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

[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.