Final Fantasy Short Stories | (2016-2017)

Story thirty eight: Serah's Thoughts (2019)

A/N: I dug up another story from 2019. Yes, we're going back in time a little. I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish this one or not, but here it is now. <3

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What could've been . . .

Serah almost stopped mid-laugh at the sudden thought. But instead she quieted her laughter, forced a small smile, and continued to gaze at the man beside her.

He had glanced away, and though a smile still remained, it was smaller now like Serah's. Had the same thought came across his mind?

For what felt like a long time, Serah and Warrior thought of one another as siblings. So much so, that they recalled actually referring to each other as "pretend" brother and sister. They'd just gotten through laughing at the memory now. Not because it was silly, but because of the heart-tugging joy that suddenly swelled up inside of them at the mention of it.

It was awful irony, Serah realized.

Warrior obviously wasn't her brother, and probably never would be. But the love and relationship they shared felt so real, so right . . . So unlike the bond she had with her actual brother-in-law, if you could even call it a "bond". Kain almost wanted nothing to do with Serah. She could understand that to some extent, given their recent history, but even before that hard time, he was always such a loner. He didn't take the time to build a relationship with Serah, even though he was supposedly in love with her sister and had his heart set on marrying her. Family was important to Serah, whether it was by blood or by law. Kain should've understood that when you marry a woman, you marry her family, too. Or maybe he did know that, but simply didn't care enough to take it seriously.

It took awhile, but Serah had finally found it within herself to be happy for Lightning and Kain on their wedding day. If Kain made her sister that happy, than Serah would gladly push away any suspicions or tension so she could support their marriage in any way possible. Back then, she finally took a breath and said it was okay if things were rocky at first; her and Kain would grow closer some day— just like a real pair of siblings. She'd be patient and wait for him to open up to her—no matter how long it took.

But now, here in this moment with Warrior, all that hard work of trying to believe in Kain's love for Lightning seemed to be getting covered in a haze of old feelings reawakening. Not only did Warrior take the time to get to know Serah as a person, not only did they confide in one another and laugh together, but Warrior had something special with Lightning as well. A romance so beautiful it's blinding, you didn't even have to see the two together to believe it. And even though Lightning was married to Kain, and Warrior claimed to love another as well, Serah noticed the gleams of love in their eyes whenever they spoke each other's name. She could still see small glimpses of what was there before. Small glimpses of a relationship that was never meant to be stashed away and forgotten like it was.

If she didn't know better, Serah would've stomped her foot down and screamed from the mountains that everything was a big mistake: Kain being married to Lightning, Kain becoming Serah's brother-in-law, Warrior and Lightning falling out of their relationship . . . .

In her mind, everything would've just made sense if the whole situation was reversed: Lightning and Warrior would rekindle what should've been, Serah and Warrior would be sister and brother for real, and Kain wouldn't have a sister-in-law he appeared to hardly even stand.

"I must be going, but I enjoyed our talk as always." Warrior stood up from the sand, his silver hair draped below his bare back, the end of it tied in a thick braid. His fair skin glistened in the morning sun as he stretched his arms over his head. Serah smiled; she really did miss being with him like this.

"Okay, catch you later then," she replied. She hoped they could continue to reminisce some more. Mostly because that was all they could really do now.

As she watched Warrior walk away, Serah was sad to acknowledge that this was just their reality now. Maybe things had turned out the way they did for a reason, but she couldn't find any logical one in her mind.

None at all. ❦

End of story thirty eight