paixaorpg | Make my wish come true, let darkness slip aside (Narrative / Closed)

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Make my wish come true, let darkness slip aside (Narrative / Closed)

Character(s): Lightning (and Celes if she wants to comment)
Content: It's morning and Lightning notices her brand for the first time since arriving here.
Setting: Lightning and Celes' apartment
Time: Morning
Warnings: FF13 spoilers, like always.

Lightning's mornings usually consisted of two things: checking on Celes and preparing herself for the day. She usually did them in that order, except for today. Today, something had felt a little off around her chest, right where her l'Cie brand was, so she'd paused in getting dressed, clothed enough to be considered modest, but with enough off her chest that she could examine the brand without being impeded. She traced a finger over the edges, making a rectangular shape since her finger was too wide to go over the detailed parts.

The strange thing was that she'd thought for sure the thing looked a little different, but she was also certain that it should have at least started developing the eye by now. That's what Fang had said, right? That the eye would start to develop and once it had opened all the way it was game over, Cie'th city. Well, there wasn't any trace of an eye that Lightning could find. What was weirder was that the arrows didn't look fully formed, either. Lightning frowned and retraced it, watching the path in her mirror.

What was going on? Not that she was really going to complain about the sudden delay, but she'd been sure that if Barthandelus had any sort of hand in how these stupid brands progressed, he would have made theirs continue just to frighten them into action. For someone like Fang it might even have worked. But nothing was happening, or almost nothing. Lightning could tell that a little progress had been made, but not enough to actually mean anything. It was strange, looking at the mark in the mirror. To be perfectly honest, Lightning had almost forgotten about it. No one knew what a l'Cie was here and that meant no one knew who she was. There was no Jihl or Barthandelus, no PSICOM or Guardian Corps, no Cocoon or Gran Pulse. No Purge. No Fang, Vanille, Snow, Hope, or Sazh. And no Serah.

Lightning was alone, just like she'd wanted in the beginning, back on the Vile Peaks with Hope. Life was cruelly ironic that way. One minute you were wishing you could do it all alone and the next minute you were who knew where with no one familiar in sight.

Her hand curled into a fist over the brand before she brought it down hard on the sink counter, leaning on that arm with her head resting on it. "Damnit," she whispered to herself. "I'll find a way, Serah. You are not staying crystal forever."

And Lightning wasn't turning Cie'th if she could help it. Crystal, either. No matter how close or far away Barthandelus was, she wasn't going to let him run her life. She had better, more important things to do. Like saving her sister.

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Having heard a loud noise in the distance, Celes woke up reaching for a sword that wasn't there. Her hand only finding cloth and bone, she remembered where she was and what she had been doing the past few weeks. She was in Paixao, or, she was in what the woman Lightning called their apartment. Since she had been found lying on the gates of Muspelhiem, Celes had been pretty much confined to this room as she healed. More precisely, she was confined to this couch. Not that she minded. Try as she might, she had only been able to pick herself up long enough to go to the bathroom. Though lately she had been able to push herself much long without growing tired -- much to her roommate's annoyance. She could understand that she wanted to be cared for, but lately Celes was looking for any excuse to move around. The loud noise in the other room certainly qualified.

She quietly made her way over to the other room and saw Lightning hunched over, looking over a tattoo across an exposed part of her chest. Funny, Celes thought, she didn't really seem the type to have a tattoo -- much less where it was. Of what little she knew of her (and it was little -- Celes' wasn't much for unnecessary prying) Lightning wouldn't have something like that there. Voluntarily anyway.

Clearly, Celes needed to tease her a little. "You don't seem like the vain type," she chuckled from within the doorway.

Lightning had been so involved in her thoughts about Serah that she'd almost missed the sound of someone walking up to the bathroom. Wheeling towards the open doorway, Lightning blinked in surprise at the sight of Celes, frowning. Despite the fact that she was basically in her skirt and a bra, she wasn't really feeling very exposed. More to the point, she was worried about the other woman getting up and about, though she hid it, like always, with annoyance.

"I'm not." And to quickly brush away the obvious concern over the mark on her chest, she continued, "You shouldn't be up yet." It was too early, Celes had been too hurt... Lightning had about a thousand reasons.

"Thanks..." Celes said mostly sincerely but with a slight hint of snark, "...but I'd rather not make my bed a toilet."

That got a small snort of laughter from Lightning. She could appreciate that sort of thing, especially in joke form. Still didn't mean she wanted to see her companion up and about too early or strenuously.

"If you're that desperate for the bathroom, I can change clothes in my room." She turned to brush past the other woman, grabbing her turtleneck shirt and khaki top as she went. Pausing just on the other side, she glanced back at Celes for a split second. "And whatever it looks like, it's not a tattoo."

Not a tattoo? It was too precise to be a birthmark... no, there was something about that mark that was... important. A reminder of something? Or maybe this had something to do with that l'Cie "curse" she brought up every now and then? Celes was curious, but at the same time she wasn't sure how far she wanted to go with this. She wasn't the most tactful of people, and was pretty sure if she mentioned anything it could sour quickly.

And it's not like Lightning had much reason to trust her, though she had been caring for her for the past few weeks.

So what was needed some other way to get her answer... maybe... maybe if she tried to act more like that white-haired gambler? A flip of the coin whose outcome could lead to riches or ruin... alright... here goes. "I get the feeling that mark is important. You're more serious when you talk about it. What is it exactly?"

Lightning stopped again, with a hand on the door frame between her room and the hallway. Normally, she didn't have reason to talk about the brand with anyone who wasn't a l'Cie, too, but normally those people were afraid of her and would have condemned her had they known what she was. But this place was different. Lightning had to keep reminding herself of that. This woman was different.

She paused again before turning and leaning her back against the door frame, arms crossed over her chest. "It's the mark of a l'Cie. It tells me how much time I have left."

Pushing off again, she motioned for Celes to follow her and walked into her room. It was a rather clean room, as Lightning preferred to have everything in order should she need it. A desk with a chair sat along the opposite wall, where her papers and notes on the city were, next to a window; a bed was along the wall to the right of the entrance; several bookshelves and other cabinets were along the wall next to the door; and a closet lined the wall to the left. There were plenty of places to sit down if Celes needed to. Lightning herself was placing her clothes on the back of the chair so she could finish getting dressed.

"When I said l'Cie are cursed, I meant it. We're given power, a Focus, and a time limit. If we complete our Focus within the allotted time, we turn to crystal and legends say we gain eternal life." Something about the way she said that part was softer, but the next part was as hard as ever. "If we don't, it's game over."

Celes entered curiously, not surprised by how immaculate everything was organized. Not sure what was safe to rest on, she decided that leaning against the wall was just as good a place as any. Besides, she was getting really tired of sitting down.

Her mind echoed the words that Lightning stated. She'd mentioned this curse before, but there was never any details of what that meant. But now she knew a little bit more about it... yet, as usual, Lighting stated just enough to answer the question but not enough to really tell the whole story. Several questions came immediately to mind, but the two most pressing one was perhaps the most important: "What happens then, and how much time do you have?"

Lately it seemed that there was a lot in Lightning's life that she couldn't change. Arriving in Paixao, becoming a l'Cie in the first place, were two of those things. Her fate was something she could change, something she was fighting to change even as she lay trapped here in this city.

Turtleneck half-shirt in hand, Lightning paused and turned back to look at Celes, leaning against the desk. She looked different, the expression on her face half-disgusted and half-worried, but it was hard to tell which emotion was dominating her thoughts. She wasn't even sure herself. Her gaze was drawn back to the shirt she held in her hands as she thought about the answer to that.

"We never know how much time we have. That's part of the use of the brand: the shape of it tells us how close we are. The fal'Cie never make anything easy on us. They don't even tell us what our Focus is." She rolled her eyes and pushed her weight back on her legs rather than the desk, pulling her shirt over her head angrily as she did so. It zipped up the front in such a way that open like this, the brand was still easy to see. Lightning ran her finger over it again and sighed.

"When you're first branded by a fal'Cie, the mark is small, mostly rectangular. Over time it grows, arrows form, and then a closed eye. When the eye opens, you're done. You become a Cie'th, a monster destined to wander mindlessly until someone comes and kills you. For a l'Cie, it's either crystal... or Cie'th."

Her fist curled over the brand again and she fought the wave of emotion threatening her at the thought of her sister's crystallized form on the airship Lindblum. What she wouldn't give to have Serah here with her... Even Snow would be better than being alone like this. At least then she'd have a punching bag when she needed him... and a way to talk to Serah. Snow was good for keeping spirits high in the group. Nothing else. But at least it was something. Lightning could admit that now.

Celes' eyebrows furrowed and her stomach squirmed. She was glad that she hadn't eaten, because the way it was feeling now she doubted she'd be able to keep anything down.

"So wait... someone made you what you are, and you are given two options? Do what they say and become crystal or die the death of a monster?" She was seething tumultuous rage beneath the still expression on her face. Her eyes were set and focused on Lightning's intensely. She was as intimidating as a feeble soldier dressed in a night gown could. "Why didn't you just kill the ones that did this to you?"

Even as hurt as Celes was and as closed as her expression was, Lightning could still sense the rage. It was part of how she'd been trained: sense the air around you, feel what your enemy feels, and take them down. Celes wasn't her enemy, but Lightning could still tell that this forced fate didn't sit any better with her than it had with Lightning herself.

"I thought about it," she admitted, putting her full attention on dressing herself and not on the discussion at hand so she wouldn't give away what she was feeling. The zipper came first and then the khaki top which would need to be buckled carefully. The process was long, but it gave her something to focus on.

"I wanted to get to the Sanctum fal'Cie and just kill them all. But when I got there, I looked at the fal'Cie Carbuncle and realized that if I killed all the fal'Cie in my path, I'd be destroying the very things that keep the people of Cocoon alive. Not all fal'Cie are all about giving out Focuses."

Making sure everything was buckled and zipped properly, Lightning looked back up at Celes, meeting her gaze squarely. "My angle was never to hurt the people of Cocoon. I'm after the Sanctum fal'Cie." Grabbing the pack she carried all the little odds and ends in, she began to fasten it around her leg and opposite hip. "I know what my Focus is. The head honcho told me. My companions and I are searching for a way to stop the fal'Cie. They can't control us with the fear that plagues the rest of Cocoon."

The pack was secured with a final loud snap that seemed to echo Lightning's feelings on the subject. She straightened and picked up the gunblade carrier from where it stood propped up against the wall next to the desk, fastening it to the back of her belt with the ease borne of years of practice.

"Most people are too afraid to keep going, afraid to hurt anyone, afraid to turn Cie'th. The brand reacts to high emotion, speeding up when the l'Cie bearing it feels desperation for too long. Many end up going Cie'th this way, succumbing to their fate. But not us. Not me."

To say that Celes was angry was an understatement. Everything about this situation was painful. Though she had never met them before, she didn't trust these l'Cie. She detested how they toyed with people's lives, despite the ones that made sure that people were able to live. Who did they think they were?

She hated the position Lightning was in. She could relate to having little to no control over her destiny. Ever since becoming infused with Magitek her life had been set on its path. Yet everything she built up -- her reputation, her honor, her pride as a knight -- was stripped away from her when her conscience could no longer turn a blind eye to the atrocities her emperor was demanding her to do. For the briefest of moments the only life that was set before her was death. She knew how deeply dark and terrifyingly lonely that place was. It wasn't until a hand was extended to her that she was able to see the faintest glimmer of hope.

Most of all, though, she hated herself. She hated that she had been tended to so carefully, taking time away from this person to achieving what they were set out to do... no... to find a way to remove the curse on them. She shouldn't have bothered with her. She should have been left at the gate. She would have found a way inside... somehow.

Well, there was only one thing left to do. "What is it you're going to do now? Complete your mission?" She didn't like that she'd become crystal... but if if becoming a monster was the alternative...

Lightning sucked her teeth in anger as she pulled out her gloves from a pocket and began strapping them on. "Tch. Like hell I will. Barthandelus thinks he can manipulate us." The right glove was on and she flexed her hand. "But he's wrong. Cocoon is our home. I don't care how many times he has to 'set us back on course,' we are not his toys. We aren't pawns the fal'Cie can control. I'm not becoming a crystal and I'm not turning Cie'th."

Sure, it probably seemed like a far-fetched fantasy - sometimes it felt like one to her - but Lightning refused to give in. Doing that meant Barthandelus would win. Like hell would she allow that. She finished pulling on the arm warmer and glove on her left arm and picked up the shoulder pad, snapping it into place with a finality that brooked no argument.

"This is my life. I'm going to live it the way I want to and I'm not letting some crackpot fal'Cie tell me what to do."

Fishing her necklace out, she clasped it around her neck and turned to face the mirror on the closet. Everything was in order now... everything except the pattern of her life here. Turning back to Celes, the look Lightning held was a little calmer. Somehow she knew she didn't have much time, but the sight of the brand and how little progress it had made seemed to give her a little more courage.

"My brand should have progressed farther than it has. The arrows should have been complete by now, but they're not. Something should have changed. It's been nearly a week and it's still the same as it was when I knocked Snow over on Pulse. Something's slowing it down. As long as I'm here... I can't complete my Focus anyway."

"So, now what?" Celes whispered as her strength began to wane. There was a lot more to that question than what was asked. What was she going to do? What did she want to do? What could Celes do to help? She wasn't sure what aid she could provide her as weakned as she were, but the time for rest was over -- one way or another she'd find some way to help repay Lightning for her hospitality.

Lightning frowned a little at the soft way Celes was speaking suddenly. "You know, you don't have to stay downstairs or keep standing like this. There are other rooms up here." Meaning Celes was free to choose.

She folded her arms over her chest anyway and looked at her roommate with a half-smirk. "For now? Find a way to save Cocoon, what else?"

Letting her arms fall back to her sides, she walked up to place a hand on Celes' shoulder. "Come on. Let's go sit down. Choose a room and we'll talk there."

"Ahh... right..." Celes mumbled. Really, she was more concerned about her friend then her body's protests of standing, but now that she mentioned it the full force of fatigue had begun to set in. She needed to sit down and fast.

"I'll meet you down in my... bedroom for lack of better word." Celes stated after thinking it over a moment. "...I wasn't lying about needing to use the facilities," she added.

In the meantime, she'd need to consider what she was going to do. This world, her friend -- there was so much confusion and haze surrounding everything. She needed time to collect her thoughts -- but of what? Without knowing what was going on, she could do nothing. And without being able to move outside she was stymied. She needed a way of getting information, a way of communicating a way out... ...maybe it was time to give that device another look.

--in a moment.

That for a snort of laughter from Lightning. Well at least she knew her roommate, maybe even friend, was honest about life. That certainly made things easier on Lightning. She nodded, thinking she might just bring her gunblade our for a little practice swinging while she waited.

"I'll be down there. Just don't surprise me or I might think you're an intruder." With a final smirk, she let Celes move ahead of her before heading back down to the parlor-type room Celes had been staying in. It didn't take long for Lightning to move most of the furniture to give her enough room to swing her weapon. She half wanted to go outside to practice a little more freely, but she didn't know if Celes could manage the trip. So for the moment, she simply pulled out her weapon, flicked the switch so it was in sword mode, and began slowly running through a couple of sweeping patterns with it.

((Fast forwarding a bit~))

Celes was a little surprised to find that the room had been changed a little to allow for blade practice. Well, not so much that Lightning was practicing indoors of all places, but more surprising that the room had been converted for that purpose. Though it was a little soft on her face, a small smile emerged on the corner of her lips as the weakened knight made her way to where her couch had been moved.

Lighting's swordplay was elegant and graceful. She clearly spent a lot of time practicing with it and it showed. Celes was impressed -- only General Leo was better at the blade than her roommate. Cyan was a close contender, but his fighting style tended to favor brute force over elegance. If anything, Celes could probably learn a few moves from her.

"I think I now see what you mean about about relieving powers, your form is incredible." Celes remarked, as she spread herself onto her "bed." Her head was turned toward the activity to see what else her roommate decided to do.

At least Lightning was aware of Celes' presence before the other woman made any sort of noise or spoke. She followed through a quick stabbing motion, flicking the switch to make the sword change to gun mode to finish the pattern, before she turned to Celes again. Noticing the way the other woman was smiling, she offered a small smile of her own.

"Thanks. I've had a little practice." That was an understatement, but she wasn't one to really brag. "When you're stronger, we could probably go outside, get a little fresh air. Or as much fresh air as a city without a sky can have."

"When I'm stronger, I think I'll make a match with sparring with you." Celes chuckled. For now, she was contented to simply watch.

Lightning's lips curled up in a smirk. "I'd like that. Been a while since I had a real sparring partner and not someone I had to hack through to reach my goal." She flicked the switch again and the blade turned into a sword once more. "What weapon do you use primarily?"

"A blade and magic, mostly." Celes stated simply.

Lightning flicked the switch again and stuck Lionheart in its bag with ease before sitting down on a chair across the room. "I move everything so I could practice a little easier. It's still not as good as being outside. You deal with what you're given."

Glancing around, she folded her arms over her chest and examined the room a little more. She hadn't really taken the time to examine the intricate structure. It looked old. Very old. Kind of like some of the places in Pulse would have been in their prime.

"Normal sword or a gunblade?"

"You could have gone outside. I'm not starved for company, you know." Celes half-teased, half-complained

"I use a normal blade. Your mechanized one is very interesting, but I'm afraid it would probably shatter if I tried to use my runic skill with it." Celes looked over the now-collapsed sword in its carrying holster with a hint of curiosity. Oh wouldn't Edgar love to get his hands on one of those...

"I'm not going to walk out in the middle of a conversation," Lightning shot back, a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. Standing, she brought the blade back out to show Celes. With a flick of her wrist and a switch, Lionheart went from stationary gun mode to sword mode. "This is the only thing I'm comfortable with now. Anything else is too easy and light."

She sat back down after that demonstration, holding her blade on her lap carefully. "Runic ability? Never heard of that one before."

"That doesn't surprise me." Celes admitted. "Even in my world, I'm the only person that can use Runic. As far as I can tell it was a special skill that I acquired from being infused with magic at an early age."

She raised a hand to reach for the blade that wasn't there again. It was strange. Not having her blade nearby was like suddenly going without a limb. "I don't think I'm strong enough to show you it quite yet, however."

Lighting raised an eyebrow at that, not high, but enough to be noticeable. "Infused?"

She noticed the move Celes made. It was as though the other woman had a blade practically attached to her arm as well. They were so used to having it with them that when it was gone it was as though a piece of them had been cut away. Lightning knew that was how she would feel if she ever lost Lionheart.

"Put it on the list for when we spar."

She was a little relieved to hear that Lightning didn't know anything of Magiteck or Magiteck infusions. To know that an esper suffered for her magic... and yet at the same time that drew some questions as to how Lightning was able to cast magic. Perhaps it was common in her world? Or maybe becoming a l'Cie had something to do with it?

"In my world... there are creatures made of magic. When I was very little I received an infusion of magic from one of these creatures. Ever since it has been a part of me. Like breathing or... having an invisible blade in my hands that is always there."

Lightning frowned at the explanation. "You mean an infusion of Eidolon power? Is that how you can use magic in your home?" It made some measure of sense, but Lightning's own magic was so different that it was hard to wrap her head around this new way of casting. "Sounds like how it's felt for me ever since I became a l'Cie, but I can still remember what it was like to not have magic at all. I've become used to being a l'Cie, having these powers, even commanding an Eidolon." But some days she wished it could all end, that their mission would be done, Cocoon would be safe, and Serah would wake up again.

Eidolons? l'Cie? A thought occured to Celes... what if, and this was completely conjecture but in some small way it made sense, what if the Eidolons and l'Cie of Lightning's world were the Espers and Goddesses of Celes'? That would make a lot of sense too. Suddenly this stranger didn't seem so strange. The world that she viewed, though different, was so startling similar that it was almost like a slightly altered mirror reflecting her own reality back at her.

And yet, for all their similarities, they were worlds apart. Where Celes had known the world of magic since as far back as she could remember, to Lightning this was a new and terrifying world. For all it's power, possessing magic made you set apart, isolated, different. She wasn't surprised when her mind went to Terra... thinking about how lost and confused she was the first time she became her Esperkin form. She felt the same, in a way. As proud as she was to become a knight, there was always a touch of sadness there. Something that she tried to hide deep within her in veiled silence. Something that, now, she was fighting terribly to keep from showing. And yet now was not the time to lament of her own lot in life. Celes was stronger then that. But Lightning? What of her? Could she be as lost as she was? At this moment, for her sake, she needed to be strong, like always.

"I... only have vague memories of my time before having this power, really. But it's not something to cry about. You grow stronger from it. Learn to stand on your own." Her head dropped a moment as she was thinking something. "Actually, it was a poor way of doing it too. We later found out that the Espers they were draining magic from only gave their true potential when they reverted to a crystalized form that a person is able to draw on their true power."

Her head suddenly turned to Lightning, a weak smile on her face. "I'm sorry. You really don't want to know about this, I'm betting."

Had Lightning known what Celes was thinking, she probably would have agreed. Their worlds seemed similar and yet very, very different. Lightning was still learning how to deal with this new magic. Every day she lived, it grew stronger and she had to work with new abilities. Some of them were more useful than others, but she used them all. Being a l'Cie had changed her in many ways, not just personally.

Her hands tightened on her sword, still resting in her lap, as she thought about everything that had happened. When Celes spoke again, her head tilted upwards again so she could meet the other woman's gaze, listening closely.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be sitting here listening," Lightning informed her companion. "So Eidolons... Espers? They exist in your world normally?"

"Let's... start from the beginning, I guess. Though really this is the type of history that any school child on my world would be able to tell you. And much better spoken, I should also add."

"A thousand years ago..." and she laid it all in simple detail. Of the espers, and the goddesses. Of the world of espers and magic. Of the war of the Magi and how that stripped the land of almost all life and humanity. How the espers sealed the doorway to their world and how Emperor Gestahl rediscovered it. How he brought back the war, sapping the lives of the Espers in order to create a kingdom that would span millenia. How the war came perilously close to repeating itself. She was by no means a storyteller, for sure. But a kind of sincerity was spoken in her words, pure and quiet like the resonant hum of ringing glass.

When it was over Celes looked exhausted. She had far past her limit and she knew it. But the story needed to be said. At least one more person her needed to know the world she came from. She was glad for the first time since coming to Paixao.

Lightning listened attentively, a frown creasing her face as she took it all in. The story was... by no means a happy one, but compared to her own it sounded like a fantasy story. A really bad one. Though her own wasn't any better. And even with the personal details left out, Lightning knew the story had taken its toll on Celes as well. Maybe someday, Lightning could admit to what had happened to her sister. Then they'd be even, story for story. Right now, though, Celes looked far beyond her strength point.

Lightning stood and tucked her blade back into its bag, walking over to grab a blanket and another pillow if Celes needed them. "That was quite a story, but... you need to rest now. Later we can talk more, maybe even go outside."

She paused after letting the things she held rest against the edge of the couch for Celes to reach if she needed them. "I know we don't know each other well..." Lightning looked away, mind on Serah, and Hope. What was going on while she was here? "I won't abandon you."

Celes eyes widened before fatigue quickly drew them to a close. She rested her head on the side of the couch, thinking of this. And suddenly a dark part of her mind came before her. A shadowy thought that she'd have to keep from spilling out from her:

"You sound so sure, but you don't even know when the curse will take you. What will happen to that promise then? You are living on borrowed time."

Celes pulled the linen blanket over her shoulders, as though somehow the fibers would deflect that thought away. At least for a little while.

Lightning's opinion on the matter was kept within, as Celes' had been. Lightning didn't know when the brand would change, didn't know how long she had, but she'd never known that, and as long as she was here, she would search for a way to get home, a way to save Cocoon. Celes' recovery was giving her something else to concentrate on, to fight for, and Lightning wouldn't give it up.

She stopped just long enough to be sure Celes was comfortable before she headed out of the room and outside. Sitting still wasn't on her agenda for the day, especially not now.

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Make my wish come true, let darkness slip aside (Narrative / Closed)

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