No Border Between Us. {Auric}

[Serah Farron]

The house was empty.

No, empty wasn't the right word. More so deserted than anything else. He'd been here, but not recently. Dust had collected already. She hadn't seen him since the Calamity (that's what they were calling, apparently.) had started. This was certainly unsettling for the 18 year old, though this could be temporary. To Serah, this worried her. Her friends were missing, what kind of fate could this man be subjected to? Was he...

No, she had to think positive. She had come here to talk about the wedding to the man known as Auric, who she had become close friends with in the oddest of ways. She had it planned out: they would talk for a while, and then she would give him the white envelope. She'd make a comment about him not crashing into the windows--or even worse, the cake. And then they'd laugh, maybe talk about it for a while. Since they had met when he crashed though a window.

But that was a story for another day. Today was the day to find out where Auric was--
And speak of the devil, there was a note on a small table in front of her. Who it was for, she didn't care. She just wanted to know where Auric was, if anything. It said he'd left Cocoon, gave a number, and told her to call. Taking out her cell phone, she dialed the number excitedly.
"Hello?"

[Auric]

Invitations
... because window marriage crashing is out of style.

Serah Farron. I wasn't sure what to think when I found out she'd been branded. I knew, however, that PSICOM would pull off the crap it did -- the purge. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make; to do nothing. Somehow I knew she'd be fine -- NORA was more than capable of handling a few incompetents and the guy she'd been dating was a good enough soul to keep her safe. I guess my role in her life was tiny by comparison, not that I have adequacy issues. Still, if you're wondering how we met? Well, that story is a tale of its own but all I can say is that I literally crashed into her life. Through a window. In Palumpolem. Hah, well that was a few years ago -- Serah was much younger back then and so was I.... I may have been 19 or 20 years of age hell the truth is I barely remember.

---

He'd lived on Cocoon for a total of five years. He appreciated each day spent in Bodhum -- the sleepy sea-side town was more like a resort during the day complimented by a spicy time at night. He was out a lot -- in other cities, on patrol, on the job whatever but in his down time? He'd spent it at home or on the beach hanging out in bars or finding ways to pass the time. Serah was a good friend -- a kind soul. She never really probed too deep for details and he appreciated her respect. It worked well for him and he knew for a fact that she wouldn't at all have been repulsed knowing he was from Gran Pulse. She must have been worried... but she had other things to do when she'd gotten branded.

But Lightning was there. Snow was there. He'd never met either of them personally but with the way Serah spoke of them he could tell they'd eventually pull through in the end. And that had proven true. But after all the Cocoon fal'Cie had met their ends, they had an entire year to catch up... one he never got around to making use of. She seemed so busy, anyway... and she was surrounded by people she loved -- there was no real need for him to be around anymore. Like an older brother, he'd entrusted her in their care before going out to the rest of the world. The note was strictly for her benefit -- he wasn't sure how long he'd been gone and to be frank, he wasn't sure if he was even going to return to Cocoon at all so he'd left behind the number to his new cell, with a note specifically addressed for her.

After all, he'd given her a key to his home.

At present Auric was in the training center of Balamb Garden, his class having just finished a session practicing new maneuvers on the monsters inside and he'd lead them back to the class room for a post-exercise discussion, each advanced student and SeeD in the room exchanging ideas and speaking about what would work best. He was just about to speak before his [Ring Tone] went off, the class hushing before he took his cell from his pocket, pointing to one of the senior SeeD in the room to carry on with the discussion as he moved out and into the hall. His lips tugged into a smile as he heard the voice on the other end.

"Serah. It's been a while." he spoke warmly as he placed his back against the wall. "How've you been?"

[Serah Farron]

"I guess it has. I've been doing well, but where have you been? I don't want to have my wedding without you there." she said, making note that his end of the phone was more grainy, making it a cell phone and not a home phone. Her guess was that he was moving around a bit, or felt it would be safer for him to use this phone. All and all, she was glad he'd picked up. Though he was one that flew into situations (or crashed into them, as far as Serah knew) she was glad she could rely on him so much.
Palumpolum was never really that interesting to 15 year old Serah, just a machine of people, working. But as she walked through the halls of the university of Palumpolum, a small place but a University in the least. The eating area was large and spacious, but the windows could have had better placement, seeing they could face something more beautiful.
And then, the crash. The shatter of glass, and a man struggling with another man..one that was oddly familiar. A magazine or something? Maybe Lightning's friend?
And as she was ushered out of the room, she kept thinking, and she realized it.
He lived down the street from her.

[Auric]

He had always wanted to do something about his communication services -- but honestly? It was a difficult thing to ask. Not every realm had become accustomed to the influx of technology quite yet and even making the call from Cocoon to Balamb Garden was a special case... but lagless communication wasn't about to be his top priority considering the main problem he faced of it going completely dead whenever he was near a thick concentration of mist. Still, it might be an investment opportunity to simply invent a new way of doing it completely from scratch. Yeah. Great ideas from a simple phone call but hey you never know in what package these things come. Still, her voice was a huge relief and even though the transmission was occasionally grainy the fact that she called must have meant she'd finally had time to drop by his place.

"W-WEDDING?!" he repeated out loud, dropping his volume immediately as someone popped out one of other class rooms to see what the fuss was about. It was a huge surprise. Serah was young, but he never held that against her -- he was happy for her and already he was feeling bad for not being around. But the thought that Snow had finally gotten around to proposing... well, he figured he may have had to start getting Serah prepared to take the initiative. "You're getting married??" he asked again, unable to down the excitement in his voice. "Serah, congratulations! Oh, I'm so sorry I couldn't be there right now." he went on, apologizing swiftly as thoughts raced within him on what to do. Not that he was obsessive female over these things but still, she's been like a little sister during his time on Cocoon and he owed her a celebration for big events like this.

"Uh, well... where am I? I'm over Gran Pulse. In a big... ahh, it's complicated. Maybe I could show you one day. Hey, Serah? How about I make it up to you -- and we could celebrate and catch up." he thought to himself on something nice and simple to get them started. "Hah. I could treat you to dinner... and if you want, I'll pay for any shopping you need to do. I've been all over the world since we last met." he offered, warm completely for the voice on the other end. He couldn't stop smiling, it was comforting to know someone you knew was going to be made a very happy person.

[Serah Farron]

"Yes Auric, wedding." she giggled, now pacing through the dusty house, looking at all the things that were already there. It was the same as she had remembered it, save the dust motes floating in the air and the empty but warm feeling of the rooms. It was almost if part of him was left in this house, just enough for her to say it was his house. She listened to him talk, noting how the house almost echoed her footsteps.

Gran Pulse? Why would you want to go to Gran Pulse? She knew well that the place was in the least dangerous, or so she was told. Snow wouldn't let her go there without him, and it was off the list of honeymoon spots, respectively. She wanted to go to somewhere still on the Northern Continent, maybe Archades. He...she wasn't sure where Snow wanted to go. But that was irrelevant at the moment, what she needed to focus on was Auric.
"You don't have to do anything! I'll be fine."

[Auric]

He had left his house in a clean enough state... naturally he hadn't brought all of his clothes given how bringing around a lot of baggage was just going to weigh you down and considering his journeys were largely on foot you'd understand his need to travel with the bare essentials. Besides -- Auric was extremely wealthy despite his humble abode... his residence in Bodhum had always served to be a nice piece of home and be a good host for whenever he brought Serah over. Still, listening to her giggle in response to his surprise had him feeling nostalgic... it had been almost two years now since they'd last met in person. Perhaps more although to her he imagined it was just one. He'd known about her time in crystal stasis.

He was glad her older sister and the rest of the gang had won out but he had a higher calling out in the world. Perhaps he would see her again soon... given his meeting with Primarch Cid. He wondered whether he should accept the job to work for the Guardian Corps again just so he could visit more regularly... it would have been great to see Serah more. She was a dear friend and practically a younger sister... and she was a surrogate sibling during the long years he'd been without his younger brother Aurei. "Ohhh. So... you're saying not to come back to Cocoon?" he joked, "Not come home and catch up with you or even pay for... say, your honeymoon. Is that what you want Serah? For me to stay here?" he cackled. Oh the power of the obnoxious guilt-trip.