More than a Myth

Cent

Snow was genuinely confused when Serah ran up and embraced the man asking for the head of P.L.R. She knows him?
Snow interrupted their reunion. "Uh, Serah, you know this guy?"
Serah said, "Yeah, he took care of me and Light when we were little. And he taught Lightning how to fight."
Snow's eyes widened. "No way! You're Light's teacher?"
The man nodded. He seemed rather middle-aged but was obviously not ready to kick the bucket anytime soon. He was tall. His hair was a dark black. His eyes were dark blue. His black leather jacket had buttons sewn down the front. His white shirt contrasted with it. His white pants were falling just short of his ankles, not that it showed any skin. His brown combat boots, that had many belts on it as well, were tucked under the bottom of his pants. His right shoulder had a piece of armor on it, similar to the one Lightning had. A sword was strapped to his lower back, attached to his belt.
The man smiled. Light clearly didn't act so serious from his example. He was much brighter and friendlier. "The name's Cent. Nice to meet you."
Snow was puzzled by his name. "Well, I'm Snow Villiers, Serah's husband."
Cent chuckled. "I'm not surprised Serah got married before Lightning. She was always more stubborn and hard to work with."
Serah asked, "What are you doing here? We haven't seen you for years."
Cent teased, "That's because you guys ditched me."
Serah frowned. "Lightning said we shouldn't live off of you."
"Yeah, I know. But I'm pretty sure you guys kept me out of trouble more than I took care of you."
Serah said, "I'm really happy to see you, but still, what are you doing here?"
Cent scratched the back of his head. "It may be better to explain it to all of your friends."

Fang, Hope, Vanille, Snow, Sazh, and Serah introduced themselves to Cent. They sat in Fang's office at the P.L.R. base.
Fang got the ball rolling. "So, Cent, if that's your nickname, then what's your real name?"
Cent answered, "My birth name is Connor. But Cent was a name everyone called me. Connor just never fell off of anyone's tongues."
Sazh asked, "But why Cent?"
Cent pulled out a few things from his backpack. "I collect weapons parts. Most would see some of it as unwanted pieces, but they're treasure to me and are probably rare." He held up a skull. Vanille shrieked. "Whoa, sorry. But I don't think this thing will hurt you." The skull was about the size of his fist. It had an elongated snout, similar to a rat's head. "I found this skull in a ditch when I was a stupid teenager. If I hadn't fallen in that ditch, I wouldn't have met my good friend, Bellum Farron."
Hope burst out, "One of Lightning and Serah's relatives?"
Cent nodded. "Their father actually. We worked together in PSICOM." He hid the skull and pulled out a long chain with a gold oval attached. On the oval had an engraving of a spear. "I found this on my first mission as a PSICOM out in the Vile Peaks. I'm not sure what the spear means, but it's still really cool."
He pulled out an envelope from his backpack. "This is very special to me." He handed the envelope to Serah. She took out a card that was folded in two. There were no designs on it or anything creative, the front was blank. There were three words written on the inside: Sorry. Thank you.

Serah grew sadder. "You kept this?"
Sazh looked over. "What is it?"
She answered, "A card Light left for him when we ran away. I didn't think it meant this much to you."
Cent started packing back his parts. "Everything I keep means something. I don't just keep a bunch of "garbage," I collect things that matter. That was the only thing I had left of you girls. It broke my heart when you two left. You guys were like my own flesh and blood."
Serah smiled. "Sorry, Cent." He held up his hand. "Don't be. If you stuck with me you would never have saved Cocoon. Then who knows where we would be."
Fang said, "Well then, let's get down to business. What were you looking for here?"
Cent said, "I've been stuck on Cocoon for a few years now. With all the people still there trying to get down, the wait was long. When I got here a few weeks ago, I had to try and settle in. It wasn't easy. But it became even harder when I heard the news. Lightning Farron of Pulse Life Restoration Gone Missing. When I heard that, I couldn't just sit around and let my protégé wander around who-knows-where. So I went looking for Fang, seeing as how she was the leader of P.L.R."
Snow said, "So you're just looking for Light?"
Cent nodded. "She's not just my student. She's not even the kid of a good friend. She's like my one of my own, no matter how much I piss her off," He chuckled.
Sazh said, "You have any ideas as to what could have happened?"
Cent said, "No clue. But I'm going to help you all as much as I can. I just need to know what you have found to try and come up with a conclusion."
Fang crossed her arms. "Well, you've come to the wrong place. We've found a whole load of nothin." Snow intervened, "But Fang, what about the place in the Mah'habara that..."
Vanille said, "Yeah, where our brands start to burn."
Cent was interested. "What are you guys saying?"
Snow said, "There's a path where Light disappeared that has us all scratching our heads. The places where our brands were starting to burn like crazy."