one more hello

[soggypastry]

Who: Lightning Farron (soggypastry) and Serah Farron (searched)
Where: Cherrygrove City
When: Sept. 22, late. (backdated)
Summary: Sisters reunite.
Rating: G. (Possible spoilers for Final Fantasy XIII-2)
Log:

[It's the fastest distance trip she's made in years. Three days across almost the entirety of the region, and her team is exhausted. Lightning is exhausted. Sleep was elusive and that wouldn't change until she was sure that Serah was really here. That her sister was safe.

So she barrels into Cherrygrove on the back of a Skarmory, letting cries that are the unholy union of a buzzsaw and a vulture out into the night as he lowers from the skies to let his trainer down...but she doesn't even wait for Snow to land. She leaps off his back when he's about five feet from the ground, tucks into a roll, and runs.]

Serah!

Comments

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[searched]

I'm not sure I'm... used to it yet. [ But it's not a bad place, and so far everyone she's spoken to has been friendly and welcoming. Not to mention... ] But you, Hope and Vanille are here. That's helped a lot.

[ More than she can really put into words. As they arrive at the Mart, Serah pulls Lightning inside - still gently, but firmly enough that it's obvious she's not as flimsy and twig-like as she once was as a schoolgirl. ]

[soggypastry]

I know what you mean.

[She doesn't stumble, instead turning into that tug and only pulling away once they're inside. It's certainly obvious that Serah is not the teenage schoolgirl Lightning remembers best, but Lightning is good at adapting on her feet. She steps ahead with an easy stride, going to the coolers and picking out food and drink like she's done it a thousand times before.

She has. At least a thousand times and many more to come. She still looks over her shoulder at Serah, though, barely noticing the sleepy late night clerk.]

You want anything specific?

[searched]

[ Serah surveys the food and drink curiously. She's only been in here a couple of times, and she's picked out the cheapest things each time considering her minimal starting budget. But time on Pulse has made her far less fussy than she was as a teenager. After all, Behemoth steak was a far cry from the culinary fare they'd eaten on Cocoon. ]

No, it's okay! I'll eat anything. [ Serah Farron, ladies and gentleman, who most likely had an aversion to many vegetables as a young girl. But she really will now, within reason. Adamantoise tusk is still too much of a Pulsian delicacy for her liking. ]

I'll have whatever you're getting. [ It's a form of sisterly bonding!! Or something. ]

[soggypastry]

[Eat anything? Lightning raises an eyebrow at that, remembering many a meal where Serah would refuse to eat her vegetables for a long time, but says nothing. She just picks out a pair of ham--or whatever passes for ham in this place--sandwiches and a couple cans of lemonade before closing the cooler and paying for her purchases.

Serah gets her sandwich first, and with a tiny nudge, Lightning attempts to get her sister back outside. The night air's better than the one in the store in Lightning's mind, and there's a bench right there. They can sit, eat, and take their time catching up...even if Lightning's already coming up with the best way to tell Serah all that needs telling.]

What have Hope and Vanille told you so far?

[searched]

Thank you. [ Serah takes the sandwich and her lemonade, before obligingly heading outside and over to the bench. As she takes a seat, she gestures to the empty space next to her as if to motion for Lightning to hurry up. (Consider it sisterly affection.) ]

Hope and Vanille? They mainly told me about this place, the Pokemon and how everything works... [ She unwraps the sandwich and takes a dainty bite out of it. That's really to give her time to think about how to phrase what else she and Hope talked about. It's something she hadn't thought to ask Lightning when they'd spoken — when she's from, and what she knows. ] Hope and I... talked about the last things we remembered from home, before we ended up here.

[ Her tone doesn't waver, but she doesn't go into any further detail before taking another bite of her sandwich. ]

[soggypastry]

[She considers it an order made through sisterly affection and takes that seat, just watching Serah for a moment. It's like nothing's changed....only things have. She looks down at her own sandwich, then sighs quietly. Bite the bullet, Farron.]

Which was?

[Three years removed leaves her out of the loop. She can only hope that Serah is from before Hope. That there's till a way to change what awaits her sister. Somehow.]

[searched]

[ Which was? The question unnerves her. How is she supposed to tackle answering it? What is it Lightning remembers? Does she already know? Does she not know? Serah can't decide which would be worse. Which one she's hoping for. Maybe obliviousness would be better; at least that way Lightning doesn't have to bear the burden of that knowledge. But at the same time, is it fair to keep something like that from her sister?

Either way, it's not going to be an easy conversation. ]

We're from... around the same time, almost. Except I'm a little ahead of what he remembers. [ Not ahead of what he knows, however. As she's already (painfully) found out. ] Noel and I had returned to 500AF after defeating Caius, and then...

[ She trails off, biting her lip. Her hands, still holding the sandwich, drop to her lap. Her appetite lessens considerably in the face of what's going to come next. Telling her sister that, despite her wish for them to be together again... outside of this place, maybe that's never going to happen. ] Lightning, I...

[ Though the words won't come, her expression says it all. She remembers the vision. She remembers dying. ]

[soggypastry]

[She knows. She knows and it feels like her heart's been shattered, like he world's been ripped out, when Serah can't really answer that question. She doesn't cry, but her tone is thick with emotion and her eyes burn.]

You died. [It's said with such certainty that there's no denying it. She had hoped, honest to all things holy and good hoped, that Hope had been wrong. That he hadn't seen things clearly and that somehow Serah had survived. But with Serah herself acting this way, hesitating and looking like the world's been ripped out from under her...she can't deny it any longer. She ducks her head, closes her eyes, and nods.] I know. Hope told me.

[Over a year ago. Serah is safe here and that should be enough..but the knowledge of what's to come if she can somehow ever go home again...she can't. She can't face that.]

How did...[she swallows hard, mouth suddenly dry and throat clogged.] What happened? Were you hurt?

[searched]

[ So she knows, then. The question is answered — the realisation that Lightning knows already, that the information has already caused her pain, has to be more awful than the obliviousness would've been. She's careful with her next words; she doesn't know how to explain this, or if the explanation will make it worse. But she has to try. ]

Not exactly. It's... a long story. [ That's a cop out, though, and she knows it. So a few moments later, she continues. ] A while ago, I started to see visions of the future. But those visions... every time the timeline was changed and I saw the new future, it shortened my life. [ She feels as though the words are stuck in her throat. She doesn't regret the decision she made; she'd make it again, actually. But even so... ] Noel and I were trying to change the future for the better.

[ She's not sure how much Lightning knows of this, of Noel and Caius and everything else. But she can get to those further explanations later if need be. ] I knew what could happen to me if I kept going... but I wanted to do what I could. I didn't want to give up.

[soggypastry]

You never could. [Her tone is so familiar, so nostalgic. The Farron family stubborn streak had never waned in Serah, she knew. Would never wane. Even if the end came, the stubborn would remain...the thought makes her shiver, and she rubs her arms, the weight of Serah's crystal tear in it's wire wrapping heavy against her breastbone.

She doesn't know much of the real story. Of what happened after Hope said she disappeared because her memories still tell her she was there. But what she does know is that she's Serah's sister. If there's anything she can do to change this...she looks up, directly at Serah.]

Is there any way to change the future without giving you a vision? To stop them from happening entirely?

[If there's anything she can do...she'll do it. She just has to know.]

[searched]

[ It's not something Serah's considered in much detail. Her and Noel's journey had happened so quickly — funny, really, given that it spanned so many centuries — and Serah had been so determined to find her sister and change the future... the consequences had seemed, well, inconsequential. She's not sure if it would've been better or worse to have more time to dwell on the path they were taking. ]

... I don't know. [ She meets Lightning's eyes, tears still shining in her own. ] I don't think so. Yeul... there was a seeress called Yeul who had the same gift as I did. Every time she died because of her visions, she'd be reborn again until the cycle repeated.

[ She sighs, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice. It's proving more difficult than she'd thought. ] But being here, in this place — I guess I never really thought that would be possible, either.

[soggypastry]

[The idea of Serah dying and being reborn, over and over again...it's going to give her big sister nightmares. Okay then. If that's not an option now...she'll remember this. If she ever leaves, if she can ever leave, she'll do everything she can to prevent it. She has to.

For now, though, she can only nod. Even she knows there's nothing she can do about it from here, and so they have to keep moving. What other option is there?]

This place does that. It surprises people a lot. [She swallows, abandoning her sandwich to crack the can of lemonade open and wet her dry throat. Don't break yet, Farron. Not yet.] I've been here three years and it still surprises me sometimes.