean, Irene. You look happier. Especially after, y'know, all that's happened—the fal'Cie war and stuff. I'm really proud."

It was a peculiar thing to notice, but she was glad that she seemed so in his eyes, and thanked him. "You're smiling more—from your soul. Old Lightning"—Amodar made a frown—"never smiling. But now, different. I'm happy for you." She had to laugh.

"You too. You haven't changed a bit though. Weell—except for one thing."

"Oh? What is that?" He was a man who always took things in good humour.

"You're getting older," she said bluntly.

Amodar suddenly did a big belly laugh. "What—oh, do you mean my hair? The missus said that to me this morning, actually!" Even in her soldier girl days under his wing, it was hard to keep his jovial aura at bay.

"Yes, I just noticed it—sorry," she bowed again, chuckling.

"It's okay! I thought that was humorous of you. And you know what they say Irene. Never get old. As for you, you haven't aged at all."

"No, I'm aging; and it's impossible. Plus, you're not even that old…" Lightning had to say. Amodar laughed.

"Forever young, huh? What's the girl's name?" He patted the beast above its beak with his thick hand.

"Cordelia; she belongs to my sister. I was wondering, do you have a place for her?"

"Certainly, follow me."

They both walked leisurely from the corner of the café to the opposite multi-building police facility, where Lightning thought her new job would be.

They passed the district police station, then through a security gate after Amodar scanned two keycards under its terminal. They walked inside the police chocobo ranch, and found a spare cell at its back for Cordelia, then continued their journey through the narrow, open hallway that existed between broken off buildings, conversing all the while. Many floating ramps jutted out from storeyed buildings leading into others, and there were a number of stairways and doors.

"This place seems overly complex to navigate," commented Light.

"Yeah, I know—it's a pain. But I like to think of it as an extra layer of security—you will get used to it."

They entered an empty corridor, and turned left at the end of the windowed T. "We're almost there," said Amodar. Lightning was almost certain she would require help getting back there the next time. When they entered Amodar's office, she firstly noticed the staggering amounts of paper everywhere. Messily, all over the large desk, various countertops, in boxes on the floor, in piles in the corner of the room next to a filing cabinet. The room had been hit by a paper blizzard.

"Yeh, it's a bit messy, sorry about that." Amodar scratched the back of his head. "This is the last day of my job, so I left it all for cleaning and sorting."

"There's so much paper." Lightning wondered if she would actually be this busy; that was a scary thought. She picked up a bunch of them, and they were clipped printouts of news articles. Amodar inspected the papers in her hands, then gently took them.

"Oh yes, the robberies occurring at Moonstalk. There was a fear that the perpetrator had escaped to Tonberry, so we did our due diligence and investigated the case."

"Hmm? I thought my job was mainly to deal with wildlife incidents? And policing wildlife safety measures?"

"It is your duty, mainly, and often you will get these, since Tonberry's on the cusp of forest. But occasionally we will be taking in work from the other districts; and they fall on my lap whenever the two lead's pockets are full. And there's a lot, as you can see, because their pockets usually are."

"Two leads?"

"The two lead criminal investigators; they're basically your superiors you'll be working with. Even though you fulfil quite similar duties—just different beasts," clarified Amodar. "They deal with your everyday people incidents. Alright, have a seat." Lightning obliged him.

"So, you know what the job is more likely going to entail. And sometimes you will be given other menial investigation works when the teams are overloaded." Light nodded. "I'll give you a basic rundown of your duties. Also, a friend of mine will show you around and fill-in the rest of your responsibilities." A friend of his?

"But, before we get into any of that, there's one thing I want to talk about. And the nature of it is, about you, Irene." Her curiosity was piqued.

"Have you settled in well into your new home? And the Rest?"

"Yeah." She thought about her answer. "It's going well. It's much more peaceful here, different—as I've worked so long in harsher conditions, as you know, doing mercenary work—but here is so much better."

"That's good to hear. And there's a reason why I ask this. It's only precautionary, but I want to make sure you are comfortable with the work arrangement. Do you know one of the reasons why I was able to bring you in, an outsider of the Corps from Gabo?"

"The corruption issue, I believe?" she guessed.

Amodar hummed in approval, his eyes a touch serious. "There are multiple incidents that are happening, giving the police a bad rap. Masses of drugs are appearing where they shouldn't. Sensitive and confidential information leaking when they shouldn't. And incidents happening inside the police infrastructure, such as gang–related breakouts. It's bad—horrible with some," Amodar grimaced.

"I see." Lightning mirrored his pensive look.

"There's actually a freeze on the academy as a better process for promotion is in the works; without the fal'Cie behind the scenes, society is struggling to cope. The New Pulsian anti-corruption force is now involved in our operations, and some heads have already gone flying. Casting a slow spell on all things, of course. You—you've got some invulnerability because you're new and because of your commendation at the end of the line. Also, my recommendation, which I think holds a bit of weight."

"Thank you again, sir," Lightning bowed her head.

"No need. You're very skilled Lightning, and intelligent. And I already know you're one of the good souls—oh jeez, I mean, Irene. Good thing I'm leaving after today, huh?"

"Yeah," said Lightning sarcastically. "But thank you."

"No worries. What I mean to say, Irene, is that: you've got the field experience, but I believe your merit will still be tested. You're the fresh face but the NPACF will still have their eyes on you, breathing down your neck, just to make sure. And this matters to you more because of… who you really are."

"Yeah." A l'Cie; a hidden one for fear of repercussions. And with their powers, with something to hide.

"Are you okay with this level of possible scrutiny? Or do you need extra help?"

"It is what it is; I'm fine. Thank you," she smiled. "There's no use hiding in the shadows forever."

Amodar hmphed. "But, with that being said, don't ever hesitate to reach out if help is ever required. It's the least I can do for, who, once was the brightest young woman under my tutelage, ended up saving the god-damned world and the rest of humanity."

Lightning smiled genuinely. Those who said such about the war made themselves instant allies with the ex-l'Cie. Lightning felt honesty in his expression, and thought that Amodar was an important person to her life. "Thank you. I will definitely take you up on your offer."

"And not all people hate and fear the l'Cie for what they did. There are the sympathisers, and reverent ones at that, that see your actions for what they were." Suddenly, they both heard cladded footsteps coming from the corridor. "Hm, speaking of l'Cie sympathisers, here comes one of them."

The footsteps got louder, likely made by a woman by their double staccato. Heeled boots? A lady entered soon enough.

"Gee Amodar, paperwork's not really your strong suit, is it? That's why I get my Grants to do all of it—Hi—how are you?" The lady extended her hand in Lightning's direction. The other, in an indigo glove, held a jug of iced tea. "My name's Sapphire. You must be Irene?"

"Yes," Lightning replied. When she shook the faded-blonde woman's hand, she noticed a warmth in her smile. Also, that she dressed well, and was around her age. And she had attractive features. Her long, lightly freckled nose and curved, good-looking eyes.

"Nice to meet you," Sapphire added.

"And you too."

"Irene, this is your superior; she's one of our lead investigators. Young, I know—she's a genius like yourself. She's also the one I cosy up to the most."

"Awwh," said she. She walked over to Amodar and gave the portly man a friendly side hug, commenting on his holiday T-shirt. "I'm really bummed out that you're leaving... I brought you some tea; I brewed it for youu."

"Oh! Is it peach flavour—thanks, I'll grab a glass!" Soon as Amodar evacuated his desk, the woman shifted her eyes from his retreating form to Lightning, a forlorn but toothy grin still planting her face. "I'm looking forward to making your acquaintance. In fact, it's my job today of showing you around."

"Yeah," spoke up Amodar. "Irene, Sapphire is that 'friend' I told you about earlier. She will be showing you around the facility, giving you more details about your work."

"I see, understood." He had brought back three rectangular glasses with a block of ice in each.

"Shall we go then, after a little tea break?" Sapphire asked her permission. There was no way one could not oblige.

"Sure."

There was so much about work swirling around Lightning's head, by the end of her day, still inside the furnace, she had as much social reciprocity as a dried-out cactus. Who would have thought her new job would be so social?

She had met the entire teams of the whole investigation division, and was asked a variety of questions about her work at the end of the line, which had provided endless entertainment for her audience and new colleagues. All the while, Sapphire was at her side, as she led her to them, the cafeteria, and numerous other sites related to their work. Part of it was fun, seeing the places where her life will be from here on; but most of all, exhausting. She could only consider any of this being fun as it stood that no dangerous questions were asked her way. If any such came about Cocoon, she had those faultless Cocoon IDs in her back pocket, created by Rygdea's Cavalry post-Fall. But—there was one question, that was slightly dangerous.

"Have we met before?" asked Sapphire.

"Huh?" Lightning tried her quickest to hide her surprise.

"I just had this weird feeling that we have," she added on quickly. On form; she was a voluminous talker.

"I don't think we've ever met before."

"Not even passing by in the street?" …

Lightning inspected her face on the reflection of her transceiver, and could tell her fine and practiced make-up was still well-intact. She probably hoped in vain to not have to go through such effort, but with that, the make-up had to stay.

And what she learnt about Sapphire, which stuck to her mind from her day, was that she was great at what she did and well-respected by everyone. Doing criminal investigation, too, as a woman. Lightning couldn't help but admire such a fact.

And it was an admiration, she felt, that was shared between them. Because from all the many listeners, Sapphire seemed consistently surprised by her own tales at the end of the line. There was another funny occasion Lightning remembered, where one officer mentioned with her own appointment that one day women would take over the 'joint', which Sapphire humorously pointed out, the fact, that it had already happened. Of the three head investigators, two of them were female. She laughed at the memory. There was a lot to boil through of the day.

Lightning could make out her sister's house in the distance, and suddenly felt a surge of relaxation coming down on her body. Her own house was a stone's throw away, but as soon as she deposited Cordelia into her waiting pen of food, she went back to the front, and looked through the dining room windows to see Serah busy in the kitchen, not noticing her arrival. Snow's music came from his garage, perhaps the reason, but Lightning couldn't do a chance meeting with anyone from NORA so decided to come from the front. She knocked.

Soon the door clicked open.

"Hey sis!"

She gave Lightning a big old hug. "How was your work," she said latching off her.

"So tired!" She fell onto her sister's couch.

"Me too," she said, smiling with her hands on her hips.

"So much talking."

Serah laughed. "Very much unlike your previous job, I assume." Lightning nodded. "Is everything fine?" she then asked.

Lightning knew what she meant. "Yeah, I think it's fine. My alias will hold up." She didn't have the energy to say anything more regarding it.

"Ah, that's good. Oh yeah—did you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Snow or you were willing to pick up Hope from the station. He's arriving today."

"Hmm?" Lightning sat straighter. "Wasn't Snow planning on doing it?"

"Unfortunately, some kid's toy drone got caught into Snow's engine or something. My hubby's in the garage trying to fix his bike." 'Hubby' is certainly a choice, Lightning had to wince again at it. "Which means…"

"Which means, I have to pick him up."

Serah nodded once. Her smile was evident of a good mood.

"When is he arriving?"

"In five minutes."

"I guess I have to go pick him up."

"Aw, thanks. And, when you arrive back, I expect you to eat good portions of my excellent cooking!"

That sounded really nice. "Sure." Lightning had barely enough energy to make one remark. "It's certainly improved a lot from when we were kids."

"My cooking was always good," Serah said once more, sticking out her tongue and eye before leaving for her kitchen. What was once warm, now was just Lightning and the dimming sunlight.

Hope, huh? How long has it been now?