[FFXIII-2] The Wedding Dress (1471 words)

[shamera]

Title: The Wedding Dress
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Character/Pairing(s): Serah, Vanille, Lightning
Rating: PG
Warning: ...this is FFXIII-2, not Lightning Returns. You'll understand why this is a warning.
Summary: Vanille volunteers to make Serah's wedding dress, with a little help from everyone else.

“Oh,” Serah breathed out with a hand over her mouth and eyes wide. “Oh, Vanille. It’s beautiful.”

The Pulsian girl beamed brightly, giggling nervously from where she was standing behind Serah, hands on the other girl’s shoulders. “I’m glad you like it. I’m not done yet, of course, but I think from now on I’m going to need your opinion on which direction to go with this!”

Serah could hardly respond as she stepped forward and reached out a hand to run a finger down a string of beads,the touch feather-light just in case she disturbed something she wasn’t supposed to. The dress laid out on the plastic mannequin was a blend of traditions, of crushed velvets and pale beads, sheer headdress and fur trim. The entire thing, Serah noted, was in shades of white.

“I had a lot of help,” Vanille admitted, although she sounded happy about it. Bounding up past the other girl, Vanille pointed at various parts of the outfit. “Remember when Fang asked for your help hunting down the Megistotherian?”

Serah remembered that — the odd request since she and Fang rarely interacted, and Serah herself was not well known as a warrior, despite the amount of fighting she had to do. The day had been extremely warm, and Vanille had feigned a head cold while Snow and Noel disappeared off somewhere she never found out about. Serah had expected her sister to say no immediately, but to her great surprise Lightning had just given a nod to Fang when she heard the request.

They spent the day in the heat of the sun, Serah’s skin blistering even as she listened intently to Fang’s quick instructions and tips of how to better hunt on Gran Pulse. They tracked the animal down to a ridge over the entrance of the Mah’habara caverns where Fang charged in and Serah followed. It was a long and grueling fight in blistering heat, but Serah remember how proud she felt when Fang finally pinned the beast down with her spear by its neck, and then yelled at Serah to finish it.

“Of course I remember.” Serah said.

Vanille beamed at the confirmation. “Well, that was your kill. And this is the pelt.” She gestured to the pure white fur trim on the dress edges. “We tanned the leather and both Noel and I made some of the jewellery here.”

She pointed to various sections of the dress as Serah watched, intent on taking in every detail she could. “These ones are from Oerba — for scholars and caretakers. The beads attached to them are from everyone, actually.”

Vanille grinned sheepishly. “I asked them all to make at least one for you.” Then she pointed to the one attached to the low collar of the dress. “That one’s from Snow. He knows it’s for you, but doesn’t know it’s being used for this.”

The pale blue bead was large and somewhat lumpy, and Serah giggled at the thought of her hero working on it.

“Here,” Vanille said as she turned the mannequin around to reveal the back of the dress, gesturing to the fabric that draped down at such a length Serah knew it would reveal the small of her back. What was holding the fabric together was an intricate array of leather knots, the pattern delicate and forming geometric designs.

“Oh.” Serah breathed out again, feeling a loss of words.

“I got Noel to help me on that,” Vanille admitted in an almost whisper, her smile soft as she gazed at the work. “He taught me a little on Farseer traditions as well. That knot is a symbol for women to be married. He told me he’s seen it only a few times and didn’t know how to make it himself, so it took us a while before we got it right.”

It was certainly more beautiful than Serah had ever dreamed a dress could be. Before Vanille had approached her asking to make her wedding dress for her, Serah entertained thoughts of a simple white thing with maybe a few quick embellishments to personalize it.

This… she trailed her fingers across the knot, holding her breath as she felt the soft leather. Every inch of this dress was beautiful.

“Here’s the highlight!” Vanille giggled out to her as she lifted the asymmetrical bottom. “Look!”

Near the fur trim, nearly invisible, were tiny pink and white roses stitched carefully into the velvet.

“She’s too proud to say anything, but Lightning did that.” Vanille admitted. “I asked if she wanted to help with this, and… did you know Sazh knows how to embroider? He said he learned it from his wife, and he taught Lightning a few designs so that she could work on a little bit of your dress as well.”

All of this was bringing tears to Serah’s eyes. It was all so much…

“This is amazing. It’s beautiful.” Serah said, nearly choking out her words. She brushed a hand over her eyes to wipe away the moisture, feeling her heart swell within her chest. “This is — thank you so much, Vanille.”

Vanille’s smile turned gentler and she carefully took Serah’s hands in her own. “No… thank you. Fang and I… we’re the last people who remember Oerba. Noel’s the last person to remember the Farseers. For a while, I thought all our traditions would just die with us… but it’s not true. Because of you… because of everyone here, we managed to a little of it back. And you…”

“I love it.” Serah blurted out. “This is so much better than anything I’ve ever dreamed of, even as a little girl. I want to know all about your traditions. I want to know what everything on this dress means. Everything.”

And now Vanille was starting to look a bit misty-eyed herself even as she continued to smile widely.

They must have stood there for nearly a minute clinging to each other’s hands before Vanille jumped to attention once again, startling Serah. “Oh! Here, you need to try it on! We’ve got make sure it fits, first. Can’t have you getting married next week with an ill-fitted dress. You change, and I’ll go get you the earrings that Hope bought you. You should see them — he’s got good taste!”

As the cheerful Pulsian left the room, Serah spent a good minute just admiring the dress on the mannequin before carefully pulling it off and changing, reveling in the soft fabrics and leather as it brushed against her skin.

Perfect. It was just… perfect.

“You look beautiful.”

Serah whirled around at her sister’s voice, and smiled so wide she felt like her face could crack at any moment. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so happy. “Lightning! I thought you were the one who always told me to knock before I entered a room?”

“I knocked,” Lightning teased, walking up to Serah. She cupped her sister’s face in her hands and smiled, gentler than Serah could ever remember even as she leaned into the touch. “You were just too distracted to hear me.”

Serah grinned sheepishly, unable to deny it.

“My sweet little sister, all grown up.” Lightning breathed out, and pulled back slightly, now looking lost despite her smile. “Just look at you. What am I going to do now?”

“Oh, Claire… you make it sound like you’re losing me. You’re never going to lose me.”

“I better not.” Lightning murmured, and then dropped her hands to pull something from her pouch. “Here. Vanille sent me with Hope’s present. These are for you.”

There were a pair of blue crystal earrings, the same exactly color of Serah’s eyes, and she couldn’t help her sly, “Are you sure these aren’t for you? We do have the same eyes, after all…”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Lightning responded easily. “I told him you’d need something blue.”

“Well, then.” Serah intoned as she accepted the earrings gratefully and carefully put them on. “Tell him thank you, and that they’re beautiful.”

Lightning nodded, but then said, “One more.” And reached back into her pouch again to pull out a diamond hairpin, gesturing for Serah to turn around before gathering her little sister’s hair into a messy bun on the side of her head, sliding the pin through easily.

Serah watched their reflection from the mirror in the room as Lightning smiled at her from behind and placed both hands on her shoulders.

“…Something borrowed.” Her sister finally said. “From Lebreau. Old traditions, new dress…”

“Blue earrings, borrowed jewelry.” Serah finished, and reached out to touch the delicate hairpiece.

Her reflection flickered, broke for a mere moment into swirling blackness in the antique mirror, before it returned to normal. Serah ignored it.

“It’s perfect.” She breathed out, and watched as Lightning smiled gently at her.