ARMS WIDE OPEN

CHAPTER 1

The small house is rattling everywhere from the pounding droplets of the heavy rain, and the light becomes dimmer, the stance almost enveloped in darkness, as if it were already late in the afternoon, instead of being just midday. The overall atmosphere actually feels a bit sleepy, a tiny bit moody, and the house´s temperature drops, losing its previous warmth, as the air is beginning to feel chilly. Although the wood walls seem to be resisting the ambush of the storm, they are undoubtedly beginning to absorb the humidity. You can smell it in the air, as it gets filled with the soothing smell of dampened earth. A smell that almost lulls you to sleep, if you close your eyes enough time.

Serah sighs.

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

The young woman sighs again and then shivers, her short skirt and light sweater seem now a very improper choice of dressing, given the current weather, as 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 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, now completely without the aid of the fal´Cie. Somehow, this taste feels more real than anything she had tasted before, back at Cocoon.

So, it has become her every night routine. Before going to bed, every night she has at least one coup, as much as Snow might hate it, being that the reason why she usually drinks it alone, while her goof of a boyfriend takes Cocoon-made coffee instead. 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 that´s stressing her out this much.

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 times it´s about someONE. Two people, to be exact.

One, 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, it´s the one 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?' She smiles a bit at the use of the dirty word, knowing her sister would scold her for that.

'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. But she´s feeling so frustrated at the moment! If at least someone could understand her! Then she scolds herself at the thought, knowing that, this time, there´s exactly one person who understands, and who´s now suffering, just like she is; she remembers now she´s not the only one sick of worry about her sister´s fate.

She glances down at the cups she´s clutching with each hand. This time, 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 of the small candles scattered over the counter and close to the makeshift door, and in the rest of 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 they all have lived the last couple of weeks after the fall of Cocoon, and after finally solving the thousands of time paradox created, the place where they had lived after saving none other than the Goddess Etro herself.

Together, always together.

And now this is their home, where they all live now, not only Snow, her fiancé, and her friends, the NORA group, but also Hope, still in his teenage years, just like the first time she had met him, small and slim and cute, the Hope that has lost just recently part of his innocence, and who now is standing at the window, sulking; he´s lived with them too, whenever his father is out of town, helping out in Crystallized Cocoon… and where her sister, Claire, lives too, just like Serah once dreamed.

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

She looks up towards the celling, noticing the storm fading; the silence reaches her first, and then she hears the sound of scattered and faint chirps from the small birds that inhabit New Boduhm along with them. A cheerful indicator that it has already stopped raining. She smiles a bit more, thankful for the respite, and turns to address the young teen, while searching for the words that would appease him too.

"I know, Hope, but you heard Captain Amodar. The storm reached them first, so they couldn´t get 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. "What if they were ok but then suddenly were attacked? Or if they lost the path and are wandering around? Or their plane crashed in this storm?! Or…?" she hushes him with a finger over his lips.

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

He sighs again, looking at the young woman apologetically, and takes her by the hand.

"I know, Serah. I´m sorry, sometimes I forget she´s your sister. But 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 is 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 things that could happen to her, and YOUR duty to clap my hand 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.

Serah is 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 looking haunted.

"Serah! Hurry!" The warrior is finally able to articulate through gasps. "The plane has arrived!!"

"What? 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 not good news."

The last sentence makes the silver haired teen go pale, and he feels glued to the windowsill for a moment, but then 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 startles 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 fear in them. That 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 gulps, and is finally able to articulate, looking straight at Serah´s eyes.

"Yeah, it´s about Lightning. It seems she´s one of the survivors of her patrol. And I´ve heard she´s injured… badly."

"What do you mean?? Fang!! What…?"

"Don´t ask me anything else!!" the woman yells, her control almost lost. She has to inhale deeply, forcing herself to remember who 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.

The Pulse born notices the attempt, and sighs, following the young woman, this time her stride doesn´t falter for even a bit, emerald eyes focused firmly at their path.

"I´m sorry, Serah… I didn´t mean to." She catches up with her, but doesn´t feel strong enough to face the young strawberry blonde again.

The addressed girl smiles thankfully. "Don´t worry, Fang. We shouldn´t distract ourselves from this. If my sister needs us, we have to be there soon enough."

The warrior smiles. "Yes of course. Especially if we don´t want to have our assess kicked by her infamous booth."

They look at each other and laugh at the joke, as the celling of the makeshift hangar appears in their line of vision. As she sees them, Serah redoubles her effort, making the Pulsian warrior to admire her for the speed.

'Well, after all, she IS Lightning´s sister'

And, as if it wasn´t fast enough, the young woman strains her legs to go even faster, the moment a tall and broad figure appears in front of the entrance of one of the barracks.

"Captain Amodar!!"

The addressed man raises his head at hearing his name, 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, but the young pinkette flings herself into his enormous belly, searching for the comfort of the huge man. "Hello there Serah! Nice to see you too!"

The tall man rises his brown eyes to meet emerald ones, as Fang catches up with them, stopping a few steps away from the pair, not wanting to interfere, but eager to know about her friend. Without words, he understands their rush, and as broad hands rest on much smaller and trembling shoulders, he makes a movement with his head, prompting the raven haired woman to keep going, and 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, but then he notices the countenance of anguish and fear in the younger girl, and puts his thoughts aside, focusing on the small woman 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, must 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 is startled by her actions at first, but immediately understands her probable state of mind, and gives her a reassuring smile, trying to comfort her, as a broad finger dries a single tear in 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, 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 it 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 from the Yaschaas Massif, a makeshift barrack that allow the soldiers to rest after their duties, and allow them to feel comfortable during the warm weather of Gran Pulse. Just close to the main door, the soldiers 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 task, but fortunately there were rudimentary machines they could still use.

The Pulse woman is standing outside the closed door, her eyes shut and her arms crossed, in 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 uniform, covered with a white coat that now seems more of some other color than 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 worn out, completely exhausted, with dark circles over his eyes and a faint stubble over his chin, his dark hair seems to know 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, 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 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 by it with 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.

"Yeah, 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 to 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 has 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!!!!"