ARMS WIDE OPEN

CHAPTER 1

The small house is rattling everywhere, thousands of droplets from the tropical rain smashing hard and violently against the ceiling, as big and dark clouds completely cover New Bodhum´s beautiful shore, hiding the sun and making the natural light grow dimmer, which, minute by minute, envelops the small living room in semidarkness, as if it were already late in the afternoon, so close to nightfall, instead of being just midday. The overall atmosphere feels a bit sleepy, a tiny bit moody, and the house´s temperature drops, losing its previous warmth, and the air is becoming rather chilly. Although the wood walls seem to be resisting the ambush of the storm, they are undoubtedly beginning to absorb the humidity. The people inside can sense it in the air, as it gets filled with the soothing smell of dampened earth. A relaxing and natural smell that almost lulls the house´s occupants to sleep, if they were to close their eyes long enough.

Serah sighs, taking in the dampened smell.

Although this house it´s a happy place most of the time, built with hard work, hope and love, it´s definitely not a healthy environment for small children… if she and Snow were to have one.

The young woman sighs more dramatically at the thought, trying to force her mind away from such a stressful topic. For months now, both she and Snow have been arguing over the possibility of pregnancy, both of them wishing to hear the sound of small feet running around the house. But it´s been her the one to postpone it.

Before the ever-present doubt embeds once again on her resolution, the youngest Farron shakes her head, preventing her thoughts to go astray even further, and, now that she´s finally aware of her surroundings, the young beauty shivers, her short skirt and light sweater seeming now a very improper choice of dressing, given the current weather. Once she wakes up from her thoughtful state of mind, she forces her steps to go faster, exiting the kitchen, and her long, wavy pink hair flutters behind her, while she carries in her hands two cups of homemade hot chocolate. One for her, just like every night.

Although it had been hard the first weeks they arrived at New Bodhum, and it took them all tremendous hard work, she has learned to love every piece of this new home, and especially love the chocolate they can extract from Gran Pulse´s earth, made of completely natural ingredients, a sweet taste created without the aid of the fal´Cie, nor any kind of magic. Somehow, this taste feels more real than anything she had tried before, back in Cocoon.

That´s the reason why, ever since Vanille taught them all how to make hot chocolate, it has become Serah´s favorite routine. Before going to bed, every night she has at least one coup, and she usually drinks it alone, since her goof of a boyfriend takes Cocoon-made coffee instead.

That silly blond and his thick head! She scoffs at the memory, He doesn´t know what he´s missing…

The strawberry blonde giggles, realizing such thought would be worthy of her sister´s approval. And sighs again, as the last thought reminds her of the one reason she´s currently feeling so stressed out.

Hot chocolate is a late night routine, but it´s also a soothing-stress routing, she having a cup of hot chocolate to ease her heart whenever she´s feeling particularly anxious about something. Well, being completely honest, most of the time it´s about someone. Two people, to be exact.

One, obviously being Snow, is currently working hard on the new fence the NORA team is building to keep Gran Pulse´s wild life away from their small town.

The other, the one that usually worries her the most, is actually the one that she wishes to know her exact whereabouts at that moment. And as usual, is the one person who wouldn´t tell. That´s why Lightning is the current culprit for the hot chocolate lying on Serah´s hand.

Damn Claire! When will you learn not to make me worry?

The young Farron smiles a bit at the use of the dirty word, knowing well her sister would scold her for that. Serah doesn´t know why, but the thought of her sister scolding her makes her worry shift into anger, if only briefly.

You know, Lightning? Sometimes being your sister is so demanding!

She screams inside her head, a bit serious and a tad playful, trying to drop her dark mood if even just slightly, an effort proving to be futile. But she´s just feeling so frustrated at the moment! If at least someone could understand her!

But the moment such thought invades her mind, she flinches and scolds herself, just as she remembers that, this time, there´s exactly one person who understands her feelings, the same person who´s now suffering, just like she is, for Lightning´s fate; she remembers now she´s not the only one sick of worry about her sister´s whereabouts.

Serah glances down at the cups she´s clutching with each hand. This time, unlike the other times, there is a second chocolate, destined for the lone figure standing over the windowsill. The boy – no, the teen, she reminds herself – stands motionless, his sight lost in the deepest part of the storm, his silver hair sparkling with the faint light from the candles over the counter, next to the door, and all around the living room.

The place is so small they only need three candles to illuminate the living room, but it hasn´t mattered how small it might be. It´s their home, where Serah and Lightning had lived together the last couple of weeks after the fall of Cocoon, and after finally solving the thousands of time paradox created, the place where they both had lived after saving none other than the Goddess Etro herself.

Together, just like before their world fell apart, just like Serah once dreamed. Always together.

But it´s not only their home now, it´s Snow´s too, as well as the NORA group, and the place where also Hope has found a shelter. Hope, still in his teenage years, just like the first time she had met him, small and slim and cute, the Hope who lost just recently part of his innocence, and who now is standing at the windowsill, sulking; he´s lived with them too, whenever his father is out of town, helping out in Crystallized Cocoon. He is part of her family too.

As if he could hear her thoughts, the young teen sighs, and she smiles a bit, knowing were his thoughts are lost into. Or rather, with whom.

"She should´ve arrived by now". He speaks apparently to no one, but knows that she´s around to hear him. And to agree. Without turning around, he keeps talking as she puts the cup on his hand. "It´s been five days now. Five days ago she should´ve arrived."

She smiles, thankful for his understanding and care. Having him all worried at least gives her the task to calm him, to comfort him, instead of eating her nails out of anguish for her absent sister.

She looks up towards the celling, noticing the storm fading; the silence reaches her ears and, minutes after, she hears the sound of scattered chirps, followed by the flapping of small wings, as the colorful and happy birds abandon their hideouts, welcoming the sunlight that filters shyly through the wall of clouds, the cacophony created by their activity always a cheerful indicator that it has stopped raining. Serah smiles, thankful for the respite. Feeling a little bit hopeful, she turns to address the young teen, while searching for the words that would appease him too.

"I know she should be here, Hope, but you heard Captain Amodar. The storm reached them first, so they couldn´t get home sooner. But he assured us they were fine, just delayed."

"But what if something did happen?" this time he turns around and meets her eyes, his emerald ones ablaze with anguish, a sight that startles the young woman. "What if they were ok but then suddenly were attacked? Or what if they lost their way and are wandering around? Or their plane crashed in this storm?! Or…?" she hushes him with a delicate finger placed over his lips, effectively breaking his anguished rambling.

"You shouldn´t get me worried, you know?"

At her words, his eyes open wide in realization, and then he sighs, looking at the young woman apologetically, taking her by the hand.

"I know, Serah, I´m sorry. Sometimes I forget she´s your sister. But I… I… I have a bad feeling about this."

She giggles at his response, an attempt to hide her own uneasiness.

"Of course you do, silly! You always do whenever it´s about my sister!"

He smiles a bit at her response, and still has the decency to blush.

"Besides, you should keep in mind it is my duty to worry and be scared about all the monsters and bad things that could happen to her, and your duty to clap my back and tell me everything´s going to be alright. So please stop being all worried and smile for me." She scolds him a bit more, which only makes him blush even further.

"Yeah, sorry, but if she only…"

He doesn´t finish the sentence, since Fang, the always loud Gran Pulse native, bursts inside, almost breaking the door, panting, obviously in a struggle to catch her breath.

Both youngsters are startled by her sudden entrance, but even more so by the ragged appearance of the warrior, who appears completely sodden, her dark hair glued to her face and skin, her feet covered in mud, but more importantly, her eyes full of concern.

"Serah! Hurry! The plane has arrived!"

"What?" Serah´s heart skips a bit at the Pulsian´s words. "In this storm? How could they!?"

Without another word, not even to address the teen close to the strawberry blonde, the tall woman takes Serah by the hand, and almost drags her out of the house.

"Don´t know, but by the look of it, it´s…" Fang pauses, searching for a way to spare the young woman´s feelings, without reveling her own anguish too much. "We need to get there and see for ourselves."

The last sentence makes the silver haired teen go pale, and he feels glued to the windowsill for a few seconds, but soon he recovers and rushes past the door, chocolate forgotten, as he breaks into a sprint, intent on following the pair.

Already running, the words also startle Serah, while she struggles to run along the sludge, her small boots trapped in the unsteady mud, making every step a tremendous effort, as the Pulsian pulls her hard, and the girl tries to keep her balance and her state of mind too, both at the same time.

"What? What do you mean, Fang?"

Fang remains silent for a bit, unable to find words that wouldn´t make matters worse, while Serah fights to keep her step. But her anxiety picks it´s highest point the moment the girl finally meets the emerald eyes of the tall woman, and recognizes anguish in them. No matter what, Fang has always been good at keeping her cool. Her expression now can only mean one thing.

"It´s… it´s about Lightning… right?" Serah fights the lump on her throat. She hates to ask, but she´s more terrified at the silence.

Fang blinks, as if fighting back an emotion, as she slowly brings her stride to a halt; suddenly the mask of ice and calm comes back to the tall Pulsian, a sight Serah is able to witness… so like her sister had always done in front of the young strawberry blonde, always in an attempt to protect her. That simple action drives her closer to tears.

Is it really that bad?

Fang berates herself for letting her emotion show, especially to the one she´s supposed to be protecting at the moment. She curses under her breath and then faces the young strawberry blonde, looking straight at Serah´s eyes. She knows it´s no point to hide the obvious, but at least she can avoid the rougher details.

"Yeah, you nailed it, the bad news are about Lightning. It seems she´s one of the few survivors of her patrol. And I´ve heard she´s injured and unconscious."

"What do you mean? Fang! What…?" Her heart seems to have stopped, as a heavy lump forms in her throat, while with pleading blue eyes she forces the taller woman to speak up.

"Please, don´t ask me anything else…" The woman grits her teeth at the strawberry blonde´s questioning, her control almost lost. Fang has to inhale deeply, forcing herself to remember whom she is talking to. "Really, Serah… I don´t know anything else… so please don´t ask."

Serah bits her lip, as tears threaten to fall. She knows she shouldn´t push Fang either. Ever since all of them returned from crystalized state, the tall woman has gotten so close to Lightning, this dire situation must be very difficult for her too. So the young woman bits her lip harder, as she starts another sprint, pushing her legs to run as fast as they can, leaving Fang behind, as if, with that, she were able to leave her anguish behind too.

The Pulse born notices the attempt, and sighs, following the young woman, this time her stride not faltering for even a bit, emerald eyes focused firmly at their path ahead.

Fang catches up with the young Farron easily, but doesn´t feel confident enough to face her again, guilt still scratching the surface of her emotions, so she just speaks up her mind without searching for Serah´s blue eyes.

"I´m sorry… I didn´t mean to get you worried unnecessarily, but Amodar´s messenger didn´t elaborate, and after what he said, I could only thing of bringing you to Lightning as soon as possible and..."

The addressed girl smiles thankfully, and stops the proud woman´s odd rambling, trying to spare her feelings.

"Don´t worry Fang, and thank you for thinking about me. But please, we shouldn´t distract ourselves over this. If my sister needs us, we have to be there as soon as possible."

The warrior smiles at her words, thankful, and remembers how mature Serah has become. Sometimes she would seem to be even more mature than her older sister.

"Yes of course. Especially if we don´t want to have our assess kicked by your sister´s infamous booth."

They look at each other and laugh lightly at the joke, as the celling of the makeshift hangar appears in their line of vision. As she sees it, Serah redoubles her effort and gets ahead from the Pulsian with ease, making the warrior admire her for the speed.

Well, after all, she is Lightning´s sister.

And, as if she wasn´t already fast enough, the young woman strains her legs to go even faster, the moment her eyes catch the figure of a tall and broad man appearing at the entrance of the main barrack.

"Captain Amodar!"

The addressed man raises his head at hearing her voice, and as he sees the small frame approaching faster, a brilliant smile graces his rough and tanned features.

"Well I´ll be! It´s the little Farron!" He waves at her in salute, and is taken by surprises the moment the young pinkette flings herself into his enormous belly, searching for the man´s fatherly comfort and safety. "Hello there Serah! It´s very nice to see you too!"

The tall man takes his brown eyes off the pinkette´s delicate frame, only to meet emerald eyes, as Fang catches up with them, stopping a few steps away from the pair, out of respect and trying to not interfere, but very much eager to know about her friend. Without words, he understands her rush, and as broad hands rest on small and trembling shoulders, he makes a movement with his head, prompting the raven-haired woman to keep going, as his eyes come back to the shaking figure clutching his robes.

Fang only nods faintly, and without words, sprints towards the hangar, thankful for having someone who would give the young woman the reassurance she can´t give her, and making a silent prayer for her own younger sister to arrive sooner.

Serah meets Captain Amodar´s dark eyes with watery azure orbs, a gesture that makes the old soldier marvel at how much they look like his protégée´s, only brighter, but then he notices the countenance of anguish and fear in the younger woman, and puts his thoughts aside, focusing on the Farron clinging at his battered and dirty robes.

The young strawberry blonde looks intently at him, and her eyes water a bit more, this time out of guilt too. Serah knows she should just run and see for herself her sister´s condition, most probably Lightning is waiting for her at this very moment. But her heart is aching terribly with fear at the thousands of ghastly possibilities. She fears she wouldn´t stand it. So she clings harder to the man who, ever since she met him in Bodhum, has looked after both of them, Lightning and her, as if they were his children.

The man gives her a reassuring smile, trying to comfort her, as a broad finger dries a single tear on her cheek.

"Now c´mon, little one. I know you´re worried about your sister, but you shouldn´t. Farron is a lot tougher than that, and you know it far better than I do."

"I-I know, I know Captain," Serah stutters as she pushes away from the man, only enough to be able to see his face properly, as her hands still clutch the fabric of his uniform, "but… is… is she… ok?" She´s too afraid to ask the full question, so she lets it hanging in the air, hoping the man would understand.

The captain´s face darkens a tad, but immediately smiles for her. "Nothing a good cup of hot chocolate and the care of her lovely sister can´t cure. Now show me the smile you´ll give her the moment you see her."

Serah lowers her eyes, still overwhelmed, and speaks out her fears, her voice barely a whisper "I know but… but I don´t know what I would do if I lose her again, Amodar… I just got her back…" the last words are almost lost in the wind, unheard if the man hadn´t been intent at hearing them. More tears fall from the closed eyelids, and Serah feels herself about to break, but the man cups her chin and makes her meet his eyes once more.

"C´mon, Serah. You, too, are far stronger than this. You´re a Farron who´s already proven her worth, and, between just you and me, I usually think that you´re a lot stronger than your sister, honestly." He winks at her after his last words, and his smile gets bigger.

Through tear stained face, this time she smiles at him, a sincere one at his words, and he chuckles.

"That´s right, little Farron! That´s the thing she will need for now."

Reassured just slightly by his words and his cheer, and feeling just a bit stronger now, she gives a step back, letting go of the tight grip she has on him. "But at least tell me something. Is she… is she out of… of danger?"

"Yeah, her life isn´t compromised. Don´t worry." He takes her once more by the shoulders and makes her turn around, pushing her gently towards the entrance of the hangar. "Now, go. I think your sister´s asleep now, but I´m sure she´s waiting for you, and will wake up the moment you arrive. So don´t make her wait any longer."

She turns a bit to thank him, and sprints towards the hangar, not noticing Hope approaching fast.

But the old Captain does, and as the teen is about to pass him by, only inclining his head in greeting, he clutches the teen´s robes from behind, stopping him in his rush and making him stagger.

"He-hey! What are you doing?! I wanna go!" The teen protests, but the seriousness in the man´s eyes prevent him from saying any more words.

"Listen to me carefully, young lad." Amodar releases him, but his other hand rests on Hope´s shoulder, as he brings his face closer to the teen´s. "The two Farron´s are going to live some moments of stress and fear." He locks eyes with the teen, prompting him to pay attention. "I know Lightning won´t accept it, but they will need a man to stand by them. To take care of them." Hope´s eyes widen in surprise. "Are you up to the challenge young man?"

"W-well yeah!" it takes only a moment for him to recover. "Yeah! Of course I´ll be! You don´t need to ask." Then he doubts a second, before asking. "But… what about you? They think of you as their father, or at least I know Serah does."

Amodar releases him at that last statement and laughs out loud, surprised and amused by his words.

"Thank you lad, I really don´t know how they see me, but I certainly do see them like that." He turns serious once more. "But they´re not, after all. On the other hand, you are part of their family, so they´ll need you. Now, I know they have other men in their family, and I know Serah won´t be alone. But I´ve seen the way Farron looks at you, she really trusts you. So I´m asking again. Are you up to the challenge?"

The young teen puffs his chest in pride. "I am."

The man chuckles as he ruffles his hair, a gesture that still annoys the teen. "Well done, young man. I really hope you keep your promise."

"I will!" Hope gives a few steps away from the officer, until he notices the man is not following him. "Er… aren´t you going to see Lightning too?"

Amodar smiles apologetically at the teen. "No, lad. I have some errands to do first, some families I have to visit, to give them less happy news."

Hope´s eyes sadden, understanding the meaning of his words, and with a nod, he walks away, waving goodbye to the man and wishing him good luck, as he starts a sprint, searching for his mentor, the officer´s words still clinging at his chest.

Serah finds Fang already inside the hangar, in a small building constructed with rocks and wood extracted from the ancient ruins in Yaschaas Massif, a makeshift barrack where the soldiers can rest after their duties, allowing them to feel comfortable in the warm weather of Gran Pulse. Just close to the main door, the soldiers had conditioned a smaller construction that would serve as an infirmary, bringing some beds, tools and equipment they could recover from the broken and crystalized Cocoon, selecting the equipment they would most probably need for their missions, and that wouldn´t need power from the fal´Cie to function. It has been a hard and frustrating task, but fortunately there were still rudimentary machines they could put to work.

The Pulse woman is standing outside the closed door, her eyes shut and her arms crossed, an imminent gesture of anger repressed just slightly, and surely looking ready to explode.

"Fang! Did you see her? Is Lightning ok?"

"I couldn´t get inside. They wouldn´t let me in." The woman grunts, obviously angered by the delay. "It seems the doctor is still checking on her."

As if on cue, a tall, raven haired soldier steps outside the door, closing it with care behind him, as if not wanting to make any sound. The man wears a worn out military uniform, covered with a white coat that now looks more of some other color but white, most probably for overuse. Serah Immediately recognizes him as Falcon, the medic from the Blitz Squad, the group that claimed to be absolutely loyal to Lightning, even when everything seemed lost. As he gives a step back from the door, both women surround him, startling him.

"Ugh! Fang! Serah! Don´t do that again!" the man protests, as he faces his friends. Serah notices he looks completely exhausted, with dark circles over his eyes and faint stubble over his chin, his dark hair seems to have known far better days.

The smaller woman smiles apologetically, while the tall one just grunts a response.

"Well? Are we able to see her now?"

He raises his hands in a conciliating gesture. "Lieutenant Farron is sleeping at the moment. She´s got a fractured leg, some fractured ribs too and an injury in her head. But everything is controlled and attended now, she´s completely out of danger" the man adds, as he hears Serah gasping, "nonetheless she´s very exhausted, so she should rest. I gave her a sedating tea to keep her as painfree as possible."

"Ah tea?!" Fang explodes before Serah can say anything. "What makes you think a freakin' tea can do anything against a broken bone?" She yells at the man, completely aggravated.

"SShhh! Keep it down Fang! You´ll wake the Lieutenant up!" Falcon hushes her, flustered by the Pulsian´s actions, and turns his head towards the closed door, as if wanting to check on the woman, but instead he sighs and rubs his neck with a hand, trying to keep his temper and obviously thinking of a way to keep the tall warrior at bay. "Look. I understand you´re both very worried about Lieutenant Farron, but I think there´s something you two should see first. She just gave me her permission to show you."

"What do you mean?" Serah asks, glad he just said it´s just some broken bones, but feeling her anguish coming back to her the moment she hears his last words.

"Why would we need her permission to know?" Fang still yells, but this time is Serah the one to answer, her peaking emotions finding a way out.

"Do you really need an answer to that? It´s Lightning we´re talking about."

Fang grunts, surprised at the pettite´s sudden explosion, and struggling to keep her frustration under control, as she passes a hand through her rustled hair. "I know. I know..."

Falcon smiles thankfully at Serah, awed at the idea of someone so small standing tall against the fearsome woman. "Then follow me, please. It´s better if I show you instead of just telling you."

They walk around the corner and enter a small room, immediately connected to the infirmary, but separated from it by a huge window. Through them, both women are able to see a lean frame resting on the farthest bed from the window, part of her head enveloped in a broad gauze, and pink locks scattered over the clean pillow.

"Lightning!" Serah screams, giving a step forward as if to reach out for her sister, but refrains, as she sees her chest rise and fall slowly and deep, her eyes shut and her countenance that of peace, small indicators of deep slumber.

"Don´t worry Serah." The doctor reassures her. "She´s ok, just asleep. The tea has made its effect."

Fang stands without moving, her eyes still focused on her friend´s resting figure, but still addresses the man. "You haven´t explained why you can´t give her something stronger for her to function better, instead of letting her be bed-ridden."

She then notices the man pushing a big piece of equipment, full of cables, buttons and a small screen. She helps him, and after moving the heavy artifact together, he´s finally able to turn it on, and gets into explaining mode.

"This is a rudimentary ultrasound machine. Through sound, the computer inside can create images of the parts inside of the body."

"Oh! I´ve seen one before! My mom used to get some studies like that when she was very sick, back in… Bodhum…" Serah starts excited at recognizing the machine, but as the memory strikes, her voice drops until it becomes almost a whisper. Fang stands beside her and places a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture. She doesn´t know how to comfort the young woman, but it seems to be enough, since Serah looks up at her with a smile.

"Yes, exactly those." Falcon continues, pleased to know the young woman has someone else to rely on, besides her sister and Snow. "So we´ve performed some of these studies on Lieutenant Farron." He explains as the machine turns on completely, the screen coming into life, and they see unintelligible images displayed on it, some dark and bright shadows moving all around. At watching their faces of disbelief, the man explains further, using his finger to point at the images as he speaks. "This is your sister´s abdomen. Her insides are ok, we didn´t find anything that would tell us there was something wrong which would make us take her into urgent surgery. But then we found this…" he points at a small, round, black ball that rests in the middle of the screen and holds what seems to be a small bean inside.

The two women still look at the screen completely lost, without being able to discern one shadow from the other, and Serah tilts her head, trying to comprehend, but to no avail.

"I know it´s not easy to understand," Falcon continues, "but I´m sure the next part of the recording will totally clarify."

As if on cue, the room is filled with a deafening, drumming sound, a steady rhythm that resonates through the walls and makes both women´s skin shiver.

After hearing the rhythmic, loud beat, Serah understands right away the meaning of the images, and brings her hands to her mouth, fighting to control her overwhelming emotions, as her eyes begin to moist.

But Fang is still clueless, and tilts her head like the strawberry blond did previously, struggling to understand. Immediately after, the small bean inside the black ball jumps, startling the tall warrior, and making Serah giggle among tears.

After two seconds, Fang´s mind finally processes the images, and as her eyes widen in surprise, her face goes pale, and then she looks to the side, her eyes immediately falling to the figure lying motionless on the distant bed. As if sensing the woman´s stare, azure eyes open up slowly, and both set of eyes meet each other in a silent interchange.

But the dark woman is confused.

Should she jump in joy? Should she apologize? Is it good? Is it a bad thing? Should they do something?

A small smile drawn in the distance reassures the tall woman, and a second after, a scream next to the warrior startles her, taking her out of her surprise, as Serah finally recovers her voice.

"OHDEARGODDESSI´MGONNABEANAUNTIE!"

Author´s Note: Hope you like it! I know there isn´t much action in the chapter, but I kinda liked this part! Besides, it´s necessary, I assure you. I hope you don´t mind some angst! Love you all and thank you for all your comments!

On a side note, I don´t own Final Fantasy XIII nor any of its awesome characters. Square Enix does.