Day 55: Courtyard [2nd Shift]
After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving
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And despite how much Lightning would have liked to remain calm and quietly defiant throughout every shift of the day here... the former-soldier-made-l'Cie was fascinated by it.
For good reason, of course! In general, it just did not snow where she was from. Sure, there were a few places where you could find colder 'weather' inside Cocoon, but every single one of them were tourist attractions through and through, and she had never been, not even as a child. As an adult she was just fine with the temperate climate the rest of the artificial world was under- in fact, she was really biased for the increased temperatures that surrounded Bodhum and its own tourist-pulling beaches. Naturally, she never got the 'go see the snow' thing... what was the point in going somewhere that was uncomfortable on purpose?
Yet speaking of cold, the former soldier was so preoccupied at the revelation that she almost didn't realize just how freezing it was out there too. For a moment, her thoughts jumped to how someone at the weather controls should have their motives checked, before she realized... that there probably wasn't anyone in charge of it here. The idea of weather as an entirely natural phenomena? The thought was boggling. How did it just not go unstable and spin out of control completely?
She looked up into the clouds as she tried to process, holding her hands out to catch some of the sparse flakes on her fingers and palms, feeling them melt instantly against her skin. Come to think of it... maybe this was evidence of the climate losing control. She didn't understand why else it would be so cold otherwise; the concept of seasons and what might cause them was completely beyond her education and ability to imagine.
It didn't take long for the chill to really get to her though, and after a minute the pink-haired girl pulled in on herself with her arms tightly crossed. She definitely felt like she could use the fresh air, but this made whether or not it was worthwhile to stay outside an extremely unbalanced question. She turned, wondering irritably if the soldiers would even allow someone to change their mind about staying inside after bothering to pick out a jacket with that stupid fake name etched onto it...
... And spotted Zack again. She paused at that, thoughts suddenly sent crashing as she stared across the short distance between them. She still had no idea what to think after what had happened right before the night's end... and was especially confused after that little show in the cafeteria. What was the deal, anyway?
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In the end, he pulled his gaze away from the sky and glanced over, seeing none other than Lightning. It seemed like he'd been running into her a lot since they'd first met, from the night before to this morning. He hadn't realized that she had also given the soldiers a piece of her mind (or her fist, as the case might be) until last shift. But he obviously wasn't going to judge.
In fact, what he was more curious about was what had happened the night before. Even if she'd been injured, the way she'd responded to him crashing into her had been strange. Maybe she was just that bothered by physical contact? But why?
It wasn't like he could just come out and ask her about something like that, though, and so he merely walked over, his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and nodded to her in greeting. "Hey, so where's your friend Snow? He'd be perfect in this weather." Zack didn't even know what the guy looked like, but it seemed best to start things off with a joke.
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And now they'd said outright that that this military presence meant planning to use them for something, which in other words, meant that her suspicions had been proven painfully correct. It wasn't hard for Lightning to fill in the blanks and guess where their eventual aim might land.
For obvious reasons, it made the unwilling Pulse l'Cie distinctly uncomfortable. She was not in a joking kind of mood, and all things considered, she found it difficult to understand how any of these people could manage smiles or any sort of lightness at all. Had their minds been messed up that much or something?
She frowned at the question, though for the sake of it, took him seriously and glanced around the courtyard in search of the referred-to friend. "I was talking to him at 'breakfast,'" she answered eventually, a clear ironic inflection on the last word. "I don't know where he is now."
That also served to point out to Zack exactly who Snow was, considering she knew he'd seen her during their conversation, and... the other l'Cie was kind of hard to miss. Not that she was sure at this point doing so was such a good idea, but it was also hard to consider strategy when she was preoccupied with other things and really cold.
She folded her arms tighter, looking distinctly unhappy. The frigid weather quickly brought shivering and trying to stay warm in general, which caused the lingering pain from her soldier-inflicted injuries to increase. Regardless, it didn't take her long to fire back a returning question-
"Where's your friend?"
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"Don't worry," he told her with a shake of his head. "I seem to have my balance back today." If she was really that bothered by being touched, then he'd make sure to keep a good three feet of distance between them. It still wasn't the right time to ask about what had happened; he wasn't sure if he'd find it at all.
But it sounded like that had been Snow back in the cafeteria with her. Zack nodded, making a mental note of it. Seeing how Lightning had met so many of his friends (well, two, but that counted as a lot here), he was considering chatting the guy up if he got the chance. Maybe it would be easier to learn things about Lightning if he asked him instead. It seemed a bit underhanded, though, so he wasn't going to rely on that unless he had to.
From the looks of it, Lightning wasn't all that happy in the snow. Granted, she hadn't been happy in the cafeteria either. It was probably easiest to say that she just wasn't happy in general. Which was a shame, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He did feel kind of bad for her, though. Having a weakness to the elements couldn't be fun.
It was a good thing that he was smart enough to not make a comment about warming her up, even if the temptation was there.
"Friend? Which one?" Seeing how Tifa and Lightning were roommates, he was guessing it was Cloud. "If you mean Cloud, he's... I don't know, actually. But he probably slept in or I just missed him. He'll be fine." Even if Cloud was brand new to this all over again, Zack had complete confidence that he'd figure things out and make his own way. He did want to track him down as soon as he could, but that clearly wasn't going to be happening this shift.
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That was... annoying. Once she might have been completely unaffected- she'd been a sergeant in the Guardian Corps, after all, and dealt with people who were distressed for one reason or another all the time. Then, it hadn't really been her problem worrying about them-- people who weren't Serah, anyway, so although she could act for the sake of keeping others calm, before she'd been made a l'Cie the concern had always been more or less superficial. It was the kind of thing better reserved for ones like Lieutenant Amodar, who was unusual in his light-heartedness. He didn't have to be as concerned about how he appeared to those around and ranked below him, but her strengths lied in being able to get ahead and lead, her forte in being the one who could get things done without her emotions getting in the way.
Things had changed since then, though. As much as she might have wanted to, she hadn't forgotten the upset from Cloud when she'd just happened to mention she knew the man talking to her now... nor how he'd appeared in the bizarre vision near the end of the night, with blood on his face and disorientation painfully evident. Like it or not, the image was burned into her mind.
Obviously Zack hadn't actually died though, considering he was standing right there. For all she knew, what she'd seen when he'd touched her had all been fabricated. Surely the reason why Cloud hadn't been upset any more when they'd met again in the main hallway was because he'd had explained to him what had really happened, right? So why should she be concerned about some guy's near-death experience?
... Maybe, it was because she wasn't sure any more whether or not Zack and his friends were really her enemies. If given the choice, would they be willing to try and destroy Cocoon? Or was the fact that at least one of them had been gunned down and thought dead enough to prove possible sympathy?
She exhaled heavily, breath fogging in front of her. Instead of looking back at the man as she considered what to say, however, she continued studying the others in the courtyard- most of which were busy wondering at the snow. She realized that if she wanted answers, she'd have to actually bring up the issues and ask the questions. Standing around and wondering wasn't going to get her anywhere unless she spontaneously developed the ability to read minds.
"He was pretty upset yesterday," she finally went with, her tone deliberately even and low, "When I mentioned I'd met you."
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What it meant, though, was that he owed Lightning an explanation. Zack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, kicking at some of the grass (still only barely touched by snow) with his foot.
"That's because for him, I've been dead for... probably a few years now." He still didn't know the exact time period, but judging by how old Yuffie looked, it had to be a couple years. Granted, she'd done some of that growing up while he'd been locked in the Nibelheim mansion, but the change she'd gone through was still drastic. The change Cloud had gone through was drastic as well, for that matter.
"When I told you that I got shot down before, I meant what I said. I died, no question about it. The people I know here from home can attest to that." Even if it didn't feel like all those years had passed for him, he had still gotten the sense that he'd been gone for at least a short while before waking up in this place.
He rubbed at the back of his neck and let out a sigh, watching his breath visualize in the cold air. "And before you ask, I have no idea how they did it." It kind of bothered him if he thought about it for too long. For all he knew, they'd somehow grabbed his corpse and done all sorts of experiments to it before they'd gotten it right. The whole question of time was another headache and something he'd been forced to face that night with the portals.
"So that's why he was acting that way. I don't think he was willing to believe it until he saw me with his own eyes." Which had been taken care of now, but Zack still found himself worrying. There was still no sign of his friend anywhere on the courtyard, though it was possible he'd stayed inside. Still, a country boy like him should have been able to handle the snow. Hadn't they gone over that the first time they'd met?
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Lightning looked at the man out of the corner of her vision, lips pressing together. Come to think of it, he had said something to the effect of 'I shouldn't even be here' the first time he'd mentioned it, hadn't he? Maybe she should have known then, even if that was easy enough to explain away as being dramatic. She'd heard people exclaim that kind of thing after tripping over a coconut in the soft sand of Bodhum's beaches.
"Several years," she echoed, and even the intense cold wasn't enough to affect the dry, steady flatness in it. For just a moment she tried to decide if what she'd seen made Cloud look any younger, though it was quickly dismissed. For one it would be impossible to tell that unless she started mentally adding things in, and for another... it was stupid anyway. People didn't come back from the dead, regardless of the weird things this place was potentially capable of.
Unless...
Was it possible he'd been turned to crystal? Crystallized, either as a result of being a l'Cie and completing his Focus, or... defying said Focus with such certitude his will had pushed him into it- something she'd seen before, at least once. Obviously, if that was the case, then he didn't remember it, but she didn't remember being captured, and Snow didn't remember anything that had happened to them past Palumpolum...
Fang didn't remember anything about her Focus at all, nor the events that had led up to shortly before Lightning had met her. It wasn't like the theory was that much of a stretch.
It didn't even have to be as complicated as that. However, it would explain the gap of years. She'd already figured out that a good deal of the people here were l'Cie too, and given Zack had strange eyes a little like how Gambit had had strange eyes and the latter had obviously been capable of magic, there was certainly precedent. She had no reason to doubt Zack wasn't a l'Cie, after the evidence she'd received about the other prisoners here while trapped in the institute.
Plus, she had every reason to hope that it was possible to refuse to finish an unwanted Focus and come out alive... and to awake from crystal stasis shortly after entering it. If she didn't hold on to that, she was as good as dead herself or worse.
Her eyes were downcast as she considered the issue, and had she not been so busy holding them crossed and close to her body, it's likely one if not both of her arms would have been on her hips instead. All of that, but still something didn't quite add up- if Cloud had been there like he'd said, then what had happened afterward?
"When you fell into me, I saw something," she admitted finally, and then despite the cold, slowly held out her hands as she looked up, miming the position she'd seen Cloud's in on his weapon. "Cloud was there, talking about... a 'living legacy.'"
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He didn't see much of a point in fighting to convince her, either. Lightning would think what she wanted. He knew the truth of the matter, crystal clear.
However, when she spoke up again Zack barely knew what to think. She'd seen something? She'd seen that? The memories came flooding back, especially since for him it hadn't happened that long ago. It was still a relief to know that Cloud had come so far since then, an insecure grunt who had been ruined by mako poisoning turned into a capable fighter.
But why had Lightning seen something like that? And how? It suddenly made her reaction the night before make a lot more sense, but he was so confused by how it was even possible that he was rendered speechless for a while as he studied her face, trying to find the answers.
She deserved an explanation if she'd really seen something like that, though, and so after he'd regained his bearings he cleared his throat and spoke up. "That was... right before I died. I was telling him that he needed to carry on for me and... make sure I wasn't forgotten. I wanted him to let everyone know what had happened, but..."
Well, seeing what had happened to Cloud after that, it hadn't really been possible. Zack did have to wonder why he hadn't cleared things up with Aerith when he'd finally regained his own sense of self, but that wasn't something he was going to bother his friend with. Zack was sure that Cloud had his reasons for all of it.
"Anyway, I have no clue why you would have seen something like that. Did it really just pop up into your head when I crashed into you?" That made zero sense, and he was trying to come up with an explanation, but he was basically clueless. Was the institute to blame again? He'd already come across shadows that knew all of his inner thoughts (and Tifa's), so who was to say that depositing a memory of his into someone else's head wasn't possible?
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Yet Zack clearly knew what she was talking about anyway. She looked away again as he went on, slightly disconcerted even if she refused to show it. She thought it strange just how (relatively) nonchalant he was about it, because while it was one thing to be alright with accepting death, it was another entirely to....
Well, maybe she just wasn't sure how you were 'supposed' to act, if you'd thought you'd died and then somehow returned to life without any idea how. He'd mentioned he'd been here for a while and had friends to back up what he believed, so maybe he'd just been forced to make peace with it in the meantime?
That was something she could tell herself, anyway. However, it was a little muddled, considering she was half sure that it wasn't just that she'd seen what had happened right before his 'death,' but she'd felt it too. If those emotions had any validity to them, he hadn't been that distressed.
"Yes," she promptly answered, when asked if she'd really seen it, "No doubt." She left the part beyond simple witnessing out though, jaw clenching in concentration. "It doesn't make sense...."
She followed up the unnecessary remark by staring down at her arms, watching as the flakes settled on the black surface of the jacket, but didn't melt right away like when they'd touched her skin. After meeting with Snow, she already knew that the place had the capability to block out memories, but to do something beyond that... cause them to be transferred? Did that have something to do with that shadow-thing too? The way it had known her real name, and about Serah and her Focus?
She gave a quiet sigh through her nose, lips forming around the word 'whatever' without voicing it. As alarming as the prospect of mind-reading was, she could deal with that later. More importantly, she hadn't missed that 'but' that had come after Zack's explanation for Cloud's behavior. There was something that was going unsaid- namely, the reason for why they'd been attacked? Mentally, she grabbed hold of the idea and held on tight.
"What happened?" she asked, breaking her reverie to make sudden eye contact. Her voice was firm, but lacking the anger or irritation that was her tendency- she needed to get an answer for this. "Why were you shot?"
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She seemed just as puzzled about it as he was, though, and he wasn't sure this was something they could find an answer to so easily. There was always the bulletin, but Zack didn't really want to advertise his death for everyone to see. He could always be more vague about it, but...
He was getting ahead of himself. Lightning had asked him a question, and it happened to be one that had a complicated answer. Zack tilted his head up to the sky again, trying to figure out how much he should tell her. She definitely had the right to know some of it after what she'd seen, but he wasn't willing to bare it all either. He doubted Lightning would want all the details anyway.
"Cloud and I were part of our world's main military force, called Shin-Ra," he started as he turned his attention back toward her. There was a chance that she'd heard the term if she'd spoken to Cloud right after he'd woken up here, but he wasn't going to dwell on that. "Except they basically ended up turning on us and using us, so we got sick of it and decided to defect, more or less.
"Shin-Ra wasn't too happy with that, so they chased us down. I took Cloud as far as the major city, Midgar, but that was when they caught up with us." Zack realized that it had been stupid to run right back to where HQ was, but he hadn't known where else to go. And he had kept Cloud safe, so that was what mattered.
He'd left out everything about Sephiroth and the experiments that had been done on them, but he thought that was fine. He doubted that Cloud would want him telling people about that stuff, after all.
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"I see..." she said slowly, and though she didn't nod in understanding, her tone probably said enough when compared to her normal one. She knew a thing or two about defecting, even if hers had been... relatively peaceful. At first. Perhaps those PSICOM grunts should have known better, to suspect a sergeant who willingly handed off her custom gunblade and jumped on a train towards Pulse was up to something, but they'd been like her, hadn't they? People from Cocoon grew up knowing there was little to fear from their fellow man- it was Pulse they had to be careful of.
All of them had been so stupid....
Lightning tried not to think about it, else she grow upset, but still she felt something seem to twist inside of her at the injustice of it all. She put a hand on her chest, and even through the thick layers of clothing there could feel the presence of the Brand, like it was just waiting to advance on her- punishment for neglecting to even try and finish her Focus....
Abruptly, her demeanor hardened. Questions bubbled up to the front of her mind all at once, itching for more details about just what would cause them to try leaving, why Cloud had escaped the same fate that Zack apparently had...
But before she could so much as open her mouth again, interruption showed its ugly face in the form of the intercom system. Her lips pressed together as she listened, and she just barely resisted an eye roll at the orders contained within the message. Idiots. Instead, she turned back to Zack, thinking quickly.
"Whatever the case is... you're alive now," she said steadily, and she was sure to make eye contact as her brows drew together. If he knew what was good for him, maybe he'd start taking things a little more seriously. "Make sure you don't waste that."
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The intercom kicked everyone into action, though, as the soldiers started to move around in search of their assigned "cadets." Zack took in the words that had been announced, realizing that both he and Lightning would have to report. It couldn't be for anything good, either.
That also seemed to have spurred Lightning to give him some parting words. Everything she said was true, but it was also stuff that he'd already thought about and decided on his own.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of doing that," he said with a small smirk as he gave her a thumbs-up. He knew it was evasive to be making light of something that was actually very important, but that was just how he operated. He would definitely take her words to heart, though.
He could feel one of the soldiers boring a hole in his back, so he figured it was time to go. Giving the girl a quick wave, Zack nodded. "I'll see you around, Lightning."
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She figured anyway that the actual meaning of her words were probably lost on the man- she could already tell that he was one who was likely all 'live life to its fullest' and that kind of thing, but there just wasn't time now to further explain. Therefore, her expression remained unchanged through the exchange, even as he moved to go and she opted for one last remark.
"Call me Light," she said simply, using that as her own farewell as her gaze drifted away to rest on the nearest, boulder-faced soldier instead-- and noted with disdain that it was one of the men she'd attacked the previous day. Regardless, she had no intention to directly 'report,' even as she refolded her arms and turned towards the door. If they intended to punish her further for something she still found entirely justifiable, then they would have to be the ones who came to her.
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