[Note: this will be familiar if you're following 'The 13th Anthology' - I've posted this as an independent chapter in order for it to be documented appropriately as a part of Twelve Shots of Summer.]

I'm participating in Twelve Shots of Summer, a writing challenge where authors write a story a week for twelve weeks, based on a series of themes. This week's theme was "Secret Genius". Unfortunately, I ended up writing this in a bit of a rush, so it isn't my best work, but please do let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII or its characters.

Concealed Interests

If there was one thing that Sazh had learned about the new world, it was that its education system was far behind Cocoon's.

Their new home was a planet with pre-established rules and guidelines – he and the others had realised this fact not long after their arrival. But what they had not anticipated was the ease with which many of them were able to fit into society. Hope had easily found himself a position as an esteemed researcher despite not having any academic qualifications, because his knowledge had far surpassed that of the other candidates. Dajh had already managed to advance a few grades at his school, and his skill lay in mathematics – a subject he had always been fond of. Even the technology was sub-par – after securing a job as a mechanic, Sazh had seen first-hand how primitive this world's aircraft and automobiles really were.

"It's all junk. You'd think they'd know how to build a decent airship by now," he found himself telling Dajh one afternoon. The boy was seated beside him at their dining table, doing his homework. Sazh often found comfort in his son's ability to shut out his surroundings, because it meant that he could go on and on about the most mundane things without actually disturbing him.

"I saw this engine one day, looked like they'd just thrown a bunch of parts together and hoped the damn thing could fly-"

"Hey daddy? Could you help me with this math problem?"

Sazh snapped out of his rant to see Dajh looking up at him expectantly, pointing at a problem in his textbook. "Let me take a look," he replied, pulling the book closer.

His eyes grew wide as he read the words and numbers. 'What're they teachin' kids these days?' Even though it was to be expected, considering Dajh was two grades ahead of the other children his age, this sum seemed far beyond even his level. And for the life of him, Sazh could not recall what he had learned in his high school math classes.

Noticing his father's silence, Dajh decided to elaborate. "My teacher thinks I'm really smart, so he told me to solve this for extra credit."

"Ah, then why don't you just leave it alone, son?"

The boy shook his head. "I can't. He also said that if I couldn't solve it, I'd be held back."

Sazh sighed. 'Trust even the teachers to start picking on their geniuses.' "Alright then, why don't we go over to Auntie Serah's house? Maybe she can help."

Dajh grinned. "Okay!"

xxxxx

The trip to the Farron-Villiers household turned out to be fruitless. Despite it being a Saturday, Serah was teaching a make-up class at her university, and so she was not at home. Lightning offered them refreshments, but Sazh politely declined, suddenly remembering that he had offered to stop over at a spare parts store in the evening to help with some repairs.

"Mind if I leave Dajh here for a while? Maybe he can wait 'til Serah gets back."

Lightning smiled. "Sure. I'll be here."

xxxxx

When he returned later that evening, Serah and Dajh greeted him at the door. "We solved it, daddy!" his son exclaimed, and he sighed with relief. He thanked her profusely before walking back down the driveway, holding his son's hand in his own.

"Visit again soon, okay?" Serah called out from the doorway, and Dajh waved back as they drove away.

As Sazh weaved his car through the narrow country roads, he glanced at his son out of the corner of his eye. "Auntie Serah's pretty smart if she helped you figure out that problem, huh?" he offered casually.

Dajh looked at him. "Huh? But Auntie Serah wasn't home when we solved it."

Sazh nearly did a double-take, clutching the steering wheel harder in surprise. "Then who's 'we'?!"

The boy laughed. "Me 'n' Auntie Lightning! She's really good at math! We were talkin' for a long time, it was really fun."

'Lightning good at math?' He shook his head incredulously. 'I don't believe it.'

When they finally arrived at their home, the first thing Sazh did was look through the solution that Dajh and Lightning had apparently come up with. He dug up as many resources as he could find on the Internet and even tried solving the problem in reverse to see if it was correct. After nearly forty minutes of punching numbers into a calculator and scribbling furiously on a notepad, Sazh finally raised his head with astonishment. "It's correct."

He was still in doubt, and so he sent Dajh to school on Monday after telling him to ask the teacher for 'credit for trying'. But when his son returned that afternoon, he held the solution sheet in his hand, and on it was a series of hand-drawn tick-marks and a large smiley face.

"The teacher told me I did a good job, but he was pouting," he told his father as they ate their lunch. "I think he was upset, but I'm just glad he didn't fail me."

'I still can't believe it…' Sazh had never pegged Lightning as the intellectual type. Sure, she was not stupid, but he had hardly expected a high-school-dropout-turned-soldier to know anything about mathematics, let alone excel at the subject.

'Now I'm curious…I gotta ask her.'

xxxxx

The next weekend, Sazh and Dajh dropped by the Farron-Villiers home again, and Serah was all too glad to see them. Hope was visiting as well, and he spent the afternoon talking to Dajh, while Sazh took the opportunity to confront Lightning.

"I heard you helped Dajh with his homework last week," he began, trying to sound casual. He saw her eyes grow wide, but contrary to the cold retort or strict denial he had expected, Lightning looked almost bashful, absently playing with her hands.

"He told you? I did the best I could in Serah's absence, and he seemed satisfied with my explanation, so-"

"Wait, wait, hold up." He waved his hands. "You mean to say it was you? You explained it to him?"

"Well, math was never Serah's best subject, so I gave it a shot." She tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah, but…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I just…never expected you to be good at math."

The look in Lightning's eyes grew icy. "So just because I dropped out of high-school, you assumed I was stupid?"

"That's not what I meant! …ah, what's the use." Sazh took a deep breath and raised a hand to his temple. "I'm sorry Lightning. I was just curious, is all."

She crossed her arms and let out a long sigh. The silence between them seemed to stretch for an eternity, and Sazh began to fidget with the ends of his jacket, wondering if he could remedy the situation in any way.

Then, she began to speak.

"I was a good student. I studied hard, and always managed to stay within the top five per cent of my class. Math was my favourite subject." A wistful smile appeared on her lips. "The teachers gave me aptitude tests, which I passed easily, and then they enrolled me in advanced classes. I was the youngest one there. They all said I would get into Eden for sure."

Her smile faltered. "Then, my mother passed away. I couldn't afford to pay for my education as well as Serah's, so I dropped out of school and enlisted in the Guardian Corps. It was the only way I could secure her future."

Sazh looked at her with understanding in his gaze. "So you supported her in the hopes that she'd accomplish what you couldn't?"

She nodded. "Serah was a good student, too. She had wanted to be a teacher, and her grades secured her a seat at Eden. But then, she was made a l'Cie, and everything fell apart."

"And I was selfish." She clenched her fists. "I pushed her away because I thought she was throwing away her dreams. But the truth was…those dreams were never hers to begin with. They were thoughts I'd instilled in her, for my own sake."

Sazh looked away, feeling guilty for bringing up bad memories. He tried to change the subject. "Uh…so if you dropped out of high-school that early, how'd you remember how to solve those math problems?"

At this, she blushed. "I-well, I kept some of the books, so I read through them whenever I was home…and sometimes I'd ask Serah to borrow some from the school library."

"You studied in your spare time?" He looked at her incredulously, then let out a laugh. "I only ever saw Hope do that, and even then it was 'cause he was so desperate to bring you guys back."

"You'd feel the same if you'd ever had your education taken away from you," she grumbled, uncrossing her arms and placing a hand on her hip.

"What's that about me?"

Apparently Sazh's laugh and mention of his name had caught Hope's attention, and he was walking towards the two of them with Dajh in tow. The older man smiled as his son ran up to him, curiosity in his gaze.

"I wanna know too, daddy!" he exclaimed, and Sazh chuckled.

"Nothin'…we were just sayin' that Hope's a workaholic." He ignored Hope's shout of protest and patted his son's head. "C'mon, we should be headin' back home."

"Can we come visit Auntie Lightning again soon?"

Sazh glanced at her to seek her approval, and she smiled. "Of course." She looked at the boy, and her smile softened. "Dajh and I have a lot of things to talk about, don't we?"

He nodded. "Yeah! I'll bring my math homework next time, too!"

Before they left the house, Sazh caught a snippet of the conversation taking place behind him.

"Wow Light, you're good at math? I never would've guessed!"

"Don't test my patience, Mr. Estheim."

xxxxx

As they drove back to their house, Dajh turned to his father. "Auntie Lightning really is something, isn't she?" he asked.

Sazh kept his eyes trained on the road, but his mind continued to drift back to the small exchange he had witnessed between Lightning and his son. There had been a spark of something akin to excitement in her gaze as she had spoken to Dajh – something he had never seen in all the time he had known her.

'After all this time, she finally has someone to talk to about what she likes, and it's math of all things. Guess I should never judge a book by its cover.'

"She sure is, son," he replied, a small smile stretching across his face. "She sure is."

I'm sorry, I can never resist throwing interactions between Hope and Lightning, even if it's just a single dialogue.

Do check out the other works at the Twelve Shots of Summer forum - we all write for different fandoms, so I'm sure you'll find something of interest! Not to mention the others are all amazing at what they do (and much better at writing than I am)