Lightning Bringer: (Lighting Seeker Book 2)

Look Like A Fighter

The world burned and smelled like rot and mold. Everything was dark, and every movement brought a jarring echo that sent bones vibrating against skin broken and bleeding. Thoughts were jumbled, filled with painful flashes of a past that was concrete, set, impossible to erase or change.

A gentle warmth spread across Vale at the same moment that fire ate across her arms and ribs. She let out a cry, the sound of her voice loud in her own mind, echoing in her ears. A growl rumbled from somewhere nearby, followed by a swear. "She..." a man's voice broke, full of emotion. Vale wanted to reach out, to tell the voice that had a hint of familiarity that she was fine. But she could barely move, everything hurt.

"She's breathing. Her pulse is surprisingly strong," said a second voice. "I can't work on her here... But she's in bad shape. Can you keep her steady until we reach the ship?" The voice was rewarded with a grunt.

Vale tried to open her eyes and was rewarded with blinding light. Burying her face into a set of cold steel next to her face, she hid from the light, praying for the pain to end.

...

A pair of dark green eyes met Vale's. A near-perfect match to her own. "Mom?" The word sounded broken, startled and so full of childlike hope that it nearly broke her in two. Vale blinked, waiting for the illusion of her mother to vanish.

"Hello, sweetie." Vale tried to move. But didn't make it far before fire wrapped around her ribcage. "Woah. No hard-hitting right now. You took quite the beating." Kriss, Vale's mother glanced over her, lips pursed in frustration. But her touch was gentle when she pushed several loose strands of hair back out of Vale's face.

Vale knew her mother was angry. She understood it. Vale had left her mother without a word, ran from home to seek adventure, and stumbled upon a rebellion. She watched her mother look down at her metal arm. "That's new."

"I'm sorry," Vale managed past the lump in her throat.

Kriss pushed the metal chair she sat in back onto two legs and ran her hands through her short black hair. She let out an unsteady breath and then slammed her chair back on four legs and glared at Vale with tears in her eyes. "If you didn't look so damaged I would have beat your ass when I got here."

Vale let out an unsteady laugh, wincing past the pain. "That's fair." A beat of silence filled the whitewashed room. A low steady hum and the slight shift in gravity's pull hinted that they were in motion. "I should have told you-."

"Damn right you should have told me." She reached into her black cargo pants pocket and pulled out a worn-out piece of paper. Then she stood up and began to pace. "Dear Mom..."

Vale's heart dropped as her mother read the words she wrote a little over six months ago. Kriss paced the small room, her leather boots hard on the metal floor. She wasn't reading, she merely scrunched the paper in her calloused fist and quoted the letter from memory.

"I'm leaving. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I knew you'd try and stop me from..." she turned and stared at Vale, her eyes wild. "Becoming a Lightning Seeker?" She said the final piece like it was a question instead of a declaration.

She didn't finish reading the note, seeming to wait for a response. Vale opened her mouth several times, editing her words before finally saying, "Yes."

"Of all the jobs-."

"The only job," Vale corrected. "The only legal one there was." As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it. She watched her mother wince. Kriss was a fearsome fighter in the underground fighting ring.

Vale remembered her fights in flashes. Her glistening brown hair flying out of her face in a mix of sweat and blood. Her moving at frightening speeds, arms raised, punches wild. Kriss took down opponents in ten seconds flat, earning herself the nickname Dime. It never took her more than ten seconds to defeat anyone she went up against.

Her mother was as much the fighter as she stood before her as she ever did when Vale was younger, stitching her up after every fight. She had dyed her hair black, Vale had wanted to ask her why, but ignored the pull, it wasn't the time.

"I knew you wouldn't want me to fight," Vale continued, wanting her mother to understand. "And I wanted to go. Be free to make my own choices. To go on adventures and-."

"And get your arm ripped off?" Kriss finished, leaving Vale feeling like she had gotten slapped. Kriss' eyes softened. "I didn't want a life of pain for you." She sat down on the edge of the bed, gripping Vale's hand which was mostly bandages. "But..." she swallowed, "you had too much of your father in you to ever sit still."

Vale let out an unsteady breath. She had never heard a word about her father. Kriss leaned back, cutting off any further thoughts of him. Vale gripped her mother's fingers with all the energy she had, which wasn't much. "I have a lot of you in me too. I wouldn't have been able to help half the people I've helped without you." Vale blinked away a set of tears as the image of Sky, without a heartbeat on the operating table, a mechanical heart beating for him. Of Dash, pale under her needle, delirious from blood loss and strange words that still felt unfinished. "You've helped me save people I care about."

Kriss gave her a tear-filled smile. "You had quite a few people here worried when they found you."

Vale looked down at herself for the first time. Her torso was wrapped, most likely to protect bruised ribs. Her human hand was in a cast that stopped below her elbow. Small bandages wrapped around her fingers to hide cuts. She could feel a cut on her lip, her left cheek felt swollen. "I must look terrible," Vale muttered, running her metal fingers through her hair.

Kriss' eyes were bright, proud. "You look like a fighter."

Vale laughed, "You wouldn't have gotten this banged up."

Kriss rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have gone up against an AI army." They both laughed until there was a knock on the door. Kriss stood up and opened it.

Dash popped his head inside, offering Vale and Kriss an apologetic smile. "Hate to interrupt, but Mortem made me promise to tell him as soon as you were up." He smiled to himself. "Wanted to give you a fair warning before I told him just in case you need to mentally prepare."

Vale snorted and laughed, but stopped at the look on her mother's face. She looked terrified and Vale had never seen her scared of anything.