Title: Encoder

Rating: MA for language, mature themes, etc.

Summary: A/U. Sequel to "Riot Machine." Lightning has seized the chance to start over again, but remnants of her old life still follow her - even to the far reaches of Pulse.

About the setting: For those who haven't read the first part of this story, the setting might be a little confusing. It takes place in a modern day universe much like our own, completely separate from the game. Pulse and Cocoon are their own countries on the planet that were at war for awhile, though currently Cocoon only occupies one military base at Yaschas Massif. All the locations from the game (Sun'leth, Eden, Oerba, etc) are cities/towns. While Riot Machine took place entirely on Cocoon, Encoder will be taking place solely on Pulse. Other than that, I'm not going to be dumping a whole lot of exposition into this story, and if you haven't read Riot Machine it might be a little confusing at first. It all ties together as the story goes on.

Notes: Starting a new story finally. I'm excited to work on it after planning it in my head for so long, though I was actually a bit hesitant to post this. Thanks for taking a look and I hope those who have already read RM like the sequel just as much!

Chapter One

The timing could not be worse.

As Lightning glanced in the rear view mirror to see the flashing lights of the unmarked police car that was tailing her, she suppressed a wave of nausea. All she wanted was to get home and curl up in bed. She had been sick all week, but today it had finally been bad enough that her supervisor had sent her home from the jewelry store she worked at.

It had been three months since she'd made the impulsive, albeit necessary, move to Oerba, Pulse from Cocoon. In that span of time she had managed to find a place to live, land a job with a steady income, and lease a vehicle - a considerable step up from her situation in Eden. She wasn't rich by any means, but it was enough.

She still wasn't sure if she wholly enjoyed it. The independence and self-sufficiency, yes, but other things…

Hope.

She missed him more than she had reckoned.

Their relationship in limbo, they still had yet to decide how to make it work, or even if they would. They had come to the agreement that they would wait a year, and if the time and distance hadn't cooled their heels, then they would attempt something in earnest. Lightning knew, however, that it was a lot for Hope to give up. In the end, he would be making the big sacrifice to move a thousand miles across the ocean to be with her, giving up his job, home and support system in the process. But Lightning could never return to Cocoon.

If it wasn't for Hope, she wouldn't have ever considered returning, even if she could. She had nothing there anymore: no future, not even family. With Serah gone, all that remained was Snow, and he certainly wasn't enough make her homesick - though she did wonder now and then how he was doing.

The officer tapped on the window. Lightning rolled it down and glowered up at him, swallowing back the sour taste of bile that had been present in her mouth all day. He stared back with impassive blue eyes, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his face. He was young - probably around her own age. He wasn't wearing a typical uniform; instead, he wore a windbreaker with his badge pinned to the front and jeans.

He flashed his ID. "Afternoon. You know why I'm pulling you over?" He didn't have a Pulse accent, which would've piqued Lightning's curiosity on a good day. She opted to remain silent, in part to avoid making a snide comment, but mostly because she was sure throwing up on a cop would not get her out of a ticket.

"You ran a red light at the intersection back there," he continued, hooking a thumb behind him. "I nearly t-boned you. I'm going to need to see your license and..." He gave her a strange look. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

Lightning could contain it no more. Throwing the door open and causing the officer to stagger back, she leaned outside of the vehicle and proceeded to vomit into the road. She emptied the meager contents of her stomach until she dry-heaved.

"I'll be right back," the cop said, jogging back to his car. Lightning pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

She heard the footsteps as the officer returned. "Here," he said. She lifted her head to see him offering a water bottle. She accepted it, unscrewing the lid and taking a long swig. After she rinsed her mouth, she pressed the cool plastic to the side of her face.

"Sorry," she told him. "I'm just trying to get home."

"I can see that," the officer replied, bemused. "How about this. Let me escort you home and we'll forget the ticket for today."

"I'll be fine. It's not far from here."

He shook his head. "Look, I could still be a jackass and fine you anyway. So for my peace of mind…"

"Okay, fine," Lightning interrupted. "Let's just go."

With the officer following her, she made her cautious way to her apartment building, feeling worse with every block she passed. By the time she parked, a fine sweat bathed her body, and her head was pounding. She got out of her sedan, gripping the door to keep herself upright.

"You sure you're okay?" the cop fretted, assisting her out of the vehicle. Lightning repressed the urge to bat his hands away. She suspected that without his support, she would've fallen over anyway. "Which floor do you live on? I'll help you."

"Third," she managed, the nausea welling up within her once more.

He helped her navigate the stairwell. "You know," he said with a small smile, "we're neighbors."

Once they reached Lightning's unit, he helped her sit down on the couch. She doubled over, clutching her throbbing head.

"Can I get you something?" he asked. "Water, medicine?"

As loathe as she was to accept any more assistance from him than she already had, she nodded slightly. "Water. I don't have any medicine."

She heard him flip open a few cabinets as he hunted for a glass, then the sound of water running as he filled it up. He came back into the living room and handed it to her. As she sipped the water, the urge to vomit abated.

"Thank you," she said, trying to sound sincere. "I'll be fine. I won't take up any more of your time."

"It's no problem," the officer said. "Once I'm off work, I can come check on you again. I mean, if you want. I only live a couple of doors down from you."

"It's not necessary," she argued. "I'll live."

"Don't worry about it. I'll bring you something for your stomach, since you said you don't have any." He shifted on his feet. "By the way, I'm Noel Kreiss." He gave her a generous smile. "And you're…?" He laughed. "We were, ah, interrupted before I could get your ID."

"Lightning. Farron."

Something passed over Noel's face: a mix of emotions so complex that Lightning couldn't discern what, exactly, they were.

"Lightning. Cool," he said, recovering gracefully. "Well then, I'll be back in a few, like I said."

"Fine." She cleared her throat. "Well, thanks again, officer."

"Just Noel," he corrected. With that, he stepped out.

As soon as the door shut, she dashed to the bathroom, kicking off her heels as she went. She coughed over the toilet, but there was nothing left to throw up. Sighing, she pressed her forehead to the cool porcelain.

She couldn't remember the last time she was truly ill. Colds came and went; when she had first arrived in Pulse, she'd succumbed to a bad head cold, but it had passed in a matter of days, and it hadn't been severe enough to keep her bedridden.

It was times like this that, more than anything, she wished Hope was with her. She hadn't realized how accustomed she had become to his presence until he wasn't around anymore. And even though it had already been a few months, she still wasn't entirely used to an empty house.

"This sucks," she whispered to herself.

Hauling herself to her feet, she left the bathroom, plucking her cell phone off of the coffee table as she walked onto the balcony. Waves lapped at the shore below, and in the distance a train rumbled across the enormous bridge that spanned the waters. PSICOM and Sanctum may have spread their propaganda and convinced the citizens that Pulse was hell, but anyone who had actually visited the country would know otherwise. She discovered that for herself the first time she had been deployed here.

She checked the time on her phone before dialing Hope's office number. It had taken her a while to get used to the time difference. The first few times she had called, it had been in the dead of night and woken him up. As it rang, she sat down on one of the deck chairs, rubbing her head.

"Hey, you," he greeted when she picked up.

Lightning smiled. "Hey yourself," she replied. "What are you up to?"

"I just got to the office," he said. "What about you? You're not at work?"

"Got sent home."

"Why?" He sounded somewhat alarmed. "What did you do?"

"Threw up on a customer."

"You didn't." His tone was amused now.

"No," Lightning admitted. "I am sick though. My boss sent me home."

"Again? That sucks," Hope answered. "I'm sorry. I hope you feel better."

"Yeah."

"Listen, I don't mean to cut this call short, but..."

"Yeah," Lightning said again. "No problem. I'm sorry to call you first thing. I just…"

"Light." She could hear the affection in Hope's voice. "I know. Believe me."

She smiled slightly. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," he said. "A lot. I'll talk to you later, okay? I've just got twelve files to review by lunch."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get off the phone," she said. "See you."

"Bye. Feel better." He hung up.

Shutting her phone, she went back into the house and into her bedroom to change into more comfortable attire. She drew the blinds and slid into bed, pulling the covers over her head and wondering, not for the first time, if things really were going to work out with Hope.

Is he pulling away?

She knew she should want that for him. Want him to move on and consider her and everything that happened in the last few months a particularly dark chapter in his life.

Deep down in her heart, though, she didn't.

After napping for a few hours, she entirely forgot Noel's promise to check up on her. Upon seeing him through the peephole in the door after he knocked, she considered not letting him in. He knew she would be home, though, and she didn't want him breaking down the door just to make sure she was okay. He seemed like that kind of guy.

Lightning pulled on a pair of jeans and ran a brush through her disheveled curls before finally letting him in. He held a plastic shopping bag in his hands, the name of a local drug store emblazoned across it.

"As promised," he said, producing a bottle of thick pink liquid. "Just an antiemetic. Hopefully that'll settle your stomach."

"Thanks."

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

"Yeah, a bit," she said, sitting down at the bar and pouring the medicine in the little plastic measuring cup it came with. The fruity smell of it was enough to churn her stomach again. She knocked it back, trying to swallow without tasting it.

"I got you some orange juice, too. Supposed to make your immune system stronger, isn't it?"

"Noel, you didn't have to do all this for me," she said, giving him a strange look. "You don't even know me."

Noel's shoulders hunched slightly. "Well, actually…" He turned to face her.

Before he could continue, Lightning vomited once again, wretching violently. A small amount of emesis splattered against the tile floor - pink medicine, streaked with bright red blood. Lightning swallowed. Her throat was raw, and the movement was painful.

Noel stared in shock for a moment, then roused himself. "I'm taking you to the ER."

She shook her head.

"Seriously. You're puking blood for god's sake."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration." At worst, she figured that all the vomiting had irritated her esophagus enough to make it bleed. Still, a doctor would be able to prescribe her medicine that actually worked to calm her stomach - and Pulse had free healthcare.

She tried to remember what Hope had said during one of their first phone calls since she had moved away. Don't fight everyone so much. Make friends. You're stuck over there for good, might as well make the most of it.

The funny thing was, Lightning would have never had a relationship with Hope if she hadn't been so stubborn.

"Alright, I'll go."

"Good. I'll take you." Noel pulled his keys out of his pocket.

"I can take myself."

"Come on," he said, exasperated. "Let me help you."

She looked over at him and studied his face. "You always this persistent?"

He opened his mouth, then seemed to change his mind about what he was going to say. Shaking his head, he replied, "Look, I'm a cop. That's what cops do, you know? Help people." He laughed, though it sounded forced.

Lightning arched a brow, biting back a sarcastic retort. "Fine," she finally said. "Let's go, then."