witchesreign | Loss. [Action

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Loss. [Action | Front Gate]

[Not wanting to suck the life out of the quad and not feeling up to training, Snow had found himself a seat on one of the raised planters that held a few small trees and some decorative plants, out past the ID checkpoint in the landscaped area. There he sat, hands on his knees, head bowed, and thought.]

[In his right hand, he held a crystal.]

[As far as he knew... he had lost a sister. And he was amazed how much it hurt.]

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Time compression is rough.

[A true if understated answer, but he doesn't feel too great about opening up to the students... or anyone, really. Doubt, hesitation, fear... aren't things a hero shows.]

[Mikuru nods in understanding.]

It must hurt to lose someone close to you... [It's a total guess, based mostly on the disappearances Mikuru's seen in her classes, and in her roommate change.]

I'd rather she have stayed loss, if she was going to come back hating me again.

[Snow kind of forgets that Mikuru has no idea what he's talking about.]

[Her eyes widen in surprise. How could anyone hate Snow?

[She tries not to let too much of her shock show on her face, though, wanting to be there for him.]

I'm sure you can win her over again!

[That sentiment is so... so... so Mikuru that Snow can't help but laugh. It's a complicated laugh, mixing bitterness and pain and honest humor in equal proportions, but his smile for her is genuine.]

Sit down a minute and let me tell you a story. About two heroes and a damsel in distress.

[Mikuru sits next to him on the planter, interested. She's been taking Snow's heroism at his word, but now that he mentions it she is kind of interested.]

Your story?

I can't keep track of what I've told who. Did I tell you about being a l'cie, or how I met Serah?

[She shakes her head.] You've mentioned Serah, and almost being killed for your powers, but that's about it.

[He settles into something of a storytelling mode, looking off in the distance at nothing.]

Serah, and Lightning, her sister, both lived in my home town of Bodhum, but I never met either of them till I was 21. Serah was home from school that summer, getting ready to go university. We met and...

[Really dopey smile time.]

It was magic. I mean, I've never met a girl like Serah! She's smart and she's funny and she's cute and she just... I knew she was the one for me. I knew that I was the luckiest man alive to have found this girl and caught her interest and I wasn't going to let her go for ANYthing!

[He settles down just a bit from that fervor, a bit of wry regret leaking into his voice.]

Trouble was, Lightning hated me.

[Snow's dopey smile is contagious, especially for a teenage girl who loves a love story. The news that the love of Snow's life's sister hated him brings in a touch of Romeo and Juliet in Mikuru's eyes.]

How come?

She thought I was irresponsible. Stupid. A lot of things, really. She wished Serah had never met me, she definitely wished we weren't dating.

She had a couple of points, but... she wanted to protect her sister, and she didn't think I was good enough.

[Mikuru nods. While she doesn't think Snow irresponsible or stupid, she can understand wanting to protect your family.]

So was Lightning the other hero?

We were all heroes, in the end... but for this story, yeah. What happened was, Serah was branded by a Pulse fal'Cie.

What does that mean? [Remembering an earlier conversation, Mikuru looks down at Snow's own brand. She'd thought it was a tattoo, but his talk of brands makes her reconsider.]

Our world is Cocoon. The world below is Pulse. According to history, or legend, the two worlds have been at war forever.

[He lifts his forearm to display the brand more clearly.]

This brand's been messed up since I got here. I don't know why. But... anyway, a fal'Cie can brand a human, turn it into a l'cie, and give it a Focus. It's basically an order. "Do this or you turn into a Cie'th." A monster. Because of the war, anyone on Cocoon would assume that a Pulse l'cie's Focus is 'destroy Cocoon'.

[Mikuru gulps. While Snow's apparent lack of focus on any particular goal and his comment about the brand being messed up give her hope, she still thinks it's awful that such a nice guy would be put through something like that.]

So did Lightning blame Serah's branding on you...?

[He has to smile. That almost would have been better than the alternative.]

She thought we were making it up. That it was some crazy story we'd come up with so she'd accept our engagement.

[Her brow furrows in confusion.] I can't imagine anyone would make up a story like that.

When I said Lightning didn't like me, that was putting it lightly. But a Pulse l'cie... that was more like a boogeyman, a ghost story, than a real thing. We knew it was possible, but how would a Pulse fal'Cie get onto Cocoon to make one? They hadn't been seen since the old war. It'd be more believable if we claimed Serah had grown a second head.

[Understanding dawns on Mikuru's face, and she nods, giving Snow some space to continue now that he's explained his world's unique points.]

Anyway, the Sanctum discovered the fal'Cie that had branded Serah. They shipped everyone in Bodhum off to Hanging Edge to be killed. Called it the 'Purge', pretended they were relocating people to Pulse. I tried to get Serah back to the fal'Cie, but it stole her away when they were taking it, too... Lightning was part of the GC at the time. She quit, made them Purge her. Then she broke out of their train, all to get to the fal'Cie that branded her sister.

[Mikuru's eyes widen as he describes the 'Purge', Snow's own efforts, and Lightning's moves to rescue Serah. Though the mention of GC confuses her, she doesn't want to derail the story some more.]

We got to the fal'Cie, Serah turned to crystal, Lightning attacked it, and we were all branded too.

[He pauses for questions. He's sure there will be some.]

[Many! Mikuru is so confused.]

Why did Serah turn into crystal? [And is that fatal, she sort of wants to ask, which confuses her further seeing as Serah seems perfectly fine in class.] Did Lightning attack her sister who was crystal? [This is unfortunately how she's understood it.] But she had to have believed you after that, at least, right?

Oh, no! Lightning attacked the fal'Cie. She thought... I guess she thought killing it or even just hurting it enough would bring her sister back. Sorry. Wasn't clear.

[He punches his palm absently, looking down at his hands for a quiet moment.]

L'cie, so the legend goes, turn to crystal when their Focus is complete. Because she asked us to save Cocoon, then changed, I thought her Focus was to save Cocoon. I don't actually know what it really was, though. Probably 'destroy Cocoon', same as ours. It turns out that you can overcome a Focus. We all did that, in the end. I think.

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sorry for vanishing on you! I wandered off for schoolwork >_> all done now!

YOU HATE ME oh wait I know your claims are actually true

such a hurtful accusation ;_;

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