Bad Language

Chapter 2

As she would find out over the next few days, books on the Pulsian language were just as scarce as its native speakers. A lot had been lost during the crystallisation, and though scholars were working hard to replace the vast tomes of knowledge they had lost, they had made the bias choice of starting with Cocoon. And if Fang and Vanille wanted their language to live on, it looked as though they would have to be the ones to start their own catalogue of Pulse… Gran Pulse.

With no secondary sources to learn from Lightning really only had one option. She didn't like the sound of this option, and she didn't want to resort to this option, but it was necessary in her plans.

Lightning would definitely need an alibi before approaching Vanille and requesting lessons. The redhead might by in the mood for questioning her motives, and so she'd need a true-sounding answer for each of them.

Thankfully there was only five minutes left until Lightning was allowed to leave for lunch, so there was no harm in stopping her paperwork early. It was just as well, as she suddenly realised she'd been tapping her pen to an imaginary beat, and dotted a blank form with ink.

She took her personal phone from the desk drawer, scrolling through the short list of numbers until her thumb was hovering over Vanille's name. Etro, she wasn't even sure if she'd texted Vanille before never mind rang her.

Her thumb twitched nervously, and she accidentally hit the "dial" button without any sort of mental preparation.

"Shit!"

Instead of quickly ending the call she bravely let it ring, biting the thumbnail on her other hand to keep her busy. Her worrying was excessive, and even she knew that. It's not like she was ringing Vanille to ask her out or anything.

'Hello?' Double shit, it was Fang! Lightning was a heartbeat away from hanging up.

'Oh hey Fang, is Vanille around?' This was her phone after all.

In the background she heard a familiar chirpy voice, followed by quick footsteps to the phone.

'What's up anyway? Why are you calling Vanille?'

'Fang give me the damn phone!' Vanille hissed. Her voice then transformed from demon spawn to angelic sweetness when she addressed Light. 'Hiii. What can I – Fang go away – do for you?'

Knowing Fang was trying to listen in wasn't making things easier. 'I was wondering if you could teach me how to speak Pulsian – without Fang knowing.' That sounded suspicious. 'It's…it's for work. I um, they're happy to pay.'

She wasn't sure if she'd respect Vanille more or less if she believed her reason.

'Sure, sounds interesting.' There was a beginning of a scrabble at the other end of the phone, a couple of thuds, something fell over. 'I mean I definitely have time to – SPARE.'

Lightning winced, holding the phone away from her ringing ear. 'Er? Vanille?'

'Sorry. Fang keeps trying to grab the phone and annoy me, so I just had to kick her in her stupid face.'

The tenseness that had formed in her shoulders for the entire call subsided, thanks to both Vanille's acceptance and her efforts to keep Fang away.

'Great. When can you start?'

'How does tonight sound?'

'Tonight's fine, come round for seven.' At least at home there was less chances of making an utter fool of herself.

'Cool, see you later, Lightning. Ciao!'

Her phone beeped, signalling the end of call. Lightning leaned back in her chair, which squeaked at the shift in weight. At least now it was time for lunch, she could grab a bite to eat and try to forget about the nerves that bubbled in her stomach out of nowhere.

It was 7:11p.m when Lightning finally heard a knock at the door. The hour prior to Vanille showing was one of the longest waits she ever had to endure, so when the redhead was showing late, Lightning busied herself with minor tasks. Although cleaning was the easiest thing to take her mind off things, she'd done it all earlier. Now she was left wiyh altering her cushions into various patterns, equally winding her nerves into a tight coil in her chest.

Lightning had barely opened the door an inch when Vanille started apologising. Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was out of breath. 'I'm sorry I took so long. I could not get out of the house without Fang wanting to know where I was going. I think she's a little hurt that you needed me for this "top secret" mission and not her.'

News of that pleased Lightning more than she dared to let on. 'She's just used to being my go to person.'

Vanille smiled, hoisting a book that was slipping from her grip back under her arm, which was the first time Lightning noticed the learning materials she had brought.

'Since I'm not a teacher per se, I've brought early learning books for teaching children Cocoonian, just so I've got a way of matching how to teach you Pulsian. So how about we start with the basics?'

Vanille splayed all of her books out on the coffee table and made herself comfortable on the sofa. One of the books was a blank exercise jotter for Lightning, who even jokingly wrote her name on the front cover like she was back at school.

'We might as well start with the alphabet,' Vanille began, and on a blank page she started to write all 26 letters. Remembering the numbers wasn't such a chore as they had a similarity in shape. One thing she did note was that where Cocoonian numbers were neat and fairly rounded, Pulsian numbers looked wild, and something that you would carve into wood. The same went for the letters, it was like orderly versus unruly.

As impressed as she was with the amount of prep Vanille had gone into in such a short amount of time, a wave of doubt still managed to wash over Lightning as she watched Vanille scrawl. This was a lot to get into just to gain Fang's attention after all. It was only the thought of seeing Fang's pleasantly surprised face that kept her from flaking out and admitting it all to Vanille.

Still writing, Vanille hit her with a question. 'So is this to do with further exploration or something?'

Explore. Oh, she wanted to explore all right. She'd never felt so passionate about something, or someone, in a long time. And of all the people to feel so strongly about, Fang was certainly worthy. She couldn't fathom developing an addiction to someone like… Snow.

She'd let an awkward silence creep over them. 'Yes,' she quickly let slip. 'There have been plans to go further afield. Gran Pulse is a big place, and even I know what I saw atop of Bahamut was just the tip of the iceberg. There might even be more locals.'

Instead of the chipper response, Vanille twisted her face, looking at Light with a questioning expression. 'And they want you to learn Pulsian in case you come across other people, or books and artefacts perhaps?' She leaned in, nudging Lightning and knocking the exercise book off her lap as a result of her overly expressive gesture. 'I mean, I'm not a busy gal, Lightning, neither is Fang really. If we did the translations it would save a lot of time and money.'

Offering her best poker face, Lightning wasn't sure if she could pull the rest of the lie off. She was so out of practice now what with Serah gone from their shared home.

'If it was up to me, then you would be.' That would have to do. The answer floated between them until Vanille threw the newly written alphabet on Lightning's lap.

'Right, so…'

It had been a solid two hours of learning, before Lightning even looked at the clock. Her neck was stiff, and both she and Vanille had yawned several times in the last ten minutes. If anything signalled home time it was yawning.

'Let's see how much you remember,' Vanille challenged turning to face Lightning. She was probably just as eager to see how well she taught as much as to see how much Lightning remembered. 'So hysa ec Vanille. Fryd ec ouin hysa?'

It was one thing to see a new language written, but to hear it sent the cogs in Lightning's mind turning in reverse. She knew Vanille was asking for her name, but she couldn't for the life of her remember the reply, especially when she was so damn mentally exhausted… oh!

'Uh. 'So hy.. hysa ec Lightning.'

Vanille clapped enthusiastically. 'Good! That's good. Your pronunciation wasn't too bad either.'

Lightning let out a pleased huff at the praise, keeping the phrase in her mind on a loop. 'Thanks. Say, it's getting late, can I give you a lift home?'

Perking up slightly at the offer, there was still sleepiness in Vanille's eyes. Lightning didn't blame her; teaching anything was draining, and even she felt like an early night.

The car ride was met with a silence both females could appreciate as a way to wind down the day.

'I'll be sure to tell the necessary people and make sure you get paid for your tuition,' Lightning remembered to say just before the redhead skipped out.

Like she would any of her friends, Lightning watched Vanille safely enter her house, which she could barely see from all of the trees and shrubs safeguarding the porch.

Vanille and Fang had a fence but no gate, which made the garden welcoming but intimidating at the same time, as branches and uncut hedges poked out from between the slats in the wood.

A quick wave from the threshold and Lightning was happy to drive back.

Vanille walked into complete darkness, which was strange, she was sure there was a light on when they pulled up.

'Fang?' This had to be one of her games. 'Why have you plunged the house into entire darkness, you mad woman?' Feeling her way across the wall, Vanille hit the hallway's light switch, just as a pair of hands grabbed her from behind. 'Eep!'

'Sorry, not sorry.'

Fang sauntered into the living room as Vanille tried to put her heart back into her ribcage. 'You're a right cow for that. I knew what you were up to, and yet you scared the hell outta me anyway.'

'So what did she want with you then?'

Fang could play it cool all she wanted, the fact she was already prying for answers…

'Don't get jealous now.'

Fang's jaw set. 'I'm not jealous, what a stupid thing to say.'

'Then you won't mind if I don't tell you then.'

Her sister was probably seconds away from growling, but the more Vanille wound her up the better. She dashed upstairs before Fang could keep prying, giggling at the way she was acting. Whether she wanted to admit it or not (and so far even Vanille had a hard time getting the spoken truth from her) there was definitely a bit of fancying going on.

She called it sisterly intuition, especially since Fang hadn't given her a straight yes or no like she would with other things.

Taking a seat at her age beaten desk, Vanille rested against the chair still in thought. She pulled out her diary from the top drawer. It acted more like an organiser than a book for personal thoughts, and more often than not she wrote one liners that summed up the day.

Became a mediator of love as of today.

That was all she needed to write. If she ever looked back at what she wrote, she was confident she'd remember what that meant.

There was no way she believed Lightning's daft story either. Why would the Guardian Corps want Lightning to learn Pulsian? Surely whoever was in charge would want more than just Light to speak it?

Vanille smirked. 'Because it's all a big fat lie.'

Tomorrow she would put the final nail in the coffin as far as proof went. All she'd need to do is call the GC and confirm her suspicions.

Keeping her eyes shut still, Fang's keen hearing alerted her to a voice in the room directly below her. Vanille talking didn't usually cause suspicion, but after the weird meeting she had with Lightning yesterday, Fang was curious.

'And you're positive?' she heard, Vanille's words muffled but not enough to obscure anything she said on her end. She was definitely on the phone. 'One hundred percent certain?'

Who was she talking to? It sounded like she was asking for pregnancy results… no, dear Etro please let it be something else. A sinking feeling started from her throat to her stomach. What if this was related to Lightning?

Fang never moved so fast. Throwing back the covers, she stalked the landing on her tiptoes, lying across the floor until she could see down the stairs.

Her sister squealed, her hand balled in a victory fist. 'Thank you. That's all I needed to know – Oh!' Vanille caught sight of Fang almost too quickly, like she was expecting the eavesdrop, and with a spring in her step came a bit closer to where Fang was snooping.

'Who was that on the phone?'

'Oh, just a game changer.'

'I don't understand.'

'It's for me to know and for you to – hopefully – find out.'

Did Fang trust those words? She'd sooner trust Barthandelus.

Gonna keep things short, sweet, but frequent with this story.

FYI, any 'Pulsian' written will actually be Al Bhed, so you can translate it if you wish.