soggypastry | 030 [Action for Olivine Pokemon Center/Text]

[She doesn't think anything of it, at first. There's another three day hole in her memory and she assumes that he's just out of the city or dealing with something. It's happened before and she knows he'll call sooner or later. But when the call doesn't come, even after noon has come and gone, Lightning begins to worry. She tries to call his gear, but there's no answer other than what she's feared the most ever since people started to disappear on her. That cold, robotic tone telling her that he is gone and she wasn't even there when he disappeared.

That well known sentence that leaves no question he won't be answering her again, and he may not even remember her and everything they are. Still, she doesn't cry. Not even when Strike and Lucky pad into her room, Leon's bag in Strike's paws before she gives it to Lightning and goes to Sen, curling into his embrace as Lucky whines, putting her head on Lightning's lap as the woman digs into Leon's bag and comes out with his coat and a letter that she reads once, twice, three times over before it finally sinks in. Now she cries, one broken sounding sob that shouldn't come from a woman who is normally so strong, but when her world has just been rocked upside down...she's not sure what else to do.

Not sure what else she can do but slowly get out of bed and sit with her arms around Lucky, quietly ignoring the world around them for a long time. Those that come into her room will find her like that, Leon's jacket draped around her shoulders and Lucky's head in her lap. She's not likely to move anytime soon, either.]

Leon's gone. He said to tell you he was sorry.

[Private text to: Ventus]
Can you come by for a minute? I need your help with something.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll be fine. This is nothing compared to that tree.

[Still, for the sake of not having the nurses lock her in the Center for another month, she'll take it easy. A little. Easier than if Lucky had bolted because that is one well trained Arcanine, one who settles down and lets Lightning remove the bag from her neck to get at the things within and start writing. This is probably going to be a very long letter, from the looks of things.]

[ Talim sits down, then. She watches Lightning a moment, but, not wanting to pry, she soon turns her attention to the ocean. She just wants to be here in case Lightning needs her- what she does in the meantime isn't her business.

Eventually she closes her eyes, letting a light breeze play over her face and in her hair. She offers up a silent prayer to the wind- a prayer for her friends, and for the friends they all have lost. May they find peace, all of them, and whatever happens in this place, may they never be forgotten. ]

[It takes Lightning nearly an hour, four pages, and more than one scratched out word or sentence to finish the letter and say everything she never got the chance to before. Nearly an hour before she's satisfied enough with what she's written to put the pages in the bottle and cork it before rising from the sand with a nudge from Lucky that allows her to forsake the crutches and limp to the waterline. For a minute, it seems that she's going to just drop the bottle in and let the tide carry it away, but she doesn't. Instead, she throws it as hard as she can, letting it fly without hesitation.

And though it nearly knocks her to the sand, the motion sends the bottle soaring into the water, where it disappears beneath the waves for a moment before reappearing, bobbing as it floats away on the current. All of Lightning's hopes go with that letter, and it shows on her face as just stands there, watching the waves long after it's gone. This is the best she can do. Maybe a reply will never come, but...it's something. It's the only thing left to them now.]

[ At some point during all of this, Talim is roused from her little reverie, and she stands, quietly making her way to Lightning's side. She murmurs one last little prayer, for the little bottle, and for all of the hopes it carries.

She's quiet a moment more before she glances up at Lightning, studying the look on her face. ] I wouldn't think less of you if you cried.

[It seems, for a moment, that Lightning hasn't heard Talim speak. She's still focused on the bottle even though it's long out of sight, and that look on her face doesn't ease until she finally sighs, looking to the girl beside her.]

I don't have the time to cry, Talim. Besides, he wouldn't have wanted me to.

["Don't let this bring you down," his letter had said. He wouldn't have wanted her wasting time with tears. He'd want her to go one and keep her head up. The question is....can she?]

[ She's getting it more and more now- Lightning is the strong, silent type. She can respect that, to a point. At least Light's not in outright denial, like some people she knows. ]

If you don't mind my asking, who is it?

[Lightning's learned the hard way that denial doesn't change things. Denying feelings doesn't make them go away, it just makes them come back to bite you harder later on. Sure, she's not going to go screaming how she feels from a rooftop for everyone to hear, but she can admit she hurts. ...Or rather, let it show on her face as she looks back to the waves as if they hold all the answers.]

Leon. He...he was my boyfriend.

[Fal'Cie, it hurts to refer to that in the past tense.]

[ Ah, now she understands. She reaches over and rests a hand on Lightning's arm. ] I'm so sorry.

[Under Talim's touch, Lightning's tenses, shivers, then sighs and shakes her head. Why are they talking about this like he's dead and not just gone home? He could come back...right?]

Don't be. He might come back someday.

[If he remembers, she'll be fine. If he doesn't...well. She'll deal with that later.]

That is true, but it still doesn't make his leaving any easier to bear.

It never does. [A pause as she takes a deep breath, trying to ground herself in the here and now instead of the what might have been.] But I'm used to it. He's not the first one to leave.

Nor will he be the last. [ she pauses a moment, reflecting on the people she knows who have come and gone. It's not a cycle they can stop. They just have to live with it the best they can. ] I suppose that's why it's best that we enjoy our time together while we can.

[Lightning nods faintly, then makes a sadly amused sound in the back of her throat. That is...definitely true.] Yeah...I had to break his nose to get him to see that. Probably going to have to do it again.

[ She giggles a little. ] You'd think a lesson like that would stick.

You'd think, but I nearly had to do it a second time to make him come around. [His face had been bruised for days afterward, and the mental image makes Lightning shake her head fondly. fal'Cie, she's going to miss him.]

030 [Action for Olivine Pokemon Center/Text]

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